For me, it's NMIXX “DASH.”

What I love most about the song is how every sound takes an unexpected turn throughout the song. But it doesn't feel try-hard or too much to me. It just feels so fun, fresh, and cool.

I saw a lot of Korean comments saying that the song is just on another level.

I really hoped that, kind of like aespa's "Next Level," it would become one of those songs that people are confused by at first but eventually fall in love with, and that it would become NMIXX's signature song. But unfortunately, it never quite got there.

IVE's "XOXZ" would be a close second for me.

I love it when a song makes me feel excited and kind of sad at the same time, and this is one of those songs. I don't know what other people would say about this claim, but this song has always felt like Tate McRae's music with just the right amount of sentimental. Like “DASH,” this one is still on my playlist, and I get excited whenever it plays. But sadly it didn't make the kind of impact I wanted it to in Korea and in the West.

Mnet has officially revealed the second batch of performers for mama 2026. Now I would say this is pretty much all the artist who will perform, sure mnet MIGHT announced around 1 to 5 new performers before the ceremony since they haven't confirmed this as the final full line up and they have done this the previous years(who knows they might even announce a third line up). This are the list of the current line up of performers:

Day 1(November 20):
Allday Project 🆕
Alpha Drive One
CL(2NE1) 🆕
Babymonster
Enhypen
Hearts2Hearts 🆕
Illit
INI
Lngshot 🆕
Modyssey 🆕
Nct Wish
Rescene
Treasure 🆕
Street World Fighter: Director’s War 🆕

Day 2(November 21):
&Team 🆕
BigBang 🆕
Cortis
Hwasa (Mamamoo)🆕
Ive 🆕
Izna 🆕
KiiKii
KO1KEYZ 🆕
Le Sserafim
Nayeon(Twice)
Woodz 🆕
Zerobaseone

Now I would say that this are some extremely solid additions, I am actually excited. Making her grand return to the MAMA stage after a whopping 11 years since her last appearance, CL will be making her come back performance to MAMA. Like Nayeon, this will be Hwasa's first appearance at MAMA since her last performance with Mamamoo back in 2020. Lngshot, Modyssey, K01KEYZ, and Woodz(along with KiiKii and Rescene) will all be making their mama debut stage which is extremely exciting and I am happy for all of them. Overall I like this line up and I can't wait for the actual performances. Legendary acts like Big Bang, CL, Hwasa, and Nayeon which are considered "MAMA legends" by mnet are all performing which is already a huge plus compare to other years. Once again while it's not guaranteed, mnet might announce a few more performers as the days go by so let's see what happens.

Are you personally happy with this line up? Who do you wish was part of it and who are you the most excited to see?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhISxJD9oZc

사계연서 (Seasonal Love Letters) is the third track on Hawwah, the newest digital single by Dodree. It's a great listen and I just wanted to talk a bit about the lyrics. It's a love song, but I enjoyed the focus on how regional the description of the seasons is. While listening to the song, I could imagine an idyllic love progressing throughout the year, exactly as they sang it. The rural setting of the MV further enhances that feeling. The description of each season was so crisp and beautiful even when read through the translation, and I bet the wordplay is even better in Korean.

The other part of the song I really like is the description of the love letter as a painting with words, and that the letter itself is metaphorical. I love that the heart itself is the notebook one writes in. The ink being the condensed memories of your lover throughout the seasons that you use to write them into your heart, so that they can live within you is an inspired choice of lyrics. What a great song.

Also for folks who want more Korean in their kpop, the entire song is in Korean with no English additions.

I usually listen to CDs but now I'm outside so I use headphones

I listened to Billlie Trampoline and the song goes crazy wity all the instruments and voices coming in and out and it's very dynamic and full of details

I know it's probably true for most songs but you know other song like that; when you have to hear them with headphones to get the full sound?

​For me, it has to be the Center, Main Vocalist, and Main Dancer.

​Center: A legendary position held by so many iconic K-pop stars (like Wonyoung from IVE, Karina from aespa, Wonhee from ILLIT, Ahyeon from BABYMONSTER, and Nayeon from TWICE).

​Main Vocalist: If we’re using a soccer analogy, they’re like the wingers or strikers. You could easily say they're the absolute core of the group.

​Main Dancer: I think this position is just as vital as the Main Vocalist.

For a few years now Mnet has been giving out an award to older kpop legends called the ”inspiring achievement“ awards. Now basically I would say this is Mnet’s own take of the Vma’s Vanguard Award, since it’s meant to recognized the artist and their impact in Kpop(Plus they perform a medley of their hits). Now PLEASE correct me if I am wrong since I am not so sure if this had already been a thing before, but this was first introduced back in 2020 and Boa was the first recipient. For some reason they didn’t give out this award until 2023 which was given to tvxq, than to Jyp himself in 2024, and the final recipient was Super Junior.

