How we feel about songs change over time, especially when our standards evolve as we listen to more and more sounds. Some melodies simply hold up better than others, just as how some production trends end up feeling outdated quite quickly.
Hence, I thought that coming back to all the songs I’ve reviewed the whole year so far and giving my updated thoughts on them would be a great idea. I realised recently that a lot of my posts often have quite inflated scores, especially in comparison to how I would end up feeling about the song. It is still something I am working on, but I promise that the consistency within the standard of evaluation will improve as I keep writing, learning, and figuring things out. I ask to bear with me until then!
Without further ado, here is the post! Note that for the songs which my thoughts remained the same since review, I decided to omit them from the post to prevent it from being more cluttered than it already is. I will hyperlink my original reviews to each song mentioned in the song titles.
Love or Die – TNX
Original Review – 9.5
Revised rating – 10
Vocal Delivery – 8 -> 10
Turns out, I grew very fond of every single aspect of the song- even the vocal delivery which I initially dismissed to be lacking. Time proved that TNX owned every single second of the song, and I find it impossible to picture a different group singing it considering how each line feels so distinctly attached to the way every member sang and rapped their parts. Easily one of the strongest boy-group releases this year.
OMG – NewJeans
Original Review – 9.5
Revised Rating – 8.5
Hooks – 10 -> 9
Production – 10 -> 9
Rap/Chant Delivery – 8 -> 6
Honestly, I no longer seek out this song. Over time, its addictive quality sort of suffered the ‘overplayed’ syndrome, and I don’t find it to hold up as well as their best releases (aka Ditto, Attention, and Hypeboy), so I adjusted the scores accordingly to make it flow in accordance to my feelings towards this song in comparison to their other songs. It is still solid though. I also bumped down the rap/chant delivery to make it in line with the score I gave EXO’s ‘Let Me In’, for both suffer from noticeably off-beat rapping/chanting, though it is more obvious in ‘OMG’ than ‘Let Me In’.
Here I Am – Boys Planet
Original Review – 9.75
Revised Rating – 9
Hooks – 10 -> 9
Vocal Delivery – 10 -> 9
Now that Boys Planet is over, almost two months past, and ZEROBASEONE has already debuted, I gave Here I Am another listen, and while I appreciate the nostalgia that comes with it, I don’t think it is quite as exceptional as initially viewed it to be. It is a solid song, but it is not ‘addictive’ enough to be a ’10’ in any category.
Teddy Bear – STAYC
Original Review – 9.5
Revised Rating – unchanged
Hooks – 10 -> 9
Vocal Delivery – 10 -> 9
Rap Delivery – removed (no real rap)
The way I feel about ‘Teddy Bear’ remains more or less exactly the same, but my standard for vocal delivery has increased with the past few months. Hence I made a few adjustments.
Pull Up – VIVIZ
Original Review – 8.75
Revised rating – 7.75
Hooks – 10 -> 8
Production – 9 -> 8
Rap Delivery – 7 -> 6
It did not hold up very well in comparison to many other releases. I got tired of its hook in just a couple of plays, and the rap part eventually became near unbearable.
Fly Away – BXB
Original Review – 8.5
Revised Rating – 8.75
Production – 8 -> 9
Thought it needed a bump up when I compared it to other songs I’ve rated 8.5 within my blog. However, a song of its nature needed more time to develop, so it doesn’t go much higher.
Ay-yo – NCT 127
Original Review – 9.75
Revised Rating – 10
Hooks – 9 -> 10
About time I give it a legendary status. Its a glorious experience to listen to it every single time.
Shooting Star – XG
Original Review – 9.75
Revised rating – 9.5
Hooks – 10 -> 9
A minor adjustment to compensate for how I feel about the hooks of this song compared to songs I gave ’10’.
Sugar Rush Ride – TXT
Original Review – 9.25
Revised rating – 8.75
A minor adjustment on doubling the hooks score rather than the vocal delivery to make up for the lack of rap, as I found that the hooks seems to be more important as a foundation of the song compared to the vocal delivery. ‘8.75’ is also a more accurate representation of my current feelings.
Circle – Onew
Original Review – 8.75
Revised rating – 9.25
Hooks – 8 -> 9
Vocal Delivery – 9 -> 10
As I expected, I only grew to appreciate this stunning ballad over time that still sounds quite unlike any other K-pop song out there.
Groovy – Cravity
Original Review – 9.5
Revised rating – 9
Production – 10 -> 9
Vocal Delivery – 10 -> 9
Currently, I don’t think ‘9.5’ accurately reflects how I feel about ‘Groovy’. The release of recent strong boy group songs made me call into question if they ‘Groovy’ matches up. It is still a solid release, but I would not call their production and vocal delivery ’10s’ as of today. The rest of the album’s songs however, still remain unchanged in my feelings towards them.
Love Me Like This – NMIXX
Original Review – 9.25
Revised rating – 9.75
Hooks – 9 -> 10
Rap Delivery – 8 -> 9
Love Me Like This aged to be a smash girl group hit, and is probably NMIXX’s best title track yet. The clean production and near-flawless delivery gets me every time. And yes, I can recite the song from beginning to end despite not listening to it in ages. A ’10’ is deserved for the Hooks!
Kitch – IVE
Original Review – 8.5
Revised rating – 8.75
Hooks – 8 -> 9
Not unexpected, every IVE release ends up getting better over time in my experience.
Flower – Jisoo
Original Review – 8.5
Revised Rating – 8
Hooks – 9 -> 8
Production – 9 -> 8
Contrary to my prediction, it ended up aging the second worse among the Black Pink solos (first being Lalisa). I think the hook wore off quite fast, and ‘Solo’ ends up remaining to be the best Black Pink solo yet.
