The Best Korean Singles - 2011

10. Jay Park / Abandoned (feat. Dok2)

The meatiest tune of 2011 - “Abandoned” is entirely centered around the chorus. The chorus goes on forever, but it’s brilliant. A winding R&B sex session of a song - the first chorus alone takes an entire minute to unravel. Each time you think you’ve hit the peak; it tricks you, crawling just a bit higher.

A workout of the best kind, and surprisingly elegant. 

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9. f(x) / Pinocchio (Danger)

No song in 2011 fit an act quite as well as “Danger” fit f(x). Cleverly playing to the group’s quirkiness, the most eclectic, two-headed song there ever was emerges. It wants to act cute, but the production is too badass for that. It likes being laid-back and cool, but the chorus is too big, and too Pop. It can never quite make up its mind, but it’s brilliant for that reason. A testament to K-Pop’s overarching ‘why can’t I be two things at once?’ attitude. 

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8. 2NE1 / I AM THE BEST

2NE1’s statement piece. In a year where the group increasingly became the international face of K-Pop, “I Am The Best” served as a short summation of their short but already illustrious career to everyone just catching on. The production’s framework borrowed from “Fire”, the domineering fuck-you attitude of “Can’t Nobody”, and the hip-hop laden ‘swagger’ from “Clap Your Hands” - all tightly compacted into a shiny, metallic package. In no way a step forward for the group, but it doesn’t have to be when you’re the best. 

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7. After School / Shampoo

Sure, nothing lasts forever (as Girl’s Day so famously put), but if any song made me appreciative of the time we do have, it was this. It was an odd parallel, then, that fan-favorite member Bekah departed from the group soon after the release of this single, but that just made it all the more poignant. 

“Shampoo”, in all its wondrous, dreamy melancholy, was the perfect goodbye. It’s sad, but resilient, and hopeful. No one likes saying goodbye, but it’s nearly impossible not to find happiness in the beauty of the moment that After School and Japanese producer Daishi Dance so lovingly provide. I’m already a sucker for happy-but-sad songs like this, but “Shampoo” walks the line between the two with more poise and effortlessness than most. 

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6. GD&TOP / Knock Out

One of the excitements of K-Pop is watching the development of Korea’s ‘sound’. Or rather, what makes Korean Pop sound different from Pop in other places of the world. What separates it from just ‘copying’ American or European Pop (a common charge against much foreign (non-English) music). Perhaps no song embodies that evolution more than the bubbling, tumbling, rap boxing match known as “Knock Out” by Big Bang resident rappers G-Dragon and T.O.P. 

Hip-Hop is arguably the hardest of all genres to localize. It’s such a uniquely American creation. But GD&TOP succeed. Not because there’s anything in the song I can particularly point to and say ‘ah, yes, that’s a huge breakthrough’, but rather, because I can’t think of anything in American music which sounds quite like this. It’s crafted by Diplo, an American producer, but the whole thing just feels so Korean. Whether it’s the fun, stupid, playful-ness which American hip-hop seems to have lost along the way (and that K-Pop has in spades), or the mix of Korean and English that’s so exciting to these ears. There’s something to it, and they’ve found it, and more importantly, it’s theirs.

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5. KARA / STEP

No song in 2011 felt as joyously and exuberantly K-Pop-with-a-capital-K as “STEP”. No song period felt as joyous or exuberant.

“Such trivial worries, with a smile, bye bye”

If that isn’t a summation of Korean Pop, then, well, the bonkers rap break in the middle 8 sure as hell is.

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4. Gummy / I’m Sorry (feat. T.O.P)

I keep calling this the Asian response to “What’s My Name”, though the 2 songs hardly sound alike, and T.O.P handles his role better than Drake could ever dream. Nonetheless, the same bones are there. The breeziness, the grace, the sweet combination of male and female voices - it’s got the magic and the effortlessness. That might not say much about this song in particular, but there’s not really much to say when a song makes the job this easy for the listener. K-Pop so often goes big, but this worked by going in the opposite direction. 

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3. SISTAR / SO COOL

There were certainly party jams this year that had more tact, intelligence, class, and intrigue than SISTAR’s “SO COOL”, but none of them moved me, or got me moving, the way this did. 

If After School’s “Virgin” embraced the human side of the dancefloor, this one fully lavishes on the glamorous end. Thematically that’s nothing new of course, but I appreciate this one’s super-bluntness. It’s stupidity, even. They’re not bothered with witty metaphors. Who has time for that anyway when you’re so cool?

But this isn’t so much because the people saying it are supposedly cool, but rather, because they say it, it’s true. You don’t have to be cool to be cool. Once you own it, it’s yours. It’s not about posturing, it’s about being. SISTAR aren’t SO COOL because they are in fact ‘cool’, they’re cool because they say so. There’s lots of songs like this which are meant to make the listener feel special, but few of those skip the bullshit and get to the point (or the party) as quickly 

(Plus that’s just one hell of a booty poppin’ beat, isn’t it?)

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2. After School / In The Night Sky

“In The Night Sky” - I shouldn’t like this more than “Shampoo”, but I do, and I just can’t help it. There’s something about the simplicity of this which wins me over every time. What can I say? I’m a sucker for some good “eh eh“‘s, and I can hardly listen to the opening piano notes, coupled with Kahi’s forlorn “I don’t wanna love“‘s without getting at least a bit hazy-eyed. Sometimes the best songs don’t have to be groundbreaking to be great, and this is the best example of that

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1. Brown Eyed Girls / Sixth Sense

A lot could be said for “Sixth Sense”. High-flying vocals, dramatic production, and off-the-wall attitude speak for themselves. When I think of why this is my single of the year, above all else it excels because it has the spirit of adventure, iron-clad determination, and reckless abandon that so often makes K-Pop the most exciting and unpredictable kind of Pop. You have to have some kind of bravery to even think of anything like this. Disco-tango-hip-hop-gospel with crazy diva vocal retorts, soaring high notes, and a rap break? Political commentary with a side of pussy popping? Only Korea. And that’s exactly what makes it the best single of the year.

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