Music has always been a major stressbuster for me. I definitely leaned hard on it in those initial days of the pandemic and the subsequent months of quarantine. Whenever I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin with anxiety or burst into tears of depression, I would either sing it out with the stereo blasting or quietly relax with my headphones on.
Still, I was shocked to learn that I had added almost 800 songs to my collection in 2020. Let’s take a deep dive into exactly what I listened to during the year.
iTunes Stats
The most accurate representation of my listening habits is, as always, my beloved iTunes library.
2020 Top Song
Chung Ha was the queen of my play counts with her recent hit “Stay Tonight.” This marked the first time since Ailee’s “Insane” in 2016 that a solo female artist or a K-Pop song topped my list. “Stay Tonight” also broke the three-year streak of my top song coming from a movie or anime soundtrack.
Chung Ha kind of snuck up on me. “Gotta Go” was good. “Snapping” was great. Then “Stay Tonight” came out and I was like, “Yep, I’m a fan.” She can sing, she can dance, and she has cool concepts. I think she could be the next BoA one day.
“Stay Tonight” is my jam. I love its slick techno/club/disco vibe. And Chung Ha’s delivery is so seductive, like her voice is literally weaving a spell to make her lover stay. The video—with its artsy black and white visuals, gothic attire, and fierce backup dancers—is what truly sells the song for me. And Chung Ha herself looks amazing. I like to spin around in my desk chair while singing the pre-chorus. It’s my loser attempt to imitate that part when her dancers spin her around in that glass box. It’s weirdly empowering.
English-Language Songs
Three of my 2020 top-played songs are in English. That’s half the amount I had in 2019. Not the best stats, but I’ve had worse.
Now, I hope you didn’t think I’ve abandoned soundtracks just because my top song wasn’t from one. You know me better than that! There were three songs in total, two from the Birds of Prey movie soundtrack. I knew the album was gonna be dope based on the singles I heard. When I borrowed it from hoopla on release day, I proved myself right. I was obsessed with those songs all summer.
My favorite song on the soundtrack was “Diamonds” by Megan Thee Stallion and Normani. What an incredible duo! I knew of Megan, but I had never actually heard Megan until this song. The hype was real. Even now, I randomly launch into her skillful verses, especially the lines, “You want me to be a little more ladylike (mmm)/Come through with my girls and beat your ass on Ladies’ Night (aye).” Meanwhile, the fabulous Normani uses her silky voice for the chorus, adding an extra oomph that pushes the song over the top in the best possible way.
Then there was “Sway With Me” by Saweetie and Galxara. I wasn’t familiar with either artist, to the point that I initially mixed them up. I was, however, already biased towards the song because it samples “Sway,” an oldie that I’ve always enjoyed in its numerous versions. I was not disappointed. “Sway With Me” flips the formula that “Diamonds” uses. Rather than being rap-driven with a vocal assist, it’s supported by Saweetie’s boastful bars and driven by Galxara’s powerful pipes. I mean, Galxara really jumps in it, especially during the last 17 seconds of the song. I get goosebumps every time.
The final English-language song was “Do It” by another dynamic duo, Chloe x Halle. I’ve been familiar with these sisters since about 2018 when I discovered their song “Warrior” from the A Wrinkle in Time soundtrack. That song was great, as were the others I later picked up. I thought they were crazy talented. So when I heard their new single was out, I was excited to hear it. And OMG, I was immediately sold when that banging bass started. “Do It” is a fun song with a cute dance to go with it. I watched that music video a million times on YouTube and a million more times after I downloaded it from Freegal.
Honorable Mentions:
- “Tomorrow” – Jorja Smith
- “Forgive Me” – Chloe x Halle
J-Pop Songs
I added over 150 J-Pop songs to my library in 2020. Although a decent chunk of those new additions came from artists like Crystal Kay, Mika Nakashima, and Angela Aki, the majority of them came from anime soundtracks. I collected as many of the opening and ending songs as I could find from shows like Bleach, Naruto, Boruto, Cowboy BeBop, Escaflowne, Evangelion, and the various Gundam series through Freegal.
