The Best K-Pop Music Videos of 2025 So Far

A ranking and review of the top 50!

View the Substack version of this piece here!

Note: To keep this list focused on the first half of the year, and because the process of narrowing down and ranking these picks has been in the works for weeks, videos released later than July 31 were not considered.

#50: ATEEZ, “In Your Fantasy”
With dark and brooding stares, black-and-white scenes interrupted by pops of red, suggestive and sensual details, and smooth moves under a chandelier, “In Your Fantasy” continuously captivates. Making it even more worth appreciating is its release on the heels of a markedly sunnier and lower-key video, “Lemon Drop.” ATEEZ do dark drama best, and “In Your Fantasy” is a swoon-worthy reminder! Read more about the corresponding album here!

#49: ONEW, “Winner”
ONEW witnesses relationships’ highs and lows from afar. A young boy plays soccer alone but is later joined by friends, a mother tries to soothe a crying baby who eventually starts to giggle, an in-love couple gets into a fight but then reconciles… What they all have in common is a persistent desire to maintain connections. The lack of that for ONEW himself speaks volumes; he always looks either anguished or fiercely determined to change his life and more actively seek what the true “winners” have: each other. Read more about this era’s message here! 

#48: ILLIT, “Do the Dance”

What makes ILLIT’s state of “Oh my!” appealing is how perpetual it is. These self-described “magical girls” have and enjoy crushes, but they do not need to “act cool” and win over those crushes to have a good time. The “Do the Dance” music video shows that, when their feelings take and keep a firm grip on the wheel. They fly off of their five-person bicycle, float through the air looking awestruck at the sight of their crush, give in to their compulsion to “do a little dance,” and continue that dance even when back on the ground in public places! They do not stop because their crush looks, at best, unamused by the scenes they make! Read more about the corresponding album here!

#47: G-DRAGON, “DRAMA” 
“DRAMA” is symbolically ironic yet on-point. G-DRAGON laments how much of a “drama queen” someone is while acting quite dramatic himself, sitting alone with a metal piece in his back that resembles the one on a wind-up toy. Throughout this era, material is similarly presented, in ways that are simultaneously silly and serious. 

He says, “I’m out the door… Go play the role alone,” one of his more overt allusions to the Übermensch theme of being evolved past human role ascription. However, “DRAMA” is the music video from this era in which he is surveilled and very much not heading out the door! His captivity brings his message’s sincerity into question, and this “Keep them guessing” method remains one with which he proves to excel. Read more about this era here! 

#46: Ailee, “MMI”
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 self-described “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! Read more about the corresponding album here!

#45: BSS, “CBZ (Prime time)”
In both the “How is your youth?” preview video and the “CBZ (Prime time)” music video, they urge people to join them in wearing jeans. “Cheongbaji” means “jeans” in Korean, and they use it as an abbreviation of the phrase “Youth is right now.” The wordplay adds meaning to lyrics like “Everyone go change into your CBZ”! It also adds credibility to their mission, since they do not just tell people to act like it’s Casual Friday but walk the walk in their own jeans! And they lead the crowd in a denim-filled, confetti-featuring, flash-mob-style dance! 

TELEPARTY and “CBZ (Prime time)” build onto and personalize BSS’s goal of spreading love and light to as many people as possible. Read more about the corresponding album here! 

#44: RESCENE, “Deja Vu”
In cute and clever ways, RESCENE stick to their “memory recall via scents” concept. “Deja Vu,” describes a memory as a “faded note,” a reference to both a handwritten memo and the notes in a perfume. They describe secrets between friends as coming back to them when “[c]arried by the gentle breeze,” and they encourage each other to “hold on to that scent.” The B-side, “Mood,” is more direct with its analogy, describing being “[c]aught up in [a] fragrance.” Both songs are sung with a softness that matches the friendly and down-to-earth demeanor they have in the “Deja Vu” music video. They wear school uniforms, carry charm-adorned backpacks, have a group hug, and run around playing in a field together, in periods of both rain and shine. Scenes that switch to the look of a handheld camera add to the “hanging out with best friends” premise. 

Through well-curated video scenes and an equally thoughtful pair of songs, RESCENE communicate an important message about the simple yet satisfying memories worth cherishing. 

