Best New Music: January 2026

A ranking and review of the best new releases from Korean and Japanese artists!

View the Substack version of this piece here!

#20: YOASOBI, “BABY”
This song embodies the deep-rooted, seemingly irreversible and permanent love for someone of which one is waiting for the return. It is an ode to the kind of love that invades one’s mind and never leaves it, the kind that leaves one impatient to see a loved one again from the very second they are no longer physically together. “Even all the pain I bear is dear to me / But as of right now / It’s a feeling I am left to hold,” vocalist Lilas Ikuta vents, as she waits for “when [their] spring unfolds” again, when she can feel complete (“Hoping one day / This flower can bloom entirely”). In the meantime, at least she can vividly daydream about the reunion, with the help of a four-leaf clover, a physical token of their time together and a representation of her loved one being, in her mind, luck in human form. “The four-leaf you gave me… so soft… I lean in to kiss it now,” she decides! Her impatience is like that of a child who has a birthday party or something else “huge” to look forward to, and that pure excitement befits the instrumental’s antsiness! It involves a rapid BPM rate, a crowd-ready chant, and an electronic blitz of noise. The song knows where it wants to go; it just takes wild and roundabout ways to get there, making it sound like an identity crisis when it is actually sure of itself! 

#19: dodree, “Just Like a Dream”

This duo offers an inspired presentation of South Korean culture’s timelessness and transcendence. The name combines “free” and “dodeuri,” a term for a traditional Korean rhythmic pattern, and their music generously borrows from both modern and traditional instrumental, aesthetic, and even architectural influences. dodree’s audio and visual presence is not just memorable but educational; their debut involves a partnership with the National Museum of Korea, and a museum ad’s butterfly symbolism is shared with the “Just Like a Dream” music video. In the latter, a smaller butterfly fits into a perfectly-shaped space within a larger butterfly, which perfectly represents the theme of breaking out of a familiar mold before returning to it transformed!

“Just Like a Dream” demonstrates a smart strategy of mixing the conventional and the unexpected in ways that stoke ongoing curiosity in many other ways. After an initial viewing to just take in the pleasant color palette and note the duo’s convincing chemistry, repeat viewings are in order to catch cryptic connotations. For example, tree branches appear bent in a shape that brings to mind butterfly wings. Also, a dance scene in front of a moon shows the moon’s surface rippling as if covered with water or a mere mirage. Coincidental or not, the many meanings one can derive from the details show how an appeal can be both culturally specific and very broad. Adding to that broad appeal is the fact the video makes time for aesthetic-focused, narrative-focused, and dance-focused scenes; dodree bridge audiences who vary in terms of both preferences and generations. 

#18: Mrs. GREEN APPLE, “lulu.”
“lulu.” is akin to a lively, percussive sermon. Each rise, crest, and fall feels full and momentous, as sounds and voices continuously feed off of and grow alongside each other. On top of the sonic symbiosis are effective finishing touches in the chorus, including cymbal crashes and whimsical string flourishes. The mood gets even higher in a later chorus, especially thanks to an electric guitar. The emotional peak does not overextend its welcome, and the song naturally declines from “exuberant” to “chill” on the “feel-good” spectrum! 

The subject of Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s sunny disposition is the journey they are on, and they insist on not finding joy in the actual destination: “If I find what I’m looking for, I feel like something will be interrupted;” “If I find what I’m looking for, I feel like something might collapse.” The entrances and exits of instrumental layers, as well as the vocal exclamation points in the form of octave jumps, compound the concept of living for every single high and low on the ride of life. The music video expresses this in a less eventful way than the song, which serves its message well. Vast landscapes and pensive expressions are prioritized over narrative conflict on a grand journey, so the audience metaphorically stops to smell the roses while the band persuasively preaches the importance of doing so. 