Numbers be damned, only one of those many J-Pop songs ranked: “Sora Ni Utaeba” by amazarashi. “Sora Ni Utaeba” is the third song from a soundtrack on my list, having served as one of the opening themes for the anime My Hero Academia. This J-Rock tune gets my knee bouncing and my foot tapping. I like the brief feminine touches where the female vocalist sings the song title in the chorus and “Ah-ah-ah” in the verses. The best part of the song, hands down, is when the male vocalist launches into that impressive rap towards the end. It sounds more like a spoken word poem. Love. It!
Honorable Mentions:
- “Lonely in Gorgeous” (Paradise Kiss op song) – Tommy February 6
- “From the Edge” (Demon Slayer end song) – FictionJunction feat. LiSA
K-Pop Songs
My K-Pop listening habits barely changed since 2019. Last time there were eight songs on the list; this time, there were nine.
Let me start off by addressing the controversial elephant in the room. My second most-played K-Pop song on the list is “Wonder If” by Yong Jun Hyung, who apparently did some bad things. This song ranked second place in iTunes and fifth place on my 2018 Top-Played Google Play Music list. I considered resetting the play counts and omitting the song from this post, but it felt dishonest. I bought and enjoyed the song knowing full well about the artist in question. I’m not proud of it, and I don’t condone his actions. All I can do is cop to my moral failures and try to do better in the future.
My third place song, both overall and for K-Pop, was Infinite’s “The Eye.” This is the second song to reemerge from my aforementioned GPM list. It ranked second place back then. I finally broke down and bought it in May.
There are many reasons why “The Eye” is such an extraordinary song. First, it has a melancholy feel to it, even after the dance beat kicks in. I dig that. Then there are the lyrics. They already sound poetic to my non-Korean-speaking ears, but the music video’s translation is twice as beautiful: “After the break up that never ended, I’m finally saying goodbye.” Lastly, there’s the way the band members perfectly convey those vulnerable emotions with their talented voices. The whole thing makes my heart hurt. I have yet to find another Infinite song that approaches the awesomeness of “The Eye” for me.
Heize won for having the most appearances on the list with one guest spot, two solos, and a duet. Oddly, Heize is the third artist that I found through GPM in 2018. Her song “In the Time Spent With You” was number eight on that list and number five on my iTunes list. I lost track of her after that until I stumbled across her songs on Freegal in April. The next thing I knew, I was snapping up every song she was involved with. She’s one of those rare artists who don’t have any straight-up bad songs.
“You, Clouds, Rain,” which features Shin Yong Jae, was the Heize song I played the most. Going in, I was admittedly worried. The two have such different skill levels. Heize’s voice excels in a very specific, somewhat narrow range, while SYJ’s can reach the rafters when he wants to. But they worked it out. SYJ dialed his voice down—I can literally hear him holding back at times—to put himself roughly on Heize’s level. The result is another lovely breakup song, with actual rain sounds setting the mood at the beginning and end.
The most surprising entry is Onewe’s “Q.” I accidentally found the song while I was looking for solo songs from my problematic fave Hwa Sa on Freegal. I had never heard of the band before, but I decided to give it a shot since Hwa Sa is featured on the song. I was sold on the first listen. It’s such a chill song. The beat thumps nicely, but the sweet guitar-lead rhythm makes me want to sway in place with my eyes closed and my phone in the air like Sugar Motta on Glee more than jump around and dance. And Hwa Sa’s voice, so reminiscent of Hyolyn’s, blends well with those of Onewe’s male vocalists. It’s perfect. I need to try more Onewe songs.
BTS appeared for the third year in a row. They also had the second-highest amount of songs on the list with two tracks from their Map of the Soul: 7 album. Although “Black Swan” and “Filter” have the same number of plays, the latter slightly edges out the former for me.