#43: RESCENE, “Glow Up”
While the members’ makeovers are external in the Glow Up trailer (their outfits have an entirely different vibe after a scene involving a washing machine), they are internal in the title track’s music video. Instructions periodically pop up on the screen, guiding viewers through the phases of finding one’s inner light, which involve utilizing “faith buoyancy” and making “Secret Sunshine gestures.” Those efforts open access to “Glow World,” a metaphor for the reconnection point with the clearest-possible essence of one’s inner being. This premise adds novelty to both RESCENE’s girls-next-door demeanor and to this era’s laundry metaphor usage!

#42: YECHAN & AVN, “banana milk”
“banana milk” is an extremely over-the-top story about a nerd who cannot take a hint! After watching someone who he considers much more attractive than him offer his crush a bottle of her favorite flavored milk, YECHAN goes above and beyond to one-up the gesture. He offers his crush a gift basket full of those milk bottles, and when that doesn’t win her over, he offers her a homemade recipe instead (delivered with knee bent as if proposing to her!). Neither batch leaves her enamored, but what does, eventually, is his earnestness. His crush is amused and gives him a chance, one that his inexperience wrecks! When she decides to hang out with him, she hands him a lollipop and then a hand to hold. He misunderstands and puts his used lollipop back into her open palm, as if she was offering to go put it in the trash! Despite the judgement error, though, this story’s “good guy” wins out, and the one who made him feel jealous is left crouched in a corner. While it is unclear whether he watches the new couple from afar while crying or laughing, the point is that he is left hysterical at this “nerd” winning her over! 

“banana milk” is refreshingly disinterested in playing it safe in terms of “cool” video trends, and it has the kind of unbridled antics that would be fun to see in 2025 music videos more often! 

#41: JEONG DONG WON & HAON, “Heung!” 
First of all, this video is a treat for the eyes, since dance scenes take place in a beautiful mansion! Second of all, the plot is relatable and comical. JEONG DONG WON wears a bellhop uniform, complete with a hat that says “LOBBY BOY,” making the perception of him as having a lower-tier social role seem permanent. He keeps wearing his “LOBBY BOY” uniform even when off the job, when following his crush around and searching for the perfect opportunity to swoop in and make her day! The attempts to win her over amount to a series of epic fails, and his biggest one is trying to save her from a purse burglar. The staged scene goes horribly wrong; she does not pay attention while the “thief” snatches her purse, but she does once the “thief” flees and JEONG DONG WON is left holding her bag! JEONG DONG WON fully commits to his role, appearing genuinely stressed whenever things go awry and genuinely joyful every time his crush offers him even a modicum of attention - no matter that this attention is not exactly positive!

The word “Heung!” refers to a feeling of excitement, but his forceful repetition of it in the chorus gives it an especially anxious connotation. He’s tenacious but frustrated, and his audible and funny way of fuming reflects how much harder than it looks it can be to change one’s public image.

#40: BLACKPINK, “JUMP”
BLACKPINK literally go to new heights, flying and then performing on a levitating stage! Before that, they revel in the hold they have over people, controlling fans’ movements to stay synchronized with the rave-ready beat. They have a blast exploiting their inescapable power in other forms, too, including convincing fans to pursue them on foot, despite the members’ supersonic speed making it impossible to catch up to them; tilting the world to and fro; and giving “stuck in your head” a literal interpretation! 

BLACKPINK present one exaggerated portrayal after another of their very real global pop dominance, and they take the same approach to showing individual pop dominance, both by trading lines and appearing on individual billboards. However, the last impression they leave is one of being strongest when together. They end the video while on a floating stage yet staring upwards; despite already being in the sky, they imply that there are still higher highs they can reach!

#39: D.O., aka Doh Kyung Soo, “Snowfall at Night” 
“Snowfall at Night” is a sweet and sentimental cartoon with wholesome, vintage charm. It brings to mind another animated D.O. music video, “That’s Okay,” only now with a Frosty the Snowman-inspired twist! The video is about the magical train rides offered at “Nostalgia Station.” A grown man rides the train back to his snow-covered hometown and turns back into a little boy the second he steps foot on the ground. He spends the snowy day playing outside like he used to, with a presumably imaginary friend, a boy-size penguin who returns to a stoic snowman form once the playdate ends. The boy’s big grin while sledding with the penguin is just as “Awe!”-inducing as his sorrow is during their goodbye hug. After the boy waves goodbye and re-boards the train, becoming a grown-up once again, “THE END” appears on the screen in a font reminiscent of old-school cartoons, and like those cartoons, viewers can smile knowing that they can replay and mentally revisit those childhood memories again and again! 

