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useless top 2023 rankings
um i am well aware that today is 3rd january 2025. let's move on.
unlike 2022 i listened to a bunch of songs last year so i made separate lists.
top jp songs:
1. night drive groovin’ - king & prince
2. hitohitohito - sixtones
3. rinjyu love - macaroni empitsu
4. sonna bitter na hanashi - vaundy
5. kokkara - sixtones
6. life goes on - king & prince
7. i wish - naniwa danshi
8. tobe - spitz
9. kaiju no saizu - backnumber
10. anthem - sixtones
ok look the only thing you need to know about night drive groovin’ is that it is the best b-side kinpuri has ever released (i know because i listened to all of their songs last year). i will always grieve for everyone who will never know how crazy amazing this song is. b-side of the century.
do you know the feeling when a song is insanely good it made you check out the artist even though you have been actively ignoring them all this while? hitohitohito is that song. admittedly i’ve known suto since before they debuted bc a mutual liked them, but i had zero interest in them aside from hokuto until they released this super ultra jinjja majide legendary hitohitohito playlist performance which i only watched out of curiosity and because the title intrigued me. i fell in love with both the song and their energy all at once. then they released kokkara which was also insanely good and crazy fun, and now here i am.
there are no words to describe the way rinjyu love rips out my heart!!!! I listened to it without knowing it was the theme song for the drama hyakumankai ieba yokatta, but after watching it this song hurts even more. please do yourself a favour and watch their the first take performance.
special mentions: 8loom’s discography i know they were released in 2022 but i watched kimi no hana ni naru in early 2023 and became OBSESSED with all their songs (come again and kimi no hana ni naru in particular). i still go back and watch their performance on kcon every now and then… for real no one gets you the way your favourite fictional band does.
top kr songs:
1. O (circle) - onew
2. drowning - woodz
3. let me in - exo
4. guilty - taemin
5. eta - newjeans
6. in bloom - zerobaseone
7. ready to fight - woodz
8. kitsch - ive
9. siren - riize
10. hard - shinee
O is just soooooooooooooo good i go back to it every now and then and still get goosebumps at how beautiful it is. it’s literally perfect in every way right from the first beat to the lyrics and how much onew’s voice colour complements the song.
ok i actually have so much love and so much to say about every song on this list so let me just go through them.
hi queen drowning. every single woodz’s mini has a gem hidden amongst its b-sides, and drowning is one of them. probably not an exaggeration to say i fell in love with it right from the first strum of guitar in the beginning, and i love love love so much how the verse builds up to the chorus and paves way for the bridge. it’s such an honour to be able to experience this song live in person in such a great venue T___T really a magical moment and so surreal i’d give anything to go back.
admittedly as much as it was exciting to have new exo music after so long, i didn’t like let me in right away, until some time later when a friend rt-ed the final chorus of the song and i finally realized [elizabeth bennet voice] i’ve been so blind (deaf). now every time i listen to it i have to repeat the final chorus at least 3 times in a row.
before we begin here’s a funny surreal crazy story about guilty: this mini album was released on 30th october. spotify wrapped cut off date is 31st october 11.59pm. that night i put the song on loop and let it play as i slept until my earbuds ran out of battery. it made it to #10 of my top songs of 2023. now back to the song. in all honesty i did not like the song right away from the first listen like i did advice, but the more i listened to it the more haunting it became. love how the strings added so many layers to the song — it really gives off the impression/vibes of being chained in an empty, abandoned castle all by yourself.
i’d been so excited for eta ever since they revealed it at their fanmeeting that i was so so disappointed to learn that not only that it is not the title song, the actual title song turned out to be sooooo different from eta and it received the least attention. for real i do not like super shy at all i feel that the beat is too repetitive and gets boring… meanwhile eta is so fun and catchy and even has morally ambiguous lyrics.
ready to fight is a core memory to me because it takes me back to the concert every time. it’s such a fun fun song with cheeky cocky lyrics that give me confidence whenever i need it. but for real i loved every single song from this mini.
