Clean Kpop Songs That Are Iconic

The cover picture for this post was my attempt at drawing a lightstick like the ones used to cheer for Kpop groups.  Don't judge it too much, I did my best.  :P

So... it's been a bit longer than six months.  :/  Sorry, guys.  I've been so busy with school and cross country, I wanted to spend Christmas break just focusing on my family and friends.  One of my goals for the new year is to put out more posts, so we'll see how I do.  :>  There's a bunch of series I want to post, so my focus is going to be on starting those and filling in the sections on here that are empty.

I have about twenty iconic songs and groups that I thought of off the top of my head, so if you guys want a part two, let me know.  If there's a group or song you think should be included, feel free to send me a recommendation and make your case.  If I get enough, maybe I'll do a special "Iconic Kpop Songs According to My Readers" post.  I'm going to try to avoid repeating groups or singers for the first few posts of this series, though.

#1 Kim Yonja - Amor Fati

"Amor Fati" is a popular song to play on variety shows like Weekly Idol or award shows like Golden Disc Awards.  Everybody knows and love to dance to it.  This is the kind of song where you yell "AMOR FATI!" and then break into silent dancing as the beat drop plays in your head and everyone stares at you.

I think this could be qualified as trot, but I'm not exactly an expert in that genre.  If you guys don't know what trot is, I encourage you to look into it.  It's a popular genre in Korea that I like to compare to country music in the U.S.  Here's the video explaining trot that I watched when I was trying to figure it out.

#2 BTS - Dope

This song is popularly viewed as BTS' breakout song.  It's got RM's iconic opening line, "Welcome, first time to BTS?" which brought in a lot of new fans.  It was even the first music video of a Kpop group not signed under one of the big three companies to reach 100 million views, according to Soompi, a Kpop news outlet.

This was actually one of the first BTS songs I ever heard, too, even though I listened to it years after it came out.  The lyrics are about BTS' work ethic--how they chose to pursue their dreams over wasting time on frivolous activities.  I didn't know Kpop songs could have deep meanings, especially for the groups that put them out, so this song was a big step in me realizing I might like Kpop personally, and not just because my peers did.

I always talk about how I love hype songs, so I can't neglect to mention that I consider this a "hard hype" song perfect for working out or studying on no sleep.  "Dope" is a song about tough times, for people experiencing or having experienced tough times.

Seventeen is a popular group, and this is a classic song.  Some of you might cringe at the term "classic," but Kpop is a relatively young genre, which makes this song relatively old.  Plus, I'm a (self-proclaimed) expert in Kpop, so I can say what I want.  >:(

The song's got 122 million views as of the release of this post, and it's so popular that I heard it even before I knew who Seventeen was.  It's definitely an ear-worm and probably falls under the hype category.  My taste has probably skewed this list, sorry guys.

Although I didn't link Blackpink's music video because the dancing and camera angles are a bit too risque for the Clean Content Corner, I would say it's probably the cleanest Blackpink music video I've seen.  It's very enjoyable too.  No hate to the queens.  I will note that the song mentions kissing, but that's it.

Anyway, this is one of Blackpink's older songs, so it doesn’t really fit the style they’ve developed, in my opinion.  I really like the vague disco vibes it has, though, and it makes me nostalgic because it reminds me of Girl's Generation's style.  This song is counted as a classic because the music video has 1.3 billion views and I heard the song way before actually looking it up.  If you recognize a song from before you knew the group that released it, chances are high that it's a gem.

I probably enjoyed this music video way more than I should have.  It’s just so nostalgic for when I used to watch Girl's Generation music videos on the TVs in the home improvement store my family liked to go to in Thailand.  It's also clean, which is surprising for SM because I feel like SM groups tend to dress and dance quite suggestively.  The site I linked translated one lyric of the song as "p*ssed," but it looks like the Korean word actually just means "angry."  It also mentions drinking with friends.

"Mr. Simple" is noted in the Kpop community for how it was ahead of its time.  Even eleven years later, the song is a bop.  I want to learn the choreography so bad.  It made me laugh, but I would wholeheartedly support a Kpop group that would do a throwback concept to this style.  Should we start a petition?

This music video is very aesthetic and entertaining.  There is a scene were one of the guys looks like he's kissing a girl.  Other than that, I'd say it just has a dark tone because it's a breakup song.

So... the group’s name is literally iKON.  Of course this is a classic.  iKON is the group whose music is so popular, you've probably heard their songs without even realizing it.  This song, especially, is everywhere, and what’s special about it is it’s catchy even to people who don’t like Kpop.  My family knows this as ‘the cowbell song’ and iKON as ‘the group with the cowbell song.’

