Best New Music: March 2025

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

#20: SUPER BEAVER, “Kataomoi” / “Namida no Syotai”
This pair of songs thoughtfully questions how to make peace with life being in shades of gray. “Namida no Syotai,” which translates to “The True Nature of Tears,” is an insightful reflection on how to truly understand who people are at their core: pay attention to things besides words, like their tears. 

While “Namida no Syotai” recognizes the need to peel back layers to see someone’s true essence, “Kataomoi” (“Unrequited Love”) is about appreciating the ongoing search for that essence. Lyrics include the following: “‘Life’… Doesn’t work out with just food and shelter,” “Not knowing where I’m headed… But I love this,” and “Hope… can tolerate all frustrations.” The group finds the meaning of life not in what they find so much as the experience of searching for it; they find it in things that cannot be instantly seen or understood, like love. “Namida no Syotai” and “Kataomoi” wisely explain why contentment requires faith and commitment.

#19: W24, Seize The Day
Seize The Day is a trip through time for W24. It celebrates their past with the inclusion of older songs: “friend zone list” was written in 2018, and “Thought of you…” was written in 2019. It celebrates their present work ethic, as they are credited with writing, composing, and arranging the new songs. And it offers a glimpse of their future, since this is their first time incorporating a British-rock style into their work. Despite being under 20 minutes, this release sums up W24’s style and effectively entices new listeners to visit their past eras, because not only do they prove they can excite a crowd as much as they can leave them touched, but they prove they have had that skill for years!

#18: SEOAN, Good to Bad to Good
Good to Bad to Good sounds dreamy yet dotted with doses of reality. Harmonized backup vocals and synth waves are go-tos, but so are moments when SEOAN expresses herself more sternly and less melodically, and moments that sound like she is leaving a message on an answering machine. The listening experience is like a mix of eavesdropping on private conversations and being directly invited to listen to her soulful relationship reflections. She saves the best for last with “Suffering,” which lets her voice fully shine in both its breathier and more powerful moments. Good to Bad to Good just goes from “Good” to “Great” and showcases the smoothness and smart instincts of this underrated artist. 

#17: THE BOYZ, Unexpected
Remarkably, THE BOYZ’s prolific output has not diluted its quality; this uber-busy group is still delivering the Unexpected! “Feel The Bass” starts the album strong, with one of their most spitfire raps yet. “VVV” has a boxing-themed music video, which is not unique in K-pop lately but stands apart thanks to its plot twists, role changes, and overall meaning (the title stands for “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” meaning “I came, I saw, I conquered”). Besides the opening tracks, which stay in THE BOYZ’s hip-hop-meets-pop wheelhouse, “Ain’t Salty” is a highlight, for its orchestral flair. The rest of the album includes the unexpectedly groovy “Rock and Roll,” the rough-voiced “Nothing,” the bouncy “Miss Demeanor,” the meaningful “Crossover,” and two R&B-focused songs, “Starry Night” and “Rose,” the latter differentiating itself with a more dramatic analogy.

#16: ASH ISLAND, Voice Memo
Voice Memo aces its assignment, embracing pop-punk angst in ASH ISLAND’s signature autotune-laden style. He keeps his focus inwards, but the brisk pacing, genre blending, and seamless track transitions maintain listeners’ interest. Plus, his “woe is me” routine avoids growing old or annoying by touching on deeper feelings in understated ways. 

All ASH ISLAND needs is love, and his inability to get and keep that singular, seemingly simple thing leaves him ashamed. His blown self-esteem is obvious in songs like “Like the First Time” (“Stay with me tonight - if you don’t mind me being broken”) and “1+1” (“Left alone, I can’t even write a song”). He less directly implies his loved one is better off with someone else in “It’s Okay”: “[D]on’t come closer / Because you’re perfect.” Further, in “1+1,” he frames his songwriting as inferior to a different artist’s: “I just spit out meaningless lyrics, hoping they become a page of our story, like DAY6.” These “voice memos” are stream-of-consciousness confessions that clearly all come from the same speaker but have the subtle shifts inherent to any human’s mindset day to day. While there is a song about being lucky in love, “OST,” it is followed by “I don’t wanna be your hero,” returning to disbelief that he deserves affection. Voice Memo is a relatable inner monologue about taking everything personally! 

