Oh how I wish Hello Venus's Wiggle Wiggle was released in 2014 so I could include it on this list. Songs like that make me optimistic for the outcome of K-Pop in 2015.
Honorable Mentions:
Catallena - Orange Caramel
Sonamoo - Deja Vu
Darling - Girl's Day
Mr. Chu - A Pink
Miniskirt - AOA
War of Hormones - BTS
Yum Yum Yum - Lip Service
Some - Soyou & Jungigo featuring Lil Boi
Wait a Minute - 4Minute
Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms - High4 featuring IU
Blacklist - Hyuna featuring LE
Milk - f(x)
Be Natural - Red Velvet featuring Taeyong
Nice Body - Hyomin
Little Apple - T-ara and Chopstick Brothers
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These aren't really in order, but #1 is #1
TTS - Adrenaline
Should've been the title track for TTS, to be honest and a lot of people agree on that. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike Holler, I quite enjoyed it, but Adrenaline is punchy from start to finish without a dull moment, I hope that SM gives TTS more songs like this in the future.
Girl's Day - Something
At first, Darling was my favourite Girl's Day song of the year, but I went back and listened to Something a bunch of times and quickly changed my mind. I'm not usually overthrown by overly emotional songs, but this one resonates with me. Minah really makes this song for me, it displays a nice use of her power vocals (moreso than other songs they've released).
Orange Caramel - My Copycat
If a kpop song utilizes brass instruments (specifically trumpets or saxophones), it's pretty much guaranteed that I am going to enjoy it. I was initially hit with a really memorable saxophone riff, followed by a generally enjoyable song, classic Orange Caramel.
4Minute - Whatcha Doin Today
Block B - Her
Much better than Jackpot, Jackpot relied on certain parts of the song to make it good, whereas Her is good through and through. The MV really stands out for me too, I dig the colour scheme and the overall style to it. I like that P.O got to sing in this, as opposed to his usual "deep voiced guy rapping".
AOA - Like a Cat
This song is absolutely hilarious, odd and a bit of a mess, but in the best and unapologetic way. When this song was first released, everyone I talk to about K-Pop was in hysterics about the many oddity's about this song; the MLG horns at the start, Jimin's iconic chipmunk rapping/adlibs, the droning Brave Brothers moaning in the chorus or the fact that it's 10 songs mashed into one, but you know what? All of those things work so well for it, making it not only my favourite AOA song from the year, but one of my favourite songs of the whole year. Not forgetting to mention that the "sexy cat burglar" concept is completely awesome.
Touch my Body - Sistar
It's just a run of the mill summer track like Darling, but it's the best thing Sistar released this year, and in my opinion it was a really enjoyable song. Honorable mentions to the incredibly awkward dance routine that goes along with it.
EXID - Up and Down
I'm one of those people who didn't REALLY know about Exid until the famous fancam came out, but I'm glad I do know about them now. I can barely fault a single bit of this song, in my opinion it's one of the best songs from the year. Lucky LE is my favourite member, because the song is pretty much 70% her.
Happiness - Red Velvet
One of my favourite debuts of the year. It kind of reminded me of the way SM chose to debut f(x), fun and not overly complicated. This was a love at first listen for me, the only bit that kind of confused me was the Wendy "Shine on me" bit, but I suppose they wanted to show off her vocal abilities, so I'll let it slide. Also lol @ the amount of petty fangirls who hated on them initially.
Laboum - Pit a Pat
There were a lot of nugu debuts this year, and a lot of good ones at that, Laboum being no exception. Initially, this group was known as the group where each member looked like a pre-existing female idol, not even kidding (there's a Hyeri and a Seulgi, but in my opinion after watching the MV you'll realize that they don't look that alike).
Now I'm not usually a fan of the overly cutesy concepts, I think that the songs usually sound way too similar and a bit boring, but that's just me. I was afraid that with this song, that it would just be another overly sugary, dull song..but man I was wrong. If you're going to do a cute concept, do it like this, what a great debut by Laboum. The second song they brought out "What About You" is also a good release, but not nearly as great as "Pit a Pat". The sad thing with nugus is, you never know if they will fail or succeed, let's hope that Laboum keep pushing and get a bit more recognition than they already have.
Wa$$up - Shut up U
I'm glad that I'm the type of person who is willing to forgive and forget or try new things. Wa$$up's initial debut concept wasn't entirely welcomed warmly by the K-Pop community, even though it didn't really bother me that they were twerking in a basketball court to a relatively odd sounding song (mind you, since listening to their latest album I have grown to actually love their older stuff). I'm the type of person who gravitates towards things that have a bit of infamy/controversy surrounding them, and in the K-Pop world, anything that isn't a cookie cutter cute/sexy concept is usually looked upon with skepticism, but I really enjoy when groups go for a more outlandish (for K-Pop) concept/style.
Anyway, onto the actual song. I was browsing OneHallyu, as I do, and someone made a thread comparing this new song by Wa$$up to f(x)'s song Rainbow, saying that it was a cheap rip off (neglecting to mention of course that it was composed by the same person). Initially I was intrigued, because I absolutely love Rainbow and anything similar sounding must be good, right? Well not only were my suspicions accurate, but the song was actually better than Rainbow. I only just remembered up until now that the song sounds similar to Rainbow, that's how much this song has grown on me.
For me, this song just flows right, there isn't an awkwardly placed section of the song, there is a nice rap break that doesn't sound forced (Nada is actually a pretty good idol rapper and a perfect fit for the groups style) and it doesn't try too hard to be anything than what it is. Soon after falling for this song and this group, the MV was released and all the girls had adopted a new style that works really well for them, they all look hot is what I'm trying to say, and that's always a plus.
If you have any reservations about Wa$$up, put them aside and give this track (or maybe just listen to the Showtime album).
T-ara - Sugar Free
Sugar Free seems to be on almost everyone's lists for 2014's best tracks, with good reason too. T-ara just don't seem to have the ability to release a bad title track, truth be told. This song is as good as Number 9, but has 213213 % more power to it, it's like Number 9 on steroids. Sugar Free actually has one of my favourite concept styles too, they all look absolutely amazing (especially Eunjung *coughs*).
Red Light - f(x)
Yup, this is my favourite song of the year and what I said about T-ara pretty much applies to f(x), in my opinion they are yet to release a bad title track. They went in a really daring direction with this song and there was a lot of mixed feelings from kpop fans, mostly because some kpop fans can't handle anything that isn't in a cookie cutter style that they're used to, but I don't care because it's an awesome concept and an equally awesome song. This is the first time I've really said anything like this, but I genuinely will be pretty upset if Sulli doesn't return to f(x) this year because it'll be really interesting to see what the 5 of them will pull off next.
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