#17: AxMxP, Amplify My Way
Amplify My Way is like three EPs in one. The first part follows up instrumental aggression (with the metalcore and phonk “PASS”) with verbal assertiveness (with “Too Much,” about haters only motivating the group to push themselves more). The second part includes crush-themed songs: “Punch-Drunk,” one with more lyrical depth called “I Melody You” (which sums up what music is all about by treating “melody” and “love” as interchangeable words), and one with more spiritedness and catchiness (“Thereafter”). The third part of Amplify My Way shows a sharp contrast between post-breakup outrage (“Bittersweet”) and sorrowful yearning (“Be yours”). The music videos offer another contrast: “PASS” is literally dark, with shaky camerawork that captures odd angles and periodic intrusions of red lighting. “Thereafter” is more about a story than special effects, with essentially a “good time had by all” premise. 

Overall, AxMxP flex their ability to deliver high-key and low-key concepts, their willingness to challenge themselves musically, and their potential to win over boy band fans with all sorts of topical preferences.

#16: Apink, RE : LOVE
While one can easily picture a rookie group doing well with these songs, they benefit from coming from more experienced performers. These songs’ flavors are enriched by age, satisfying a thirst for nostalgia (especially the EXID-esque “Fizzy Soda”) and going to the next level thanks to the vocal compatibility honed through practice (it is most apparent in the ballad “Hold My Hand” how they’ve learned how to best use their vocals to complement each other’s). Similarly, a rookie-like music video premise finds its rightful home with Apink, because by serving as the long-anticipated comeback video for a second-generation girl group, “Love Me More” is more than just a cute mix of live-action and stop-motion scenes in the style of an all-ages holiday special. It is also a story of growing up while keeping one’s imagination and self-assuredness intact. In the video, as winter turns to spring, white apples turn red. The video ends with an Apink member biting into a red apple, giving a knowing stare to the audience. It is a silent acknowledgement that Apink trusted their “season” to shine again would arrive when the timing was right! 

#15: Luli Lee, Brave New World
This set of self-mixed, self-produced, self-written songs entertains the possibility of Luli Lee having an alter ego, but that is just an initial misdirection. Listeners think they are about to get to know Luli Lee’s domineering persona, the one who calls herself a master in “You’ll Be My Mad Dog” and then the “King of the New World.” But her hushed delivery in “You’ll Be My Mad Dog” drowns in a dark and distorted soundscape, and the heavy use of reverb continues to stop her from conveying convincing confidence. Plus, she admits in “King of the New World,” “I broke down, went in circles…” What follows is the EP’s rawest song, “OCD,” the musical equivalent of the moment visceral panic strikes. She once again stifles herself on the rock ballad “Unknown Artist,” her voice taken away as if pushed by gusts of wind, and the drums with suspense-generating potential instead quickly being suppressed. 

Many musicians talk about projects that show “the real them,” but Brave New World shows the real Luli Lee to a daring and disarming degree (represented especially well during the EP’s most metal-inspired moments). This is an unflinching self-assessment that is striking in the speed with which it exposes just how surface-level one’s assertive persona can be, and by focusing more on expressing her own feelings and mindset than the external influences on either, this EP speaks to how the likeliest culprit of one’s truest colors being dulled is actually self-sabotage.

#14: Catch The Young, EVOLVE
EVOLVE captures Catch The Young’s lived experiences, “captures” being the key word. Some instrumentals and lyrics channel the sense of being stuck (for example, “Sail” holds back compared to songs like “Amplify” and “Alive” that have both the sound and subject of moving forward). But some songs express feeling “captured” in a positive sense, as in “captivated.” They are awestruck by the power to persevere that comes from the magic of music. They frame making and playing music in ways that prove how enamored they are with the process. In “Amplify,” they fully embrace “The heat and light of this moment” when they can “Connect the wires” and “Raise [their] voice[s] higher” while performing live. In “Stay In The Dream,” their words align with the flow-state groove: “We float… Ride up on desire…” The most attention-grabbing guitars are in “Hurricane,” in which they cast themselves as the natural disaster, “in trouble” and “suffocated.” But they prove to themselves they can withstand any “storm” in “Reperio” (Latin for “I found out”), thanks to music: “Reperio, feel the moment… flowing down… Never seen anything like it before… rhythm up in the air… got no fear.” Music is perceived as a cosmic gift, a fascinating force of nature. 