#15: HxW, BEAM
In the “96ers” music video, HOSHI and WOOZI take “Life imitates art” to the next level! After being unwrapped and unloaded from a truck, they become a museum’s main attraction. They stay on the move while a canvas on wheels follows them. Later, WOOZI bites into an apple while standing in front of a painting of a bitten-into apple. They portray themselves as both the art and artists in more surreal ways, too. They stand in front of a painting while behind a frame for one, and they print pictures on a copy machine while standing inside of a giant one (or perhaps while shrunken down and inside a normal-size copy machine!). 

The two remain confident chaos agents in the “STUPID IDIOT” vertical video, which mixes clips from a frenetic FaceTime call with a scratch-and-freeze-frame-worthy sitcom scenario, about why they ended up banned from a party and having to throw their own at home!

The other song on BEAM is “PINOCCHIO,” and although it is a tonally disjointed prelude to the house-and-bounce-inspired singles, it does reiterate how much HxW are here just to have a good time and surprise people! After all, as they say in “96ers,” they “make money but… never [mean] business,” and they don’t want to be stopped “even if [they are] overdoing it”! 

#14: Ian Chan, “Pessimism”
This ballad artfully speaks to love’s magnetic pull. Ian Chan poetically ponders why he should even bother falling in love if there is a chance of regretting it later; he worries about love’s lack of guarantees: “Just look into the future / Who can promise you’ll still love me?” He says the future is “like a unicorn,” something one can never see and that one might regret seeing if ever actually able to do so: “Found one? It could look ugly.” He wonders if cynicism is the way to go, since those people seem to be doing alright: “Pessimists… However many dates they’ve had, things don’t turn out / Too tiring to care.” He goes on to say, “Because of love, there is so much fear for love / If only we could see our romance to the end of time / Or else I’d rather you not treat me so kind.” In the music video, the one who “treats him so kind” is an alien, and despite the part of him that wants to stay away, Ian Chan becomes emotionally invested in her. 

Communicating only via gestures, she describes her home planet to him, and he implies his home is underwater. Bonded by their foreigner status on ground-level Earth, they form a special connection that needs no label. Their uses of objects show how much they want to preserve memories of their time together: Ian Chan turns rocks into googly-eyed toys, to stop the alien from thinking they are food and attempting to eat them again! And after an apple is the first thing that catches the alien’s eye upon meeting him, an apple is her chosen surface for writing down her contact information. 

Despite warning himself not to fall in love (be it platonic or otherwise; that is beside the point), Ian Chan puts the alien’s interests first. He is compelled to facilitate her journey home, intuitively picking up on her homesickness. Without his engineering work, she would never have been able to leave Earth, and after she does, he sits alone where they once sat together, left with the thought that he is responsible for his new loneliness. 

In touching and, ironically, very human ways, “Pessimism” grapples with the “Was it worth it?” question that inevitably comes with a relationship’s end.

#13: Billkin and PP Krit, The Red Envelope
Each OST on The Red Envelope has its strong suits. “Wake Up Call” is a fittingly energetic collaboration between PP Krit and dynamic rapper MILLI. Billkin is a smooth jazz crooner on “Knock Knock.” Billkin and PP Krit separately shine on the piano-led ballads “See You Somewhere” and “Ruined,” respectively. But the brightest gem on this EP is “GFF (Ghost Friend Forever),” a sweet and sunny collaboration about a best friend who doubles as a roommate who is hard to live with or without! They express many annoyances with living together (“Whether I’m walking, eating, or sleeping, you always pop up and tease me”), but also that they would not have it any other way: “I finally get it, having you around is the best thing ever;” “Having you around keeps everything fresh and lively;” “No matter how strong or weak I am, I’ve always got you.”

In the music video, the camera dutifully follows them as they move through their daily routines and go from room to room. They move in a way that seems choreographed yet natural, an exaggerated reenactment of a typical morning routine that is full of lighthearted taunting. 

