B-Sides: SoundCloud Songs

SoundCloud has recently grown ever more popular among Korean artists, especially idols, to share some of their solo material, ranging from simple demos to properly produced tracks worthy of being singles. For this week’s B-sides column, let’s take a look at some of the best SoundCloud songs. Some songs discussed in the article are about sensitive issues like self-harm. Reader discretion is advised.

“Swimming Pool” - Taeyong (NCT)

Taeyong of NCT launched his SoundCloud account this year and gifted his fans a series of songs via the outlet. While “Monroe” and “Rose” received attention for their guest appearances and “Blue” was praised for its heartwarming lyrics, “Swimming Pool” went under the radar. The track seamlessly mixes city-pop and trance instrumentals, creating a dreamy atmosphere. Taeyong paints a scene of a dazed night out with the song’s composition and lyrics that Taeyong worked on himself.

“Always” - RM (BTS)

A lyrically heavy song, “Always” is an extremely personal song by BTS’ leader RM. Released in 2017, the song finds RM coming to terms with his feelings about his life and death. While the track was written during a dark time when RM had contemplated taking his life, the rapper released the song retrospectively because he was able to move past that feeling. Discussing life and death has been a constant source of inspiration for RM, which he has been able to explore on his solo tracks released on BTS’ SoundCloud.

“Birdcage” - Jacob (The Boyz)

Jacob of The Boyz gifted his fans a beautiful mixtape titled Kindle via the group’s SoundCloud account earlier this year. The mixtape contains five tracks and was released on his birthday. The closing track, “Birdcage” is a melodious song sung in English by the idol where he talks about the pain of growing older and how he wishes to simply stay in the security and warmth of his birdcage. With heartfelt lyrics about an extremely relatable emotion, Jacob was able to show his prowess as a songwriter with this song.

“Romaine!” - DEMIAN

Over a subtle repetitive beat, rising singer-songwriter DEMIAN sings about the universal feeling of giving up on his song, “Romaine!” In his interview with The Kraze last year, DEMIAN shared that the song holds a bittersweet spot in his heart. While the song is one of his most popular SoundCloud songs, it was also written when the singer was considering quitting music. The singer went on to sign with Sony Music Korea and has since released an eclectic list of singles.

“So What” - BIBI

One of the hottest Korean artists right now, BIBI, was discovered by the legendary singer Yoonmirae on SoundCloud. Her song “So What” was produced by indie producer Suwoncityboy and perfectly encapsulates everything BIBI is as an artist. With sassy lyrics, witty delivery, subliminal expression of emotions, and a genre-bending beat, “So What” contains everything that fans have grown to love about BIBI. 

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