As some of you may know, I limit myself on my Top 50 Kpop choices with a few rules: No songs all in a foreign language, no OSTs, no covers. I want my list to highlight actual releases that the artists are promoting as their own music and musical style as much as possible and those rules help me do that. However, sometimes artists make songs outside of that which fill me with joy and I like to highlight that too. Last year, I stuck the few rule-breakers into my regular article with a little “RB” next to their rank. I could do that because there weren’t all that many of them last year. This year…yeah, they need their own space to shine. So, here you go!
2025 KPOP Rule-Breaking Favorites!
22. Boiler Room - WILD WILD (English song)
This is club music, at best. The group runs a, cough cough, grown-up, only girls allowed to look, show in Korea and they unabashedly play the sexy sexy game for women to drool over them. I kinda enjoy the boldness of them. Watch this through your fingers.
21. MINHA RIZAO - ACE (of VAV) - (Portuguese song)
This song truly leans into the South American and Latin sound. As you’d expect from one of the lead singers of a group called “Very Awesome Voices”, the song is extremely vocal focused, having a simple backtrack. It is more ballad than anything else, although it is faster and more uptempo than a usual ballad. But man, I can’t resist a VAV vocals comeback even if the group has disbanded…looking for more solos or some kind of group anniversary comeback maybe in coming years. I’ll support them all.
20. k bye - Kiss Of Life (English song)
This leans so much more toward club music than I’d usually go for, but the low female vocals are killer! I had to acknowledge that.
19. Ooh - BM (English song)
My dude has a bit of a one-track mind lyrically, but in this case, it’s like weirdly respectful too. He makes sure we’re on the same page first, and I love that. Haha.
18. Lover, Killer - STAYC (Japanese Release)
Steven covered this song really well in his Top 50, so I’ll pretty much just say that I loved it and that the choreography is super fun too.
17. In Your Fantasy - ATEEZ (English song…sometimes)
So, this song is also released in Korean, but I really prefer the flow of the English version, so I’m putting it here. This is a little sexy and definitely powerful and it ends far too fast for my taste.
16. ENEMY - TWICE (Japanese Release)
This song feels very glamour rock to me. It’s too pretty to be hard rock, but it’s definitely too hard to be pure pop either. I love the “OOOoooOOOoooH” in it and I love the melody.
15. Creep - San (of ATEEZ) - (English song)
I’ve been saying for years that I want more of his vocals, that I want him to be allowed to do stuff with his vocals…this proves I wasn’t wrong. Haha. The song is almost sensual without going anywhere uncomfortable and he is so good on it.
14. Loyal - Chungha (English song)
Oh boy was there ever a time this year that I could relate to a song like I did this one? Yes, and it was also by Chungha as you’ll see later. This song is simple in the extreme. It is all about the lyrics and her delivery of those lyrics. Beautiful.
13. Marry Me - Dayoung (English song)
She’s going to show up on this list again. I don’t know why she chose to put out only songs in English, but they are pretty much all good. Marry me is a teeny bit of a man-hater song, but only the one cheating jerk, so it’s okay. Haha. In spite of the fact that it’s definitely down on that guy, it's actually more uplifting than hating. It’s very “I’ve risen above and I know you’re not on my level now” all with a fun, bouncy pop backdrop.
12. Be Alright - IVE (Japanese Release)
I love the general uplifting sound and message of this song. It just screams encouragement in a way that not many songs are able to pull off. Also, if anyone can make a tutorial on Liz’s office/interview hairstyle, I’ll love you forever. I would LOVE to have that style at least once!
11. Ash - ATEEZ (Japanese Release)
I’ve enjoyed ATEEZ’s foreign comebacks better than their Korean comebacks the last couple years. They maintain their signature sound in this Japanese release, but lean a teeny bit into Japanese rock, which means the vocalists had a chance to show off a little more than usual and I was happy to hear it.
10. Salty - Chungha (English song)
Yeah, I felt this one. Phew.
9. MXMM - aoen (Japanese Release)
So, this group is a Japanese group under BigHit, much like &Team. At present, their songs are all Japanese, so they’re going to be on my RuleBreakers list, until they debut in Korea (which I’m assuming and hoping will happen).
MXMM has a hard-hitting couple lines at the start of each chorus that honestly felt really out of place to me at first, but I adored the sweet, smooth vocal lines that followed, so I kept coming back. Now, I’ve come to the conclusion that the harder hitting part is a nice way to break up and highlight the gorgeous vocals that follow from the verses’ vocals. Usually it’s done with a drop or something in the background music, so it took me (probably longer than it should have) a bit to understand and fall in love with this one.
8. Go On - Gaho (OST)
So, this song…I had to look up what it goes with…Burn to Win. Apparently, this is a baseball variety show, which explains Gaho’s video on set on a baseball diamond. And the song is very much a “Go get ‘em” style anthem. His vocals continue to make me angry with how great they are and having him sing “Go on! It’s our time” at me never fails to be inspirational and fun.
7. Number One Rockstar - Dayoung (English song)
There is something so vulnerable and raw about this song. When I’ve had a hard day (and there have been some doozies this year), I can sing this and it feels like a plea to the universe for mercy. I have needed a song that gave me that outlet and this was such a help for that.
6. Love Insane - MAX feat. Jay of Enhyphen (English song)
So, not technically a release from a kpop artist either (MAX is British), but it’s so fun that I wanted to make sure you all knew about it. It’s kinda a frenetic 90’s love confession kinda song and it always makes me wiggle around all happy happy.
5. Gabriella - KATSEYE (English song)
I love kpop with Latin flare, as you should know by now and this one certainly has the blend. There is actual ballroom in the choreography too! *Squeals happily*. This song is reminiscent of Dolly Parton’s Jolene (Have you seen the Mindy Smith rendition of that song?, cuz it’s so good!), but the latin kpop idea of a man stealer in the neighborhood. It’s fun!
4. EX - P1Harmony (English song)
I get that the verses of this song are a guy trying to get a girl, but like, the choruses are a total girl power anthem. And fun to boot. Steven also liked this song, although it didn’t make his top 50. It just…it’s fun. Go listen to it.
3. ASAP - Heyoon feat. Chris Patrick
I love the beat of this song! And her low vocals so I can sing along. Add in a flirty, almost sensual feeling. It’s way more fun than a song as simple as it is has any right to be.
2. Blue Flame - aoen (Japanese Release)
I’m going to say something a little nuts, and I want you to go with me on it, okay? This song feels like it should be the theme for a laser tag game played in go-karts on the Autobahn. Yeah, that’s the vibes I get. There’s something very high-speed, but safer than a regular race car, about the pace of it. And the melody and music/auto-tuning feels like a battle somewhere neon and laser-y. Everyone that walks in when I have this song playing says something to the effect of “Oh, this is kinda fun”, so yeah. It’s got something even if I can’t describe what it is.
1. Baby blue - MONSTAX (English song)
I knew this would top my rule breakers the very first time I heard. It’s so…80s. That sounds wrong. The chorus is all power ballad and the verses are all drum beats and simple melody with a bridge that genuinely walks you from one part to the other. I can rock out to this all day any day very happily. So good! (Would have topped my top 50 too).