no one will probably believe how much i love in bloom lmao……… what a perfect debut song for real it’s my top 5 favourite debut songs of ever. i can’t really describe it but something about this song reminds me so much of 8loom, and since this song was released when i was going through 8loom withdrawals it felt a bit like a consolation gift u__u but i’m not kidding it makes me happy every single time i listen to it like for real there’s not a single thing about the song that i dislike. perfect song perfect lyrics perfect choreography perfect vocals even.
if kitsch has a million fans, i'm one of them. if it has a 1000 fans, i'm still one of them. if it has 2 fans, i’m still one of them, and wonyoung is the other.
lmao i definitely did not like hard at first (or second or third) listen. i remember going to crys saying the song sounds like an nct dream b-side reject to me, and she was mildly offended jsgdhsj (to be fair i stopped knowing dream’s sound after hot sauce). anyways hard started to grow on me after i watched the live performance. it’s definitely a song you watch instead of simply listening.
siren……….. [looks out the window]
special mentions: busted - woodz, she loves me she loves me not - taemin, bad reputation - jini, either way - ive, bomba - kai
top eng songs:
1. cool about it - boygenius
2. true blue - boygenius
3. can’t catch me now - olivia rodrigo
4. not strong enough - boygenius
5. crave - paramore
not sure what i was going through (if i went through anything at all) but i spent most of november and december looping boygenius’s album. i particularly love these three songs and played them so much they would’ve made it to my spotify wrapped if the cut off date hadn’t been october.
top mvs:
1. life goes on - king & prince
2. guilty - taemin
3. either way - ive
4. O (circle) - onew
5. get a guitar - riize
um no mv really stood out to me in 2023, but then again i don’t really watch mvs unless i stan the group/person so i don’t have a lot to choose from to begin with. tight race between life goes on and guilty for me but in the end nostalgia triumphs because life goes on is just so bittersweet.
top lyrics:
1. the entirety of zb1’s in bloom but these in particular:
“i’ll give you every first / my first and last love”
“i’ll give you / my brightest now”
“my name that blossoms at the tip of your lips / will you call it / so that it won’t get lost forever”
“i just pretend not to know / it replays day after day / even if the ending never changes / i will still run towards you”
2. the entirety of onew’s O but especially:
“times when everyone was laughing / but i seemed to be the only one struggling / times when i was smiling / times when someone else was lonely in the long night // since we resemble each other that way / we can embrace one another without words”
“there are things we can’t hold in our hands / but still have”
“even without words / there’s something that’s written / hearts that give love / without special reasons”
“the sun, the wind, the clouds, the ocean / round and round, the time goes / meetings, partings, and again / our nameless eternity that doesn’t end”
3. rinjyuu love - macaroni empitsu
“i want to call your name over and over again / even if my voice can’t reach you”
“a starry sky over a swing / a sticky keyhole / a lonely apartment / the promised cassette that i wasn’t able to give you / “i’m sorry, i can’t wait for you anymore”
“as expected, i still want to be called by your voice on my last night / i can’t die yet / i want to hold you and tell you / thank you for everything, please go on and be well”
4. kokkara - sixtones
“with the enthusiasm of a child, i’ll give it my best / this love i’ve got for my dream has got to be reciprocated / from here, it starts from here”
also need to give a shout out to this message in their mv description: "even though things don't go right, even though you're not a genius, let's start
5. i am - ive
“you are someone’s dreams come true”
6. cool about it - boygenius
“but we don’t have to talk about it / i can walk you home and practice method acting”
7. hito hito hito - sixtones
“putting wrinkles and wrinkles (of our palms) together, we get a happy 🙏 (person)”
8. eta - newjeans
"i'll be there right now / lose that boy on her arm // need a boy on my arm / want a boy on my arm / need a boy on my arm"
9. life goes on - king & prince
"nobody knows what the right answer is / but if you keep your head down, you won't notice the sparkling blue sky"
"yes, everyone is surely hiding the pains in their hearts / but every time i stumble or fall, i can feel your love"
10. night drive groovin' - king & prince
""i don't want to go home" / i've been waiting for that one sentence the whole time"
11. she loves me, she loves me not - taemin
“she loves me, she loves me not / petals withering one by one / i stare blankly / she loves me not”
12. abyss - woodz
“it’s alright if you wish for a lot / i’ll let you have everything you want / but if there’s one thing i’d ask from you / don’t try to know me in every way”
13. bad reputation - jini
“i’ve got a bad reputation with love / i love too little or a little too much”
top choreographies:
1. kokkara - sixtones
2. siren - riize
3. get a guitar - riize
4. life goes on - king & prince
5. in bloom - zerobaseone
everyone please look at how crazy fun kokkara's choreography is!!! i watched and loved every single performance they did because you can truly feel their energy. i'm still so obsessed with the footwork to this day @_@ also still obsessed with siren to the point that i watched so many reactions and dance covers when it was first release because it was so fun to see people (trying to) nailing wonbin's first "pull it back the siren" part. such a perfect introduction to a group that's supposed to be centered around performance and a perfect buildup to get a guitar too. we truly had it all before sm ruined everything...