EVOLVE’s thematic territory - desire, hope, determination - is not new, but the band’s delivery is, and a genuine passion and sense of wonder keep listeners invested. Plus, the fact the band composed and wrote all 14 tracks themselves is worth applauding!

#13: CNBLUE, 3LOGY
Two primary reasons to appreciate 3LOGY: CNBLUE’s hands-on roles in making it (they composed each song themselves, and this is the first time they are credited as album co-producers) and the sound-sentiment alignment. Some songs are well-made but self-explanatory: “Ready, Set, Go!,” “Anthem of Life,” “Bliss”... But most of the time, the songs’ arrangements involve more astute attention to detail and contain layered feelings in subtler ways. “Still, a Flower” carries multitudes of meaning, for sounding like a classic CNBLUE rock ballad, being pre-released on New Year’s Day, and having its sole English lyric be a repeated one about “[f]lowers out of the asphalt.” “Lowkey” mixes predictability and unpredictability in a way that makes the latter seem like it was actually the former, quickening its tempo compared to the songs before it as they sing about a night that has flown by too fast. “Killer Joy” also has a title that can mislead listeners before sounding predictable in hindsight; its high notes and ramped-up guitars later on in the chorus emphasize the spirit of “joy” more than a “killer”! One more example of a song with well-made multitudes is “Again.” The ballad’s guitar versus piano prominence changes at just the right times, and the final vocal fade-out brings home the “Let go and trust this memory will come back” message.

#12: Hinatazaka46, Cliffhanger Special Edition
As optimistic as this J-pop group sounds, they embed nuances within their exuberant expressions. The title track treats romance as an exciting “Cliffhanger,” but one only reached after being emotionally pushed to the edge. But it is better to love and lose than never try to love at all, and the title track repeats that: “Even heartbreak will be useful someday;” “Even heartbreak will teach me something;” “Happy endings and bad endings [emphasis added] / I want to see what happens next.” They do not just embrace the moment before taking a leap of faith; throughout the album, they go on and on about it, which matters. They recognize that things that are relatively small can seem like a big deal to young people, like knowing that one will cross paths with a crush soon. Becoming lovestruck is a sensation too strong to find the right words for, hence why they compare the experience to music in “Sukinacrescendo” (and previously did with “Onegai bach!”). They reiterate the desire to take a leap of faith in “Second Jump.” They go on and on about waiting for the perfect emotional “wave” to strike in “Surf’s up girl.” They expand on their desire to go with the flow in “Koi to kansei no housoku” and ability to appreciate the little things in “Kimitoikiru.” And in “Namidamenotaiyou,” their goodbye is meant to echo for a long time; the song about seeing something smile-worthy through tears is a gift from now-graduated member Matsuda Konoka, and it was made with the intent of being performed by future generations of the group. 

In their own unique ways, Hinatazaka46 acknowledge where there is a lot more to unpack than some assume, and they stretch out the time spent revealing what’s in their emotional baggage. The multitudes they uncover are implied through the corresponding music videos, too, which show how the ideal future path differs from person to person without extracting any fun or value from the times spent at the paths’ intersections. They prioritize dancing together over getting combative at a hockey rink in “Sukinacrescendo”! In “Cliffhanger,” they smile and jump in the sunshine together in slow-motion and each wear a very different outfit when they dance together on an empty road. And in “Kimitoikiru,” they wear matching outfits and dote on one another, but at the end, they stop holding hands and all point upwards in slightly different directions. Overall, Cliffhanger Special Edition validates the individual and collective perceived excessive hang-ups in the minds of youths.

