A while ago, there was a trend going around where people were posting their k-pop bibles — their personal genre-defining albums. And you know me. If there's an opportunity to Make A List… I'm there!
I limited myself to actual full albums, rather than EPs/mini albums. Really good full-length albums are much rarer in the industry — some of my favorite groups haven't yet been able to (or never got to) release a full album.
As always, these are my personal k-pop bibles and this is by no means a definitive list. I also won't assert that these are the best k-pop albums, but they're the ones that made a real impact on me.
1 of 1 — SHINee (2016)
Picking a SHINee album was like picking a most beloved child*. Heartbreaking! But I think 1 of 1 is so consistent and cohesive that it stands out among their work (alongside Everybody). There's a lot of charm in their albums that are more eclectic (Odd is an amazing album, but no one would call it cohesive, per se), but the laser-focus of this album really makes it something special. The retro vibes and their thick, tasty harmonies are on perfect display, and these songs in turn blast you with high-energy beats and slick, sexy tracks. It's polished and perfectly executed and, above all, fun. I always have faith that when they tackle a sound, they're going to go all-in and really embody whatever genre they aim at, whether it's retro funk or EDM or bubblegum pop. Man, they really never miss.
*(Honestly, I had to pick this album because they'd execute me if I said my true favorite SHINee album is DxDxD.)
Favorites: Prism, Don't Stop, SHIFT, U Need Me
PRIMA DONNA — 9Muses (2013)
When people say they want the 2nd/3rd gen sound back… what they're probably talking about is the music of production team Sweetune. And this album is jam-packed with Sweetune's absolute best.
This isn't to take away from the performances of the group themselves — they approach this material with so much charisma and power. Every song is dramatic and bombastic, marked by sparkly 80s synth lines and sexy, overdriven guitar. Even with their lineup changes, 9Muses had this It Factor that is so rare to find — each song polished to a diamond shine, but with a raw, mature edge that keeps every song exciting. They just don't make it like this anymore.
Favorites: GUN, Miss Agent, Time's Up, Whatever
Never Gonna Dance Again: Act 1 — Taemin (2020)
Taemin is really a once-in-a-lifetime performer — not just technically, but because he understands how to perform a character and a story in his music. Every song on this album is jam-packed full of melodrama, whether that's the grandiose dark sexiness he brings on "Criminal" and "Famous" or the delicate emotional depth of "Clockwork" and "Me and You." He has an incredibly versatile and yet instantly recognizable voice and aesthetic.
Taemin is in a bit of a transitional period right now after his seemingly endless battles with his former label(s) and has moved into writing and producing nearly all of his own music. It very much seems to me like he's still finding his footing with what parts of his SM-era work he wants to retain and what he wants to cast off, and I'm very interested in seeing how he develops from here in his personal artistic practice.
Favorites: Criminal, Strangers, Waiting For, Clockwork
CITY OF ONF — ONF (2021)
It's kind of stunning that ONF only have one album (well, kinda two by the time I actually post this), because they stand out in my mind as having one of the richest, most cohesive discographies of any group ever (and I wrote about it over here). CITY OF ONF covers every corner of their sound — quirky, complex, goofy, hard-hitting, buoyant. In this era of every song being the joint effort of 10-15 people, I wish more groups had a Hwang Hyun working with them, making sure that even their most off-the-wall experiments always sound like them. I can't really explain it, but like… "My Genesis (Ubermensch)" and "Thermometer" could not sound more different but they both sound like ONF. Their vocals are tight and top-notch, and their synergy and charisma as a group is undeniable.
Favorites: My Genesis (Ubermensch), Beautiful Beautiful, The Realist, Trip Advisor
Every letter I sent you. — Yerin Baek (2019)
This album isn't really k-pop, but Yerin Baek has had such an impact on the k-pop scene that I feel okay including it here. Yerin Baek's sound and artistic sensibilities have developed and transformed considerably since the release of this album, becoming more experimental and intertwined with electronic and dance music along with the jazz and R&B influences of her earlier work. (You can also hear her in a very different mode with her 90s grunge-esque band The Volunteers, whose most recent album was one of my favorites this year.)
Yerin's voice is so incredibly versatile; her tone is delicate and sweet and always crystal clear. Every letter I sent you. is a masterclass in restraint - her style isn't showy or particularly powerful, but she is so in tune with the music that it sounds perfectly effortless. It's also a really well-arranged and ordered album - there's something to be said for an album where each song sounds distinct, but you can listen through and not quite realize where the songs begin and end. She has one of my favorite voices in the industry and I'm always thrilled to hear more from her.