Hold On Tight – aespa (TETRIS OST)
Original Review – 9
Revised rating – 9.5
Production – 6 -> 8
Coincidentally, a recently released song, namely ZEROBASEONE’s Zhang Hao’s ‘Always’ faced the exact same problem as ‘Hold On Tight’ where their very short song length held it back from fulfilling its full potential. I ended up giving it an 8 in production because at the end of the day, it is still good, but it cannot be higher considering how many missing elements it has. I decided to apply the same standards to ‘Hold On Tight’, leading it to rise to a well-deserved 9.5.
Welcome to MY World – Aespa
Original Review – 9.5
Revised Rating – 10
Hooks – 9 -> 10
Production – 9 -> 10
A well-deserved promotion to a legendary song, I can’t see any other group releasing a song quite like ‘Welcome to MY World’ any time soon. It is sheer beauty.
UNFORGIVEN – Le Sserafim ft. Nile Rogers
Original Review – 7.25
Revised Rating – 7.75
Hooks – 7 -> 8
Production – 5 -> 6
Still wasted potential, but I think a 7.25 was a bit too harsh on my part.
EVE, PSYCHE AND BLUEBEARD’S WIFE by Le Sserafim
Original Review – 9.25
Revised Rating – 9.5
Simply did the math correctly now (it was meant to be 9.5 all along but added it up wrongly in the original xD)
WHO! – BOYNEXTDOOR
Original Review
Serenade – 7.25
Revised Ratings
Serenade – 7.25 -> 7.5 (8 -> 9 in Hooks)
Both ‘But I Like You’ and ‘One and Only’ remain unchanged in their ratings. I was a bit harsh on Serenade, and I like it slightly more than before when I just gave it a re-listen, so it is receiving a small promotion.
Boys Planet’s Original Songs
Original Review
Jelly Pop – 10
Hot Summer – 9
Over Me – 8.75
Say My Name – 8.5
En Garde – 8
Switch – 7.75
Super Charger – 8.25
Revised Ratings
Hot Summer – 9 -> 9.25
En Garde – 8 -> 8.75
‘Hot Summer’ gets better with every listen, and I think I have let go of my personal vendetta against ‘En Garde’ and tied it with ‘Over Me’ to where it deserves. Jelly Pop remains a Song of the Year contender, and deservedly so.
DARK BLOOD – ENHYPEN
Original Review
Fate – 8.25
Bite Me – 7.5
Chaccone – 9
Bills – 9.25
Karma – 7.25
Revised Ratings
Fate – 8.25 -> 8.5(Production goes from 8 -> 9)
Bite Me – 7.5 -> 8.25 (Production goes from 6 -> 8, Hooks go from 9 -> 10)
Chaccone – 9 -> 9.25
Bills – 9.25 -> 8.75
Karma – 7.25 -> 8
It didn’t feel right to give the production of ‘Fate’ a mere 8 when it does many things which I heralded as my favourite kind production choices in other reviews (aka dynamics, swelling, etc.), so justice has been served. Additionally, though ‘Bite Me’ is a disappointing comeback, objectively, the production value is more than a 6. Chaccone grew to be my favourite song in the album, while Bills did not hold out in my playlist very well as I think the production was not enough to support the melodies to create more longevity. Also, looking back, I gave Karma an unfairly low score. My frustration with the album bled into overly biased ratings.
Kick It 4 Now – TNX
Original Review – 9.5
Revised Rating – 9.25
Hooks – 10 -> 9
Mostly a move to moderate the scores more appropriately. The chorus is strong, but time proved it is not a 10.
Wild Heart – LUN8
Original Review – 9.5
Revised Rating – 9.5 -> 9
Hooks – 10 -> 9
Vocal Delivery – 9 -> 8
Again, mostly a result of moderation, but the verses really do not hold up in comparison to its strong chorus.
Firework – &TEAM
Original Rating – 9.75
Revised Rating – 9.75 -> 10
I think it is ready to join the legendary songs gang.
Sugarcoat – Natty
Original Review – 8.75
Revised Rating – 8.75 -> 9.5
Hooks – 8 -> 10
Vocal Delivery – 9 -> 10
Given how fresh this sounds, I wasn’t all that surprised when it ended up rising considerably. Among ‘chill’ and ‘easy to listen to’ K-pop songs, this comes out on top of every other release this year so far.
Broken Melodies – NCT Dream
Original Review – 9.25
Revised Rating – 9.25 -> 9
Production – 9 -> 8
This was an act of moderation as I compared it with how much I liked other boy group releases within the similar band, and it didn’t match up to them, so it was bumped down slightly. I still have an issue with the production of the chorus.
Countdown – Belle
Original Review – 8.25
Revised Rating – 8.25 -> 8.75
Hooks – 8 -> 9
As soon as I got over the overly dramatic music video, my perception greatly improved. Again, I moderated it to a score that I feel is most appropriate.
Kitty Cat – Julie
Original Review – 9
Revised Rating – 9 -> 9.5
Hooks – 9 -> 10
Rap Delivery – 9 -> 10
I ended up liking this about as much as Natty’s solo, with this still retaining a minor edge but not enough to reach a 9.75.
Excel – 8Turn
Original Review – 8.75
Revised Rating – 8.75 -> 9.25
Production – 9 -> 10+
After more thought, I realized I like this just as much as ‘One and Only’ for example. It does the job of hyping you up very well.
Super Shy – NewJeans
Original Review – 9
Revised Rating – 9.5
Hooks – 8 -> 10
I thought I would get tired of it real fast, but the chorus refuses to let go.
K-pop Evaluated 
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