KBOPPED’s Worst Kpop Songs of 2020: Mid-Year edition

After celebrating the best of the year so far, it’s time to revisit some of the years biggest duds. In view, 2020 has been the year of disappointments. As I’ve mentioned multiple times, I’ve failed to connect with almost every big name release this year. Most of those tracks weren’t inherently bad but they were just so far from what I knew they were capable of. However, the tracks down below are those tracks that weren’t just underwhelming but were just flat out bad. I’m usually very generous with my reviews and statements but sometimes you just got let all that rage flow out you know. So this is what this segment is for!

Some regular readers might be able to figure out some of the songs based on previous ratings but there are a few songs that initially received decent ratings that have gone onto grate so badly that I honestly can’t listen to them anymore. Traditional coffee house fare like Bol4, Crush or Taeyeon’s most recent release won’t really be considered as while those songs might get low ratings from me, I find them more boring than bad. And that’s mostly down to me not understanding the hype around those tracks.

So get out you salt shakers or bucket of popcorn and let’s dive into some of the years most downright awful tracks as per my opinion!

Honourable Mention

Episode – Open My Door

By all accounts this song should be down there with the worst. The mixing, production and overall sound design is worse than amateur and it really shouldn’t have been released. But regardless of all that, I kind of feel sorry for these girls. They clearly didn’t have the budget and it’s kind of admirable they still managed to scrap together something. The acts mentioned below had all the budget in the world and still managed to make songs nearly as unbearable.

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(G)-idle – Oh My God (Review)

A song that I didn’t enjoy on release and has only gotten worse with time, Oh My God is home to probably one of the years most irritating choruses. As I said in my April roundup, it’s gotten to the point where I just can’t listen to the song any more without feeling a sense of increasing disappointment. It’s just style over substance and while some might value it as some kind of ”high art” I just want a good song man. I know many love it but I despise it.

Blackpink – How You Like That (Review)

THE MOST obnoxious and irritating chorus of the year, How You Like That underwhelmed so badly that it shattered the record for the lowest ranked song on the site by an entire point. I would probably increase the rating by around 0.25 or 0.5 at best but it still stands as one of the worst singles that 2020 has given us by far. It’s kind of sad that Teddy can produce a song that essentially boils down to the overuse of autotuned farts and it can break almost every single record out there.

DKB – Sorry Mama (Review)

The original holder of the lowest rated song on the site, Sorry Mama might just be the song I hate the least out of all these. It’s just nothing more than a dark angsty generic boy group trap fest. Imagine thinking that screaming Mianhe eomma repeatedly with the post chorus hook I’m sorry my mama, I’ll be alright mama is badass. This kind of faux badassery is just cringe man. I wrote better lyrics than that in my year 5 poetry class. And I’m pretty sure I barely got a passing grade.

Elris – Jackpot (Review)

A shriekfest that made me want to rip my ears out on my first listen, I find it hard how anybody could listen to Jackpot from start to finish. Like Jesus Christ how high do you want those girls to sing. That key is not healthy and physically hurts to listen to. It’s the kind of song that makes me happy that my school never had a cheerleading team. That combined with an irritating instrumental and you’ve got an unbearable mess of a comeback.

Lee Jinhyuk – Bedlam

I don’t mind songs where I get shouted at the entire time. In fact some of my favourite songs have this feature. But the thing is, Bedlam isn’t just Jinhyuk shouting, it’s like he’s trying to piss you off on purpose by wailing into your ear in the most annoying ass tone possible. Like his voice during the hook genuinely makes me angry. It’s like the musical manifestation of when you run into an eshay at a train station. At least the beat isn’t completely terrible.

TXT – Puma (Review)

A trap infested auto-tuned stinker, it’s hard to believe that Puma was released by the same group that gifted us the masterful Crown and Run Away. Puma’s conjure up images of fast, sleek creatures and this song sounds like it’s going out of its way to do a disservice to the species. This song is such a dirge to get through that if it were in the wild, it would probably get outrun by Danny DeVito.