Something that I wound like to point out that this award seems to be given to acts that are celebrating their anniversary. Boa, Tvxq, and Super Junior were all celebrating their 20th debut anniversary when they were given this award, and Jyp his 30th. Also all this acts made a comeback before or after mama took place, so clearly like the vmas it also works as a way to promote their new music. Of course this might not be the case this year, hell they might not even award it all all. Tho if they do end up awarding it, who do you think will/should be given this honor this year?

Hello friends! We are excited to announce another instalment of our Kpop gen rates, this time jumping into our first ever 4th gen rate, Early Gen 4 Girl Groups. Welcome to the EG4GG Rate! If you haven’t already, make sure to join r/kpoprates to stay tuned for future rate-related posts!

Quick Links:

• Ballot submission: Reddit PM // Ballot template (Google Docs) // Ballot template (Pastebin)
• Playlists: Spotify // Youtube (MV ver.) // Youtube (Audio ver.) // Youtube (Lyrics ver.) // Apple Music

Deadline: Sunday, November 9th, 11:59PM Pacific (Link to a timezone converter)

How the songs were selected: The initial locked and survey lists were decided through host discussion, using a combination of r/kpop's artist TTT results, as well as streaming statistics and general relevance. We then held a pre-survey campaign on the discord server, where server members could suggest songs they'd like to see added to the survey. Following this, we conducted our usual song list feedback survey.

Now, without further ado, let's introduce the 55 songs in the main rate (& the 7 songs in the bonus rate) that were selected for this rate, sorted by artist debut order:

fromis_9:

Glass Shoes

DKDK

Love Bomb

Feel Good (Secret Code)

We Go

DM

Attitude

Supersonic

i-dle:

Latata

Hann

Lion

Oh My God

HWAA

Dahlia

Tomboy

Nxde

Queencard

UNI.T:

No More

KHAN:

I’m Your Girl ?

Nature:

Girls

LOONA:

Hi High

Favorite

Stylish

Butterfly

So What

Star

GWSN:

Puzzle Moon

Night Aviation (The Interpretation of Dreams)

Bazooka!

IZ*ONE:

La Vie En Rose

Violeta

Fiesta

Secret Story of the Swan

Panorama

Sequence

K/DA:

Pop/Stars

More

DreamNote:

Ghost

Cherry Bullet:

Q&A

Love So Sweet

ITZY:

Dalla Dalla

Icy

Wannabe

That’s A No No

Not Shy

Loco

Untouchable

Imaginary Friend

Motto

Everglow:

Bon Bon Chocolat

Adios

Dun Dun

La Di Da

First

Pirate

Bonus Rate:

fromis_9 - 22nd Century Girl

i-dle - Uh-Oh

LOONA - Why Not?

GWSN - Tweaks ~ Heavy cloud but no rain

PinkFantasy - Tales of the Unusual

Cherry Bullet - Hands Up

ITZY - Cheshire

The Bonus Rate is optional and you do not have to submit a score for every song in the bonus list. If you do it, you can score none of them, all of them, or any number in between. You cannot give a 0 or 11 to any song in the bonus, as they are not part of the main rate. While it is optional, we hope you consider participating.

* Spotify Playlist

* Youtube Playlist (MV Version)

* YouTube Playlist (Audio Version)

* YouTube Playlist (Lyrics Version)

Rules:

• You must listen to and assign a score to EVERY song listed. If your ballot is missing any scores it will not be eligible and you'll be sent a message asking you to fill in the missing scores.
• Each song should be assigned a score between 1 to 10. Decimals up to one point are allowed but any further is a no-no – 6.9 is fine, but 6.99 is not. Don't use commas (i.e "8,8") to separate your decimals!
• You can use ONE 0 and ONE 11 for the entirety of the rate, for your least favorite and most favorite song respectively - they are optional but HIGHLY encouraged if you feel some type of way about any given song! Comments are also encouraged but not required for such scores (except if you give a song a 0). You can add them to any song by simply typing after the numerical score, like so:

Everglow - La Di Da: 9.9 Wow this song sure is fresh and new and exciting I cannot wait to see what the community thinks of it

• This is the ONLY correct way to format a comment. Please do not include colons (ex. 9: I stan!), dashes (ex. 3.3 - This song sucks), or any other symbol after your score/before your comment as it breaks the program.
• For this rate and most future rates, we have a ballot average minimum of 4.00. In addition, if your ballot average is between 4.00-5.50, you must leave comments on your lower scores (which we define as any score that's a 3 or lower). {Do not worry about having to calculate your ballot average, once you submit your ballot, we will tell you if you need to make changes to your ballot for it to be accepted.} ___

SUBMITTING A BALLOT:

Link to Reddit Chat to send in scores

As Reddit is (unfortunately) moving away from the private messaging system in favor of utilizing the Reddit chat system, we are forced to also adopt the Reddit chat system for messaging. You can make a copy of either the Google Docs or Pastebin ballot templates below, add your scores on your local copy/file, and send the link to your local copy/file in your Reddit Chat message to u/kpoprates.