#11: Reol, Rhetorica
Rhetorica is a sparkling celebration of what makes up “you”: from “your” struggles (“Utsukushi Jigoku”), to interests (“Portrait of Her,” “WANT U LUV  IT”) to natural strengths (“DEAD CENTER”) to daily life (“DEAR” and “RE RESCUE,” both about living fully in the “strange” present moment). The album title refers to the articulation of an impactful statement through a culmination of communication elements. Therefore, “rhetoric” is an optimal theme for a self-introduction, and Reol succeeds at showing all of her many true colors (not least because of how hands-on she was in making this album). Different identity facets come out to play at different times: the inner punk (in songs like “DEAD CENTER”), the inner rapper (in “Rhetoric Index”), the 80’s idol pop-inspired dreamer (in “Portrait of Her”)... She touts making her mark “simply through living” and having eternal relevance (“Only music remains ageless… I accumulate legacy”) in “DEAD CENTER,” and she doesn’t let loneliness stop her from throwing a feast and a dance party in “DEAR.” These are just some of the many times she hypes up herself at the same time as she reveals it. The result makes “ecstatic EDM/pop/rock” too flattening of a description. Rhetorica does what it set out to do: help people get to know Reol, with the receptiveness to that process being paid no mind. It is electro-pop/rock with personal pizzazz and purpose.

#10: XG, THE CORE - 核
THE CORE - 核 has continuous genre and mood crossovers. There are melodic raps (like “TAKE MY BREATH”), runway-ready house and pop songs (“GALA,” “HYPNOTIZE,” “UP NOW”), brags about being in high demand and high-maintenance (“ROCK THE BOAT,” “NO GOOD”), and a soft curveball (the acoustic-guitar-led “4 SEASONS”). The other tracks speak to XG’s specific story, one that involves fictional, superhuman characters who have a human sisterhood (celebrated on an emo ode to “brothers from another mother,” “O.R.B (Obviously Reads Bro)”) and space to shine both individually and together (the album includes a new version of JURIN ASAYA’s 2025 solo, “PS118”). 

One of the strongest examples of XG’s image certainty yet versatility is the album intro. “XIGNAL (The Intro)” goes from sounding like an underwater recording to eerie echoing to audio from self-made footage of a shoreside reunion with good friends. It is easy to picture XG’s one-by-one introductions playing out like ones in a theme song, with everyone coming together from the ocean, outer space, and everywhere in between! 

XG’s approach is to fully plunge the audience into their art; it comes at viewers and listeners hard and fast. Relatedly, they dare to put their more potentially divisive tracks upfront; they save the relatively more generic crowd-pleasers for later on the tracklist. They trust they can reel skeptics in without any pandering pretext. The sensory onslaught that is their music videos has the same “This is us, take it or leave it” attitude. Flashes of light prompt outfit changes, there are times when images morph into each other, the camera darts to keep up with the members’ moves, some things fly towards the viewers… without even noticing the Easter eggs regarding alien identities, XG’s videos are a dizzying sight to behold, because nothing is “too much” when it comes to XG’s self-expression.

#9: LA POEM, ALIVE
This classically-trained quartet prove their musical mettle, with sublime vocal performances that guarantee each song soars. Operatic rock makes listeners feel “Alive” indeed during the song of the same name, and the following songs make time for each part of their vocal range to shine. Jeong Minseong’s baritone sounds particularly gorgeous on the ballad “Este amor,” while the tenors dazzle most on “An Old Promise.” They save the best for last with “Survive,” getting even more dramatic than they do in “Alive” despite working with a shorter time frame. Strings and an organ quickly get going after an epic acapella intro, and the members build on the momentum well, with an extra “It” factor courtesy of Choi Sunghoon’s countertenor.

