the following idols for
s-rank:
heejin (loona) // one of the most well-rounded idols of a very stacked 4th generation (gen 3.5?) heejin is an easy pick for s-rank. loona's center is a part of both the vocal line, and the dance line, which is an achievement in of itself as loona is one of the deepest and most talented groups that is currently active, boasting a swath of top tier dancers (yves, kim lip, olivia hye), and vocalists (choerry, chuu, kim lip). she's even been rapping more recently, with 2 great sections in "why not?". is there anything she cant do?
iu (solo) // queen. this one is so free, i'm not even going to bother.
lisa (blackpink) // i'm not really much of a fan of blackpink, but i think it'd be ignorant to not acknowledge lisa as one of the most, if not
the most important and influential idols in all of kpop right now. arguably the best dancer of any female idol, a top-tier rapper, lisa has been at the forefront of blackpink's conquest of the international market, breaking records with each new release. she also has a knack for creating iconic moments from the crab dance to the lili's film dance, spawning countless memes and keeping blackpink in the ether, even though they only comeback once every 100 years.
seulgi (red velvet) // my ultimate bias is an easy s-rank. when she was casted by sm back in 2007, she auditioned and passed as a vocalist; seulgi then decided, despite having no real background in dance, to complement her top-tier vocals by training to become one of the best dancers in all of kpop, a testament to her work ethic and versatility as an idol. a true triple threat, seulgi is also incredible in content/variety pieces. the complete departure from her intense stage persona into a clumsy, but adorable goofball is a duality only clc's yeeun comes close to rivalling. on top of all of this, seulgi is also
the most popular idol among her contemporaries (other female idols), which goes to show how immensely well respected she is within the kpop community. the bear is also the goat.
soyeon ((g)i-dle) // i'm not a (g)i-dle stan, i've listened to their title tracks but only a small handful of b-sides. however, soyeon has always stood out to me. she is an excellent rapper, an above average vocalist and solid dancer, but her real standout quality is that she writes and produces a large majority of (g)i-dle's music. that is an incredible feat in and of itself, but considering that (g)i-dle can make a compelling case for the most popular 4th generation girl group goes to show just how talented soyeon is. (g)i-dle's rise through the ranks is thanks in no small part to soyeon's leadership and makes her a major player in the current kpop landscape.
yeji (itzy) // one of the most unique visuals in all of kpop, yeji is itzy's leader, main dancer, and lead vocalist, meaning she does just about everything at a high level. although it's changes a bit from comeback to comeback because itzy is still such a new group, yeji is generally considered to itzy's most popular member; she gets a majority of lines in most songs, even rapping occasionally if the song requires it, but her main draw is dancing. yeji and chaeryeong have a 1a, 1b sort of thing going on in terms of who is the top dancer in itzy. i personally prefer yeji, but it really doesn't matter who you pick, because either way you're getting 2 of the best dancers in 4th gen kpop; only loona really stands any shot matching itzy's talent when it comes to the upper echelon of female dance lines. she is (ironically) quite shy in most content/variety pieces but itzy is still a very new group all things considered, so i think she'll continue to grow into it; it'll be exciting to see how far this group can go if everything goes well in 2021; here's hoping!
yoojung (weki meki) // this is probably the most contentious of any of the s-rank nominations, but i think i can make a good case for yoojung to s-rank. formerly of i.o.i (ranked 3rd coming out of produce 101) yoojung was a lead everything, (dancer, rapper, vocalist) holding her own next to other top tier talent like chungha, somi, and doyeon. she was also one of the best parts of any i.o.i content or variety piece, she has a great sense of humour and shows excellent chemistry with basically everyone, doyeon especially. in fact, yoojung and doyeon were such a good team that when i.o.i disbanded, they left and joined weki meki together. unfortunately weki meki hasn't been able to really break into the big time with any of their comebacks so far (i think this is mostly due to poor management by fantagio), but in my opinion they are one of the most entertaining and exciting groups from comeback to comeback, with yoojung's proficiency as a dancer, rapper, and vocalist being one of the main reasons weki meki remains an interesting project to watch.
the following idols for
a-rank:
chungha (solo) // 88rising's newest recruit has been killing it as a solo artist ever since she left i.o.i. chungha's ability to stand out has been evident since back in produce 101 (ranked 4th), and has continued to evolve to a point where she stands out as a soloist even when placed next to other industry-leading talent (seulgi x sinb x chungha x soyeon in sm station). chungha is one of the best dancers in all of kpop, soloist or otherwise, competing with blackpink's lisa and clc's seungyeon for the #1 spot in the 3rd gen, in my opinion. 2020 was a quieter year for chungha compared to the monster 2019 that brought us "gotta go" and "snapping", but she still had a number of solid comebacks. it'll be exciting to see the new direction she takes under 88rising in 2021.
