The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of All Time: Number 7

Readers, over the past two months, I have worked to create a list of my favorite K-Pop Songs of All Time. For over ten years, I have enjoyed K-Pop, seeing it blossom into a global genre with millions and millions of adoring fans. I have found K-Pop songs I love, made friends over the genre, and seen legacies built over the years. Some of the songs that have made me feel the most are from K-Pop. Given all I have felt and seen, I thought it was finally time to create a ranking of my favorite K-Pop songs of all time.

I don't claim this ranking is perfect, no ranking of this can be perfect. I can only claim that I did my best to provide my personal opinion, with my personal biases, from my years of enjoying Korean music. There are many more boy band songs than girl group (I just prefer their general soundscape), and many songs come from the second generation (2005-2013).

In a way, K-Pop is a bit of a misnomer here. I have included Korean songs outside of the idol sphere, and songs released nearly a century ago. The end result is a list full of songs that left their mark on me. I hope you, the reader, enjoy this list. You may (and almost certainly won't) agree with my ranking, but that is what makes a personal list like this so wonderful.

With that said, let us enter the rules and regulations for what has been qualified as K-Pop for this list.

• Any musical piece released in South Korea, or any of its direct predecessor states, AND/OR is predominantly in the Korean language, Jejuan, or any of their dialects.
• The musical piece must be lyrical in nature.
• Any song, single, or b-side, is eligible.
• This list is MY personal opinion.
• Song rankings may have changed since previous lists and/or reviews.
• The criterion for "the greatest" is a mix of my personal experience, the overall songwriting (lyrically, compositionally, and performance-wise), and the influence of the track in question.
• A song refers to a particular recording of the track and not the basic composition.
• Only one entry per composition.

With all this said. The list will begin tomorrow. For songs 100-11, they will be grouped into daily posts of 10 (100-91, 90-81, etc.). For the top 10, however, each song would get a post of its own.

I hope all of you enjoy this list over the days! Please give your thoughts in the comments, and I will gladly reply when free.

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Previously:

Honorable Mentions

100-91

90-81

80-71

70-61

60-51

50-41

40-31

30-21

20-11

Number 10

Number 9

Number 8

7. Super Junior - It's You (2009)

Lyrics: E-Tribe

Composition: E-Tribe

In the annals of legendary K-Pop boy bands, Super Junior are one of the strangest to write about or describe to anyone unfamiliar with their discography. Over eighteen years of existence, their line-up has been extremely volatile, with many messy splits, and even two members who are part of subgroups, but not the main group. Additionally, their discography is diverse to a fault. Through the years, they have dabbled in SMP rock, EDM dance music, melodic balladry, ornate orchestral tracks, funky pop, mariachi-adjacent Latin pop (they even topped the U.S. Latin Digital chart back in 2018), disco, trot, trap, and much, much more. Even more shockingly, they have been extremely successful in nearly all of their iterations, meaning that depending on when one became a fan of theirs, the Super Junior in your mind might be quite different from another's interpretation of the band.

Amongst this vast and messy discography, their most iconic song is easily 2009's EDM dance track Sorry, Sorry. Its catchy hooks made it a viral sensation known by many beyond the typical K-Pop market across Asia. It is admittedly a solid track, and nearly made this list, but it was its follow-up in It's You that remains one of their most acclaimed songs, and for good reason.

It is hard not to suspect that legendary K-Pop producers E-Tribe were brought back by SM Entertainment due to them producing the iconic hook song Gee by Girls' Generation earlier in 2009. Given Sorry, Sorry's status as a catchy hook song, it must have been expected that E-Tribe would do the same with It's You. Thankfully, the repackaged promotion of the track, as well as Super Junior's popularity allowed them to create a piece of art, and one of the undisputed highlights of Super Junior's discography.

In SHINee's Replay (#8), we had seen the phrase "Noona neomu yeppeo" as the beating heart on what everything is built. Super Junior simplify it even further with It's You. Only one word guides the track, "Neorago," or in English, "It's You." The song opens with mutters of "Neorago" over snapping percussion and percussional flourishes. It instantly creates a beautiful atmosphere before the slow burn of Donghae's opening line. The verse plays push-and-pull between an ever-building instrumental. A keyboard traces the basic phrase of "neorago," while the percussion still snaps over a synth riff repeating the same melody of "neorago." 

With all these motifs set in place, Super Junior are more than set to show why they are frequently regarded as one of the most vocally talented boy bands in history. The members here don't have to sing any complicated melody with tricks and turns, but it requires an emotive, beating heart. The percussion itself has a thumping pulse that guides the song. With the exception of Kibum (who tragically gets no lines in his final release as a member of Super Junior), each one of Super Junior's thirteen members gets a moment in the spotlight, each carrying the entire song with so much emotional weight.

Now might be a good time to pause from talking about It's You compositionally and understand its lyrical themes. Old-school, melodramatic romance is almost entirely dead. In an attempt at avoiding any criticism for being "cringe" or "outdated," dramatic love is dead in pop. This fact was lamented by Infinite in Last Romeo (#28), but these sentiments are best seen in It's You. Love is eternal, even with heartbreaks and highs, it keeps on going as per It's You. The chorus loudly proclaims, "Even when my heart sets on fire, my dry lips are worn out, even when I am born again, it's still only you." Super Junior makes the sentiment from E-Tribe's lyrics stick.

It is with its chorus, however, that It's You makes its mark on history. While It's You, as a song, is the seventh greatest on this list, its chorus would rank amongst the top three. It is hard to describe everything this refrain does right, but here is an attempt anyway. The production explodes, with every element taken to its absolute peak. The stabbing electronic jabs cut straight into the heart while the tempo bursts into a rapid crescendo with minor flourishes adding all the more weight to the hefty instrumental.

Oh, and the melody also is incredible. It surges to unimaginable heights while stretching out every note over two rapidly sung segments, each different from the last. Its melody would be perfect as a piano ballad already, but it is performed with utmost tenacity at a breakneck speed, which only makes the song more weighty. And just as the chorus climaxes, it drops into its minimalist post-chorus, giving enough time for us to take in what just happened, while making every moment all the more impactful.

All of this is tied together by Super Junior at their vocal peak. Hang Geng is a force to be reckoned with in his final track as a Super Junior member (adding much more pathos for what ended up being the band's last song with all its members), Kangin provides his best vocal performance ever, and Siwon and Donghae more than carry their weight as some of the group's most popular members. It is with the main vocalists, however, that It's You truly soars. Ryeowook and Sungmin pair together as excellently as ever, and Kyuhyun is an absolute beast, laying bare his heart with a tearful yet determined performance that only the most skilled could even dream of accomplishing, with emotional restraint and explosion. Of course, It's You is Yesung's song, as he skillfully weaves his tale through each and every note.

It's You also happens to have a finale that is worth every second in gold. Heechul quietly performs an ode to his love before launching into a power note to announce the arrival of the final chorus, more than showing the duality and skill that made him so successful in the industry even before becoming a variety icon.

From then on, the chorus powers through at full capacity, while Yesung vents his heart out through some of the most glorious ad-libs ever conceived. The fantastic high note that closes it off is more than worth the time of listening, but the rest of the high notes have already accomplished much, much more. It's You shows its greatest fireworks before ending as the song becomes quiet, ending on the same note as the opening, "Neorago." It's You was always beloved, but its status amongst K-Pop fans has only grown over time. Few songs bear their emotional weight, performed with so much energy and heart. It's You is fantastic and is one of the greatest K-Pop songs of all time.

Next: Number 6

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