# K-pop and Korean r&b songs from the 1990's until now



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

I love love love K-pop and Korean r&b music. So this thread is for anyone to post their favorite K-pop and Korean r&b songs. I prefer K-pop songs and Korean r&b songs that are from the 1990's up until now. If you can, try to find the english translations for the kpop and Korean r&b songs. Also, feel free to discuss how you got into listening to k-pop and korean r&b, why you like it, and to analyze the nature of k-pop and korean r&b music.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

This is my favorite K-pop song of all time. I'm obsessed with it.


----------



## pikapal (Nov 20, 2018)

I heard this song randomly playing on a local tv channel that shows Korean programming.


----------



## Jaune (Jul 11, 2013)

(not sure if the next one counts as K-pop since it's a Tom Jones cover but I'm still posting it)


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

Here is another one of my favorite kpop songs. I used to play this song so much and I still love it. It is Drip Drop by Taemin, who is in the band Shinee. Taemin showcases his beautiful singing voice, great dance moves, and good lyrics in this song.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)




----------



## jetser (Jan 6, 2016)

I know this was the first:


----------



## blossomier (Jul 24, 2020)

Iconic.

These days I've been obsessed with these two also:


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

My favorite group of all time is Dreamcatcher! For those who love anime / rock / metal music, Dreamcatcher is often said to be a music that anime fans and metalhead can enjoy. So if you are interested you can check them out!

Mayday sounds like an anime opening song.






Scream mixes hard rock / metal with little bit of EDM.






Endless Night is a metal song, this is for their Japanese debut under Pony Canyon label.


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

Jaune said:


>


Wow, I love Red Velvet too! 😁 I was really happy when I found out that they will be playing a role in Trolls.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

Ewok City said:


> My favorite group of all time is Dreamcatcher! For those who love anime / rock / metal music, Dreamcatcher is often said to be a music that anime fans and metalhead can enjoy. So if you are interested you can check them out!
> 
> Mayday sounds like an anime opening song.
> 
> ...


Dreamcatcher seems to be good. I like some rock/metal jrock songs, so I can relate to what you might get from these songs. In my opinion, they can kind of give you an exciting existential angst kind of feeling that makes you feel alive, as if you were a character in some emotional action anime. Do you ever feel anything like this when you listen to DreamCatcher or other korean rock/metal songs?

Personally, I prefer jpop or j r&b songs that have dreamy, spacey sounding instrumentals and that talk about love, emotions, feelings, or nature; but I like some fast paced metal sounding songs sometimes. I also listen to edm a lot and I used to listen to a couple of metal bands. 

By the way, I'm a big anime fan.


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> In my opinion, they can kind of give you an exciting existential angst kind of feeling that makes you feel alive, as if you were a character in some emotional action anime. Do you ever feel anything like this when you listen to DreamCatcher or other korean rock/metal songs?


Yes, Dreamcatcher's "Fly High" in particular sounds like something that can be used as SAO's opening song in my opinion! But lately they have been doing quite a different genre, nowadays their music expresses more about social issues such as cyber-bullying, loneliness despite living in the middle of a crowded city, and unable to reach out help when you need it the most.

One of their latest comeback "Scream" is really filled with angst, as it likens the habit of the K-netizens to that of a witch hunt, where the idols are accused of being witches and being hunted down. As we all know, they like to find faults in the idols and even go as far as to send death threats.

Other K-pop song that I find to sound like anime song are GFriend's songs, a lot of people said that their songs sound like shoujo anime's opening song. My favorites from them are "Navillera", and "Rough".



Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> Personally, I prefer jpop or j r&b songs that have dreamy, spacey sounding instrumentals and that talk about love, emotions, feelings, or nature; but I like some fast paced metal sounding songs sometimes. I also listen to edm a lot and I used to listen to a couple of metal bands.


Ahh yes on daily basis I also listen to softer music, these days I've been listening to a lot of Taeyeon and Sejeong. I listen to all kinds of genre out there, and I find that I listen to particular genre for particular situations. Have you ever listened to Taeyeon's "Rain"? I think you might love it, since it has R&B influences.








Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> By the way, I'm a big anime fan.


There are a lot of good anime songs out there too aren't there? I used to have high school friends who would give me recommendations, but ever since I graduate I haven't been listening to any of them.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

Ewok City said:


> But lately they have been doing quite a different genre, nowadays their music expresses more about social issues such as cyber-bullying, loneliness despite living in the middle of a crowded city, and unable to reach out help when you need it the most.


Songs about social issues sounds really interesting. This is because it gives the music a sense of time and place. Also my interest in psychology and social issues relates to sociology which is somewhat of a similar field. Social issues also reminds of an anime from the 1990's called "Serial Experiments Lain" which was a good anime, but it was hard to understand. Do you have some examples of good songs by Dreamcatchers that deal with social issues?




