The K-PopJustice Forum Reader's Poll 2020

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2. Why Not? - LOONA
3. FIESTA - IZ*ONE
4. Black Mamba - aespa
5. Girls - Nature


Yet another win for the Buddies
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GFRIEND snatch another crown with their excellent glittery, pastelly, dreamy, and retro-y music video. From what I've gathered, MAGO serves as the conclusion to their three-piece journey of becoming a "witch" - in this universe, a modern and matured woman. So the music video is all about self-love and self-acceptance, developing a new confidence & celebrating with other "witches" who have been on the same transformation. When we compare this to Crossroads which was the beginning of this story, it depicts the girls separating and having conflict with each other, where MAGO ends with the girls having everything resolved and being united together once again. Wig!

But yeah, I don't think anyone really voted MAGO for that tidbit; I don't know what the fuck that is, okay?, that's just somethin sweet for the fuckin kids, okay?

But yeah the MV is a serve. The sets are gorgeous, everything is dipped in oranges, lilacs, and pinks, it's sparkly & glittery, the outfits are cute, it matches the song sonically, fun group choreo, speaking of choreo: Sowon doing a high kick and slamming it down in the final chorus, AND it has Yuju pole dancing and swinging on a giant mirrorball while wearing very hunty stripper heels. What more could you want?

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In second place is another deserving winner, Why Not? by LOONA. This MV is excellent, unnies. It's very exciting to watch in general, actually. It's got multiple incredible sets, it's very dynamic pretty much in every scene, it's colourful, they have a BUDGET!!! for special effects, and ultimately it really feels like a culmination of the LOONAVERSE™ so far, with the video referencing or subtly nodding to pretty much all of their past videos? This is something the MCU could never pull off.

My faaaavourite part of the video is Gowon hovering over Earth while there's a hurricane brewing in the atmosphere... her Storm from X-Men lil serveeee it's so fucking iconique.

And also for a bit of a kii:
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Those actually were real fireworks while Heejin was dancing. That's some true Queen shit.



In third place is IZ*ONE's FIESTA, which is another serve. Really, really colourful and pretty sets, a lot of fun and artsy camerawork & quick editing, and it's super polished, obviously. And their black & white group choreo outfits are so gorgeous fff. My only complaint is I wish we saw more of the ribbon choreo nn I just KNOW they had more of that lying around on the cutting room floor somewhere.



In fourth place for a bit of a kii is aespa's Black Mamba, which actually won Most Overrated Video. I don't mind the video too much, I've said earlier that I really liked that one set of the overgrown lavender and other plants in the subway carriage, and yeah the girls look great - pretty outfits and nails! But yeah, I just didn't get my K/DA fantasy from their æ concept.



and in last place is Girls by NATURE. This was very good as well, with them dipping into their Dreamcatcher fantasy purse and giving us a very pretty horror-themed music video. It's kind of like a more vicious version of CLC's Devil, where it's the Nature girls killing each other in their lil haunted grand hotel set. As a horror movie gay I really love this MV fff, it has a couple cool set pieces too: the grotty bloody bathtubs, and the shredded white curtain room with all of the scissors dangling down nn. It has some very flash editing and all that stuff too. Serve!!

 

Slice of Life

Staff member
My vote went to this little masterpiece

I mean, the drama?
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The narrative?
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The cinematography?
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The costume design?
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The budget?
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It's especially noteworthy because 3YE are a nugu group coming from an unknown company. And yet the excellence on display is unparalleled. Kween shit! If nugus can serve this level of artistry, I'm gonna need the Big 3 groups to step their pussies up!
 
Hmmm. Most of these videos are cool and interesting (congratulations, GFriend!), but I think Stray Kids (God's Menu), KAI (the visual film) and SEVENTEEN (HOME;RUN) definitely deserved some placements here. But yay for girl power!
Yeah echoing what @Glitterizer said before I think there should be separate categories for girl groups and boy groups for these kind of categories. The MAGO video is so fun though so I’m not mad.
 
he/him
The ACCLAIM! MAMA whomst? Golden Disc Awards what? MMA? Who cares!

Is MAGO the most beautiful or interesting video I’ve ever seen? No! But it fits the song perfectly, it’s fun, the sets are pretty and the girls all look incredible. Plus Yuju finally got to show her pole dancing skills!
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aux

he/him
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2. I CAN'T STOP ME - TWICE
3. pporappippam - Sunmi
4. Dumhdurum - Apink
5. Scream - Dreamcatcher


The sheer amount of talent in this top five... whew!

Our very, very rightful winners are GFRIEND with their most recent comeback "MAGO"! Ladies, this was not even close, from the moment the poll opened, the outpour of love for this track was huge. It was obvious "MAGO" was coming to sweep and boy did it deserve it. "MAGO" is easily one of GFRIEND's best title tracks, sitting right at home with the rest of their immaculate discography. The music video is a shoot, the song itself is a smash and the album it came alongside is divine. The whole package slaps. It is no surprise to find out FRANTS produced the track, someone who has been behind an insane amount of my favourite K-Pop songs.

"I CAN'T STOP ME" is next on our list and wow, what a moment. I won't lie, after "MORE & MORE" I was slightly worried for this, but after snippets of the song trickled in, it became apparent this was going to be a return to form. This is another excellent package from TWICE, with fantastic visuals and choreography.

"pporappippam" is Sunmi's sole comeback this year and whew, it is an absolute smash. Remember how I mentioned FRANTS being behind all the greatest K-Pop songs, it is no surprise to find out he's behind this too. The music video is a serve, the song itself is a serve, Sunmi truly never misses. Give us an album soon legend!

Next on our list is "Dumhdurum" by Apink who have made a name for themselves for releasing one bop a year and this is no exception. The song knocks, courtesy of the production duo Black Eyed Pilseung who are behind K-PopJustice's favourite nugu group, STAYC. Perched for their next yearly bop!

And closing in our top five, "Scream" by Dreamcatcher makes an appearance! I've already spoken about this song heavily since it also won Best Comeback That Isn't Popular Enough To Win Best Comeback, but wow, what a classic. Dreamcatcher has one of the best discographies in K-Pop and this is such a brilliant addition to it. That post-chorus is one for the ages and the choreography is excellent.

Special shoutouts to IZ*ONE who would have made the top five had votes not been split across their comebacks from this year. GFRIEND also nearly appeared more than once on the top five with a couple of votes for both "Apple" and "Crossroads".​
 

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