If you got to make your own K-pop year-end awards show for 2024, who would win?
Last Updated: 21.06.2025 05:07
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Best New Artist: Yves
The only thing with Smart that really deserves major criticism is the decision to give Eunchae the choreography, but that’s entirely on Source Music, not the girls themselves.
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This year’s been really, really good for Stellar-coded, starry songs, and while Cosmic wasn’t quite my favorite 2024 song in this niche, there really isn’t anything more on-the-nose ME than my favorite girl group making a starry synthpop song called Cosmic…except for, on this album, they also released a song called Night Drive. I have never felt more loved.
I suppose I could pick ARTMS for this, since DALL was their official debut as OT5, but I’ll attempt to mix things up! I’m very, very happy with what Yves is doing as a soloist. Her current sound suits her perfectly, and I’m looking forward to what she’ll do next.
The only song I really loved from KiOf last year was Sugarcoat, although Countdown and Says It weren’t bad either. In 2024, however, I enjoyed the vast majority of their releases. Midas Touch and Sticky were fantastic singles, and Te Quiero and especially Chemistry are two of the year’s best b-sides. They were, along with ARTMS, the only group to show up in my year-end top 20 more than once. I think Igloo is probably my least favorite song they’ve put out this year (it’s just not personally my type of song), and even then, I think the hype it gets is fairly justified.
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twen Ahnn Meraki krystal zhang. Iona Craig na jieun lisah Melly Sticker Rose Phan Paromita Away With the Faeries SXNSHINE Bonnie starrxlexy also chrie and bluejinnie, who i can’t tag, and I’m sure I’m missing plenty of others
Worst Trends of the Year: Funeral Wreaths and AI
Most Stellar Release (the most obviously Stellar-coded song): Cosmic- Red Velvet
Why am I so triggered and depressed over a minor thing?
Most Unnecessary Artist: Naevis
Again, see my big list, but it felt like a lot of the year’s fan favorite releases (such as those from ARTMS, Kep1er, and Red Velvet, among others) can be summed up as Stellarcore. I’m thankful.
Best Trend of the Year: Starry, Stellar Synthpop
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Honorable mentions to Happy Ending by Kep1er, Rose Blossom by H1-KEY, LALALALA by Stray Kids, and Maniac by Viviz.
B-Side of the Year: Butterfly Effect- ARTMS
ੈ✩‧₊˚ this could be the end of everything…
When was you wife swapping fantasy started?
Bias of the Year (the idol I loved following most): Seonghwa- Ateez
Honorable mention to Woke Up In Tokyo by BabyMonster, which is probably objectively worse, but I’m likely going to forget about that song’s existence. Like Magic is doomed to rot in my head for the rest of eternity. I predict it will be like Permission To Dance, one of those songs where I know I hate it, but when I actually do hear it, I’m still flabbergasted by how bad it sounds to me.
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Best Kpop-Related Thing To Ever Happen in 2024: Aniteez
This post will definitely be pretty messy and spur-of-the-moment, but I hope y’all like it anyway, and if I’m still around here in 2025, maybe it can be a tradition!
Song of the Year: Virtual Angel- ARTMS
Honorable mention to Supersonic by fromis_9 and DAY6 in general- I love both groups, so seeing them get more attention in Korea was well-deserved and satisfying.
…so why don’t we go, somewhere only we know ੈ✩‧₊˚
Every single time a kpop group has put out mascot characters, I’ve adored it, and I always wanted Ateez to get their own mascots, but even with that, Aniteez exceeded all of my expectations. These little guys are angels. Nothing brought me joy like seeing pictures of the Aniteez characters (especially pictures of the members posing with their characters), and promptly sending them to my Atiny friends.
Do you feel uncomfortable when you come across cross dressers?
Best Song Ending: DIM- Yves
Rot in hell, you bastard.
Storytelling, cool aesthetics, and cinematic visuals are great, but this was my favorite music video this year because it does so much with such a simple setup. It’s one of those rare videos where I saw it once and thought “man, people are going to talk about this for years.” It’s so silly and filled with pure personality. It also works really well for what the song is- they’re all dressed the same to show that they’re “wives” rather than people, but they’re constantly trying to break out of that mold and be their own people. Wife is weird as hell, but it’s addicting, instantly iconic, and suits the song perfectly. Hats off to I-DLE’s creative team for making this work.