Google Docs ballot template

Pastebin ballot template

• If the private message link is not working (or your private message exceeds the character count), please use the Google Doc template (make a copy of it to your Google Drive) for your ballot and DM it to u/kpoprates. If you message us a link to your Google Doc, PLEASE double check your permissions so that "anyone who has the link can view the document" (since the default is otherwise).

Alternatively, if you have Discord, you can message the link to your ballot to all of the rate hosts, \@aidshha (u/aidshha), \@yureves (u/snowswinters), and \@mkh.zo (u/zo142) (please message all of the rate hosts, not just one).

Google Spreadsheet you can use for calculating averages/trends and making predictions

You can also submit the top/bottom 5 prediction form at any time.

DEADLINE:

Deadline: Sunday, November 9th, 11:59 PM Pacific - This will be the FINAL deadline, no extensions will be given this time! (Link to a timezone converter)

REVEAL DATES (Reveals will take place on r/kpoprates as well as the KpopRates Discord: https://discord.gg/rkpoprates)

Day 1 - Saturday, November 14th, 8 AM Pacific (Time zone converter here)

Day 2 - Sunday, November 15th, 8 AM Pacific (Time zone converter here)

We also encourage you to participate in the ongoing 2022 in b-sides Rate! Thanks!

I’ve spent the past few months building a tool for making random play dance mixes and talking to people who use it for practice and events. Along the way I picked up some things that seem to make RPDs go better, for dancers and for hosts. Sharing in case they’re useful.

If you’re hosting or making a mix:

• Cut on the beat, and leave a short gap. A clip that starts mid-move, or songs that run straight into each other, leave nobody time to get in. A countdown of a few seconds between songs makes a big difference.
• Check the ending of each clip, not just the start. A cut that stops in the middle of a move feels awkward for the people dancing.
• Spread out the groups. Five songs in a row from one group means most people stand around for five minutes.
• Mix difficulty and eras. A balance of recent releases and well-known older songs keeps more people involved.
• Have a backup offline. Outdoor events and weak wifi don’t go well together.

If it helps, the tool I’ve been working on handles the cutting, countdowns, and shuffling: kpopgenerator.cloud. It’s free and needs no sign-up.

What else would you add? I’m especially interested in what experienced hosts do differently.

Edit: This post compares the album-selling power of female western pop artists and kpop girl groups relative to their respective male counterparts.

When someone asks why girl groups in kpop usually sell fewer albums than boy groups, the answer is usually that fandoms of male idols are a lot more dedicated and willing to spend on their faves. What this framing ignores is that many female pop artists in the west have dedicated, album-buying fandoms very similar to kpop boy groups.

Here are the first-week pure sales for the latest albums by several top female pop artists in the US. These aren't the totals including streaming-equivalent units, but rather the number of actual direct purchases of the album.

These numbers are all higher than those for the top kpop girl groups’ latest releases in the US and (excluding Ms. Swift) on about the same level as top boy groups.

You might say, “But the market for western pop artists in the US is much bigger than the market for kpop. You’d have to compare these numbers to those of western male pop artists to see how well female artists are activating the total album-buying audience.” The difficulty with this is that the western music industry right now has barely any male pop artists of note. I looked up the pure first-week numbers for recent albums by western male artists you could vaguely classify as “pop” and compared them.

Of the male artists, only Harry Styles and Conan Gray are ones whose target audience is typical pop stans. If Justin Bieber had sold physical copies of his latest album in its first week, it would have helped establish a better baseline. Nevertheless, I think it’s already clear from the data that female artists are capable of activating album-buying from consumers as much as or more (in Ms. Swift’s case, much more) than men.

*****

So the limiter on kpop girl groups’ sales can’t simply be that fans are more willing to spend on male artists.

Women in western pop–especially Taylor Swift–have recently been using a very kpop-like bag of tricks to sell their product, including releasing large numbers of physical “variants” and making special content available only with certain album versions. The irony is that these tricks have been more effective for western female artists than for actual female kpop groups.

What could kpop girl groups do to convince fans to buy albums the way Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Sabrina Carpenter fans do?

Guys, anybody who listened to the slowed version?? Why is this better than the original version??!! This just brings out Lisa's deep voice more and she sounds badass. The rap part also sounds way better than the oirginal. This is definitely going in my playlist.

If anyone still didn't listen to it go to youtube and play it now, trust me it slaps!!

Why do most if not all K-pop idols (Western celebrities also) change their phones YEARLY? Even my faves. I understand that they’re rich and have the money to do it but it promotes their young fans that if you don’t have the newest phone model you’re out. Which I find absolutely ridiculous. iPhone’s don’t change much if you buy them yearly. I feel like a lot of idols and celebrities influence people to buy them, which at the end of the day, it’s their job. But I still think it doesn’t make sense. If I had their money I would spend it on traveling.