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 Top 25 Rookies of 2020: Honorable Mentions

Most of my end of year lists go from January to January, but I found that artists debuting in December never really have enough time to show their skills. Thus, this list will count rookies debuting from December 1, 2019, to November 30, 2020. Re-Debuts and solo debuts count, but I decided to make a few notes on this. The Midnight Romance is mostly just No Minue, so it is excluded. Changmin made his Japanese debut in 2015, so his Korean debut this year does not count. I also excluded Refund Sisters and SSAK3, as they have disbanded. Other exceptions like this follow the same rules.

2020 was an interesting year for rookies. There were barely any interesting debuts in India, America, or the rest of the world. It was, however, an interesting year for debuts for East Asia.

The highlight was the new Japanese groups, particularly the boy groups. SixTONES, Snow Man, Deep Squad, and JO1 were arguably the biggest and best, but there were some other ones too. Avex also entered the C-Pop market with WARPs. And though the group seems to be built on rocky foundations, I am loving the sound that they are going for. YOASOBI and GENIC were two other stands out Japanese debuts this year, with one coming out of nowhere to instantly becoming a smash hit, and the other slowly building the strength of their material.

In Korea, the debut results were... mixed. We got some great debut tracks, but most of those came from companies that could barely afford to keep themselves afloat. Each of the big six agencies (SM, JYP, YG, Big Hit, Kakao M, CJ) debuted new groups and soloists this year,  but none of them took off quality-wise like they should have.

With all said, though, I think I have a solid list. And without further ado, here are some honorable mentions.

                                                  33. NiziU

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NiziU's un-ambitious material held them back. But, if they allow their talented members to let loose, I feel we may have a J-Pop standout on the way. They already have reached success, now they just need songs that let them do stuff.

                                                            32. DNA

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The new big Kazakh group, DNA basically has the same story as NiziU. An out-of-the-gates success, they just need the material to show their skills. I am giving them a higher spot, as I do not think they overrated. I just hope they make a unique sound soon enough.

                                                    31. Deep Squad

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A new Exile unit is always exciting. I really was not able to get into anything Deep Squad released, but they have a sound they are going for. As long as they keep going down the 90s R & B style, they are bound to hit gold sooner or later.

                                                          30. XUM

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Redebuts can be tricky stuff. NeonPunch had a set sound and style, and when it disbanded and was reformed as XUM (with two less members), the group's core sound changed. I am not the biggest fan of their new sound, but I felt 'Ddalala' was an oddly solid attempt, though it has not aged too well. The group did get into a controversy over some racist comments, but I think a sincere apology and attempts to show that it was not ill-intentioned (assuming it was not) would help them get back on track.

                                                          29. DKB                             

  

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DKB had a weird debut year. None of their songs were objectively any good (amongst their singles, they had good b-sides), yet both 'Still' and 'Sorry Mama' were actually quite enjoyable. They clearly have some dancing and singing talent, and access to one of the greatest East Asian songwriters alive. If Brave Sound actually gets back to writing new music, I feel these guys will probably become one of my favorite under-the-radar groups.

                                                             28. MCND

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MCND come from one of my favorite Korean agencies, Top Media. I am a big fan of Teen Top and 100%, and enjoyed some UP10TION material over the years too. In fact, I am a little surprised MCND are ranking so low, especially since they do have some sort of signature sound. Their weird Hip Hop sound blended with old school bonkers K-Pop really should allow them to enter the top 25, alas it does not. 'Ice Age' was a solid effort from the group, and it definitely deserves praise. Unfortunately, right afterwards we had the momentum killing 'Spring' before the group went on a mini-hiatus over lyp-synking a song with racist terms. While I do not think that act will haunt them, it did hurt their constant singles momentum. And when they did comeback, the title track was super terrible. Thankfully, that album did have some redeeming b-sides. But, you are the harshest on who you care for the most. They are young, though, and I really hope they bounce back.

                                                     27. Treasure

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Let us just say my review of Treasure's post debut singles have been a little less than outright 10s (Read: 6 or lower). Still, they have the budget, and access to producers, the members are also talented. A look at their pre-debut material suggests that they should have broken into the top 5, but alas, that was not to be. Unfortunately, their post-debut material can be described as disastarous. 'Boy' had a terrible trap rap, 'I Love You' had an over-indulgent drop (somewhat addictive, somewhat terrible). But nothing prepared me for the disastarous 'MMM', which is terrible. Still, as long as they get out of the Teddy Sound, and release more than single-albums, they may be able to succeed.

                                           26. Y & W (Young & Wild)

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Y & W will probably never break out. I am sorry, they are just so unheard off, they will have to smash a viral hit to get any attention. So, why are they so close to breaking into my top 25 rookies of 2020? Because of one song, 'Thirsty Now'. I know, the song name is terrible, but that is one fantastic song. The rappers also rap so good that most a-list stars would hide in shame. While I am afraid they may not ever succeed, I really hope I am proven wrong.