Why do I like “Filter” so much? Because it’s a Jimin solo! If there’s a such thing as having a vocal bias, it’s Jimin for me with BTS. I could identify his distinctive voice—so airy and elegant—before I could recognize his face. “Filter” is one of the rare occasions where I get to fully bask in that voice. And bask I did. It’s a very flirty, very provocative song. Jimin’s voice always has a bit of purr to it, but there are several places where the purr edges towards a growl, like at the end of the bridge when he says, “Yeah.” Add in the nice beat and the Latin flair, and you’ve got a real winner of a song.
BLACKPINK appeared for the second year in a row with “Kill This Love.” Honestly, this song took a long time to grow on me. I didn’t hate it, per se. It has tons of diva attitude and that marching band sound is never a bad idea. It was just so different from their previous stuff, not as instantly catchy, that I had to adjust my mindset. So, I kept casually watching the music video, letting it all sink in. I knew I had finally fallen in love with the song when I clocked how excited I got when it popped up on my Spotify playlist. It taught me not to pass judgement on a song too quickly. I now wonder how many good songs I’ve missed out on because of that.
Last but not least was SuperM. I love any kind of crossovers, so you can imagine how hyped I was for them. I mean, it’s a group comprised of guys from multiple groups that I already love. I only knew Taemin, Kai, and Baekhyun at first because SHINee and EXO are two of my all-time favorite K-Pop groups, but I quickly grew to like the rest of the guys too. It’s fascinating to see what each member brought to the table.
“Jopping” is freaking epic! Ep-ic! It’s the type of song that leaves me breathless by the end, like I just ran a mile or two. Those four minutes and eleven seconds are energetic as hell. There’s a bit of an army influence that I didn’t notice right off. The horns and the chorus’s lyrics remind me of that marching song that goes, “Left! Left! Left, right, left!” The military influence is also present in the music video, with its tanks, desert backgrounds, and hard-stomping choreography. The best moment for me is Baekhyun’s unbelievable high note. I knew dude could sing, but my goodness! This song totally rules.
Honorable Mentions:
- “Shut Up & Groove” – Heize
- “Don’t Come Back” – Heize feat. Yong Jun Hyung
Other Music Stats
I listened to music in a few other places besides iTunes. Here’s a look at which songs ranked the highest in those apps and streaming services.
Musicolet
Musicolet is the music player app that I’m currently using on our our LG Tribute Empire phone. I was getting increasingly frustrated with the many problems involved with listening to music on an iPad mini with limited storage. Instead of buying an MP3 player, I took out my old 16 GB microSD card, copied over my favorite songs, and installed Musicolet (thanks to a recommendation from Android Authority). While a $50 phone can’t perfectly replace an iPod, it’s been a satisfying experience overall.
The best part is that Musicolet keeps track of my play counts too. Note that all five of the most-played songs in the app were J-Pop, specifically songs from an anime or a video game. Even more surprising, the top song was split between Tommy February 6’s “Lonely in Gorgeous” and Porno Graffitti’s “The Day.”
“Lonely in Gorgeous” is the bouncy, cutesy, and catchy opening theme for the Paradise Kiss anime. It was a J-Pop Honorable Mention this year (see above). It’s also a long-time fave of mine, to the point that I named one of my old iPods after the song. My history with Tommy February 6 (TF6) goes back to my college years, when a friend gave me a bootleg CD full of her songs. Guilt eventually drove me to destroy the disc. Thankfully, Freegal got in her entire discography (as well as that of her alter ego Tommy Heavenly 6 and her band the brilliant green) so I could finally replace the songs I gave up.
“The Day” is My Hero Academia‘s first opening theme. I’ve liked Porno Graffitti’s music since they did “Melissa” for Fullmetal Alchemist. This song is even better. It perfectly captures the spirit of MHA. The pounding guitars, combined with the way the music becomes increasingly desperate and deconstructed during the bridge and instrumental sections, conjure up every dark moment in the series when Deku and crew find themselves in a seemingly hopeless situation against an enemy. Not gonna lie, I get emotional during those parts.