“Ghost Friend Forever” is a funny twist on the “frenemies” premise, courtesy of a likable and compatible pair. 

#12: BEOMGYU, “Panic”
“Panic” is an indie-rock song that encapsulates the experiences both of panicking and of encountering slight but certain silver linings. It might sound like BEOMGYU is holding back, but his vocal restraint is realistic for someone frozen during a “fight, flight, or freeze” moment. His relatively reserved tone shows how panic can take forms other than overt cries; the battle can be so internal it comes across as nonexistent to outsiders. The basic music video setting (a house), albeit with dramatizations (like walls closing in on him), shows the hiddenness of the sensation. The consistency of both BEOMGYU’s tone and the instrumental are befitting a moment when someone’s main goal is simply to survive it. 

In addition to representing what panic feels like through scenes where BEOMGYU is compressed from both sides (by walls at one point and between mattresses at another), the music video depicts the fragile glimmers of hope to which BEOMGYU can turn after getting out of “freeze” mode. Once he can reengage with his immediate surroundings, he can pick up one of the dandelions at his feet and make a wish for a calmer tomorrow, and he can wish on the dandelion tufts that float around him in the scene where he runs through darkness in slow motion. He reassures others who share his dark mental state that “This cold winter too / Shall pass,” and he realistically does not fast-forward to acting like he fully believes in spring yet.

“Panic” does the opposite of sugarcoating what panic feels like. With simultaneous simplicity and metaphorical density, “Panic” reveals some of the forms panic can take and shows how close yet out-of-reach changes for the brighter can seem.

#11: AILEE, (Me)moir
(Me)moir includes three songs that each show a different side of AILEE’s musicality, while sticking with the theme as written on the cover: “Love and trust yourself. Only then will your story shine the brightest. Make your own memoir.” 

In the video for the club-ready “Illusion,” AILEE swears off of love (“Been there, done that”), strikes confidence poses, and dances in a leotard and shimmery, eye-catching makeup. 

In “Meaning,” she sings about feeling the need for a significant other to make her feel whole, but she does so after childhood home footage plays of her celebrating her birthday. By thinking back to who she was before the world told her who to be, AILEE remembers being treated as worthy of love and joy unconditionally. Reconnecting with her younger self - someone celebrated simply for being born! - adds to the meaningfulness of lyrics like “That part of me is never gone.” 

Lastly, in “MMI” (“Me, Myself, and I”), AILEE fully reclaims her narrative. She turns the cause of her lack of self-esteem - her cell phone - into the source of what boosts it, going from passively consuming hateful social media content and tabloid headlines to posting clips of her partying in a kitschy boutique while playing her “Sleeper Hit” and having a blast! The only approval she seeks is her own, and writing “MMI” in ketchup on the camera lens puts a nice period on that! 

(Me)moir is a strong self-love message and a reminder that no one deserves to co-write someone else’s life story. 

#10: WOOKI, ANTIBIRTH
ANTIBIRTH constantly blurs the lines between antagonist and protagonist. In some songs, WOOKI blames his significant other for their relationship’s toxic traits: “Why can’t you see / Your addiction / To memories” (“Fatal;” emphases added); “[Y]ou made a monster… You lied to me for comfort… I want you to know this is your design” (“Psycho Game;” emphases added). In other songs, he admits the blame is mutual: “You bring fire, I bring my propane” (“Paralyzed”). The chronological order of when he feels responsible and when he does not is complicated by the fact the album ends with “Prologue” and starts with “Epillogue,” the latter title acknowledging this story can be a tricky pill to swallow! Furthermore, the intro and outro mirror each other. Both are dark, haunting scene-setters that include the sound of a pen furiously scribbling on paper. Plus, the intro features the sound of a tape rewinding. One part of WOOKI’s narrative that is certain, though, is its climax: “Reborn.” ANTIBIRTH strikes a more melancholy note up until the opening seconds of “Reborn,” when a gunshot is swiftly followed by an ominous soundscape, then an EDM breakdown that transitions into the following faster, bolder, more electronic-focused tracks. ANTIBIRTH is not exactly a linear nor an inverted story, and its convolutions serve it well.

