It’s springtime in Korea, and that means one thing: a resurgence in the nation’s collective obsession with cherry blossoms.
In fairness, cherry blossoms are ridiculously pretty. Their longevity in Korean popular psyche can be traced not only with this perennial 2012 hit, but several others: IU and HIGH4's Not Spring, Love, Or Cherry Blossoms is another one of my favorites.
Busker Busker’s Cherry Blossom Ending is just one song from their first album, which rocked Korea’s music scene when it came out seven years ago. While Cherry Blossom Ending is arguably the most famous from this album—it’s become a seasonal anthem among coffee shops nationwide—my go-to is Yeosu Night Sea, which is a bit more melancholy and more suited to my usual K-Pop listening habits (read: at night and staring at nothing in particular).
The trio of Jang Bum Joon, Kim Hyung Tae and Bradley Ray Moore hails from Superstar K3, the third season of the audition program that would also give us Bolbbalgan Puberty three years later. The group had a relatively short lifespan, releasing just two full albums before announcing a hiatus in 2013.