It’s that time of the year. The sweaters are coming out, the autumn colours are stunning and it’s getting colder (but with global warming…).

So kpop usually reflects this and this year is no different. Although, there have been some upbeat songs sprinkled in.

So let’s talk about my favourites from the month of October.

Youngjae – Vibin’

He understood the assignment. The song delivers on the vibes as it set out to do. What vibes? You ask… for me it’s end of summer/road trip vibes and also chill vibes.

I love the feel of the music video. Youngjae looks like he is living his best life and I am here for it! (I may be slightly biased).

I don’t love the song but I like it. It’s road trip music in a good way. I’m always searching for songs that I shall play in my future pink or sky blue convertible A Cinderella Story style and this one makes the cut.

The only reason I say I don’t love it is because I felt like it needed something a little extra, I don’t know what. However, I like the song enough that it’s on my October list so it is a good song in my eyes. Also, given that it is his solo debut song I think it works well in that regard.

Jessi – Cold Blooded

In October I fell in love with SWF (Street Woman Fighter) and it is largely because of this song.

If you don’t know Street Woman Fighter is a contest show about women street dancers in South Korea. The show started with eight dance crews and they would compete and have groups eliminated till the final where there are four groups left.

I love the crews so much! Of course, I have my favourites (Prowdmon, CocaNButter, Holy Bang and La Chica) but they are all so good! It’s been so fun to watch their battles and the choreos they’ve made due to challenges and also due to their rising popularity.

So Cold Blooded, I knew about them vaguely before watching Jessi’s MV but I did not know they were different crews… I thought they were one huge crew *looks away*. At least I know now!

Thus, the number one thing that I love about this MV is that they are centre stage. The dance crews are centre stage and not Jessi. I think it’s cool that she was like, “Hey, you be in my MV I’ll just appear at the end.”

Dancers don’t get the credit they deserve for making choreographies for idols or for dancing with them and I like that Jessi took a step back so that they would get the lime light.

Although, it should be said, WayB and Want are not in this MV because I think at this point they had already been eliminated.

I am obsessed with the MV! I watched it a thousand times and I shall continue to watch it. They really captured the lyrics of the song well. Jessi doesn’t mince words, as you know, and so this song is about sex. And not in a covert way, she’s outright talking about sex.

The song is just empowering really. In the sense that she can talk about sex comfortably and she takes away the stigma of women being sexual beings (which still exists). The fact that the dance crews are all female too is empowering. I love everything about it.

Side note: I didn’t know kimchi could be a euphemism for vagina.

And yes, I like the actual song too. It goes off, it’s fun and it’s Jessi. It may be my favourite Jessi song to come out this year.

N.Flying – Sober

I love that they’re on a plane called N.Flying in the music video. It’s a chill title track and for their repackaged.

It has nice easy going vibes. It’s another selection for my road trip playlist but on the quieter side.  Perhaps for the last leg as the sun is setting… or in the morning leg?

I’m becoming a fan of N.Flying so I was pleased with song.

Luna – Madonna

Luna is back! *takes time to squeal*

If you don’t know I loved, LOVED, f(x) and I will never forgive SM for how they wronged them. They were my favourite girl group hands down, not one bad album!

So am I biased? … a little.

That being said, I liked this song.

The intro where she sings without instrumentals? I loved! I love hearing her raw voice.

I like how the verses and chorus contrast against each other and yet still work. I don’t usually like that but I feel it works in this song.

I love the looks in the music video, they were all top tier so kudos to the stylist. My favourite was the one where she was bare foot and wearing a white dress. I also liked the red number. (She was feeling herself in that hat one though).

So good to hear her sing and would love to hear more from her… an album perhaps?

Eunhyuk – Be

This song is soft and lilting.

I love that he gets to showcase his voice. It is underrated. D&E has really given him the opportunity to shine and I love that for him and I love that they’ve reached ten years. Go them!

His dancing in this song is also really good (as expected). It’s artistic and fits the soft and elegant vibes of the music video.

In the MV it’s like he’s talking to himself. He doesn’t want to forget that part of himself, from his past, but rather he wants to carry it with him.

I also felt like this song and music video was him fulfilling his dream of being a dancer, singer and a visual that he had when he was a child.

Dreamnote – Ghost

I love this song!

I loved it on first listen and all my subsequent listens.

The song flows well. I like the rock elements and the vocals in the chorus. The chorus is probably my favourite part. When they sing together it’s like they’re sirens. There’s an otherworldly quality to their voices at that part that I just love.

Since it was released in October it has creepy vibes, the song and music video. I don’t mind creepy vibes depending on how creepy it is on the creepy meter. Ghost is on the Hocus Pocus level and not on the summoning a demon level so I’m cool with the song.

I really like the dance too. I love that they’re letting girl groups do complex and hard hitting dances more. I also see this with Pixy and Itzy.

Ailee – Don’t Teach Me

Another queen came back this month and she’s back with a jazzy powerhouse of a song. It’s been a while since we’ve had a jazzy powerhouse song from Ailee. These kinds of songs is how I fell in love with her.

I love to see her back and the song is good. I have no complaints.

Plus the dance is done by La Chica… you already know I’m stoked.

Now for some,

Honourary Mentions:

Woods – Waiting, not going to lie but at first I did not like this song. That’s mostly because of the MV, I don’t like MVs like that. I just don’t like the whole su*c*d* theme. However, when I listened to the song, as background music, I liked it.

Raiden ft Taeil, lilboi – Love Right Back, I love Taeil in this song. He really got to flex his vocal skills. It’s a nice track to listen to.

Tri.be – Would You Run?, it’s upbeat and fun. It livens up the autumn atmosphere in the northern hemisphere. It woke me up.

Kingdom – Black Crown, the performance is really good. It has a very grand feeling.

Blackswan – Close to Me, the song is alright. I like the techno part of the chorus and Fatou got good lines and to be honest, she’s the reason I even checked out the group. I was worried they were using her to get international fans and that they weren’t actually going to give her opportunities. However, they’ve proved me wrong and I’m glad. So I’ll be checking them out more.

Epik High ft Giriboy, Sik K – Face ID

The essence of the song is, “Say it to my face! If you gon talk about it be about it!” and I am here for that.

They’re saying, instead of being fake and criticising them behind a screen, do it to their faces. Isn’t that the best way to go about conflict? I think so.

Their verses are clean and I like the song. Each feature is so seamless.

We also got the debut of Tukutz dancing… Tablo won’t ever let him live that down.

NCT 127 – Favorite (Vampire)

This song also came out this month. It became a grower for me and is one of my favs this month.

For more on this song check out my album review of NCT 127 that I published last week.

That is it for October.

I had more on my list than I expected to have.

Do you have a favourite that I did not talk about?