#9: JENNIE, Ruby
Knowing that JENNIE has drawn inspiration from a Shakespearean comedy called As You Like It and the “All the World’s a Stage” monologue opens up Ruby to a much bigger world of interpretations! Here is one of them, an application that has its limitations but speaks to Ruby’s success at getting the audience to see the many sides of JENNIE in unexpected lights: 

“All the World’s a Stage” compares life phases to roles in a play. After the “Infant” phase is the “Schoolboy” one, and showing poor judgement, immaturity, and a need for constant attention, like a child throwing a tantrum, sums up JENNIE’s behavior in the “Love Hangover” music video. “Handlebars” epitomizes the “Lover” phase; it is about falling head-over-heels for someone, and while it is not quite the “woeful ballad” Shakespeare describes this age as including, “Starlight” checks that box! The fourth phase is that of a “Soldier,” and the “like JENNIE” music video involves group choreography with militaristic precision. (This “Soldier” phase of being “quick in quarrel” also brings “start a war” to mind.) The fifth phase is that of a “Justice,” when someone has ideally achieved career and standard-of-living success; “ExtraL” features JENNIE wearing a suit and bragging about access to luxury cars. The sixth and seventh phases are that of the “Pantaloon” and “Old Age,” before a person enters “mere oblivion.” In the “ZEN” video, JENNIE appears with owls, representing the wisdom that comes with age, and she sings about her aura’s immortal impact. (One could also see prior life stages represented in the “ZEN” music video through the outfits, like the “Soldier Age” and her armor.)

There is theatrical symbolism throughout the lyrics of Ruby, too. “F.T.S.” stands for “Flip The Script,” “Starlight” includes an actor’s spoken words, JENNIE indicates her role-playing by asking to be made the “boss” in “Seoul City,” and she disregards the possibility of an understudy for her own life in “ZEN” (“Can’t be two of one”). 

Regardless of which life phases listeners and viewers see in which parts of the Ruby era, JENNIE adds uniqueness to a basic “personal evolution”-themed debut album premise. 

#8: LE SSERAFIM, HOT
For the EASY, CRAZY, and HOT trilogy, HOT comes flawlessly full-circle. 

Parallels to the EASY era are visual, including the return of white, angel-like outfits and the spectacle of it all. The members perform on a makeshift stage in the “EASY” video, and the members in the “HOT” era trailer pose like sculptures in a museum - when they aren’t strutting down the halls in dresses with trains, like built-in red carpets! They further make a scene reminiscent of those in “EASY” by starting an electrical fire (via a faucet and cables this time, via a hair dryer in a bathtub the last time).

The CRAZY era parallels are both visual and auditory. An aquarium (like in “CRAZY”) is back in “Come Over,” and there is another mid-video freeze in “HOT” (also like in “CRAZY”). And both eras evoke timelessness: CRAZY features many nineties influences, while HOT’s single “Come Over” is straight out of the sixties (plus, “Come Over” has a modern, AI-themed twist).

Besides the parallels between HOT and EASY and HOT and CRAZY, some can be drawn among all three, most notably the theme of “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” The EASY era is all about making the most of the “good bones” life has given LE SSERAFIM, and their “Swan Song” includes the line “Even if I doubt, it blooms with flame[s].” The CRAZY era’s main track has lyrics like “We know we will go blind, but we still give the sun a kiss.” And HOT is about letting their inner flames burn brighter and brighter, even to the point of becoming “mounds of ash.” They describe themselves as phoenixes in “HOT,” and they sing in “Ash,” “The more I hurt, the more I feel alive.”

In addition to many through-lines, the HOT era shows a brand new side of LE SSERAFIM, especially thanks to “Come Over.” The video’s isolated dance moves and retro wardrobe reinforce their fearlessness when it comes to finding new sources of their spark!

#7: ONEWE, WE : Dream Chaser
WE : Dream Chaser involves the same themes as Planet Nine : ISOTROPY without being derivative. As detailed in a review of Planet Nine : ISOTROPY:

“Songs that analogize with things that are vast and endless circle back to comparisons to fragile things… When they are not singing about memory preservation, they are singing about memory dissolution.”