Ewok City said:


> Ahh yes on daily basis I also listen to softer music, these days I've been listening to a lot of Taeyeon and Sejeong. I listen to all kinds of genre out there, and I find that I listen to particular genre for particular situations. Have you ever listened to Taeyeon's "Rain"? I think you might love it, since it has R&B influences.


That song seems to be pretty good, but I prefer k pop and k r&b songs that sound less mainstream, and have a mysterious vibe to them. For example, this song. 

Cherry Coke, "Blind"





Or this song.

Ripely, "Dream"





I found these two songs by listening to a korean underground indie, r&b, and hip hop live youtube stream. Here is the link to it.









Ewok City said:


> There are a lot of good anime songs out there too aren't there? I used to have high school friends who would give me recommendations, but ever since I graduate I haven't been listening to any of them.


Yeah, anime has a lot of good songs. Watching anime is what got me into listening to Jpop and Jrock, and then got me into Kpop and Kr&b. I have a youtube page with a lot of jpop and jrock songs, mostly from animes. I could give you some good song recommendations, although I dont know if we have the same taste in anime music.


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> Do you have some examples of good songs by Dreamcatchers that deal with social issues?


Yes! A lot of their songs talk about social issues, but their latest comeback "BOCA" in particular is more direct about it. The song's concept is about cyber-bullying and its victim. "Too many angels are dying now", as quoted from the lyrics expresses about good people who have fallen victim to cyber bullies and have taken their own lives.









Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> Cherry Coke, "Blind"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


These are good songs! I haven't really listened to much of these kind of mysterious R&B K-pop, so it was really refreshing.




Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> Yeah, anime has a lot of good songs. Watching anime is what got me into listening to Jpop and Jrock, and then got me into Kpop and Kr&b. I have a youtube page with a lot of jpop and jrock songs, mostly from animes. I could give you some good song recommendations, although I dont know if we have the same taste in anime music.


I'd be more than happy to check it out! You can never have enough of good music after all.  My music taste also happens to be quite broad, being a Music major graduate, I listen to practically any kind of music possible.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

Ewok City said:


> These are good songs! I haven't really listened to much of these kind of mysterious R&B K-pop, so it was really refreshing.


I'm glad that you like them. Seeing how korean r&b and k pop is something that I got into in the past couple years, I'm skeptical about my taste in that kind of music. I feel like you have to listen to different artists of a new genre for a while before you develop a good taste in music of that genre. It's also more difficult because I don't live in Korea so I don't know their sociocultural environment, which would give me some idea of what might have inspired their music.





Ewok City said:


> I'd be more than happy to check it out! You can never have enough of good music after all.  My music taste also happens to be quite broad, being a Music major graduate, I listen to practically any kind of music possible.


Oh you are a music major graduate, that's really cool! I love music, and the different things that it can make you feel. I used to be into music when I was younger. I played the piano for about 5 years and I was in percussion in my school band. I went on to get a bachelors in psychology, so I like to analyze music, and pretty much anything, psychologically.

Here is a link to my youtube page with jpop and jrock songs. It also has some other music and other things that I like there. 
Jpop &Jrock


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> I feel like you have to listen to different artists of a new genre for a while before you develop a good taste in music of that genre.


I agree, before I got into K-pop I was basically listening only to what everyone else is listening. But the more you listen to them, the more you start to see commonalities between them, and as a result develop an appreciation for the artists who are unique.



Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> Oh you are a music major graduate, that's really cool! I love music, and the different things that it can make you feel. I used to be into music when I was younger. I played the piano for about 5 years and I was in percussion in my school band. I went on to get a bachelors in psychology, so I like to analyze music, and pretty much anything, psychologically.


Thanks! ☺ Being in a school band sounds like a really fun experience! I studied a lot of band music when I was in music school, and there was a point where my professor encouraged me to be a band composer. During those times, I do wonder what is it like to play in a band, they seem to be more carefree than the orchestra. At least that's the impression that I get.

Well psychology is cool too, and I think that people who study psychology tend to be interested in music, and vice versa. In my opinion, music is the most emotionally expressive art form, and there is a lot of human psyche and feelings that can be analysed, or simply to be admired. 