Amazon Music Unlimited
I tried a new streaming service in 2020: Amazon Music Unlimited. I was invited to a three-month trial of AMU in November after I bought some MP3s from Amazon’s digital music store. I figured, “Why not?”
AMU was a mixed bag. I loved its preset and auto-generated playlists and the extra features like X-Ray lyrics and music videos. It was also super convenient to have a direct link to buy songs. But there were huge gaps in its K-Pop and J-Pop catalogs, the offline mode in its apps was a mess, and it didn’t show play counts. I could live with AMU and be fairly happy, but I still prefer Spotify.
In December, AMU took a positive step towards addressing the play count problem with the playlist “My Year in Review 2020.” It was described as, “The sounds of 2020—complete with your musical obsessions and guilty pleasures.” While I’m not 100% sure that these songs were the ones I played the most, it’s close enough for my purposes here.
My top song on the playlist was “Dum Ditty Dumb” from my girl Crystal Kay. More J-Pop! This is another song that I didn’t like at first. On the very first listen, it sounded kind of…well, dumb. It was weird. I was like, “What is this?!” A few listens later, however, it got stuck in my head. Now I love it to death. The verses are in English with a throbbing R&B bassline, while the chant-like chorus is mostly sung in Japanese, with a stripped down beat and the frantic strumming of a shamisen. It’s very creative, possibly representing the different sides of C.K.’s cultural heritage.
Spotify Wrapped
My Spotify usage continues to drop. The app reported that I listened for 1,813 minutes in 2020, which was 556 minutes fewer than in 2019. I’m still buying and downloading music from Freegal more than I’m streaming anything. On top of that, I suspect that my phone company no longer exempts Spotify from my monthly data allotment, which means I can’t listen as much as I used to.
With the exception of f(x), my top artists were completely different from last year’s. My top artist was the J-Pop singer Koda Kumi. Wow! The last time Kumi was on any of my lists was in 2010. She and Mika Nakashima, who’s in third place, ranked high because, as promised, I was catching up with some old J-Pop faves. The new-to-me K-Pop band VIXX were in second place because I was trying to see if I liked their music (love them, BTW). And as I previously discussed, I started collecting songs from the show Empire, which accounts for the presence of Empire Cast.
J-Pop conquered the list again with my top song, Namie Amuro’s “New Look.” I was way into that song when it first came out. I liked how it sampled The Supremes’ “Baby Love” and turned it into a whole new song (much like what they did with the Birds of Prey songs). I added it to my playlist around the same time I was rediscovering Kumi and Mika. I’ve definitely enjoyed listening to it again.
None of my top songs were the same as last year’s, though some of the same artists appeared with different songs in 2019. For instance, Lee Hi made the list with “Can You Hear My Heart” (2019) and “Breathe” (2020), while SISTAR had “Crying” (2019) and “Touch My Body” (2020). Meanwhile, 2 PM’s “Electricity” ranked high because it’s their only song that I like and don’t own yet. And Kumi made a second appearance with “Passing By,” the song of hers that I apparently listened to the most.
Conclusion
Overall, nothing radical happened with my music habits. The balance between the English and K-Pop songs shifted back towards the latter, while the J-Pop songs unexpectedly took many of the top slots. It will be interesting to see which genre will be on top next year. The amount of K-Pop in my library has already surpassed the amount of J-Pop by about 100 songs.
Next year, there are some things that I want to do better about. The first is to listen to more female groups and artists. It came to my attention that my K-Pop habits skew more towards boy bands after a person complained that a particular Buzzfeed quiz featured zero girl groups in the prompts. Fair point. As much as I prefer boy groups, there are a lot of good girl groups out there that I should support too.
Second, I need to listen to more contemporary English songs. I catch a new song here and there, but I mostly stick to retro stuff and stuff I grew up with. I don’t really know much about the new artists out there. I want to expand my horizons, mix it up a bit. Maybe I’ll listen to the radio or something.
Until next year!
Photo Credit: “CD Lot” @ Public Domain Pictures from Pexels via Canva.com