2024 In Review: Day 2 – Song of the Year

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2024 In Review

1. Introduction + Best Album Art
2. Song of the Year
3. Album of the Year (Jan. 16)
4. R&B and Soul (Jan. 17)
5. Rock and Alternative (Jan. 18)
6. Rap and Hip-hop (Jan. 19)
7. Dance and Electronic (Jan. 20)
8. Pop and Ballad (Jan. 21)
9. Folk and Country (Jan. 22)
10. Jazz, Crossover and World (Jan. 23)
11. Best Collaborative Work (Jan. 24)
12. Rookie Artist of the Year (Jan. 25)
13. Artist of the Year (Jan. 26)
14. Other Recognition (Jan. 27)
15. Concluding Remarks (Jan. 28)

Welcome back to Hellokpop’s 2024 In Review series. (If you don’t know what this is about, the Day 1 post has you covered.) Today we begin the meat of the series with a look at the Song of the Year and the runner-up. Tomorrow comes Album of the Year, and then we dive into the genre-specific recognition.

Considerations for Song of the Year include both subjective assessments of musical quality as well as ones of impact, influence, and popularity. In this way, this category differs from the genre picks: sometimes the winner has both types of traits, and sometimes one is just so dominant as to make the other irrelevant.

The “next 10” are listed in alphabetical order, to avoid genre category winner spoilers. (Most of these contending tracks will get more detailed treatment in the genre category posts.)

Bibi – Bam Yang Gang
Lyrics, composition, and arrangement by Chang Kiha

Bibi is no stranger to massive, imposing production, but “Bam Yang Gang” is perhaps the simplest and most austere song to have ever topped our list: clocking in at under two and a half minutes, driven by about five instruments, the song was okay with leaving a lot unsaid and unsounded. In the verses as she reminisces, Bibi glides across Chang Kiha’s melody with a melancholy delicacy; when she refutes the ex-lover’s parting shot, she and the piano turn to an instantly iconic staccato. “All I wanted to eat was the oh-so-sweet chestnut yanggaeng,” she mutters, and the finer and fancier things never mattered that much. So it was with this song, with good writing, simple melody and no-frills composition still marking one of the year’s great hits.

Lee Seung-yoon – 역성 (Anthems of Defiance)
Lyrics by Lee Seung-yoon
Composition and arrangement by Lee Seung-yoon, Cho Hee-won, Ji Yong-hee, Lee Jung-won

On the maximalist end of the spectrum, Lee Seung-yoon has by now established a unique brand of rousing shout-along epics. “Anthems of Defiance” is his most refined work yet. Riding on the grandeur of sweeping strings and expansive guitars, Lee sings a crisp melody but is just as content to fade away in falsetto, into the choir and instrumentation that fills every inch of the mix. As the narrator vows to reclaim the “name of an era, spirit and soul of the fight” on behalf of a generation, and the orchestra actualizes the “noise of abandoned melodies”, “Anthems of Defiance” took up a mantle held by the folk classics of yesteryear.

ARTMS – Virtual Angel
Lyrics by Jaden Jeong and Sungwoo Kim
Composition by El Capitxn, Maria Marcus, Andrew Choi, Vendors (Nano), Vendors (Arte), Vendors (Zenur), Jongsoo Kim
Arrangement by El Capitxn, Vendors (Nano), Vendors (Arte), Vendors (Zenur)

Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – 독립 (Independent)
Lyrics and composition by Danpyunsun
Arrangement by Danpyunsun, Lee Bo-ram, Song Hyun-woo, Park Jae-jun, Park Jang-mi, Shin Ye-hun

Hwi – 기도문 (Prayer)
Composition and arrangement by Hwi

Kim Livingstone – 춘천의 밤 (A Night of Chuncheon)
Lyrics, composition, and arrangement by Kim Livingstone

Meaningful Stone – 미카엘 (Mikael)
Lyrics and composition by Meaningful Stone
Arrangement by Meaningful Stone and Cloud

Park Ji-yoon – 사랑을 사랑하고 싶어 (Love Was My Song)
Lyrics and composition by Hen
Arrangement by Moonseorim

Rosé & Bruno Mars – APT.
Lyrics and composition by Rosé, Amy Allen, Christopher Brody Brown, Rogét Chahayed, Omer Fedi, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Theron Thomas, Henry Walter, Michael Chapman, Nicholas Chinn
Arrangement by Bruno Mars, Cirkut, Omer Fedi, Rogét Chahayed

Silica Gel – Apex
Lyrics, composition, and arrangement by Silica Gel

TripleS – Girls Never Die
Lyrics by Jaden Jeong
Composition by El Capitxn, Maria Marcus, Arineh Karimi, Vendors (Zenur), Vendors (Nano), Vendors (Coll!n), Vendors (JNX’s), Jongsoo Kim
Arrangement by El Capitxn, Vendors (Zenur), Vendors (Nano)