Hello, and happy new year! I’m glad you’re here reading this because that means you made it through 2021 and are on to bigger and better things in 2022. Plus, you’re probably unabashedly nosy about what other people like and consume, just like me.
Last year was weird and again unprecedented (🙄), but hey, it’s over. While we don’t need to rehash all of the ways 2021 sucked, it’s worth noting that there was still some good that came out it. For just a brief and fleeting moment, life came this 🤏 close to feeling normal again, and I personally watched and listened to a lot of fantastic things that helped me get through this very strange year.
I figured that since we live in a hyper-online society in which most of us are interested in what strangers do/buy/wear/watch/consume, and since Oprah does one of these every year too, I’d share some of the things I particularly liked from 2021 with you. While I’m no Oprah, nor Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, these are a few of my favorite things… in movies, TV, and music from last year. Enjoy!
Movies
Chungking Express (1994)
Although it wasn’t released in 2021, I had been itching to watch Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s famous 1994 film, Chungking Express, for quite some time. As an extremely online person who also identifies as a K-pop stan, a huge trend I was seeing on Twitter last year was a lot of also very online K-pop girlies claiming that several music videos released in 2021 were inspired by Wong Kar-wai’s movies, namely this one. And so, I had to watch it to verify if this was true (which, despite some reaches, it was). Per usual, I became obsessed with this phenomenon, and even wrote an article about it, which you can read here.
Chungking Express follows two essentially non-overlapping love stories set in 1990s Hong Kong, both involving lonely cops. The first transpires in just under 24 hours, while the other occurs over the course of a few months. Wong is also known for his particular visual style of storytelling (which includes highly saturated coloring, slow motion scenes created using a technique called step-printing, and experimental framing that captures actors’ faces from evocative positions and angles), which is perhaps most obviously displayed in this film. Although I was left so confused after watching the movie that it at first made me mad, once I figured out the plot, I came to appreciate how every element down to the repetition of The Mamas & The Papas song “California Dreamin’” in the latter half so viscerally evoked the feelings of longing and yearning that the characters were experiencing that it was impossible not to feel a yearning of my own to watch Chungking Express over and over again.
Minari (2021)
After witnessing Parasite win Best Picture at the Oscars in 2019, I was really excited to find out that another mostly foreign-language but this time wholly American film was floating around the awards circuit conversation at the beginning of 2021. Minari, directed by Lee Isaac Chung and starring Steven Yeun and Youn Yuh-jung (the internet’s favorite grandma), is about a Korean-American family that moves from California to a farm in Arkansas in order to pave the way toward finally realizing their own American dream.
While Minari is mostly in Korean, that doesn’t hinder it from being a palpably and painfully profound depiction of the American dream, or really just of dreams in general. If anything, the Yi family speaking in their native language, for the most part with each other, only enhances Chung’s depiction of the American dream through a Korean lens. Youn Yuh-jung and Alan S. Kim steal the show with their respective depictions of Grandma Soonja and David, but it’s Han Ye-ri’s (very underrated) portrayal of Monica, the matriarch, wife, and glue of the Yi family, that makes the film particularly enthralling and produces some of its most heart-wrenching moments.
Television
Insecure, Season 5 (2021)
There were a lot of TV (K-drama) finales that cut pretty deep for me in 2021, but nothing came close to the simultaneous joy, sadness, dread, and hope I felt while watching the final season of Issa Rae’s HBO comedy Insecure. Not to get all preachy on main, but I thought Insecure did everything Sex and the City couldn’t, especially when it comes to the daunting task of depicting adult female friendships and all of the nuances and complexities that come with them in a non-corny, actually relatable way.
While Issa Dee goes through her own trials and tribulations with men throughout the series, the show’s final season is an apt reminder that at the heart and center of Insecure is the friendship and love between Issa and Molly (Yvonne Orji). The final episode in particular follows the main cast of characters on their respective birthdays, then through several major life events that typically come with being in your 30s (weddings, pregnancies, the whole nine yards), and how friendships and relationships ebb and flow as a result of reaching those milestones. As a 23 year-old still trying to grasp what it even means to be an adult, this season of Insecure gave me comfort in knowing that it’s okay to not know exactly where I’m going or what I’m doing, because no one else really ever knows those things until they’re finally there either, wherever “there” may be.
