Modern Korean music’s comfort zone lies in unadulterated bubblegum pop, and this list would be incomplete without acknowledging its magnum opus. “Gee” is K-pop at its most mathematically reduced, radically pure essence—a pop song so formally irrefutable that, for one golden year, it overcame half a millennium of historical animosity to broker pop cultural peace between Korea and Japan. Domestically, it is the most popular South Korean song of its decade. And most international K-pop fans, consciously or not, owe their obsession to the butterfly effect “Gee” set into motion upon its 2009 release.
The idea of writing an original thought about “Gee” is, for the K-pop connoisseur, like trying to find a fresh insight in Abbey Road or The Great Gatsby. It’s hardly necessary; a tale of first love that transcends the language barrier, “Gee” speaks for itself. It was a flash of brilliance so bright that the production duo behind it could only sputter and fail from there. In a way, that feels appropriate: “Gee” is the greatest feat Korea will ever accomplish in traditional songcraft. From here, K-pop’s true future lies in the experimental, the experiential, and the unexplored.
Lay's album pre-orders went from 65,000 to 99,000 and now 200,000, but SM underproduced it, so some pre-orders might not even count for first week sales.
Reminding me when I was watching some kpop festival stream and all the chat was filled with Army writing "BTSSSSSSSSSS" but BTS weren't even in the lineup