WE : Dream Chaser shares that contrast. The songs are about the elusive nature of memories and the desperation to preserve them. Much like trying to recall a dream’s vivid details upon awakening, catching memories is seen as always beyond one’s reach. The futile pursuit is likened to the fanciful thinking of storybooks, which explains ONEWE’s many Alice in Wonderland references. WE : Dream Chaser opens with “Alice,” a song about trying to escape a “world painted red” and to avoid “[d]rowning in [their] dreams.” Other references include “My Underland is an illusion,” “Please, Cheshire,” “Let’s throw a party every day” (presumably alluding to the Mad Hatter’s “Unbirthday” parties), “Tell me your name” (which brings to mind the Caterpillar’s most famous line: “Who are you?”), and “To the one reflected in the mirror” (a nod to the sequel, Alice Through the Looking-Glass). Other songs reference different fictional stories: “EVILDOER” depicts ONEWE as protagonists in general, they say “Not everyone gets to be the main character” in “Sole Star,” and “Dreamcatcher” likens a relationship to “a midsummer night’s dream.”

Things that stand the test of time - as Planet Nine : ISOTROPY put it, things that are truly isotropic - are in rare company, so those things are worth cherishing. Those timeless things include love, classic stories, and the stars in the sky. Like Planet Nine : ISOTROPY’s “Meteor Shower,” WE : Dream Chaser includes lyrics that compare a loved one to an eternal, “embroidered” light source in the night sky: “If I ask the stars / Embroidered across the sky / For the path ahead / They will guide me to tomorrow” (“All the things I love”); “Like the universe’s stars embroidered across the night sky / We all shine in different ways” (“Sole Star”). While Planet Nine : ISOTROPY and WE : Dream Chaser weave common threads, the latter album does so in more intricate ways, incorporating new analogies into the band’s expanding embroidery.

#6: SEULGI, Accidentally On Purpose 
Accidentally On Purpose uses familiar imagery to tell a unique villain origin story. The unmistakably Batgirl-inspired getup and logo, plus the villains’ lair in which the teaser trailer is set, are attention-grabbers, but they are just the tip of this story’s iceberg, as demonstrated by the “Baby, Not Baby” music video. 

After SEULGI walks around the mall with a “Free Hugs” sign that draws criticism, mockery, and even physical aggression, she falls to the floor. A crowd swiftly surrounds her to leer and possibly post about her misfortune on social media. Elsewhere, her villain persona jumps on the front of a car and leaves scratches across its front window. That persona walks down the middle of the street with the “Free Hugs” sign, before destroying it. Text on the screen appears in pink cursive, just like during the initial “Free Hugs” incident, but now it says “Midnight snacking” and shows the evil SEULGI eating a bug that she has killed! After that are upside-down scenes, followed by SEULGI’s exit via turning into a bat and flying away! Amid all this are scenes where a version of SEULGI resembling the “Free Hugs” one more than the “Batgirl” one destroys a grocery store. 

There is meaning behind this madness! SEULGI’s emotional needs are never satisfied - worse, they are mocked. So she proceeds to rebel out of a need for validation, creating a villainous alter ego and thinking that if she can’t get good attention as herself, maybe she can get it by becoming someone else. But accidentally, her mask constantly slips, revealing how any “other SEULGI” is still very much SEULGI. The ties between SEULGIs include that “Free Hugs” sign, that pink cursive text, and the grocery store scenes where “Free Hugs” SEULGI acts like “Villain SEULGI.” 

The B-sides also show attempts to distance herself from the person who rebels and how those attempts can fail. While she acts assertive in “Better Dayz” (“Open your closed eyes,” she orders someone), “Praying” reveals that the one she has been taunting is herself (“Opening my blindfolded eyes”). And in “Weakness,” she seems to have a flashback: “I fall apart once more / So please just pretend you don’t notice.” SEULGI’s attempts to sever parts of herself can only go so far, keeping her humanity intact. Beneath her wild antics is a hurt person whose pursuit of validation leads to “the dark side,” and while Accidentally On Purpose explores the concept of duality, it also digs deeper and considers why people become compelled to differentiate parts of themselves in the first place.

