Jams That Rocked My Year – 2014: Stray Bullets

So I’ve got ten (or so) more tracks to go on my long list of 50 Favorite K-pop Tracks of 2014! Regardless of much I liked (or disliked) the EP or full-length albums from which these came, I thought that these remaining tracks were standouts.

Jams That Rocked My Year – 2014: The Female of The Species

The ladies of K-pop did all right in 2014. Did I listen to more girl groups and female idols than I did in 2013? Probably not, but new players and favorites have emerged!

 

Jams That Rocked My Year – 2014: Repeat Offenders

I liked a bunch of tracks by the same artist – sometimes the songs appeared on the same album, sometimes not. With lists like these, it can become awkward to have multiple ranked entries by the same person or group so I thought I’d just sift through my Favorite Tracks of 2014 and rack up the Repeat Offenders – those with two or more tracks released this year that I loved.

 

Jams That Rocked My Year – 2014: The Soundtracks

Like every K-pop fan worth her fan merch, I built a “Top K-pop Tracks of 2014” playlist. Consisting of forty tracks when I began in November, the playlist expanded to fifty like I knew it would by the next month.

Determining a cut-off was somewhat of a challenge; I mean, what if someone does a Beyonce and drops a surprise track at the end of the year that demands its place on the Top 50?

Rank also became a problem for me, because while there are songs that I know are good and need to be acknowledged, I didn’t really listen to these enough to warrant their ranks on the playlist, no matter how “important” a track it was to K-pop in 2014.

Sometimes I liked utter crap too, so I can’t really call this list a “Best Of.”

However, I do have my favorites. I have tracks that I kept on repeat play all throughout the year. I have tracks that I needed to download the MV’s of. I have tracks that defined what a terrible wonderful year for K-pop 2014 was, and how when I listen to them next year and in the years after that, will always remind me of these last twelve months.

What A Long Strange Trip: How I Got Myself To The Lost Planet

This was written back in June, for the Fourth K-pop Writers’ Workshop. In May, I went to Seoul for the first time, and that trip remains to be my favorite memory this year. As the following account shows, it’s the journey that counts, and not the destination – which, in this case, happened to be The Lost Planet, EXO’s first concert. 

Traveling to another country is exciting enough in itself, but traveling to another country because of your favorite band is even better. Imagine getting to live out your own private “Detroit Rock City” alternate universe fan fic of your dreams, replete with a kickass soundtrack and fangirl friends! I was all set – I was headed to Seoul for the very first time to catch The Lost Planet, EXO’s first solo concert! I had everything I needed save for one tiny detail – I didn’t have a ticket to the show. “Detroit Rock City,” indeed.