Despite a flair for the dramatic, the members come across as truly feeling everything the songs claim they do, and that soul matches this project’s excellence from a technical standpoint. These stars never just sing; they make people believe them! Whatever a LA POEM song is about it also is: heart, courage, hope… Their literal and figurative voices rouse and resonate, as they convince listeners they “have no interest in the familiar” (“Alive”), find solace in faith and possibilities (like in “An Old Promise”: “My story hasn’t been written yet… I know… Eventually, I am with you”), and trust that things will happen as they are “Meant to Be.”

#8: KiiiKiii, Delulu Pack
As detailed previously, KiiiKiii’s aesthetic amalgamation brings to mind the internet culture of the aughts and of the 2020s at the same time, accurately representing the internet’s nature of flattening trend timelines, as well as digital natives’ penchant for irony and (sometimes faked) emotional detachment. By combining pieces from different places on the timeline of the history of digital culture, their visuals and songs have a slapdash sensibility despite their careful curation -  the same contrast inherent to keeping up social media appearances.

The combinations of new and old pieces from younger generations’ cultural “starter packs” include everything from the Delulu Pack cover (a very early-aughts image choice, whereas the title uses more recently-popularized slang) to the music videos (which could pass for old-school screensavers, in the case of “Delulu,” or the behavior of TikTok stars, in the case of “404 (New Era)”). As for the music, harmonies and house beats abound, as do ad libs and repetitive phrases, making this “pack” of songs cohesive yet somewhat cobbled-together. This is most evident on the best song, “UNDERDOGS,” a glitchy one that perpetually pivots - just like the impulses of both the members and the fickle public.

In “Delulu,” besides layering images of themselves as if changing computer screensavers, they keep their prom-ready dresses on while riding motorcycles past wild horses in a desert! And “404 (New Era)” incorporates childhood home videos; present-day scenes, in which the members see any street as a runway and any location as suitable for DJing; and black-and-white, retro “flashbacks.” The video ends with an ellipsis in place of an answer to the question that flashes on the screen: “What’s your real wish?” There is a sort of meta-commentary to these “Mad Libs”-style music videos, and it applies to the lyrics, too. “404 (New Era)” describes a “404” message as a permission slip to live in a way that lacks a blueprint, somewhere with unknown coordinates. It explains the scattered and strange instincts in some songs, like to compare themselves to a pet in “MUNGNYANG” and to verbalize feeling “Dizzy” despite seemingly wanting to play it cool! The ultimate lesson the internet has taught KiiiKiii is that they can be anyone they want, and whoever that is can change as often as they’d like. In other words, consistency doesn’t matter. 

KiiiKiii’s front-facing traits depend on the occasion, just like one’s digital presence depends on the platform and assumed audience. And at the same time as there is an awareness of everything one does online being at least somewhat public, they appear disinterested in presenting themselves in a way that makes sense to anyone but themselves. Overall, sonically and sentiment-wise, Delulu Pack is both a time capsule and very of-the-moment.

#7: ChRocktikal, We break, you awake
This album skillfully mixes darkness and depth with plain word choices and dial-down phases, and those phases do not just maintain audience interest but serve a critical narrative purpose. We break, you awake starts with the hardest rock and the most performatively evil exterior, with songs about being “a monster” (like “Victor”) and enjoying watching people fight (ironically, in “PEACE”). This ends up being ChRocktikal’s pre- “break” existence, one in which they buy into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over time, while reassessing everything because of their world splitting open, they see how the same sword that sliced it in two can be the tool used to carve a new, gentler, more forgiving future. In “KALish” (“KAL” coming from the Korean word for “sword” or “blade”), they warn, “That blunt and heavy form, unnoticed as it creeps / Will grind its way inside you, and before you realize / It rips apart everything you thought you knew,” and in “PEACE,” they sing, “I walked away to lose my name / But silence carved it into flame.” But by the time the album reaches “Masterpiece,” which honors a “vivid afterimage, as if engraved,” the carving metaphor has more positive connotations, and in “Free!,” they assert, “The scars you carry in your chest / Just shaped the YOU who won’t be less.” The word “wild” plays a similar role to “engraving” and “scar” references in the album: “You’re whole, you’re wild, you’re free,” they repeat again and again in “Free!;” “Laugh, even if it knocks you down… Go wild, do it how you like,” they insist in “RIDE.” “Going wild” is not portrayed as a bad thing. In fact, “going wild” is what saves them; they cut themselves out of society’s mold and can then simply be who they always wanted to be. They give themselves and “YOU” permission to live as a clean slate post- “break,” after grieving for the inner child “who had an endless dream” that was stifled (in “Shame”) and insisting that “It’s okay to cry out loud” and it’s “time to let go of the past” (in “RIDE”). 