never been a big fan of challenges but the cast of yuugure doing life goes on's dance was the closest we've had to a dance challenge for starto groups and it was truly cute especially since they were all included in the closing sequence T___T again no words to describe how much i love zb1's in bloom!!
special mention: 8loom's kimi no hana ni naru ("shida it was released in 2022!!" i know but i was obsessed with it the entire 2023 (and 2024)) please look at the part where they all hold hands during the line "don't worry 'cause i'm with you / you're not alone" in the final chorus... my beloved children....
top dramas:
1. hidden love
2. my second aoharu
3. yuugure ni, te wo tsunagu
4. maiko-san chi no makanai-san
5. call it love
do you ever love a drama series so much you watch it twice within a year? hidden love is a 98% perfect drama to me because it explored my favourite trope carefully and pulled it off perfectly. also i need everyone to know my favourite scene is actually the airport scene in ep 7 when sang yan picks sang zhi up and she immediately starts crying the moment she sees him after holding it in the whole day.
really didn’t have high expectations for my second aoharu but it turned out to be soooo good. the whole romance is risky but i think they executed it well by actually addressing the issue the entire time. what made it so good though is the found family trope within the people in the sharehouse and how incredibly precious every single one of them is.
top movies:
1. the first slam dunk
2. watashi no shiawase na kekkon
3. past lives
4. free! -the final stroke- kouhen
5. close
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK IS EVERYTHING TO ME. i really wish i could’ve gone to see it more than once at the cinema because it was such an incredible experience, especially as a girl who grew up reading the manga and watching the anime. love love love that not only they actually picked up from where the anime left off (i literally grew up questioning why they never included the final game in the anime), but also the fact that they switched up the pov and made miyagi, not even the second lead of the series, as the main character of movie. every single aspect of the movie is so perfect slam dunk is so perfect!!!!!
okay look in all honesty i hardly remember anything about this free movie and admittedly it dragged so much that i lost interest halfway through. HOWEVER the final scene is so incredible that i lost my mind (i still do whenever i remember) so it deserves to be here. PLEASE WATCH THIS SCENE. ended shinkai makoto.
top boys: (nino, taemin, kamiki, jongin and jjp are exempted from the list)
1. woodz
2. micchi
3. fumiya
4. hokuto
5. sungchan
6. wonbin
7. nagase ren
8. choi wooshik
9. mizukami koshi
10. sato takeru
top girls: (soojung is exempted)
1. imada mio
2. fukumoto riko
3. deguchi natsuki
4. zhao lusi
5. an yujin
6. hanni
7. park gyuyoung
top pairings:
1. duan jiaxu/sang zhi (hidden love)
2. rinharu (free!) forever
3. kirika/haru (trillion game)
4. sho/ren
5. neulbin (@crys if you see this)
unlike 2022 i listened to a bunch of songs last year so i made separate lists.
