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Posted by iwantkimchi24 pts Tuesday, December 31, 2019

A Decade in retrospective (Part 1: 2010-2015)

The 2010s are coming to a close. This decade has been plagued by relevant events, such as economic crisis, wars, natural disasters, political changes, an incredible boom of civil rights movements, and awe-inspiring technological advancements, among other things.

The K-Pop scene is not different, as the 2010s have been busy with important group debuts, important albums, songs, events, and tragedies. Let's take a quick look at what this decade has left us.

Quick disclaimer: If I don't include your favorite group/song, don't take it as a diss, as it is not the intention of this article. I can't include every single important song/artist of said year.

2010

The first year of the decade has been interesting in terms of debuting artists, as famous and big groups debuted that year. Such groups include Girl's Day, miss A, Nine Muses, Orange Caramel, JYJ and sub-unit GD&TOP. Among the relevant solo debuts, we can mention Hyuna, Jay Park and JeA.

Music videos of 2010 are heavily influenced by street and futuristic aesthetics. They feature night time, interesting choices of hairstyles and clothing colors, a dichotomy between black and white
as well as a general bad-ass vibe. Tracks you should remember are Super Junior's "Bonamana", f(x)'s "NU ABO", Shinee's "Lucifer", 2NE1's "Can't nobody", SNSD's "Run Devil Run", among others.

Other interesting facts include MAMA Awards:

Song of the year: miss A's "Good Girl Bad Girl"
Album of the year: 2NE1's "To Anyone"
Best female artist: BoA
Best male artist: Taeyang

And Golden disks awards (25th):

Grand prize to SNSD's "Oh!" (Full-length album for the record of the year)
Digital Daesang to 2AM's "Can't Let you go even If I die"

International concerts include f(x) and Epik High concert in France and Wonder Girls concerts in the USA.

This year also includes the tragic Bombardment of Yeonpyeong

2011

This year's group debuts include APink, B1A4, Dal Shabet, Stellar, EXO, and Troublemaker. Solo Artists debuting include Zion.T

Some important songs were Super Junior's "Mr. Simple", SNSD's "The Boys", T-ARA's "Roly Poly", BIGBANG's Tonight, f(x)'s "Hot Summer " and Hyuna's "Bubble Pop!" .

The Winners of MAMAs include:

Artist of the year: SNSD (Also best female group)
Album of the year: Super Junior's "Mr. Simple" (Also best male group)
Song of the year: 2NE1's "I Am the Best"
Male artist of the year: Kim Hyung-Joon
Female artist of the year: Baek Ji-Young

Winners of Golden disks awards (26th) include:

Grand prize to Super Junior's Mr. Simple (Full-length album for the record of the year)
Digital Daesang to SNSD's The Boys

This year, Han Geng left Super Junior following a lawsuit against SM Ent.

This year also includes the tragic Seoul floods.

2012

2012 is the year where A LOT of idol groups debuted. By A LOT, I mean 46 well-known groups and 12 solo artists. Some of them include:

100%, AOA, BTOB, Crayon Pop, EXID, Hello Venus, NU'EST, VIXX, sub-units such as EXO-K, SNSD-TTS and many, many more.

Solo artists that debuted this year include Ailee, Han Seung-Yeon, Lee Hi and Loco.

Probably, the most important event of the year was the release of "Gangnam Style" by PSY on July 15th. The song became a HUGE viral sensation on YouTube, remaining as the most-watched video on Youtube for several years and the first to hit 1 Billion views.

Best songs of 2012 include INFINITE's "The Chaser", SISTAR's "Alone", BoA's "Only One", and TVXQ!'s "Catch Me".

The Winners of MAMAs include:

Artist of the year: Big Bang
Album of the year: Super Junior's "Sexy Free and Single"
Song of the year: PSY's "Gangnam Style"
Male artist of the year: G-Dragon
Female artist of the year: IU

And Golden Disks Awards (27th) include:

Grand prize to Super Junior's "Sexy Free and Single "(Full-length album for the record of the year)
Digital Daesang to PSY's "Gangnam Style"

Important international concerts were Music Bank's World Tour, BEAST concert in Germany, Super Junior's Super Show 4, 2NE1's and BIGBANG's concerts in the USA, among others.

2013

This year was not as active as the previous year in terms of group debuts. Important groups debuting include BTS, Ladies' Code, Bestie, and History. Sub Units such as AOA Black, T-ara N4, 2Yoon and INFINITE H are worth mentioning.

Solo Debuts include CL, Eric Nam, Jaejoong and Sunmi.

Great songs include EXO's Growl, Taeyang's Ringa Linga, 2PM's A.D.T.O.Y. , KARA's Damaged Lady, Girl's day Expect and f(x)'s Rum Pum Pum Pum.

The Winners of MAMAs include:

Artist of the year: G-Dragon
Album of the year: EXO's "XOXO" (Also won Golden Disk)
Song of the year: Cho Yong-Pil's "Bounce"
Male artist of the year: G-Dragon
Female artist of the year: Lee Hyori

PSY Won digital Daesang again this year with track "Gentleman".

In 2013, scandals include the suicide of Son Ho Young's (G.O.D) ex-girlfriend and the body being found in his car and Sangchu being caught breaking army rules on camera.

2014

Dubbed as "the worst year for KPOP" by many as it has been filled with tragedies. This year is probably remembered by most as the year Ladies' Code traffic accident happened, claiming the lives of both Kwon Ri-se and Go Eun-Bi. Singer Shin Hae-Chul of N.E.X.T also passed away that year as a consequence of medical malpractice. Leeteuk of Super Junior suffered a lot this year since his father committed suicide after murdering his parents. Another tragedy that shook the k-pop world was the Sewol Ferry Incident. Many shows, comebacks, and releases were put on hold. This event was reflected in many k-pop lyrics.

Other important events were Seungri's car accident, Jessica leaving SNSD, Techno Valley Festival accident, EXO's Kris and Luhan left the group after a big controversy, Park Bom's "smuggled drugs" scandal, Hello Venus members Ara and Yoonjo leaving the group, Kim Hyun Joong assaulting her girlfriend, and GLAM'S Dahee getting arrested for attempting to blackmail.

Important group debuts include Lovelyz, Red Velvet, Sonamoo, Akdong Musician, Mamamoo, Laboum, and Winner. Solo debuts include Cheetah, Euna Kim, Ha:tfelt, Hyomin, and Taemin.

Important songs of this year are Beast's "Good Luck", GDragon & Taeyang's "Good Boy", TVXQ!'s "Something", SISTAR's "Touch My Body", Orange Caramel's "Catallena", B1A4's "Lonely", and Apink's "Luv", among others.

The Winners of MAMAs include:

Artist of the year: EXO
Album of the year: EXO's "Overdose" (also won Golden Disk)
Song of the year: Taeyang's "Eyes, Nose, Lips" (also won Golden Disk)
Male artist of the year: Taeyang
Female artist of the year: IU

Important concerts include UKISS's US Tour, CNBLUE Blue Moon World Tour, and Shinee's Shinee World III, VIXX US TOUR, 2PM "Go Crazy" World Tour, and many, many more.

2015

This year's group debuts include April, CLC, DIA, GFriend, iKon, Monsta X, Oh My Girl, Seventeen, Twice, and VAV.

Important Solo debuts were Amber, Choa, Hara, Jonghyun, Miwoo, RM, Taeyeon, and many more.

Outstanding songs of this year include Taeyeon's "I", BIGBANG's "Loser", BTS's "Ma City", Red Velvet's "Dumb Dumb", and Oh My Girls' "Closer".