Vincenzo (2021)
I’m not usually one to go for action-packed TV shows, but after some light convincing, I took the plunge and binge-watched Vincenzo in maybe five days. Chock full of crazy twists and turns and characters so evil and detestable it’s impossible not to appreciate how abhorrent they are, Vincenzo follows the eponymous Italian mafia consigliere (Song Joong-ki) as he fights to take down the evil Babel corporation and retrieve 1.5 tons of gold he previously buried in a building Babel now owns. The show maintains an unexpectedly hilarious tone despite its darker action sequences thanks to a well-written crop of quirky supporting characters, and the plot is refreshingly juicy and unpredictable enough to leave you gasping up until the very end.
Reply 1988 (2015)
I’m an absolute sucker for anything nostalgic, and I’ve never watched a show that encompasses that feeling better than 2015 K-drama Reply 1988. The last installment of the Reply drama series (there’s also the 1997 and 1994 versions, which feature different actors and characters), Reply 1988 revolves around five childhood friends and their families living in the same small neighborhood in Seoul in the year 1988 and the shenanigans, conflicts, and romances that ensue between them.
While each sub-narrative and supporting character has their own charms, it’s the central plot surrounding Sung Duk-seon (Lee Hye-ri), the only girl of the five neighborhood friends, and whom out of the other four boys she ends up with as an adult, that’s especially captivating and personally took me on a rollercoaster of emotions (re: a lot of ugly crying) up until the very last episode. While all 20 episodes are practically the length of an entire movie, added together they hardly feel like enough time to bask in the beauty and tenderness of how these characters come together and see their lives unfold. Between the show’s city pop soundtrack, pertinent historical references, silly sound effects, period costumes and hairstyles, and overwhelming aura of comfort and sincerity, Reply 1988 is a warm welcome to a time and place I’ve never experienced, although one that I feel like I once did.
Music
Songs
“Butter” - BTS
Per Spotify’s data, “Butter,” BTS’ Billboard chart-topping, record-smashing beast of a single, was statistically my favorite song of 2021. And the data doesn’t lie, because there’s good reason for it too. “Butter” is expectedly not a song about the dairy product, but rather a cheeky metaphor through which the group acknowledges and deservedly basks in their own hotness (both in terms of popularity and attractiveness), most aptly signified by the lyrics “Ooh when I look in the mirror, I’ll melt your heart into two.” While naysayers criticized the song’s formulaic tendencies, for BTS, that’s precisely the point. Funky bass lines and unforgettable vocals abound, “Butter” nails the catchiness of an undeniably good pop song down to a science. With “Dynamite,” BTS figured out how to disrupt the system, but with “Butter,” they completely broke it.
“ASAP” - StayC
StayC may look like a super cutesy, rookie girl group that only debuted at the end of 2020, but don’t let them fool you, because “ASAP” is possibly the most earwormy track there ever was — sweet, bubblegummy pop disguising what might as well be drugs. With an addictive choreography to match and an even sweeter blend of the members’ high and low vocals to top it all off, “ASAP” is a game-changer for gooey, Lucy-goosey-apple-juicy pop music. While I admittedly hadn’t been paying much attention to girl groups for a hot minute up until when I first heard this song, I can easily attribute the StayC girls to opening my eyes to the other girlies making waves in K-pop this past year too. Thanks to “ASAP,” I also now keep almost addressing my office manager, a 60 year-old woman named Stacy, as “Stayc” whenever I email her asking her to send PR packages for me.