chuu (loona) // nice to meet chuu! the cutest person in human history sits comfortably in the a-rank due to her stellar vocals, and a smile that cures even the deadliest diseases. chuu just barely misses out on s-rank because she's sorta just an average idol dancer technique-wise, but the inventor of the hamburger heart knocks it out of the park in just about every other area. she is an incredible performer with facials to match, and about as entertaining as it gets in terms of content. she runs a youtube channel about recycling and she is even able to make that something fun to watch; her bubbly personality and goofy sense of humour is just completely infectious.
doyeon (weki meki) // arguably the more popular member of weki meki, doyeon's glow up post-i.o.i is one of the more impressive that i've seen. she ranked 8th on produce 101, and didn't stand out all too much at first. she was the visual, so she garnered some attention from that (although many considered somi to be the visual), but she wasn't listed as a dancer at all, just a "vocalist". cut to weki meki, doyeon remains the visual, but is now a lead vocalist, lead dancer,
and center. she definitely gets the most screentime in weki meki mvs and i think this is earned, she is a terrific performer, a strong dancer and much improved singer, as evidenced by her new positions.
kim lip (loona) // astute readers will notice i listed kimberly lippington in the upper echelon of loona's vocalists
and dancers during heejin's description, so this may have been a little telegraphed. kim lip is my personal favourite vocalist in loona (which is especially interesting since she considers herself more of a dancer than a vocalist), and also the leader of the only loona sub-unit with more than 1 good song. great work odd eye circle! kim lip is, in my estimation, one of the most well rounded members in this entire list, and i'm excited for whenever loona decides to finally disband so oec can finally have a comeback!
mina (twice) // i had to have
someone from the nation's girl group on this list. it came down to mina or jihyo, and i ended up going with mina because she is a gamer
. a less powerful vocalist when compared to jihyo, but a far superior dancer; arguably one of the best in all of the 3rd gen, thanks in large part to an extensive background in ballet. twice excel when it comes to variety content and while mina is definitely the most quiet and reserved of all the members, her fiercely competitive nature always ends up clashing with her laid back persona, usually leading to some very memorable moments. i'm sure that's part of the reason why she remains one of the most popular members of twice in almost all parts of the world, even after going on hiatus.
moonbyul (mamamoo) // similarly to above, i wanted somebody from mamamoo; this time coming down to moonbyul or solar. better selling solo releases (thanks seulgi) and slightly better dance technique was what separated it for me on this one. moonbyul is a good dancer, excelling mostly in hip hop, and a decent vocalist. mamamoo is made up of excellent performers, and moonbyul fits right in next to big stage presences like hwasa and solar. however, her true specialty is rapping, where she might just wear the crown as the best in the field. she also appears to be a proficient songwriter, she is of the most credited of any female artist, especially when compared to her 3rd gen peers.
olivia hye (loona) // the artist behind loona's best solo debut (this is an undisputed fact) also just happens to be one of the best dancers and vocalists! the fact that olivia hye has improved at such a fast rate, even after such a stellar debut is evidence of how monstrously talented she is; apparently she was a trainee for just 1 day before debut. she is probably the most physically flexible of all of loona's dancers, so she seems to often get the more difficult solos and flourishes (the killing moment in loona's cover of nct's cherry bomb has olivia hye center, and it's arguably better than the original). she's a bit on the quiet side in most content, similar to mina in that regard, but it fits her persona well.
yeeun (clc) // i will admit i was late on this one. no clc comeback ever really stuck with me until late last year when i first got around to listening to "me". since then i have gone back and found that almost all their singles are bangers (devil is probably #1 for me though), and the through-line in all of their songs is a killer rap section from yeeun. she is without a doubt one of the best idol rappers, in my opinion, i reckon she'd be able to find a spot at the table next to the likes of soyeon, lisa, dami, and moonbyul. she complements her rapping with above average dancing (would be good enough to be a lead dancer in a less top-heavy group), as well as one of the most surprising persona switches from performing vs non-performing in all of kpop. the difference between yeeun on, and off stage is truly astounding; she goes from assertive, confident, and intense to a literal tiny mouse. i have absolutely no idea where her badass on-stage persona comes from, but she seems to pull it off with ease; props.
. Just exercise your common sense.)