And… it's a wrap! Another year of banger music, drama, and exquisite performances in the Hallyu industry. This year has been undeniably one of the most eventful ones since 2014, 2018, and 2019. While 2018 and 2019 were notable for the music, just like 2014, a decade later, 2024 is going to go down in history as one of the most bizarre, baffling, yet amazing years.

We fans did not have a single break without something going down—be it HYBE beefing with Min Heejin and their scandalous documents being released, multiple disbandments, phenomenal music, or even the temporary martial law that was imposed. This entire year was just a 'You Just Had to Be There' moment.

It wouldn't do justice to sum up this entire year in a single paragraph, now would it? So, here is a recap of everything that went down before the year ends.

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Girl Group Glory

Like last year, the reign of women in pop continues; not only did the girls dominate in the West, but so did the girls back in Seoul!

Dream-pop, Y2K, UK garage, and EDM dubstep—the girls gave us everything and more. Starting with LE SSERAFIM's EASY album and ending the year with TWICE's collab with Megan Thee Stallion, the girls did it all. From Magentic's and Touch's minimalistic hand choreography that went viral and the mint green bobs donned in WIFE, to the chart-topping music by New Jeans and aespa.

Although there are numerous contributors, the most notable mention should be Like last year, the reign of women in pop continues; not only did the girls dominate in the West, but so did the girls back in Seoul!

Dream-pop, Y2K, UK garage, and EDM dubstep—the girls gave us everything and more. Starting with LE SERAFIM's EASY album and ending the year with TWICE's collab with Megan Thee Stallion, the girls did it all. From Magentic's and Touch's minimalistic hand choreography that went viral and the mint green bobs donned in WIFE, to the chart-topping music by New Jeans and aespa.

Although there are numerous contributors, the most notable mention should be KISS OF LIFE. Not only did they bless us with 'Midas Touch'—a Britney Spears-esque song glittering in gold seduction—but they also gave us 'Sticky'—THE summer song. They ended the year with their first album, 'Lose Yourself,' which contains tracks like 'R.E.M', 'Get Loud' and the absolute banger of a song, ‘Igloo.’

And of course, the crowning glory of the year, obviously, goes to aespa.

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Aespa domination

Galactic EDM pop, visuals that blend etherealism and hyper-tech AND hip-hop, and just plain good music.

Speaking of girl group domination, it's not 2024 without aespa. With an insanely successful pre-release single, the girls' return to form was solidified this year with ‘Supernova,’ ‘Armageddon,’ and 'Whiplash.'

Supernova, their first release of the year, was aespa music at its peak. A track that was a more mature reminiscence of their 2021 hit track ‘Next Level’ swept award shows, winning them Song of the Year and four other awards.

Subsequently, while Armageddon mixes street hop-hop with galactic UK garage, Whiplash was runway c***-pop. With both album rollouts being genius marketing, the girls' unreleased solo songs turned out to be huge successes as well.

If 2023 was New Jeans' year, 2024 was definitely aespa's.

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HYBE v/s Min Heejin

Ah yes, the defining chain of events of this year. I don't need to say much, seeing how there are already numerous articles and videos covering the topic; this is for sure one of those incidents that 2024 K-pop will be remembered for years to come. Beginning with Min Heejin leaving and the suing of HYBE, the entire situation evidently spiraled down into New Jeans leaving HYBE-ADOR entirely, after Min Heejin left a few months prior.

The green-and-white-striped shirt and blue cap in That press conference? Iconic. The 22-page HYBE report document that is borderline insulting to practically every group in the industry?

Scandalous. Min Heejin's shaman friend that “hexed” BTS? Questionable. With New Jeans now out of HYBE's umbrella, we can now only wait to see what happens to their musical and creative direction.

2nd Gen Stans Rise!

Obnoxiously loud instrumentals, out-of-pocket yet fun lyrics, silver spikes, and bold eyeliners: the 2nd generation era of K-pop, albeit to have ended almost a decade ago, still remains as a precious time for fans. And this year, the fans of that era got to see the two ruling groups of their times—2NE1 and Big Bang—back on stage.

The former united for their 15th anniversary and kicked off their yearlong world tour in August. Fans and artists alike joined the audience in celebration of their return, with video messages from numerous groups welcoming the quartet.

