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March was an incredibly exciting month for K-Pop releases, with both soloists and groups dropping a lot of fun tracks both as title tracks and as album tracks.
Check out our list below to see our picks for the 10 best new K-Pop releases of last month! Let us know your picks in our comments and replies!
10. YEOJIN – BTW
The LOONA/Loossemble member made her soloist debut this March with a very short but very sweet three tracks. Her bright voice shines in these songs, with ‘BTW’ especially serving as an enjoyably sweet song.
“By the way, I think of you,” she sings in the song’s very catchy chorus. There’s a sound to this track that’s reminiscent of earlier generations in both production and lyrics that make it a refreshingly fun track.
9. CSR – Can’t Hide Anymore
The circumstances around the song are hard to contend with as a Maeum, coming with a few wrinkles along with being the ‘group’s first song since 2024’s ‘Pretty Mob’. However, while it’s easy to be let down by the group’s underutilization by the company, the girls remain as brightly energetic and lovable as always.
It features bright production reminiscent of ‘Sequence : 72 72’, which feels like the group returning to a sound that they should have been doing in the years since their last comeback. As it is, we can only hope the group’s lively shout of “That’s all!” isn’t the last we hear from these incredibly talented girls.
8. YUNA – Ice Cream
Once again, early into the year, we have an ITZY member making their solo debut, and this time around, the group’s maknae drops a really sweet (pun intended), really fun song that highlights her vocals in a surprising way.
Like other debut highlights ‘B–Boy’ and ‘Hyper Dream’, ‘Ice Cream’ maximizes her voice and showcases all of her potential in an effective way. While her bubbly charm is still present, there’s a real strength and control in her vocals that elevate this to being a really great listen, making for a more than worthy title track.
7. Kep1er – Addicted 2 Ya
Fans of the incredibly underrated Kep1er album track ‘LVLY’ rejoice, as ‘CRACK CODE’’s best song has many shades of the aforementioned ‘LOVESTRUCK!’ song with both its production and the girls’ vocal strength. ‘Addicted 2 Ya’ may serve as the release’s closing track, but it has an energy to it that makes it feel worthy of being a title track itself.
With a pre-chorus buildup that takes full advantage of the members’ strong vocals, the chorus lands with a memorable impact putting it among their most fun and powerful songs. This song takes off even more with a strong instrumental break that has a lot of potential for live choreography, and the bridge leads into one final chorus that helps make ‘Addicted 2 Ya’ a true highlight in the album.
6. LATENCY – SAY LOVE
After landing with their debut single ‘It Was Love’ earlier this January, LATENCY drops an entire collection of tracks, making for a fun, exciting, yet familiar release. Among strong tracks like ‘LATENCY’ and ‘MALIBU’, ‘SAY LOVE l’ stands out as an infectiously bouncy blast.
It has a distinctly summery vibe to it, with a relaxed production similar to ‘MALIBU’, and makes the most of its status as both the album’s opener and shortest track. It’s a simple, lowkey effort, and it’s hard not to sing along as the members bounce along the lyrics in the chorus – this combined with a fantastic instrumental break make for one of the year’s most earworm-worthy songs.
5. Han Jihyo – You Loved Me First
Another Weeekly member debuts, this time with a guitar-led single that brings to mind the tracks of EJel and SeolA, and much like their songs, Han Jihyo, formerly known as Jihan, takes center stage with confidence. With an ever present yearning felt throughout the song in both its melodies and its lyrics, she ensures that her debut doesn’t go unnoticed.
Its strong production goes well with her solid vocals to produce a track that makes its basic nature its strength, finding powerful vocals in a familiar formula. Taking after fellow Weeekly member Jiyoon, this artist finds herself with a surprising delight that’s already among the year’s best tracks.
4. ODD YOUTH – C♡NDY.exe
Whereas their prior songs showed an unhinged, manic energy that definitely had its niche, ODD YOUTH makes their return with a fantastic pair of tracks showcasing two wildly different energies. While the already great and fun ‘Babyface’ feels like a more standard K-Pop song, its bside in ‘C♡NDY.exe’ is easily one of the group’s and the year’s quirkiest songs.
Sounding like it came straight out of a video game, ‘C♡NDY.exe’ is a bubbly and bouncy song not unlike the previously mentioned ‘SAY LOVE’. The group takes full advantage of their quirky production to deliver a sugary sweet and unforgettable release.
3. H1-KEY – My Wish
Accompanying three other amazing tracks to form H1-KEY’s new release, ‘LOVECHAPTER’, ‘My Wish’ may be the shortest track, but it’s one of the group’s strongest songs. Capturing a Christmas feeling all the way in March, the girls’ strong vocals help cement this as among the year’s best and most cheerful.
The chorus is filled with wonderful vocals from each of the girls, landing a lot of powerful notes alongside a sweetly heartfelt melody. Its lyrics as well are very sentimental, fitting nicely with the group’s discography, and it all results in ‘My Wish’
standing as one of March’s absolute best.
2. YENA – Sticker (feat. MRCH)
With any other release, the standout title track ‘Catch Catch’ would be on this list, but I want to highlight the absolutely flawless bside ‘Sticker’, featuring MRCH, who has previously worked as a writer and/or composer for tracks like WOOAH’s ‘Catch the Stars’ and ‘Rollercoaster’, TWICE’s ‘Talk That Talk’ and YUNA’s own solo track ‘Yet, But’, all in addition to her own growing discography. Here, Yena and MRCH team up for one of the year’s strongest tracks from any artist.
“Goodbye,” both singers shout out in the chorus, with a rousing instrumental behind them as they bid farewell to someone they “peel off like a sticker.” The song’s calm, soft opening doesn’t quite prepare one for the rest of the song in the best way. It’s a powerful track that easily ranks as one of Yena’s songs ever.
1. IRENE – Wasteland
The echoes of the opening line foreshadow one of the best songs to come from Red Velvet and its members, and that is an incredibly high bar that Irene’s album closer ‘Wasteland’ manages to reach with striking ease. From her opening call to “Leave this Wasteland, sweet vacation” it’s impossible to say no in this beautifully made masterpiece of a track.
Much like her previous release ‘Like a Flower’, ‘Wasteland’ makes perfect use of Irene’s wonderfully delicate voice, able to convey so much emotion so easily. Her vocals are stunning, as are the lyrics detailing a simple, yet relatable desire to go away. The instrumental’s continuous progression throughout always feels like it’s leading us as listeners towards a magical destination promised in the lyrics, and Irene takes us there with her voice. It’s by far one of, if not the year’s best song, slotting nicely into a niche of nostalgia-inducing sentimental songs like H1-KEY’s ‘You Are My Key’ and Yein’s ‘Landing’. Irene shows that sometimes, the best is truly saved for last.
To support the artists featured in today’s special piece, please follow them at their social media links below:
YUNA: Instagram; Spotify
HAN JIHYO: Instagram; Spotify
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