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The bulk of the song’s maybe a bit too spare for me personally, but it’s worth it to get to that ending. It makes me feel everything.
Biggest Disappointment: Taeil’s Existence
Music Video of the Year: Wife- I-DLE
What would you do if you found out that someone had broken into your home while you were sleeping?
Song That Got Away (a 2023 song I didn’t hear until this year, but loved): In Bloom- ZeroBaseOne
I don’t think I need to explain any of this, go read my favorite songs of 2024 list if you haven’t! I would like to write an elaborate answer about how much I love DALL as an album. Maybe I’ll do that in 2025.
The crux of Seonghwa is his ability to be both the most intimidatingly beautiful person I’ve ever seen in my life…and the cutest. He absolutely delivered on both sides this year. Seonghwa’s confidence in his personal style has never been stronger; obviously he’s always been gorgeous, but seeing him so clearly come into his own and become who he wants to be just makes me happy to be alive. He was constantly appearing in fantastic androgynous looks and slaying all of them. The long black hair he had for the majority of the year is one of his absolute best looks, the silver hair he currently has is pretty great, and in the concept photos for Golden Hour Part 2, we finally got the long-awaited return of Pink Seonghwa! It was just a wig but he still looked as beautiful as ever.
Album of the Year: DALL- ARTMS
I really don’t need to explain why funeral wreaths are awful. As for AI, it can be used as a tool, I suppose, but it’s concerning that groups who are known for their stellar creative direction (ARTMS, Red Velvet, Billlie, Aespa, and Kiss of Life, among others) keep featuring AI art in their albums. AI servers use up obscene amounts of water, and it’s ultimately pretty wasteful when the “art” we get from AI doesn’t even look that good. When it comes to art, AI can never compete with what humans can do. And on that note:
I really didn’t think I needed to care that much about ZB1 since I didn’t watch the show, but when I finally got around to listening to In Bloom, it really struck a chord with me. The ending is incredible. It just feels like they’re fighting so hard to prove themselves in the industry and establish a connection with fans, and that’s just really special. I don’t love every ZB1 song and there are still plenty I haven’t heard, but Sweat was one of my 2024 faves, so that makes sense!
At first, I thought it was a disappointment in comparison to what a banger Supernova was, but that pre-chorus worked its way into my heart for sure.
We really, really needed a song like this to get this big. Supernova is larger-than-life, silly and campy in the way that many of SM’s classic releases are, and it’s just so catchy and memorable. It’s a reminder of why many people got into kpop in the first place. It’s too soon to tell if Supernova was a one-off or if its success will set any trends within the industry, but either way, it shows that deep down, the people yearn for maximalism and fun. Also the biggest song of the year says “stellar” in its chorus. I liked that!
The discussion surrounding “separating the art from the artist” is a complicated one and I think there’s a place for many opinions, but personally, I haven’t felt comfortable listening to NCT 127 because the monster in question is all over those songs and played a big role in my love for a lot of them. (Especially with NCT’s reputation for “hoe anthems”- I really, really do not want to hear a rapist singing those!) First and foremost, it’s a disappointment that he would genuinely violate someone’s entire existence, but it’s also a disappointment that one unspeakable action can singlehandedly ruin art that many other creatives worked on and that millions of fans found joy in.
Honorable mentions go to NMIXX and IU. NMIXX’s music has greatly improved and they are now in the good place I’ve always wanted them to be- distinct music that feels unique and suits their talents well. IU’s probably the artist I’ve grown to like most this year, but that’s more because I gave her discography as a whole a bigger chance rather than only her 2024 releases, and I think this award should honor the 2024 music that impressed me most.
Even as a diehard Seonghwa bias, my favorite is actually Sandeoki. She looks like San and is a precious purple cat. I adore all the designs though!
This isn’t a typical “awards show,” it’s just a fun way for me to sum up some of kpop’s other happenings this year. This is what kpop was like for me as a fan!
