January 2024 Best Kpop Comebacks & Debuts

The shortest monthly faves article I’ve written in yeaaaars omg. December 2023 was short, but I really wasn’t expecting January to be so dry.

I think February is set up to have a bit more going on for me. But let’s get into it!

SF9 – Sequence

Is it January if SF9 doesn’t release an album? I love love love “BIBORA”. I still feel like SF9 keep getting better with every comeback. I do still want to write a fave songs article on them. I just haven’t sat down to work on it yet.

Sequence is a pretty good album. I’ll have to revisit it in a few months to see if I feel different about it. But overall it feels like a build up of their sound over the last two years all in one album.

If you’ve liked anything they’ve released since Turn Over and “Tear Drop”, this album sounds just like it. You’ll be happy with it. I really feel like post Rowoon, SF9’s line distribution is balanced so much better. You could see it pretty early on when he was still a member, but didn’t participate in group recordings due to schedule conflicts or heath reasons.

It’s incredibly noticeable in their choreography and member screen time in music videos. It’s interesting to me. I’ll talk more in depth in my fave SF9 article when I write it. But it’s something I’ve noticed as a casual fan and a Rowoon biased girlie over the years.

“Superconductor” of course is my favorite b-side. It’s just something about SF9 club songs like this that make me stick around. No one consistently makes music like this. Even “BIBORA” is pretty clubby. Even though it’s kinda sad boy hours.

Edit 3/3/24: I’m not sure how I forgot to mention it when I originally wrote this article, but “Superconductor” is entirely in English and sung by Dawon. They did a wonderful job with it. Easily one of my favorite original English Kpop songs now.

SF9 is still going strong, and I say this every time, but I can’t wait to see what’s next.

B1A4 – REWIND

B1A4 is a group where I always have like one or two songs of theirs I like from an album of theirs.

I love a retro, 90s New Jack Swing moment. And “Rewind” leans into it heavily. It’s a good song. I didn’t really connect with anything else from Connect. But it tracks with my previous history with them, lol.

It’s a tune, check it out.

OnlyOneOf – Things I Can’t Say LOve

I’m so mad at that person on Twitter who said all they (OnlyOneOf) had was a dream and a Powerpuff Girls beat or something to that extent. I wish I took a screenshot of that tweet because I’m not digging through my likes to find it.

Anyway, now when I hear “dOpamine” that’s all I can think of, and it cracks me up. I do like “dOpamine”. It grows on me more and more on each listen.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this album. It’s fine. Probably my least favorite at the momment. But it might grow on me more, like seOul cOllectiOn did.

“Gravity” is my favorite b-side. It sounds more like their older, R&B like stuff.

I gotta shout out to the stylists and concept team for giving us not only all denim fits again, but super long black hair Junji, and they put his ass in heeled boots. Love that for us.

SISTAR19 – SAUCY

Not a day goes by where I don’t miss SISTAR. So this reunion with Bora and Hyolyn is a Godsend. “No More (Ma Boy)” is fine, but I was hooked on “Saucy” immediately. It’s sooo catchy and fun.

I gotta do a fave songs article on SISTAR one day too.

GroovyRoom, Huh Yunjin, and Crush – Yes or No

From the first few seconds of hearing Yunjin’s voice, I knew this was gonna slap. I love the beat and the animation for this lyric video. I’m so excited about more of these random collabs with the outcome being great songs.

And that’s it! Short but solid month musically. Like I said in my most recent articles, these monthly faves will be trimmed down more because I have less time to work on them. But I’m really happy with this list. Only the best of the best 😤

I kept seeing all these memes about January being super long. And it was. I was busy with work, but it really felt like January 45th when in reality it was the 20th.

How was y’all’s January? What music were you listening to last month? Let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram.

Until next post!

Take care 🩷

Ash💫