#38: LUCY, “Hippo”
LUCY are childlike in all the best ways, depicting youth’s ups and downs through vibrant and frenetic animations in the “Hippo” music video. The hippo represents a feeling LUCY cannot escape or deny, and its distracting nature is why they fear confronting it! Indeed, the main character in the music video runs away from a grinning hippo! This forces the shy boy to run in the direction of a shop his crush works at, and as he blushes and approaches the counter, the hippo winks and then appears as just a photo on the wall! The hippo has led the boy to face his crush, and confessing his feelings for her ends happily! Read more about the corresponding album here!

#37: LE SSERAFIM, “Come Over”
“Come Over” is a major demeanor detour for LE SSERAFIM. This sixties-inspired song has the retro music video wardrobe to match, and the choreography is also new for them; they swap looser and more sweeping gestures for smaller, tighter, more isolated moves. While heavily retro, there are also modern touches, like the use of digital devices, and some inexplicable, quirky details, like alien figurine versions of themselves riding down a supermarket conveyor belt! The decade-spanning details enhance the timelessness, color, and character of this carefree single. Read more about the corresponding album here!

#36: VIVIZ, “La La Love Me”
“La La Love Me” features beauty aplenty! Butterflies abound, from tiny white ones that surround VIVIZ in a grassy field on a sunny day, to multicolored and translucent ones that appear by them indoors, to a member’s shadow forming the shape of a butterfly’s wings. The members’ wardrobe features light-colored dresses, all-white ensembles, and all-black outfits. The settings include both indoor and outdoor ones, although the outdoorsy aesthetic lingers indoors with the presence of plants and some natural lighting. The literal and metaphorical brightness that fills “La La Love Me” is complete with dashes of sparkles, some taking the form of twinkling stars and others taking the form of sparks that a butterfly turns into at the end! “La La Love Me” sets the perfect tone for such a sweet and summery era.

#35: JENNIE, “ZEN”
What the “ZEN” video lacks in plot it more than makes up for in visuals. The sheer quantity of scenes and transitions brings to mind a movie trailer, and the scenes involve mesmerizing showers of sparks, multiple personas with head-turning looks, sweeping mountain views, changes from black-and-white to colorized scenes and vice versa, and performance scenes where dancers appear to move as if under JENNIE’s spell. Read more about JENNIE’s Ruby era here and here!

#34: AHOF, “Rendezvous” 
“Rendezvous” opens with a scene that brings to mind M. C. Escher’s Relativity, a work of art that is about the construction of one’s sense of normalcy (and even if that artwork is not intentionally alluded to, the opening scene remains significant; the members ride up and down different escalators and appear from different camera angles, representing how individualized senses of stability and direction can be). The way the world as AHOF know it is changing as they embark on their K-pop journey makes the metaphor apt; “Is this real life?” is probably something they ask themselves a lot these days! “Rendezvous” further represents both emotional ups and downs with presumed flashback interruptions, a performance in a crowd-less stadium, and “normal day” behaviors taking place amid hints at something supernatural. It all screams “anticipation,” a key word with neither an entirely negative nor positive connotation. Read more about AHOF’s thoughtful messaging and music here!

#33: MEOVV, “HANDS UP”
“HANDS UP” pulsates with an intensity that matches its music video. Kaleidoscopic and optical-illusion-esque settings give a bizarre makeover to what would otherwise be benign childhood gameplay. In their surreal surroundings, the members play games like “Rock, Paper, Scissors” and a Korean board game called Alkkagi (in a funny twist, the “Alkkagi God” they face ends up being just a little boy!). By playing childhood games with straight faces and in some environments with strange and sinister undertones, MEOVV’s take on a “hi-teen” concept is refreshingly out-of-the-box.

#32: LE SSERAFIM, “HOT” 
LE SSERAFIM’s trilogy conclusion tells the story in a mix of new-to-them and true-to-them ways. They reintroduce some elements from the “EASY” music video, including glimpses behind the curtain (then in the form of dancing on an unfinished stage setup, now by showing their recording studio mid-performance), a dress code that can be summarized as “distressed angel,” and the use of shadows and lighting to channel a particular ambiance. But “HOT” also has detailed discrepancies, including a cryptic opening scene and camerawork that repeatedly changes the viewers’ vantage point. Read more about the corresponding album here! 