top jp songs:
1. night drive groovin’ - king & prince
2. hitohitohito - sixtones
3. rinjyu love - macaroni empitsu
4. sonna bitter na hanashi - vaundy
5. kokkara - sixtones
6. life goes on - king & prince
7. i wish - naniwa danshi
8. tobe - spitz
9. kaiju no saizu - backnumber
10. anthem - sixtones
ok look the only thing you need to know about night drive groovin’ is that it is the best b-side kinpuri has ever released (i know because i listened to all of their songs last year). i will always grieve for everyone who will never know how crazy amazing this song is. b-side of the century.
do you know the feeling when a song is insanely good it made you check out the artist even though you have been actively ignoring them all this while? hitohitohito is that song. admittedly i’ve known suto since before they debuted bc a mutual liked them, but i had zero interest in them aside from hokuto until they released this super ultra jinjja majide legendary hitohitohito playlist performance which i only watched out of curiosity and because the title intrigued me. i fell in love with both the song and their energy all at once. then they released kokkara which was also insanely good and crazy fun, and now here i am.
there are no words to describe the way rinjyu love rips out my heart!!!! I listened to it without knowing it was the theme song for the drama hyakumankai ieba yokatta, but after watching it this song hurts even more. please do yourself a favour and watch their the first take performance.
special mentions: 8loom’s discography i know they were released in 2022 but i watched kimi no hana ni naru in early 2023 and became OBSESSED with all their songs (come again and kimi no hana ni naru in particular). i still go back and watch their performance on kcon every now and then… for real no one gets you the way your favourite fictional band does.
top kr songs:
1. O (circle) - onew
2. drowning - woodz
3. let me in - exo
4. guilty - taemin
5. eta - newjeans
6. in bloom - zerobaseone
7. ready to fight - woodz
8. kitsch - ive
9. siren - riize
10. hard - shinee
O is just soooooooooooooo good i go back to it every now and then and still get goosebumps at how beautiful it is. it’s literally perfect in every way right from the first beat to the lyrics and how much onew’s voice colour complements the song.
ok i actually have so much love and so much to say about every song on this list so let me just go through them.
hi queen drowning. every single woodz’s mini has a gem hidden amongst its b-sides, and drowning is one of them. probably not an exaggeration to say i fell in love with it right from the first strum of guitar in the beginning, and i love love love so much how the verse builds up to the chorus and paves way for the bridge. it’s such an honour to be able to experience this song live in person in such a great venue T___T really a magical moment and so surreal i’d give anything to go back.
admittedly as much as it was exciting to have new exo music after so long, i didn’t like let me in right away, until some time later when a friend rt-ed the final chorus of the song and i finally realized [elizabeth bennet voice] i’ve been so blind (deaf). now every time i listen to it i have to repeat the final chorus at least 3 times in a row.
before we begin here’s a funny surreal crazy story about guilty: this mini album was released on 30th october. spotify wrapped cut off date is 31st october 11.59pm. that night i put the song on loop and let it play as i slept until my earbuds ran out of battery. it made it to #10 of my top songs of 2023. now back to the song. in all honesty i did not like the song right away from the first listen like i did advice, but the more i listened to it the more haunting it became. love how the strings added so many layers to the song — it really gives off the impression/vibes of being chained in an empty, abandoned castle all by yourself.
i’d been so excited for eta ever since they revealed it at their fanmeeting that i was so so disappointed to learn that not only that it is not the title song, the actual title song turned out to be sooooo different from eta and it received the least attention. for real i do not like super shy at all i feel that the beat is too repetitive and gets boring… meanwhile eta is so fun and catchy and even has morally ambiguous lyrics.
ready to fight is a core memory to me because it takes me back to the concert every time. it’s such a fun fun song with cheeky cocky lyrics that give me confidence whenever i need it. but for real i loved every single song from this mini.
no one will probably believe how much i love in bloom lmao……… what a perfect debut song for real it’s my top 5 favourite debut songs of ever. i can’t really describe it but something about this song reminds me so much of 8loom, and since this song was released when i was going through 8loom withdrawals it felt a bit like a consolation gift u__u but i’m not kidding it makes me happy every single time i listen to it like for real there’s not a single thing about the song that i dislike. perfect song perfect lyrics perfect choreography perfect vocals even.