#5: TenTwenty, Border=Border
With racing percussion and guitars, lightning-speed voices, and scattered cymbal crashes and sound effects topping each song off, TenTwenty put on quite a spectacle! But their “more is better” musical approach avoids coming across as contrived, thanks to their lyrical context. The foundational spiritual basis of Border=Border rests on two pillars. One is that all things are one; what goes around comes around. The other is that the impermanent, material things of this world are comparatively meaningless. 

The meaning of life is to live, just like how “Only love can respond to love” (“Border=Border”), and like how empathy - a reciprocal feeling - is the source of a “sparkling” memory (from “Kirameki,” aka “Sparkle”: “If I laugh, you laugh too / If I cry, you’ll cry too / That’s what it’s all about”). A variable in TenTwenty’s equation for fulfillment is recognizing the equal forces acting on each other and serving as life stabilizers, grounding them in the moments worth cherishing. Another variable is knowledge of what is unnecessary: certainty about the future (“I’m sure there’s no absolute[s],” they say in “So Many Stars”), others’ approval (“Go ahead as you are,” they urge in “Border=Border;” “It’s all up to you,” they conclude in the last song, “Kimihayurei”), and a preoccupation with age and appearance (in “Border=Border,” they decide to ignore those things, since everyone is just “reduced to bones” eventually anyway!). They refuse to get hung up on things that will not last, trusting that end results will be fatefully fitting. For example, in “Kirameki,” the line about life being a “bumpy and winding” road “forever and ever” is replaced with one about it being just “green grass… forever and ever,” before returning to the “bumpy and winding” description. Also, they describe the “end roll” of their story as looping in “Soregaiina,” allowing them to be “reborn.” 

While staying surprisingly upbeat, TenTwenty apply Zen wisdom to their comparisons of abstract forces and contrasts of those with tangible things that, relatively speaking, do not matter.

#4: SCANDAL, LOVE, SPARK, JOY! 
LOVE, SPARK, JOY! takes a creative approach to addressing attempts to find meaning where there is none. The rock songs portray the SCANDAL members as “strays” with neither “dreams” nor “worries worth talking about.” In “Terra Boy,” they simply toast “to the darkness.” In “Doukashiterutte” (“There’s Something Wrong”), they lament a “dark and sickly” world that feels even emptier since a specific person left it, as lively horns add a touch of humor to the pity party. With a staggered and colorful instrumental, “Soundly” reinforces the busyness that keeps them from “[making] sense of the past.” And “Oh, Pretty Woman,” with its in-character vocals and punchy percussion, memorably denies that polished people can be as happy as they look: “I don’t believe you… Are you lonely just like me?” What could easily have been a one-note, down-in-the-dumps EP is instead one with a visceral sense of yearning, perfectly punctuated by every cymbal crash and electronic guitar wail. SCANDAL’s ear for detail gives each song a unique color and demonstrates how to balance thematic consistency with variety.

#3: Stray Kids, Mixtape : dominATE 
This mixtape is playful, punchy, and personalized. It is unmistakably a Stray Kids release, filled to the brim with braggadocio and cheeky ways with words, while also laced with layers of sincere sweetness and personal pride. Blending everything together is a consistent conviction and charisma. 

dominATE includes four unit tracks and one group-wide track called “GIANT,” an obvious embrace of the group’s larger-than-life status. The unit tracks tout their incomparability, with many nods to their never-ending “MEGAVERSE” of music videos that double as reminders of their past eras. 

In “Truman,” HAN and Felix treat the fact all eyes are on them as a privilege and opportunity. Felix maintains control of the action, influencing where the camera goes through his gestures before breaking the lens. The duo compares themselves to iconic game characters (Pac-Man and Rengar from League of Legends), while references to their fandom, STAY (“Got trophies in the bag, ‘cause of STAY… salute fans”), and to their show-within-a-show premise (the title is a reference to The Truman Show), represent keeping their feet on the ground and their heads in the clouds - their ability to be “GIANTS”!