#31 and #30: NCT DREAM, “BTTF” and “CHILLER”
In this era more than ever, NCT DREAM act like Phineas and Ferb! They always sound certain, “I know what we’re gonna do today!;” they do whatever they dream up, regardless of how logical it is or is not; their response to “Aren’t you a little young to do this?” is just “Why yes, yes we are!;” and they live in such a “Go big or go home” way that their antics would seem incomplete without corresponding musical numbers! (Plus, the members become animated themselves for part of the “CHILLER” music video!) And like any beloved cartoon, NCT DREAM’s videos have ongoing plot points and brand-of-humor consistency. They even toss in the charm of a clip show, by recreating prior music video scenes in “BTTF”! Go Back To The Future is obviously an homage to Back to the Future, but the Phineas and Ferb comparison also applies. Ultimately, NCT DREAM’s story is about taking a “Make the most of every day” ethos to the max! The ways they do that involve time travel, although they place the most importance on the self-described “ABSOLUTE PRESENT.” 

Go Back To The Future speaks to the fact they are having a blast dreaming big and doing big things. In “BTTF,” those big things include making a memorable and chaotic meeting exit on hoverboards, before cruising through the sky! In “CHILLER,” those big things include interacting with a robot companion and jumping into a computer-generated realm! 

The album Go Back To The Future explodes with enthusiasm, and the ways NCT DREAM’s imaginations come to life through the corresponding videos amplify its infectious energy.

#29: MARK, “1999” 
As described more here, MARK stays in the director’s chair of his life story’s retelling, which is emphasized by “1999” taking place on a film set and his character in that video spending more time with the actor playing a younger MARK than anyone else. But despite having total oversight of the movie of his life, MARK aims for neither total veracity nor complete fiction. He shows the world who he truly is but has a lot of surreal fun while doing so! He compares his seismic global impact to that of the “Y2K Panic.” He accurately frames the year of 1999 as one in which the public felt shaken to its core, but he revises history to say they felt that way due to his birth that same year! The impression he has made on the world is most exaggerated when what resembles an alien’s spaceship headed to Earth turns into a giant hockey puck, a nod to his hobby and Canadian roots! MARK also shows the impression he continues to have on the world, by swaggering his way through the choreography and showing off different sides of his personality through his outfit changes. 

Overall, MARK’s creative liberties make “1999” an irreplicable psuedo-biopic!  

#28: JO YURI, “Farewell for now!”
“Farewell for now!” is strong on both aesthetic and narrative fronts. JO YURI wakes up in a sunny space covered in butterfly decals. She goes on a series of cute and picturesque dates, including going to the beach and making crafts. Later on, she goes back to those date spots alone, but the implication is anything but wistful. She still looks content, and when back at the beach alone, she looks at a blue butterfly painting with a smudged wing. She can still fly just fine with one working wing - her ex was just the smudged one! 

“Farewell for now!” shows how to cathartically close the books on a past relationship, preserving the memories of good times without overly romanticizing them. Read more about the corresponding album here!

#27: CHUU, “Only cry in the rain”
CHUU celebrates what feels like just a “world for two,” and as the music video attests, that is a world where she plays with a friend while treating a potential love interest as merely the third wheel! She soaks in every second with her bestie, saving her tears for the times when they are apart. 

The sacredness with which she views her friendship is further evident with the angel wings and 2D scenes. The bond she sings about is too precious to be accurately captured in just one dimension or a series of realistic scenes! Read more about the corresponding album here!  

#26: Xdinary Heroes “FiRE (My Sweet Misery)”
Xdinary Heroes have interrogated the meaning of reality before, but never in this specific context. “FiRE (My Sweet Misery)” starts with one of them watching himself on television. They play the role of rockstars at times and as mad men under surveillance at others. They walk with confident strides and stares in some scenes, but while in a narrow hallway with lighting periodically turning red instead of green. Other mitigating variables on their powerful presence unfold during performance scenes. They rock out in leather looks, but they do so while black birds ominously fly around them and while on a relatively small platform, and their jam session is interspersed with squeamish blink-and-miss-it images, like vials of blood.

“FiRE (My Sweet Misery)” keeps questions open regarding how self-discovery and self-defining unfold, given varying degrees of constraints and freedoms. The song itself stays loyal to the “experimentation” key word, with daring detours and a high-voltage yet refreshingly unrushed structure. Read more about this era here!

Stay tuned for the rest of the countdown, and see past years’ winners here!