WOODZ’s “Drowning” wins 1st music show trophy 2 years after release following gradual rise to a chart topper

Slow but steady wins the race, an adage WOODZ‘s “Drowning” has certainly followed since its debut. Released back on April 26, 2023 as a part of his OO-LI mini, it has just secured its first music show trophy on the May 11 episode of SBS‘s Inkigayo.

Oddly enough, it was WOODZ’s enlistment in the military that seemed to be the catalyst of its rise, as during an Armed Forces Day special episode of KBS2‘s Immortal Songs 2 in October 4, 2024, WOODZ performed “Drowning” and the track essentially went viral afterward.

Less than two weeks later it debuted on the Melon Top 100 and it continued to gradually rise, breaking into the Top 10 at the start of 2025, and then less than a week ago it hit #1 on the chart, capping off an amazing rise that led to him overpowering the competition and winning a music show despite the fact that he’s still in the military.

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Honestly, it feels weirdly appropriate that a song released over two years ago wins a music show today, as it fits with the general yearn for past shit in K-pop and really music at large of late. And while the general public has realistically never been as enthralled with K-pop as the charts made it seem, there does seem to be a relative increase in public apathy for K-pop’s direction of late, as an increasing percentage of “organic” rising songs feel like they’re from singer-songwriters, bands, balladeers, trot, and indies again.

Regardless, I personally couldn’t be happier to see WOODZ finally get his due, as he deserved this attention dating back to at least the excellent Only Lovers Left back in 2021 when he really found his way onto my radar. Now I’m just extremely excited to see his reception when he gets back from his service.

If you didn’t know him before, now you do, so go check his shit out.