Although the latter didn't have a comeback per se, G-Dragon, released his single 'Power' after 7 years of stepping out of the industry. What came as a surprise was during his MAMA performance after he finished performing his solo act.

The screen went black and the music stopped, and with fans anticipating what they predicted might come next, the instrumental for 'Bang Bang Bang' began to play with 3 of the band's members being displayed on-screen in bold black letters. With fans screaming, the music blaring, and the stadium lit up in yellow, their 6-minute performance of their hit songs had all the artists singing along and dancing—truly bringing back the carefree times of the 2010s.

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International Success

It's no lie that K-pop has been making waves in the West, and this year, it couldn't be more true. Kicking off the year with Coachella performances by LE SSERAFIM and ATEEZ, both groups garnered massive support and attention.

Although the former's performance could be questionable in terms of vocals, it isn't to say that it was a pivotal moment in the girls' careers. Not only did it bring them a lot of attention—good and bad—but it also started off an onslaught of hate and malice—acting like a double-edged sword sharpened on one side with diamonds and whetstones.

While boy groups had their success too, like Stray Kids topping the Billboard 200 Charts for the fifth time and SEVENTEEN collaborating with DJ Khaled on their latest album, it again comes back to the girls, who dominated western media—specifically the BLACKPINK members.

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After their split with YG Ent. it became clear pretty quickly how much they were being held back. LISA went on to release three singles and performed not only on the VMA stage but also at the Victoria's Secret runway show. Jennie released her single 'Mantra,' and Rose, well, had her chart-topping surprise collaboration with Bruno Mars on 'APT' and went on to release her self-titled full-length album a month later.

Iconic Moments

Now, what truly made this year iconic were the memes that were so random and out of pocket that you wouldn't believe them if you weren't there to experience it.

Starting off strong with the weirdest one, the Hanteo Award Show. Sigh. Well, this was truly something.

While every single person was struggling to breathe without gagging due to the smell of someone's indecency, the entire show became a meme, with clips of idols gagging and laughing during their speeches. And the constant pushing and poor crowd control made it all the more concerning.

Another iconic trend was the 'Cat on the Frozen Han River' meme, which was probably the cutest yet most random trend to go viral in a long time. Originating from a news reporter spontaneously reporting a cat walking on the frozen river in a comically serious tone, the audio became somewhat of a dance trend among the general public, which led even idols to dance along and film.

Honourable Mentions: Haewon from NMIXX's “Wenmo Check”, Mathew's “MOO” meme, Wonyoung's “Lucky Vicky” and the simp domino of Karina's entire “UP” performance.

Disbandments and Comebacks

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Disbandments and Scandals

Although this year has definitely been a rollercoaster ride, it didn't end with just New Jeans leaving ADOR-HYBE and consequently their brand, but other beloved groups disbanded on a rather sudden note as well. Within just 24 hours, on November 29th, fromis9 and Loosemble both announced their disbandments.

What took all fanbases by shock was the outing of NCT's Taeil, who was accused of, and subsequently charged with, sexual crimes and was announced by SM Ent. to have been removed from the group, saying they “recognized the seriousness of the situation.” The fact that the company made no attempt to salvage the situation and uncharacteristically took immediate actions points to the possibility of the incident being true.

Another group that had its member kicked out was once again, under SM Ent. After intimate pre-debut pictures of RIIZE's Seunghan were leaked only 3 months after debuting, he was put on an “indefinite” hiatus by the company.

Almost a year later, when he was announced to be returning to activities, fans were indeed ecstatic, but not everyone was happy. Fans in South Korea were dead set on not having him in the group and went as far as sending a 1000 funeral wreaths to the company headquarters, and only 2 days after Seunghan's return, he was announced to have “left” the group.

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Saying that this upset international fans is an understatement. With all fandoms uniting and trending the “RIIZE is 7” and “Bring back Seunghan” hashtags, this incident was a wake-up call to i-fans, which led to them boycotting SM Ent. and RIIZE as a whole.

With more coming next year, like LISA's album, GOT7 and GFriend comebacks, and rookie groups and veterans alike, brimming with potential, here's to another year of celebrating music, drama, and art.