Best Of Kpop 2013 - Albums

Since it's now 2014 and a year of kpop has gone by, I thought I would start with a summary of my favorite albums of 2013. (This is only full length albums, so I haven't counted in minis or single albums).






Now I'll be the first to admit it, I haven't been particularly fond of f(x) in the past and they're still not my favorite girl group out there but their 2013 release Pink Tape was quite a pleasant surprise.
The title track "Rum Pum Pum Pum" was a nice listen, but the mv was really disappointing (especially with those promising teasers, WHY SM!!?) and somewhat made the song less appealing as well. However, there are some great tracks on this album, my favorites being "Pretty Girl", "Airplane", "Toy", "Goodbye Summer" and "No More". The album was overall very cohesive and well put together, and these 5 lovely ladies have got an unique sound that I absolutely like.




I was (and still am to a certain degree) skeptical of EXO, part of the reason being SM Entertainment itself. I never bought the hype that followed their debut, and although I still think they are overrated this album was just magnificent. XOXO is solid from start to finish; well leaving out the horrendous mess that was "Wolf", and I can honestly say this album has been on repeat ever since I first got it. I am still not a fan of the boys themselves for various reasons which can be discussed at a later time, but I am a fan of their music.
My favorite songs on this album are "Baby Don't Cry", "Black Pearl", "Peter Pan", "Don't Go" and one of my favorite songs of the year "My Lady".




I know there's a LOT of SM on this list but they did have some of the best releases of 2013 and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. I am a massive SHINee fan and very biased but I LOVED this album and I know I wasn't the only one. I don't think there was one song on The Misconceptions Of Me I didn't like ("Why So Serious" was not great but bearable) and the whole album was very fluid and coherent. There was a distinct theme that ran through every song but they still all had different sounds. I especially enjoyed "Orgel", "Evil" and the brilliant "Like A Fire". The question is now why SM just cannot pick out a good title track?



Ditching SM (literally) for a while, let's move on to Kim Jaejoong aka my number 1 bias list ruiner. I don't think there is one person I want happiness for more than this beautiful man, and I am so grateful that he gets to release this kind of music and be part of the composing of it as well. WWW (Who When Why) is very rock influenced and it really brings out Jaejoong's fantastic vocals even more and makes use of his entire range (which is huge, by the way). Favorites include "Butterfly", "Paradise", " 9 + 1#", "Light" and the completely self composed "Rotten Love" which is currently my most played on iTunes.

His bandmate Junsu also released a full album earlier this spring, and while very well made and executed, it did not make the cut (I just prefer a rockier sound in general). Now we just have to wait for Yoochun to come back from the acting stunt and put out some music!



Last but not least we have the lovely miss IU, with the jazz inspired Modern Times. I am not in any way a fan of her or her previous work (too cutesy and ahjussi-appealing if you get my drift) but the teasers sounded promising and I was not let down. My only problem with IU is her voice. She is very often named one of the best female kpop singers and I admit that she is most certainly capable but her voice is very thin and sometimes quite nasally as well. She often sings way out of her range and her high notes always make me cringe, unfortunately. Just because you can sing high, doesn't mean that you should.
The album itself is a nice little gem, with some catchy tracks on there. I personally really like "Obliviate", "Gloomy Clock", "Everybody Has Secrets", "50cm" and "The Red Shoes" which had an awesome mv as well.

Overall I would say SM really delivered with their album releases (well, I Got A Boy not so much but otherwise) and there were lots of great acts not mentioned above such as Nine Muses, Vixx, GD, Brown Eyed Girls and Beast who all delivered to the fullest!
2014 has just begun and is starting off with two full length albums from both TVXQ and B1A4, so lets all raise our glasses for a year of quality kpop music!