#so though i usually identify myself as a kpop fan (since i'm most active in online kpop circles)

[a-moth-to-the-light]

Songs of the Summer, 2023: Honorable Mentions

[intro & rules]

Allergy – G-IDLE

I like this more than I want to, and that’s mostly because of how catchy that chorus is--it almost makes up for the messy production, but not quite. But I have a feeling this is one of the songs I'll remember the summer by, given how many times I've listened to it--so "Allergy" deserves a place here!

Cool With You – NewJeans

It’s not boring, it’s PEACEFUL!! You just don’t understand me!! *stomps off to my room*

Dance the Night – Dua Lipa

This was my last cut from the official list, actually. It’s mostly a wrong place, wrong time thing--"Dance the Night" would have been THE song last summer, but this summer I’m just kind of like, “Huh, that’s pretty cool, I guess.” 

Estúpida Mentira — Ringo Galperin

Beat of the summer! Outside of that beat, there’s not much else going on with this song, but it’s MY good-texture anthem and you can’t take it away from me!!

Fast Forward – Jeon Somi

Meh, the formula works on me. I love it, I love it, I love it. I could listen to boring club music from a performer like Somi all day. 

Lemon Black Tea // Taxi – Jo Yuri

More good-texture anthems… at least one of these two would have been on the main list if the album had come out earlier in the summer. Maybe “Lemon Black Tea” will be on my Songs of the Year list in January, once I’ve had more time with it! That title alone is worthy of a spot. 

Madeline – Limelight

Obligatory tropical house!! I'm still not sick of tropical house--leave me ALONE. *giggles* This is just so, SO good though, with beautiful performances from the members. After this one AND “Eye to Eye”, I have high hopes for Limelight. 

Sunshine Baby – The Japanese House

“Sunshine Baby” is awesome! … I think? I don’t know, give me two and a half years to get back to you on that--that’s how long I took with the similarly-gloomy “Dionne” (which I now think is her best song), so…

Wicked Love – Yena

Obligatory Yena! I mean, she sounds GREAT in this style of song (I think I called it a top-tier Red Velvet bside back when it first came out), but I have to admit that “Wicked Love” is mostly just here because of how much I’ve liked Yena's previous releases. She’s my favorite of this generation of soloists, and I love the distinctive persona she's built with her discography!  

Zero (J.I.D remix) – NewJeans

This is a VERY begrudging addition; I couldn’t avoid it, though, because of just how much I’ve listened to “Zero” in the past few months. The production on this remix is gorgeous, especially that future bass in the chorus, but even considering how muted the rest of my listening this summer was, I find SO MUCH of this song SO BORING that I really can’t explain why it was so huge for me this summer. 

Air Force One – Odd Eye Circle // None of My Business – Itzy

These sound like fall songs to me, not summer ones, so it feels weird including them here, but I want to at least shout them out, since they were both released this summer!  

[these two were released in early may, but close enough to summer to be songs of the summer for me, anyway]

Kaze – Younha

Younha performs soft songs so well. This is two summers in a row where she’s blown me away with some random understated acoustic track. “Kaze” isn’t quite as wonderful as last year’s “Rain Song”, to be fair, but it still meant a lot to me these past few months. 

Welcome to MY World – Aespa

This probably would have been a new favorite even without Aespa’s vocals, which make any melody a thousand times better, but WITH them, well... I think we have a new kpop classic on our hands, folks. Listening to this at like 5am while I was staying up all night to see the sunrise, just because it was summer and I could, is what finally made it click for me, so I think I’ll always associate it with the summer.