The “CINEMA” music video shows Lee Know and Seungmin performing without an audience in a post-apocalyptic setting; they show a need to use their voices regardless of who can hear them. Symbols of their firm belief in their worthiness of being heard include a podium, one of the last objects left standing and the site of their speech in the “MIROH” era (notably, an era involving the overthrow of a corrupt society).

A perceived ability to do anything if they are together and determined enough remains evident in “ESCAPE,” which shows Bang Chan and Hyunjin in one action-packed scene after another, determined to either escape or fail together.

Lastly, in “Burnin’ Tires,” the “We can do anything!” mentality is apparent as Changbin and I.N compete in contests ranging from dance-offs to parkour. The video ends where it begins: in a restaurant, the two sitting across from each other acting nonchalant. The only difference at the end is the presence of a gold trophy on the table. The duo do not act competitive; they just act like they compete for fun and to prove they can easily win! Their only competition is with themselves, a takeaway both in and outside of their fictional “MEGAVERSE” context. 

dominATE channels Stray Kids’ “all work and all play” mentality, and as their star continues to rise, their fun-loving attitude and synergy remain just as they were before they came to globally “dominATE”!

#2: KiiiKiii, UNCUT GEM 
If someone were to put the hallmarks of younger millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha in a bottle and shake it up, the resulting mixture would be KiiiKiii’s essence! They distill the pop culture zeitgeist of the past two-and-a-half decades, with an implied awareness of trends that coexists with disinterest in caring about following them. Their lyrics, outfits, music videos, and promotional materials have eye-roll equivalents, with an embedded sense of irony that makes everything they say and do seem both serious and like a joke.

The coexisting “joking” and “not joking” layers of social media posting these days are embodied by KiiiKiii’s “jam business” website, which is obviously not for a real jam business but also is - they are selling jams, just the musical kind! The site is fluent in “Internetspeak,” with flippant remarks, (presumably) on-purpose typo-riddled text (“DELICIOUS JAMS FOR EVERY OCCASSIONS;” “Click each of our jam below to fully experience the flavour”...), and an emphasis on pictures. Besides song snippets that give website visitors “samples” of their “jams,” the site includes a comically vague “FAQ” page, with answers including a single globe emoji for the question “Where can I find your products?,” a clip-art-resembling “NO RETURNS” warning with flaming letters, and “Yea” as the answer to “Are the jams made with love?” There is also unhelpful yet truthful business information, like confirmation that their online products are available 24 hours a day, and that their business location is an “Office, warehouse.” The site is slapdash on purpose, while its existence shows impressive commitment to the bit. 

Continuing the theme of meaning what they say but also kind of not are their ways of making figures of speech literal. They play in the dirt and brush off grass stains in the “I DO ME” music video, sing about doing the “GROUNDWORK” to become big stars, and turn a greenhouse into their dance floor in “BTG.” They try to literally stay grounded and get their hands dirty, and they also mean it when they compare a butterfly to a “living ring” and a ladybug to a “piercing” in “I DO ME” (the music video shows the members using these insects like jewelry)! 

The contextual collapse that is normal for internet-raised generations applies to the passage of time; what’s old is new again at a faster rate than ever, and current trends are often recycled ones, like early-aughts fashion. Therefore, it is very 2025 of KiiiKiii to incorporate so many throwbacks into their visuals! Their outfits make it look like they grew up on Myspace, they bring to mind the days of digital cameras being a go-to over iPhones with the sound of clicking cameras in “GROUNDWORK,” and scenes in “BTG” appear inside of DIY-esque frames, like those in a physical scrapbook. On the other hand, they act like who they currently are: teenagers, by vlogging in the “DEBUT SONG” video and wearing the “cottagecore” trend in some “I DO ME” scenes. 

KiiiKiii are both fundamentally serious and unserious, making them products of an internet-consumed era and therefore not mere products at all, but regular young people. They are the musical version of internet culture, with all of its oddities and juxtapositions. They are emblematic of “kids these days,” treating literal and metaphorical concepts as interchangeable, and that makes their on-the-rise status illustrative.

#1: Xdinary Heroes, Beautiful Mind
Stay tuned for a separate essay all about this release!

Catch up on past “Best of the Month” reviews here!

View the Substack version of this piece here!