“LO$ER=LOVER” - Tomorrow X Together (TXT)
I love when a group finally finds their sound, and “LO$ER=LOVER” hits the nail on the head in that department for BTS’ little bros, TXT. If their previous title track, “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You),” was a first introduction to how well each member’s voice meshes with the pop-punk genre, “LO$ER=LOVER” is their emo-boy magnum opus; proof that TXT are right where they should be. Never had a pop-rock-emo banger like this one sent chills down my spine and had me crying upon first listen, but this one did just that. “LO$ER=LOVER” may appear to be five 20-something boys’ take on a 2000s-era Avril Lavigne-esque love song, but make no mistake, because this one is a Gen Z anticapitalist anthem for the ages.
“Next Level” - Aespa
The first time I heard “Next Level” I was maybe the most confused I’d ever been after listening to a song. For days I was completely stuck on how I felt about the track, which is oddly enough a remake of a B-side from the Fast and the Furious: Hobbs & Shaw original soundtrack. Upon first listen, “Next Level” errs on sounding like three loosely-related songs spliced together, but roughly ten listens later and all of its twists and turns somehow come together to form one mystifyingly addicting song. Like its Fast & the Furious predecessor, Aespa’s “Next Level” is grounded in a series of punchy, futuristic electronic synths and the repetition of the ever-so-catchy line, “I’m on the next level.” However, unlike the original, Aespa’s version is littered with lyrical references to the group’s so-called “cinematic universe,” plus the addition of several euphonious vocal moments and jazz and R&B breakdowns that quite literally take the track to the next level. There’s a reason it’s one of the longest-charting girl group songs in South Korean history — the proof is really just in the pudding.
“Bittersweet” - Wonwoo & Mingyu (feat. LeeHi)
Although every Seventeen release from this past year holds a special place in my heart, I would be remiss not to include “Bittersweet,” a unit track from two members of the 13-member K-pop group, in my end-of-year favorites list. “Bittersweet” is a joint collaboration between Seventeen rappers Wonwoo (my current favorite member, or “bias”) and Mingyu (my first “bias”), plus K-R&B singer LeeHi, and for that reason still feels like a figment of my own imagination, a reality that could have only come alive in my dreams.
While Wonwoo and Mingyu are certainly rappers first and foremost, their choice to release a melancholic, sad-boy bop in which they star as vocalists isn’t all that unexpected — both are known for their love of ballads and for simping to IU and the Sing Street soundtrack. Fittingly, the pair lets listeners know that they can sing (and well, mind you) as they riff off of each other’s moody and raspy vocals on this bossa nova-inspired track. LeeHi’s faithfully soothing tone adds additional texture to the song, never outshining Wonwoo’s and Mingyu’s singing. Lyrically, “Bittersweet” also follows an ambiguous storyline that explores the blurry lines between love and friendship, which personally had me practically foaming at the mouth (what can I say, I love a good friends-to-lovers romance bit). Between its very obviously Wong Kar-wai-inspired music video and enchanting musical representation of wistful yearning, “Bittersweet” is everything I could have wanted from this collaboration and more — a true to its name “bittersweet” symphony.
Albums
Peaches - KAI
After Kai’s mind-blowing solo debut at the end of 2020, I couldn’t wait for his follow-up EP, but I also couldn’t possibly imagine how he’d ever top his first release. As the main dancer and sex symbol of veteran K-pop group EXO, Kai’s eponymous debut EP embodied everything his on-stage persona suggests — sex-appeal, flirtatiousness, and a kind of magnetism that very few people possess. It seemed like he had it all figured out, so what was he going to do next?
Peaches is the triumphant answer to that question, and a stunning testament to the endless number of tricks Kai has up his sleeve. This second album isn’t as in-your-face provocative as the first, and instead has an unexpected, subtle kind of sensuality that had me leaning in and listening so closely that I couldn’t help but be swept up in my own little peach-laden dream world while listening to each track. Although all six songs on this album are almost entirely different from one another — “Vanilla” has its breezy, hypnotic instrumentals, “Domino” is an intense, bass-heavy dance track, and “Blue” has this brazen sincerity that takes me to the inner depths of Kai’s mind — that’s also what makes them so good when put together. Peaches isn’t at all what I thought it would be, but that’s just proof of Kai’s versatility and growth as an artist since the start of his solo career.