Thanks for sharing the playlist! I'll be on a lookout on this thread, so if you find any good songs, please do share it here! We can exchange songs every now and then! 😄

Cheers~

P. S: Home Made Kazoku used to be my favourite artist when I was in middle school! I love "Nagareboshi" and "Hero" so much, I picked up guitar just to learn those songs. I used to think that they were underrated and not too popular, so glad to know that you like them too! ☺


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

Ewok City said:


> Thanks! ☺ Being in a school band sounds like a really fun experience! I studied a lot of band music when I was in music school, and there was a point where my professor encouraged me to be a band composer. During those times, I do wonder what is it like to play in a band, they seem to be more carefree than the orchestra. At least that's the impression that I get.
> 
> Well psychology is cool too, and I think that people who study psychology tend to be interested in music, and vice versa. In my opinion, music is the most emotionally expressive art form, and there is a lot of human psyche and feelings that can be analysed, or simply to be admired.
> 
> ...


Your welcome.
Band was pretty fun, but I was really unmotivated in school so I didn't try my hardest in band and didn't practice much, except when I played the marimba. The marimba is similar to a piano except you hit the notes with a stick. Most of the songs played in my school band were pretty boring though.

I agree with you that imo music is the most emotionally expressive, but I wonder what people in the classic arts, like painting or sculpture, or people in other arts like acting, would have to say about that statement.

The reason why music has a lot of human psyche and feelings that can be analyzed is partially because, according to Kierkagaard, the ears are the most spiritually determined of the senses. I learned this from brainpickings.org. So I guess music is what speaks to our ears the most. This makes me wonder what determines what type of music speaks to someone, and what this says about the person's personality and psyche.

Your welcome. I'll try to share good kpop and k r&b songs if I find them, but I have a hard time finding them because its hard to find English translations to them, and I don't listen to it as much as I listen to other music. Also, most people who posted on my thread seem to have different taste in korean music than me. I actually prefer jpop and jrock music, and I have a thread on this website about jpop and jrock music.

I really love home made kazoku. I like their music, clothing, and hairstyles. Their songs "thank you" and "shounen heart" really have a "feel good" vibe to them. I'll have to check out their songs "Hero" and "Nagareboshi".


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> I agree with you that imo music is the most emotionally expressive, but I wonder what people in the classic arts, like painting or sculpture, or people in other arts like acting, would have to say about that statement.
> 
> The reason why music has a lot of human psyche and feelings that can be analyzed is partially because, according to Kierkagaard, the ears are the most spiritually determined of the senses. I learned this from brainpickings.org. So I guess music is what speaks to our ears the most. This makes me wonder what determines what type of music speaks to someone, and what this says about the person's personality and psyche.


That's really interesting, I haven't really heard about this theory before, but I can agree to it. Since hearing for humans play an important part for communication, and I think feelings and verbal communications are quite closely related, I think that what Kierkegaard said about it should be true.

Well...people from other art forms all have their own opinions on which art is the most expressive, so....this topic is quite debatable 😂




Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> I really love home made kazoku. I like their music, clothing, and hairstyles. Their songs "thank you" and "shounen heart" really have a "feel good" vibe to them. I'll have to check out their songs "Hero" and "Nagareboshi".


Yes, do check them out! Nagareboshi was used as Naruto's ending song, but I'm not really sure which season was that. And there are two versions for "Hero", I like the strings version.




Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> I'll try to share good kpop and k r&b songs if I find them, but I have a hard time finding them because its hard to find English translations to them, and I don't listen to it as much as I listen to other music.


I'll be looking forward! Cheers~


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

Wanna One: Energetic.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

2PM: Take off


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

Ahhh Wanna One! I miss them! Can't believe it's gonna be 2 years since their disbandment soon T.T


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

This song is entirely in English.


----------



## moonpixie (Dec 14, 2012)

My favorite group is Twice.


























And this cover:

https://youtu.be/QTfzryUBlO0


----------



## moonpixie (Dec 14, 2012)

Some others that I really like.


























https://youtu.be/t6MQo7Gusy8


----------



## blossomier (Jul 24, 2020)

I don't know why (quarantine, probably) but I've been listening to a lot of old SUJU songs.






Can you believe this M/V is almost nine years old? It's a child!


I'm not too familiar with the newer groups but I heard like 5(?) Stray Kids songs and I like them. This one is my favorite:






The lyrics... They hit home, fam.


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

blossomier said:


> I don't know why (quarantine, probably) but I've been listening to a lot of old SUJU songs.


My favourite is Bonamana! 

When I was in high school my classmates were crazy about it.


----------



## blossomier (Jul 24, 2020)

Ewok City said:


> My favourite is Bonamana!
> 
> When I was in high school my classmates were crazy about it.


Bonamana is SO GOOD!
The first K-pop video I ever saw was Sorry Sorry. I also love SJ-M's Super Girl.