This music video is just so wholesome and fun.  It was one of the first Kpop music videos I watched when I began to take an interest, and I really liked it even though I found most aspects of Kpop weird at the time.  GOT7 is not the most famous group in the U.S., but still well known.  Especially in Thailand, BamBam is everywhere because he's a Thai national.

What allows this song to withstand the test of time is its meaningful message, which causes it to resonate with a wide audience.  The song is about insecurity about looks, and how we're "just right" without having to worry about our impression on others.  Now that I think about it, this is basically the "What Makes You Beautiful" (One Direction, ayyyy) of Kpop, isn't it?

There's one line in this song that goes, "Instead of the scale, just get on my back."  In Korea, it's common for people to give piggyback rides, even as adults, rather than carrying someone princess style or some other way.  It might seem kind of suggestive to someone from a different culture, but I've never seen it interpreted that way in Korea.  So anyway, this line is referring to that, in case you have a moment where you wonder what that line is doing in this cute, wholesome song.

Hwasa has become a well-established artist in the Kpop community.  Her group, Mamamoo, has always had a bit of a cult following--if I had to compare them, maybe I'd choose Seventeen?--but recently, through her solo activities, I think Hwasa has become widely known even among fans that might only follow one group (and don't pay attention to Kpop happenings outside of their one group).  This was the first song I heard from anyone in Mamamoo, and it's how I became a fan of them.

This song has great composition, and it could be argued to have set a new tone for Kpop.  With such a bold claim, I should re-establish that I am only a self-proclaimed expert in Kpop so don't go quoting me on anything.  Unless you want netizens to laugh at you for repeating the dumb stuff I come up with.  Anyway, that's how I perceived the song when I heard it, and for me, personally, it reignited my interest in Kpop at a time where the comebacks and new releases were beginning to sound repetitive to me.

Guys, in my mind, BtoB should be written with the "to" in lowercase, but on their YouTube channel, the whole word is capitalized.  If anyone knows the actual correct way to write their name, please let me know.  To be honest, I can never keep track of capitalization for Kpop groups, so my usage of group names is probably already all over the place on here.

There is one scene in the music video where one of the guys is holding a bottle and looks quite obviously intoxicated.  He also throws the bottle.  So, this video is not really for young kids because it depicts a lot of dramatic and negative emotions.  I will say, though, when you know BtoB, it's kind of hard to take all that acting seriously (because BtoB never takes anything seriously).  Like, I was watching this video and I was laughing.  I kind of felt insane, to be honest.

BtoB is an older group, so I'm not sure how many of you all would know them.  They also weren't as popular internationally until the show Kingdom aired.  That's a great show to check out if you want to see some awesome groups, on a side note.  So, you might not recognize BtoB, but they are extremely popular in Korea and a hugely talented ballad group.  This ballad in particular is a classic perfect to listen to while you imagine you're in a Kdrama.

I was going to say "Guys," but I feel like I overuse that phrase in reference to you all.

Pals, I wanted to include PSY's "Gentleman" as the last song, but I took one look at the lyrics and realized it was not meant to be.  :'(  RIP my favorite Kpop meme song.  You were good, but you weren't great.

Anyway, including just about any of PSY's songs in a post on the Clean Content Corner feels like a risky move, but the man cannot be excluded from an iconic Kpop lineup.  I read the lyrics for this song, and they don't seem particularly inappropriate, but let me know if you catch a suggestive reference I missed.

I feel like PSY is a bit underrated--at least, in the Kpop community.  Maybe because "Gangnam Style" was so popular internationally, or his music has a unique flavor to it, his songs don't seem to be considered "Kpop" by the community.  I will never forget my (probably uncalled for) rage at the fact that Trolls World Tour put "Gangnam Style" in their pop mashup, when they literally included Kpop as a separate genre in the movie.  "That That" is no "Gangnam Style," but the music video has 511 million views and features SUGA, so I should quit my complaining.  The music video is really a work of art, too.

He he he, that ends the post, my friends.  Perhaps I will just keep referring to you as something progressively more interesting until we settle on something.  Then again, "you guys" is what comes to me naturally, so we may be stuck with that forever.

I've got a number of posts I'm debating about putting out next so feel free to let me know which one sounds most interesting to you.  I'm thinking one about Kdramas, manga, or maybe a post for the Stay Clean section with advice on leading a "clean" lifestyle (e.g. wholesome games to play with your friends).  I always have so much I want to do and not enough time to put it all out as quick as I want.