if kitsch has a million fans, i'm one of them. if it has a 1000 fans, i'm still one of them. if it has 2 fans, i’m still one of them, and wonyoung is the other.
lmao i definitely did not like hard at first (or second or third) listen. i remember going to crys saying the song sounds like an nct dream b-side reject to me, and she was mildly offended jsgdhsj (to be fair i stopped knowing dream’s sound after hot sauce). anyways hard started to grow on me after i watched the live performance. it’s definitely a song you watch instead of simply listening.
siren……….. [looks out the window]
special mentions: busted - woodz, she loves me she loves me not - taemin, bad reputation - jini, either way - ive, bomba - kai
top eng songs:
1. cool about it - boygenius
2. true blue - boygenius
3. can’t catch me now - olivia rodrigo
4. not strong enough - boygenius
5. crave - paramore
not sure what i was going through (if i went through anything at all) but i spent most of november and december looping boygenius’s album. i particularly love these three songs and played them so much they would’ve made it to my spotify wrapped if the cut off date hadn’t been october.
top mvs:
1. life goes on - king & prince
2. guilty - taemin
3. either way - ive
4. O (circle) - onew
5. get a guitar - riize
um no mv really stood out to me in 2023, but then again i don’t really watch mvs unless i stan the group/person so i don’t have a lot to choose from to begin with. tight race between life goes on and guilty for me but in the end nostalgia triumphs because life goes on is just so bittersweet.
top lyrics:
1. the entirety of zb1’s in bloom but these in particular:
“i’ll give you every first / my first and last love”
“i’ll give you / my brightest now”
“my name that blossoms at the tip of your lips / will you call it / so that it won’t get lost forever”
“i just pretend not to know / it replays day after day / even if the ending never changes / i will still run towards you”
2. the entirety of onew’s O but especially:
“times when everyone was laughing / but i seemed to be the only one struggling / times when i was smiling / times when someone else was lonely in the long night // since we resemble each other that way / we can embrace one another without words”
“there are things we can’t hold in our hands / but still have”
“even without words / there’s something that’s written / hearts that give love / without special reasons”
“the sun, the wind, the clouds, the ocean / round and round, the time goes / meetings, partings, and again / our nameless eternity that doesn’t end”
3. rinjyuu love - macaroni empitsu
“i want to call your name over and over again / even if my voice can’t reach you”
“a starry sky over a swing / a sticky keyhole / a lonely apartment / the promised cassette that i wasn’t able to give you / “i’m sorry, i can’t wait for you anymore”
“as expected, i still want to be called by your voice on my last night / i can’t die yet / i want to hold you and tell you / thank you for everything, please go on and be well”
4. kokkara - sixtones
“with the enthusiasm of a child, i’ll give it my best / this love i’ve got for my dream has got to be reciprocated / from here, it starts from here”
also need to give a shout out to this message in their mv description: "even though things don't go right, even though you're not a genius, let's start
5. i am - ive
“you are someone’s dreams come true”
6. cool about it - boygenius
“but we don’t have to talk about it / i can walk you home and practice method acting”
7. hito hito hito - sixtones
“putting wrinkles and wrinkles (of our palms) together, we get a happy 🙏 (person)”
8. eta - newjeans
"i'll be there right now / lose that boy on her arm // need a boy on my arm / want a boy on my arm / need a boy on my arm"
9. life goes on - king & prince
"nobody knows what the right answer is / but if you keep your head down, you won't notice the sparkling blue sky"
"yes, everyone is surely hiding the pains in their hearts / but every time i stumble or fall, i can feel your love"
10. night drive groovin' - king & prince
""i don't want to go home" / i've been waiting for that one sentence the whole time"
11. she loves me, she loves me not - taemin
“she loves me, she loves me not / petals withering one by one / i stare blankly / she loves me not”
12. abyss - woodz
“it’s alright if you wish for a lot / i’ll let you have everything you want / but if there’s one thing i’d ask from you / don’t try to know me in every way”
13. bad reputation - jini
“i’ve got a bad reputation with love / i love too little or a little too much”
top choreographies:
1. kokkara - sixtones
2. siren - riize
3. get a guitar - riize
4. life goes on - king & prince
5. in bloom - zerobaseone
everyone please look at how crazy fun kokkara's choreography is!!! i watched and loved every single performance they did because you can truly feel their energy. i'm still so obsessed with the footwork to this day @_@ also still obsessed with siren to the point that i watched so many reactions and dance covers when it was first release because it was so fun to see people (trying to) nailing wonbin's first "pull it back the siren" part. such a perfect introduction to a group that's supposed to be centered around performance and a perfect buildup to get a guitar too. we truly had it all before sm ruined everything...