I wish Donghae and Eunhyuk released more songs like Oppa Oppa and Can You Feel It? because they're so fun, they're not focused only in breaking records and climbing the charts, but fun songs to goof around, you know? I miss listening to dorky songs like this. I don't know if they released more stuff after 2015 (I think the last music video I saw was Growing Pains), but it was great. I miss keeping up with these old idols XD


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

blossomier said:


> because they're so fun, they're not focused only in breaking records and climbing the charts, but fun songs to goof around, you know?


Exactly! 😄

Their music just hits different to me, somehow. 



blossomier said:


> I don't know if they released more stuff after 2015


They're not promoting as much as before, but they do have some new releases. 






This is their cover of an old song, one of my favorites among their latest release.


----------



## blossomier (Jul 24, 2020)

Ewok City said:


> Exactly! 😄
> 
> Their music just hits different to me, somehow.
> 
> ...


The blue ocean @ 2:47! So pretty. I miss being excited about these colours. I know I had memorized some of them when I was a fan: sapphire blue for SUJU, pink was SNSD's, yellow was BIG BANG's (even thought I've never been a V.I.P I knew it XD), f(x) had unofficially the periwinkle... So many memories! I miss f(x), by the way. And KARA.

I love how you know it's an old song because of its vibes. Like when you listen to Miracle or Happiness (either SUJU's or the original one) it has old K-pop feels. Lol


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

blossomier said:


> The blue ocean @ 2:47! So pretty.


Ikr, so pleasing to watch. 



blossomier said:


> sapphire blue for SUJU, pink was SNSD's, yellow was BIG BANG's


Wow, I only know about SNSD! It's amazing that you know all of them. 😆



blossomier said:


> I love how you know it's an old song because of its vibes. Like when you listen to Miracle or Happiness (either SUJU's or the original one) it has old K-pop feels. Lol


Yeah, I love this kind of vibe, it's different but in a refreshing way.


----------



## blossomier (Jul 24, 2020)

Ewok City said:


> Ikr, so pleasing to watch.
> 
> 
> Wow, I only know about SNSD! It's amazing that you know all of them. 😆
> ...


Oh, when I was younger I used to be on Tumblr. I was one of the fans that made edits and gifs. Gif-making was really fun and kind of a hobby. When you see a lot of the K-pop oceans on gifs you get so used to them and automatically your brain knows them all. Nowadays I don't know much; especially because there are lots of newer groups lol

Some KARA appreciation because I miss them a lot:













 (I know it's in Japanese but I can't find the official Korean version)


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

blossomier said:


> Oh, when I was younger I used to be on Tumblr. I was one of the fans that made edits and gifs.


Ah I see, that explains! 



blossomier said:


> Some KARA appreciation because I miss them a lot:


Step is iconic! I miss them too, especially Hara.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

Here are two beautiful Korean r&b songs that I recently listened to. Most of the singing is in English but they are still great songs.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

This is my absolute favorite song right now. It's called Wish by oceanfromtheblue. The artist has a great name, the instrumental to this song is just so dreamy, and his voice is so beautiful. I think that I'm falling in love with korean r&b.


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

Kazuma Ikezawa said:


> This is my absolute favorite song right now. It's called Wish by oceanfromtheblue.


Nice song! 😄 Immediately added to my play list.


----------



## blossomier (Jul 24, 2020)

Oh my God, reading that title somehow reminded of this song:






This song is... _perfect_. I don't know. I love the beginning. Gosh.
I'm not sure if Nell's songs are K-pop or K-R&B but they're amazing. I love their vibes.


----------



## blossomier (Jul 24, 2020)

I don't know what happened to B1A4 and if they're still releasing music these days, but this song was a personal favorite of mine:






This song is uplifting and makes me happy. I also like how it's not about love (a lot of songs - not only K-pop, but music in general) are only about love, so seeing something different from that theme is refreshing.


----------



## Ewok City (Sep 21, 2020)

blossomier said:


>





blossomier said:


>


Both are so uplifting! But I like the latter more somehow. It sounds so fun!


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

blossomier said:


> Oh my God, reading that title somehow reminded of this song:


Songs evocative of the ocean seem to be universally considered beautiful. That's the main thing that I love about korean r&b, some kpop songs, and even jpop and jrock songs. They tap into universally beautiful things related to nature, spirituality, everyday living(more of this in japanese music), or other things that really touch people.


----------



## Kazuma Ikezawa (Oct 21, 2011)

blossomier said:


> I also like how it's not about love (a lot of songs - not only K-pop, but music in general) are only about love, so seeing something different from that theme is refreshing.


But all of korean r&b songs are about love. Also, songs about love tend to have the most dreamy instrumentals and lyrics that really make you feel deeply. Then again, maybe I feel this way because I'm a sucker for love songs and romance. By the way I like korean songs that aren't about love also, especially songs that have a mysterious or existential feel to them, but my favorite korean songs tend to be about love.


----------