Given the fact the album ends with “Free!,” which incorporates key terms from nearly every song before it, it is reasonable to assume that both readings of the title are intentional and important: “When we break, you awake” and “When we break you awake.” We break, you awake is a full-fledged story of both them and “YOU” making the most of the rebirth that a “break” makes possible.

#6: EXO, REVERXE
REVERXE is a strong return to form. EXO’s musical synergy remains remarkably intact (most unmistakably on the best B-side, “Suffocate”), and they have restarted their ongoing music video narrative like no time has passed. Besides returning to the same dimension-hopping, superhuman characters they have always played and centering the same key symbols as day one, EXO also effortlessly return to their circa-2012/2013 sound, at least for the dance/trap main track, “Crown”! The lyrics have “If you know, you know” references, just like the last track does (“I’m Home” mentions the “parallel universes” in EXO’s lore). In short, EXO are BACK! 

EXO’s cinematic world-building is worth appreciating both in a big-picture way and at a more granular level. First of all, the suspense and special effects remain second-to-none. Second of all, the REVERXE videos appeal to different preferences, with a plot that unfolds at a slower pace in “I’m Home,” a faster pace in the album trailer, and at the fastest pace in “Crown”! In fact, many actions in “Crown” happen so quickly it is hard to tell who is doing what to whom, keeping “friend” and “foe” statuses unclear. The settings also have uncertainty, especially when the camera zooms in on a crown’s interior grooves, which appear to form the outlines of people (a breadcrumb for the long-time theorists about EXO’s potential shrunken-down, lab-rat status, at least in one dimension). Another visual choice that is both material for theorists to read into and just plain interesting: scenes that turn out to have unfolded within SUHO’s eyes, the camera zooming out to reveal his knight costume. Like those scenarios, the characters’ interpersonal dynamics are interesting for those both familiar and unfamiliar with the EXO multiverse. In this era, the most interesting links are between SUHO and KAI, the former appearing as the victim in the latter’s dream in the album trailer but appearing as the victor in “Crown.” Other indicators of their fates being connected include SUHO using a bow and arrow and KAI being hit by one in “Crown,” and SUHO getting the last close-up in the trailer while KAI gets it in “I’m Home.” Rebirths also make it reasonable to assume that KAI and SUHO have particular prominence at this point in the story: SUHO eventually wears the sought-after “Crown,” and KAI stands tall wearing a cape after being hit by arrows.

There is plenty to decipher between and among the others’ dynamics, too, which are complicated by the ways one character’s superpowers can work against another’s. For example, D.O.’s stone exterior breaks itself in “Crown,” allowing a symbolic rebirth, whereas in the “Obsession” era, SUHO’s stone exterior symbolizes something closer to an identity crisis (it breaks to reveal a TV in place of a face). Another example: CHANYEOL thrives with his fire powers in “Crown” and in previous videos, while BAEKHYUN’s skin burns and cracks in “Obsession,” and LAY’s does in “Crown.”

Part of the endurance of EXO’s popularity comes from its similarities with a good TV show or movie. Fans have gotten to know and understand the characters well but are guaranteed to see new plot twists every time, both hidden and evident ones, and the scene-setting in the “episodes” changes but stays familiar enough to warrant canon admission.

Stay tuned for the rest of the list, revealed later this week!