Music

HOP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 Stray Kids Mixtape  HOP —not to be confused with Stray Kids’ 2018 EP titled  Mixtape —is the K-pop group’s final release in a busy 2024. As in hip-hop, K-pop artists use the term “mixtape” to categorize material released without the level of promotional fanfare of a regular album or single; K-pop mixtapes are usually self-produced and may feature tracks that fall outside of a group’s existing discographic boundaries in some way, e.g., a focus on solo music. Stray Kids subunit 3RACHA (aka Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han) has co-written most of the group’s songs since their 2018 debut.  HOP , however, expands the self-production responsibilities, with each member getting co-writing credit on their own solo songs, originally performed as part of the group’s “dominATE” world tour set list. In addition to the solo tracks,  HOP  includes two versions of lead single “Walkin on Water,” an old-school hip-hop track reminiscent of BTS’s “Jump,” which ...

STRATEGY Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 TWICE Ten months after the release of chart-topping mini album  With YOU-th , K-pop group TWICE released  STRATEGY . The 14th mini album in their near decade-long career leads with the English-language “Strategy,” a smooth song outlining the pop powerhouses’ ultra-confident seduction plan: “I got you on my radar, soon you're gonna be with me/My strategy, strategy will getcha, getcha, baby.” Megan Thee Stallion, who is becoming increasingly prolific as a K-pop collaborator, features on the main version of the title track, lending her precise flow to TWICE’s buoyant pop: “I'm a man-eater, you just a light snack/I got him pressed like he's workin' on his triceps.” The K-pop collaboration is a follow-up to TWICE’s feature on the Houston rapper’s “Mamushi” remix, also released in 2024. Elsewhere on the seven-track album, TWICE gives their fans, known as ONCE, a holiday gift with the seasonally minded love song “Magical”: “I always hated the wint...

Like A Flower - The 1st Mini Album Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 IRENE

WISHFUL Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 NCT WISH

Stitch - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 DAVICHI

N/a - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 izna

YOUNHA 7th Album Repackage ‘GROWTH THEORY : Final Edition’ Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 Younha

"SIKE"!! - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 BIG Naughty

Happy - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 JIN In November 2024, five months after his exit from mandatory military service, singer Kim Seok-jin, aka JIN, became the last of BTS’s seven members to release a solo project.   Happy   is a six-track EP from BTS’s eldest, a tenor known for his smooth vocals and warm, sometimes goofy persona. As with many BTS tracks—both solo and group—the six songs on   Happy   are designed as sources of comfort for world-weary listeners looking for a “Dynamite”-level kick-start to, or a “Spring Day”-like reassurance in, their daily routines. “I’ll Be There,” a rockabilly pop-rock track that has JIN promising listeners he will always sing for them, falls into the former category, while the sweet ballad “I will come to you” veers closer to the hopeful yearning of the latter (“When the warm spring breeze blows/I’ll go to you”). Notable collaborators on   Happy   include Gary Barlow, the lead singer and primary songwriter of English rock band...

GOLDEN HOUR : Part.2 - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 ATEEZ On their mid-2024 release   GOLDEN HOUR : Part.1 , K-pop group ATEEZ launched a new chapter of their discography, previously divided into the   TREASURE ,   FEVER , and   WORLD   eras. The   GOLDEN HOUR   era gets its name from the ephemeral period just after sunrise or just before sunset.   GOLDEN HOUR : Part.2   is a six-track follow-up to   Part.1 ; together, the mini albums tell a larger story about ATEEZ’s triumphant 2024, a year defined by a successful world tour and the group’s history-making performance at Coachella. On “Ice on My Teeth,” members Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho trade in the hip-hop anthem bombast for something more subdued, rapping with cool confidence over a buoyant violin riff and a trap beat.   GOLDEN HOUR : Part.2   is a reminder that swagger can be just as effective when delivered subtly. ...

GIANT Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 Stray Kids

DREAMSCAPE Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 NCT DREAM NCT DREAM has always been the most whimsical of NCT’s many subunits. Originally conceived around a “graduation” concept that would see the group’s teen members leaving upon maturation, the K-pop group has been singing about the wonders of youth since their fresh-faced debut in 2016. By 2024, the vocal stylings and thematic explorations of the now fixed-member group have matured along with its seven members. MARK, RENJUN, JENO, HAECHAN, JAEMIN, CHENLE, and JISUNG are no longer singing about “Chewing Gum,” but rather the complexities of searching for something better. NCT DREAM’s fourth album,   DREAMSCAPE , is an ’80s-inspired, fairy-tale-like follow-up to   DREAM( )SCAPE . If   DREAM( )SCAPE   explored the pains and anxieties of contemporary early adulthood, then   DREAMSCAPE   wonders what possibilities await those who are able to escape those burdens. Like with so many pop music discographies, that escape often co...

ROMANCE : UNTOLD -daydream- Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 ENHYPEN

30 Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 SUNGJIN

The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 TOMORROW X TOGETHER In late 2024, TOMORROW X TOGETHER (aka TXT) released their seventh mini album.   The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY   marks the launch of the fourth “chapter” for the fourth-generation K-pop group, known for a discography that broadly follows the growing pains from boyhood to adulthood. In   SANCTUARY , members Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Hueningkai call on the “language of the stars” to tell the story of a lofty love. In the smooth album opener “Heaven,” the twentysomething members sing of a love that transforms their lives into something euphoric (“Heaven is not far away now/The moment we kissed”), while lead single “Over the Moon” continues the sky-high metaphor to depict a divine connection (“Over the moon/Over the stars/Fly up when you're in my arms”). Groovy “Danger” brings attraction back down to visceral earth with the husky hook “What you doin’ to me?” while “Resist (Not Gonna Run Away)...

DRIP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 BABYMONSTER YG Entertainment launched BABYMONSTER in April 2024, hoping the seven-member girl group would follow in the footsteps of their ultra-successful company predecessors 2NE1 and BLACKPINK.  DRIP , BABYMONSTER’s inaugural full-length album, gives young members Ruka, Pharita, Asa, Ahyeon, Rami, Rora, and Chiquita a first proper chance to build towards those K-pop ambitions. “Tonight, the stars are shining bright,” they sing on the title track, a dramatic EDM dance number that fits right into YG’s rich tradition of “girl crush” swagger songs. “Baby got passion, ambition, and I flaunt it,” sings Thai member Pharita, before Korean singer Rami comes in with “Look at that every move I make, I feel it in my bones.” Co-written by BIGBANG’s G-DRAGON, the track sustains its bouncy energy as it builds to a sparkling, sustained high note from Ahyeon, before launching into the high-powered outro. On the English-language rap track “CLIK CLAK,” the girls are “spen...

Greatest Hits - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 Balming Tiger

THE BOYZ 9th MINI ALBUM [導火線 (TRIGGER)] - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 THE BOYZ

746 - The 1st Album Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 Choi Yu Ree

CLICHÉ Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2024 JUKJAE