Many people love K-pop for the bright colors, crazy aesthetics, hype songs, difficult dances, hard-hitting raps, gorgeous vocals, and stunning visuals!
However, there are just as many amazing songs that come from sub-genres within K-pop, such as R&B, ballads, acoustic tracks, and more. Ballads do very well with Korean fans, but statistically speaking, international fans tend to enjoy the faster bops!
What many don’t realize, however, is that they’re missing out on some really amazing songs. Whether the tracks come from well-known artists or lesser-known ones, there are many excellent, chill songs that are perfect for your playlist when you’re relaxing or listening to music at night. As such, we’ve put together a list of 10 really underrated and chill songs from the K-pop world!
1) VAV’s Lou – “Goodnight”
A great song from VAV‘s Lou, “Goodnight” was released as a mixtape for fans. With his super deep voice on this laid-back track, it’s both sexy and soothing! It’s perfect to listen to at bedtime, and will soon have you ready to drift off into dreamland! If you want a song from VAV as a group, however, we also recommend their beautiful ballad “Winter Breeze.”
2) VIXX’s Hyuk – “Boy With A Star”
It’s pretty much impossible to go wrong with anything by VIXX as a group or by the members themselves when they perform as soloists. With a maturity that goes far beyond his years, Hyuk has delivered some gorgeous tracks that play on your emotions as only good music truly can. This song is beautiful, with a simple accompaniment that offsets his voice to perfection. For a beautiful, chill song from VIXX themselves, check out the sentimental track, “Resemble.”
3) IMFACT’s Lee Sang – “Like Raindrops”
A very talented artist who composes many of his own songs, this great track from IMFACT‘s Lee Sang will make you fall in love with both his style and his voice. In fact, you should definitely subscribe to his YouTube channel and enjoy all the great songs he both composes and covers! For a great chill track by IMFACT, we also recommend “She Is.”
4) Apink’s Jung Eunji – “Dawn”
Eunji has so many great ballads and pop songs that show off her clear vocals and lovely delivery. However, we have a soft spot for this B-track, “Dawn.” The style is slightly different from her other tracks as a warm, acoustic guitar mixes with various instruments to bring about a charming track that will transport you to Eunji’s own world of love. For a great Apink track to bring about the same feeling, listen to “Memories.”
5) Sam Kim – “Seattle”
What’s not to love about Sam Kim? His voice is absolute perfection, his skills as a singer-songwriter are unparalleled, his delivery is emotional and raspy, and his acoustic style brings it all to completion!
Sam Kim, however, remains largely underrated— even with his totally brilliant songs like “Seattle.” Check it out below, and you will literally love it for the rest of your life as you can almost feel his emotions as he sings of his hometown. His track “Mama, Don’t Worry” is also excellent and definitely worth a listen!
6) Super Junior’s Sungmin – “Orgel”
After Sungmin went on hiatus from Super Junior, he began writing songs with a friend named Haeun whom he met in the military.
As the songwriting duo “Milky Wave,” they have released many gorgeous tracks together on Sungmin’s YouTube channel LIU Studio. In fact, you can click here to see our top recommend songs from these two talented artists!
Sungmin’s friend recently made his own solo debut and Sungmin is working as a soloist as well these days. While Sungmin’s track “Orgel” is a really nice song that shows off his sweet vocals, we also highly recommend Haeun’s recent track “Stay Like That, Stay Like This” featuring Sungmin.
7) Kim Jae Hwan – “Love You Still”
Kim Jae Hwan first came to the attention of the public as an individual trainee on the hit show “Produce 101” where he subsequently went on to become a member of the famous group Wanna One. After the group’s contracts were over, he then went on to make his solo debut!
Releasing both gorgeous ballads and catchy pop songs, he never strays too far from his pleasing acoustic sound that captured the hearts of fans in the first place. Although he has plenty of great tracks, “Love You Still” is a favorite of ours among his B-tracks! You can also check out one of his popular and very lovely title tracks entitled “Begin Again.”
8) DIA’s Yebin – “Waiting For You”
Overall, DIA is an underrated group in K-pop— especially among international fans! Within the group, they also have a lot of talented members who deserve more chances to shine!
Member Yebin is certainly one of those musicians, and although she finally got a chance for more exposure on the idol rebooting show “The Unit,” she still goes largely underrated. “Waiting For You” is a song written and composed by Yebin herself and was originally released by DIA as a whole. However, Yebin went on to re-release it as a special solo version which we actually prefer!
For another great song from DIA members, we’re huge fans of the absolutely beautiful song “Seoraksan in October,” a track Yebin sings with fellow DIA member Somyi. It’s a truly perfect song about the beautiful memories you make with friends and loved ones on trips, so it’s sentimental, sweet, and just so charming! Don’t miss out on this great song that has become a favorite of ours to play on our radio station, WTK Radio.
9) Henry Lau – “I Luv U”
Everyone in K-pop knows that Henry Lau is an excellent musician and songwriter! Yet, somehow his songs seem to go largely underrated.
One of our all-time favorite tracks by Henry is “I LUV U.” Although the official version is great, we can’t help but admit a soft spot for this beautiful live version of the track that Henry performed on the streets of Italy as part of the travel variety show “Begin Again.” For another gorgeous ballad from Henry, check out “It’s You,” a song he released as an OST for the hit drama “While You Were Sleeping.”
10) Jeong Sewoon – “When It Rains”
Jeong Sewoon, also of “Produce 101” fame, has quickly become a master of chill songs in the K-pop world! Despite his fairly young career, he shows off a lot of depth as a singer-songwriter and always delivers gorgeous vocals that do his songs great justice!
“When It Rains” drips with sentimentality and is one of our favorite tracks from this talented artist. He also has plenty of other amazing songs to choose from, so make sure to check out some of his other tracks like the beautiful song, “My Ocean.”
Have you heard all the songs on this list before? What other underrated songs would you recommend to K-pop fans who are looking for chill, relaxing music? Make sure to let us know your thoughts by tweeting to us @whatthekpop1!
Media: As Credited
Media: WTK (via Jellyfish Entertainment, Play M Entertainment, and SMTOWN)