The Chaos Chapter: Fight or Escape - TXT
TXT are incredible in the sense that although they’re a young group and their sound is continuously evolving — with Fight or Escape largely featuring their newfound affinity for emo-grunge-pop — they still never miss. Not everyone will agree (lo$ers, I say!), but this repackaged version of full-length album The Chaos Chapter: Freeze is yet another no-skip release nestled neatly inside the group’s growing catalogue in my book. Led by the aforementioned “LO$ER=LOVER” and “0X1=Lovesong (I Know I Love You),” the album also features the group’s first all-English song “Magic,” retro pop number “No Rules,” R&B-inspired anti-love song “Anti-Romantic,” and standout grunge-meets-hip hop track “Frost.” With Fight or Escape, TXT remind listeners that they’re no one-trick pony, and probably never will be. There’s no telling what they’ll do next, but whatever it is, it’ll likely be nothing short of great.
Bad Love - KEY
I love Key — as a person, singer, entertainer, comedian, and now, as a soloist. Before reviewing this album for Seoulbeats, I was really only familiar with Key as a member of renowned second generation K-pop group Shinee and from his hilarious Instagram Lives during which he yells funny things at his dog. After digging into Bad Love, I can now firmly say I know who Key is as his own artist, and that’s a badass, theatrical performer who’s unapologetically himself and knows how to play to his strengths. Bad Love is unlike anything I’ve ever heard in K-pop, or really pop in general, in the last few years. The easiest way to describe it is Space Age intergalactic nostalgia meets ‘80s New Wave synth-pop, two things I didn’t know I could love so much when blended so seamlessly together. My favorite track is easily B-side “Helium,” which very fittingly mimics the motions and sensations of a swelling balloon, but every track on Bad Love shows off the very best of Key.
Red (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift has this unmatched ability to make me feel like I’ve lived a thousand lives and loved a thousand loves (and broken up with all of them) by way of her lyrics. I felt this when listening to the original Red when I was 14 and now again as a 23 year-old with largely the same deficient degree of romantic experience, and that says a lot (not about my lack of romantic endeavors but about Ms. Swift’s status as the unequivocal Shakespeare of our generation).
While the experience of hearing all of my favorite songs from my teenage years with additional lyrics, maturer vocals, and instrumental bonuses to round out each track is nothing short of a fever dream, it’s Red’s previously-unreleased “From The Vault” tracks that add even more color and depth to everything I thought I knew about Blondie, her relationships, and maybe even life itself. My favorite is “Nothing New,” featuring Phoebe Bridgers, which discusses the very relatable and pertinent fact that life becomes even more uncertain the older we get and the more we grow up (“How can a person know everything at 18 but nothing at 22?”). Other favorites include the Haylor trilogy of “Message in a Bottle”/ “Forever Winter”/ “The Very First Night” and the crowd-pleasing “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” After loving Red for nine years and counting, Taylor’s Version is an apt reminder that despite the messages of heartbreak it conveys, some loves (like my own for these songs) are truly unbreakable.
Your Choice - Seventeen
I admittedly struggled a lot with which Seventeen release from this past year to include in this list (because I absolutely had to include one), which is why you’re reading this in 2022 instead of 2021. Your Choice and Attacca, Seventeen’s 8th and 9th mini albums respectively, are some of the K-pop group’s best work, but Your Choice ultimately takes the cake as their best of 2021 for me. As its name suggests, this album has everything: cheeky, postmodernist hyperpop centered around living in the age of the internet (“GAM3 BO1”), ‘90s soul music meets Celine Dion ballad meets Reply 1988 original soundtrack (“Same dream, same mind, same night”), electrifying guitar riffs and easygoing vocals fittingly sung by thirteen boys wearing leather race car driver outfits (“Anyone”), and the tune that angels (Seventeen) sing as you enter the gates of heaven (“Heaven’s Cloud”). Don’t get me wrong, Attacca is solid, perhaps a more sophisticated version of the content Your Choice strives for. But Your Choice has something Attacca doesn’t, and that’s a quirky, discombobulated charm that so perfectly represents Seventeen themselves.