Favorites: Rest, 0310, Square (2017), London
Perfect Velvet — Red Velvet (2017)
Yeah, yeah, this is the Red Velvet album on everyone's lists but, like… it's for a good reason. It has "Kingdom Come" on it, after all. This album is one of those released between 2017-18 where you can hear the transition between 3rd gen and 4th gen music, with strong future bass and synthpop influences that would come to define girl group music in subsequent years. Red Velvet has always been right at the forefront of the next big k-pop trends, though their last few releases (Chill Kill, Cosmic, Surfin' Boy) have been refreshingly distinct from the current landscape. It all comes down to their performance - they have this way of blending their voices together in a way that's so pleasant while simultaneously being super recognizable, and that's difficult to do!
Favorites: Peek-a-boo, Look, Kingdom Come, About Love
Basic — Brown Eyed Girls (2015)
Brown Eyed Girls has my favorite discography of any girl group ever, and it's mostly due to the sheer charisma with which they perform any material set in front of them. They're so emblematic of an era where full, powerful, mature vocals ruled the industry. Every member's style is distinct but cohesive. Miryo's impact on the future of idol rap cannot be overstated.
The material on this album is super varied, which you can do if your vocal delivery is this unique and consistent. They move in and out of every genre with ease, from the retro 60s flavor of "Warm Hole" and "Higgs" to the Latin-flavored "Dice Play". I also firmly believe that "Brave New World" is k-pop's best ever disco track (as far as 2010s disco goes) - the instrumental is so delicious and maximalist and pitch-perfect.
Really, what it comes down to is that Brown Eyed Girls put their entire pussy into every song and it results in an absolutely stellar album.
Favorites: Warm Hole, Brave New World, Atomic, Dice Play
4 Walls — f(x) (2015)
Everyone picks Pink Tape as their favorite f(x) album (and don't get me wrong, it also rules), but 4 Walls has some of my favorite ever f(x) b-sides. I think a lot of people bounced off this album because it did mark a distinct shift in f(x)'s sound - they've always walked the line between western pop and really k-poppy k-pop, and 4 Walls trends distinctly towards the former. Even so, I think it still retains a lot of the things I love about their music even while opting for a sleeker, less bombastic set of songs. I think their voices work really well on this style of retro dance-pop. Amber is a polarizing figure but I love how much she was singing on this album, her lower register provides such a lovely contrast to Luna's power vocals.
Even though this album was far more subdued than, say, Red Light, there's still plenty of moments of bombast to enjoy - "Diamond" has a lot of that classic f(x) sound, while "Papi" is loud and gleeful and corny. "Cash Me Out" could be a Katy Perry song. Carly Rae has credits on this album. There's a lot to love here, and I wish they'd had more of a chance to explore this shift in sound before their quiet, untimely demise.
Favorites: Deja Vu, X, Rude Love, When I'm Alone
The Cloud Dream of the Nine — Uhm Jung Hwa (2017)
Uhm Jung Hwa has had a long and illustrious career spanning nearly thirty years and numerous hits that are still covered to this day. This particular album sits in a really nice niche where it draws extensively on the synthpop of the 80s and 90s while simultaneously never feeling like a complete re-tread of her older music — "Dreamer" and "So What" are comfortingly familiar while songs like "Delusion" and "Photographer" wouldn't have sounded out of place on any girl group album from 2017. Part of me wants to compare her to Madonna in some ways, who also continues to draw on her own body of work while also pulling in current sounds and ideas. I really admire how she pushes the envelope while doing what she knows she's good at.
Favorites: Oh Yeah (Feat. Jonghyun), Delusion (Feat. Lee Hyori), So What, Photographer (Feat. Jung Ryeowan)
Circle — Onew (2023)
You'll have to forgive me because I can't talk rationally or sanely about this guy, but I really do believe that this is a masterpiece kind of album. It flows from song to song with an ease and agility that's hard to achieve. He has one of theeee most beautiful voices of all time and part of that is in the way he approaches music in general, with an undercurrent of tender emotion in every song. In a lot of ways, Circle is about grief and the process of healing - it's a present theme even in the album's lighter moments, and especially visceral in songs like "Rain On Me" and "Always."
Like Taemin, I feel like Onew has undergone a massive artistic transformation since parting with SM - his music has become far more unpredictable and experimental, fusing genres and taking risks in a way I find delightful even if it doesn't hit for me 100% of the time. He seems to have really come into his sound, partly fueled by writing a large chunk of his music and also by having a consistent stable of producers. Even so - Circle remains an incredible album and one I return to often.