If you asked me at the beginning of the year who would release my favorite boy group song of the year, I probably would’ve guessed ten other groups before I guessed The Boyz. While I casually enjoy some of their songs, I never would’ve anticipated just how much Nectar would mean to me. The way that this song feels, I would like to feel all the time.
Biggest Grower (the one I grew to like the most): Armageddon- Aespa
What’s most frustrating to me is that Naevis’s singing voice is AI-generated. With very few exceptions, I oppose the usage of AI in art, and from what I’ve heard of Naevis’s song, the vocals just sound absolutely abysmal. Even outside of that, it’s heartbreaking that SM artists like NCT Dream have very openly criticized the usage of AI, only for their company to pull this shit.
This will be my last answer for 2024, so I’m going to use the opportunity to tag some people who I loved interacting with this year, just to thank them for the good times!
Artist of the Year: ARTMS
I’d say that, removed from my bias, Aespa is probably the best choice for Artist of the Year. In terms of visual/art direction, there was no artist more exciting than they were.
Most Overhated Song (a song that got more hate than it deserves, not overrated): Smart- Le Sserafim
I know this is framed as an awards show, and I shouldn’t be rewarding behavior as heinous as what Taeil did, so here is his special “trophy”:
Best Success Story (the big hit I loved to see become a hit): Supernova- Aespa
In any other case, I’d find it pretty rude to call an artist “unnecessary,” but Naevis is not a real person so she won’t be hurt. I just want to know who asked for this. I’m sure there are people who are invested in the SMCU/Aespa’s lore, but did anyone seriously want Naevis to be treated as an idol? Did SM see the love people had for Welcome To MY World last year and think we liked it because we love Naevis as a singer? It’s ridiculous.
But if you know me, you know I mostly stan him for the cute, soft moments, and as always, Hwa was very, very cute this year. He gave the world multiple Lego lives, adorable moments at fansigns, and the holy grail: the Orange Caramel dance cover he did at a fancon in July with Yunho and San! My guy was fully in it, and I was obsessed. I’m begging y’all to look the video up when you are sad.
I could give the award to a song (Ateez’s two title tracks, along with Eenie Meenie by Chungha and Hongjoong- man I wish I liked that one more) or artist (BabyMonster and MEOVV, talented groups who are let down by YG’s stale producers) I found disappointing, but the biggest let-down I’ve ever had in kpop is Taeil. Waking up that morning and opening Reddit to the news that he had done one of the most indefensible things a human being can ever do absolutely horrified me and broke my heart. While I never called him a “bias,” I always loved his singing and thought he seemed like a nice, chill guy, only to learn that the opposite was true.
Most Improved Artist (the artist I grew to like the most this year): Kiss of Life
Biggest Pleasant Surprise: Nectar- The Boyz
Le Sserafim in general were really overhated, but if I must single out a specific song, it’s Smart. As soon as they teased it, I saw a whole bunch of whining: “they’re doing afrobeats which is appropriation of African artists!” “they’re copying Tyla!” “LSRFM problematic!” And maybe this would’ve been valid…if not for the fact that just a few months later, Kiss of Life released Sticky, another afrobeats-inspired song, and people ate it up. It’s not to say that everyone has to love Smart or that Sticky is bad (I mean, Sticky is in my top 20 for the year and Smart is kinda whatever), but the difference in their reception really represents Le Sserafim’s hate train as a whole.
thanks for everything, i’m glad y’all exist!
I don’t like being negative, and I likely wouldn’t have this category if I didn’t have something agreeable. I know most fans boycotted this due to JYP collaborating with Coca-Cola; I chose to listen to a reupload because of this. But even outside of the moral implications of the song, Like Magic is an atrocity on a musical level. A lot of the time, the worst songs are the catchiest, and that’s Like Magic. It’s awfully-produced and extremely annoying, and the most annoying part is that whenever I remember it exists, I end up with JUMP! JUMP IN! LKJSLKJLSKDFJLSKF MAGIC! looping in my head and I want to punch something.
Worst Song of the Year: Like Magic- JYPNation
Honorable mentions to TWS for their consistency and Rescene for their boundless potential. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rescene releases a SOTY contender this coming year.