never been a big fan of challenges but the cast of yuugure doing life goes on's dance was the closest we've had to a dance challenge for starto groups and it was truly cute especially since they were all included in the closing sequence T___T again no words to describe how much i love zb1's in bloom!!
special mention: 8loom's kimi no hana ni naru ("shida it was released in 2022!!" i know but i was obsessed with it the entire 2023 (and 2024)) please look at the part where they all hold hands during the line "don't worry 'cause i'm with you / you're not alone" in the final chorus... my beloved children....
top dramas:
1. hidden love
2. my second aoharu
3. yuugure ni, te wo tsunagu
4. maiko-san chi no makanai-san
5. call it love
do you ever love a drama series so much you watch it twice within a year? hidden love is a 98% perfect drama to me because it explored my favourite trope carefully and pulled it off perfectly. also i need everyone to know my favourite scene is actually the airport scene in ep 7 when sang yan picks sang zhi up and she immediately starts crying the moment she sees him after holding it in the whole day.
really didn’t have high expectations for my second aoharu but it turned out to be soooo good. the whole romance is risky but i think they executed it well by actually addressing the issue the entire time. what made it so good though is the found family trope within the people in the sharehouse and how incredibly precious every single one of them is.
top movies:
1. the first slam dunk
2. watashi no shiawase na kekkon
3. past lives
4. free! -the final stroke- kouhen
5. close
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK IS EVERYTHING TO ME. i really wish i could’ve gone to see it more than once at the cinema because it was such an incredible experience, especially as a girl who grew up reading the manga and watching the anime. love love love that not only they actually picked up from where the anime left off (i literally grew up questioning why they never included the final game in the anime), but also the fact that they switched up the pov and made miyagi, not even the second lead of the series, as the main character of movie. every single aspect of the movie is so perfect slam dunk is so perfect!!!!!
okay look in all honesty i hardly remember anything about this free movie and admittedly it dragged so much that i lost interest halfway through. HOWEVER the final scene is so incredible that i lost my mind (i still do whenever i remember) so it deserves to be here. PLEASE WATCH THIS SCENE. ended shinkai makoto.
top boys: (nino, taemin, kamiki, jongin and jjp are exempted from the list)
1. woodz
2. micchi
3. fumiya
4. hokuto
5. sungchan
6. wonbin
7. nagase ren
8. choi wooshik
9. mizukami koshi
10. sato takeru
top girls: (soojung is exempted)
1. imada mio
2. fukumoto riko
3. deguchi natsuki
4. zhao lusi
5. an yujin
6. hanni
7. park gyuyoung
top pairings:
1. duan jiaxu/sang zhi (hidden love)
2. rinharu (free!) forever
3. kirika/haru (trillion game)
4. sho/ren
5. neulbin (@crys if you see this)
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also i queued up drowning again after you mentioned it here... too good.
screaming at nct b-side discourse well i stand by my stance that hard sounds more like a 127 reject! especially after they came out with walk and they're clearly veering more towards grungy hip-hop.
SCREAMING AGAIN AT THE SHIPS..... very important btw i have to know is the naming intentional (ie left/right) or just what u know them as. it decides my opinion
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glad that you're also a drowning enjoyer <333333
LOL i don't really care about the left/right thing and the... positioning doesn't really matter to me as of now... you can convince me either way