The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of All Time: Number 8

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

8. SHINee - Replay (2008)

Lyrics: Young Hu Kim

Composition: Jack Kugell (The Heavyweights), Jason Pennock (The Heavyweights), Tchaka Diallo (The Heavyweights), RaVaughn, James Burney II, Yoo Young-Jin (Arrangement)

To say that SHINee are one of the most beloved K-Pop groups of all time would be a severe understatement. Even within this list, they are the second-most represented artists, with a startling six songs out of a hundred. As a result, it feels almost blasphemous to claim SHINee peaked with their debut and have never released a better song since. While there are many arguments in favor of other SHINee songs, so much so that it took a while for there to be one that stood above the rest, Replay is a perfect masterpiece. It is a testament to how incredible Replay is that it stands at the head of SHINee's discography, rather than a critique of SHINee's incredible selection of songs.

To understand Replay, one needs to understand the circumstances behind its release. 2007 was a turning point for K-Pop, bringing an end to the SMP era. For the first time, international influences and composers were brought in. SM Entertainment, easily the biggest agency in Korea, had to adapt quickly. Their rivals had scored instant hits and classics with Wonder Girls' Nobody and Bigbang's Haru Haru (#31), both of which brought in Japanese and Western influences. SM brought changes with Girls' Generation's Into the New World (#10) and TVXQ's Mirotic (#61), and it was clear this was the sound they were planning for the future. With an upcoming boy band in SHINee, SM had to make clear that they were something different, and that is exactly what was accomplished with Replay.

"Vibe" might be the most overused term in contemporary K-Pop. Every single artist attempts to create a mood that perfectly encapsulates what makes their music. Few, if any better examples exist for vibes than the opening moments of Replay. The iconic synth riff produced by The Heavyweights (a production team created by All-4-One member Jamie Jones), playing between snare drums and breathing sighs before the late and legendary Jonghyun provides arguably the most iconic opening line in K-Pop history, "Noona neomu yeppeoseo," or "Noona (a woman older than you), you are beautiful." This line could mean many things, but Jonghyun's dreamy voice with a mild tinge of regret tells all one needs to know. The singer has found the perfect girl, but he fears this relationship isn't going to last. When I first heard this song over ten years ago, I could tell what it was about without even looking up the lyrics. 

The rest of the verses are frankly perfect. Jonghyun, Onew, and occasionally, Key trade lines over unified segments where the members come together as one for fantastic harmonies. Much of Replay is a call-and-response between Jonghyun and Onew, and the rest of the group. While this might seem unfair, the combined group segments, along with the individual touches each member brings to their performance, make them quite memorable. Who can forget Minho's little ad-libs near the very end of the song? Every element of Replay is performed with absolute love and dedication, making it much better than any other song that attempts a similar vibe.

Another trick of Replay is its ideas of repeated motifs. Remember the ever-iconic "Noona neomu yeppeo" at the beginning of Replay? That basic phrasing is never repeated in the entire track, but the basic structure is altered and played within so many classic moments. In the second verse, Onew declares his noona is his MVP (leading to the name of his fanclub), and is featured quite often in the song's climax, nearly within every element to a certain degree.

Oh, and of course in the chorus.

Speaking of the chorus, Replay's chorus is about as simple as can be, but every element is so beautifully stacked upon the next to create a piece that could receive a dedicated analysis on its own. The basic call-and-response proves a breeding ground for various vocal flourishes and counter-melodies, each better than the last. What's more is that each little trick is advanced and improved in every subsequent repetition of the refrain, adding much depth to Replay's simple mid-tempo structure, turning it into an accessible yet deeply immersive single.

Compared to the other songs in the top 10, Replay is hard to write about based on individual attributes. The production cannot be mentioned without the melody, the melody without the performance, and the performance without the lyrics. In a way, Replay is a song that functions in an old-school way, every element comes together to form a single track. A song about an emotionally vulnerable youth who lays bare his emotions into one perfect little track. You can here Jonghyun's dreamlike pain and wonder as he says "Noona neomu yeppeoseo." The line has only gotten more resonant after Jonghyun's tragic passing in 2017, as many of his fans, slowly have become noonas themselves. Time has went on, but Jonghyun's memory isn't aging.

SHINee's Replay is not a song attempting to change the world, nor is it the most ambitious K-Pop song of 2008. Nonetheless, it sticks to what it wants to do perfectly, creating one of the greatest debut songs of all time, and is one of the greatest K-Pop songs of all time.

Next: Number 7

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