Favorites: O (Circle), Rain On Me, Anywhere, Paradise
Chained Up — VIXX (2015)
There's this specific genre of 2nd gen boy group music that lives in the middle of the venn diagram between horny and spooky, and absolutely no one did it better than VIXX at their peak. This isn't a flawless album by any means — there are a couple snoozers, and the sweeter songs often traffic in schmaltz, but they commit so earnestly to every genre that it's impossible not to be charmed. "Chained Up" is genuinely one of my favorite kpop title tracks of all time, visually, sonically, and choreographically. VIXX really is for theater people, and I mean it as a compliment.
Favorites: Chained Up, Hot Enough, Spider, Eternity
Soul Lady — YUKIKA (2020)
There was a brief city pop epoch in k-pop around 2020-21 (nestled within the larger retro-synthpop trend that was everywhere for a couple years), and no one did it better than Yukika. She's such an interesting artist — she moved from Japan to Korea to attempt to break into the k-pop industry and ended up making her mark by working in a traditionally Japanese genre (sung in Korean). The fusion is also apparent in the production — you can hear the k-pop seeping in in some of the instrumentals and even in the way her songs are structured ("pit-a-pet" specifically could have been an Odd Eye Circle b-side). She has the absolute perfect voice for city pop, airy, delicate, and sweet. Her career was relatively short (she debuted in 2019 and retired in 2023), but her music remains emblematic of an era to many people, including me.
Favorites: Soul Lady, Yesterday, Cherries Jubiles, Shade
The Collection "Story Op. 2" — Jonghyun (2017)
One of the best albums ever, full stop. It's genuinely rare to listen to an album where you can feel the deep, profound love and care for music that Jonghyun had. I don't say this to imply that other k-pop artists don't care about their music, but moreso in that every song on this album is so deeply personal, so palpably emotional, and so intentionally crafted. His previous albums had certainly contained the passion and care that this one did, but you often get the sense that much of that material was crafted around a persona, in its composition and performance (which, I want to be so clear, is not a bad thing). Story Op. 2 is achingly raw, its production unpretentious and stripped-down. Tracks like "Blinking Game" and "Elevator" are performed with such a delicate, tender emotion that at times it's almost painful to listen to. He gives so much of himself in each and every moment of music. I really think we are so, so lucky to have received any amount of music from Jonghyun, let alone the breadth of work he left behind. He was a one-of-a-kind artist.
Favorites: Lonely (feat. Taeyeon), Just Chill, Blinking Game, Elevator
REBOOT - Wonder Girls (2015)
I will forever be fascinated (derogatory) by the decision to effectively re-debut the Wonder Girls as a band, release one album and one single, and then disband them. Like, come on! That said — REBOOT is one of the best 80s-nostalgia albums k-pop has ever produced. It's a very specific vision of the 80s, differing from the kind of music Sweetune was producing which more often mirrored the anthemic disco tracks of the era. This album is (largely) drawing directly from the instrumental and production choices of new wave and synth-pop acts. Some of these instrumentals wouldn't have sounded out of place with a band like The Go-Go's or The Bangles. 80s nostalgia has come and gone (and come and gone) in the k-pop space, but this one stands out in its unique choices and influences.
Favorites: I Feel You, John Doe, OPPA, GONE
Modern Times - IU (2013)
It's not an exaggeration to say that IU is the most successful k-pop soloist of all time — not simply in the numbers, but in her pervasive presence and impact in the industry over her nearly twenty-year career. She's undergone numerous stylistic transformations as the industry evolves, but what I admire is how firm she is in her own identity even as she shifts between genres and sounds.
This album is drenched in theatrics, moving swiftly and deftly between influences: from bossa nova to New Orleans jazz, Latin pop to big band swing. In a lot of ways, Modern Times feels like a concept album; it has no qualms about leaning entirely into the genre pastiche. There's no attempt to "modernize" a song like "The Red Shoes" — and I really think that's why this album was so successful. There's a real emphasis right now on genre fusion, which works sometimes and completely flops at others. Modern Times is unique in it's absolute commitment to its own style and sound.
Favorites: Love of B (Feat. Park Ju-won), The Red Shoes, Obliviate, Havana
Yay ty for reading! This has been in my drafts for, god, at least half a year? I'm so happy to have it out there. And I want to hear your suggestions! What are your favorite k-pop albums of all time???
<3 han