There's this mystical world and slightly insane industry known as k-pop that has managed to be the most lucrative foreign export to the Western music industry. Beyond the idolatry and theatrics, k-pop is home to some of the most forward-thinking and plain fun pop songs. The language barrier can sometimes prove to be a challenge, but, often the sheer catchiness of some songs absolutely overcomes that. I thought I'd make a personal r/popheads recommendations list for those looking to maybe delve into k-pop, but don't know where to start, or what big singles are in at the moment. The general format I'm going to take is to take a Western point of comparison, one or two songs to try, and some places to go next if you're into what you heard. I've tried to keep things relatively recent, although there a few older gems in the list.

You may come out of this as a k-pop convert, maybe like a few songs, or just decide that k-pop isn't for you! Anything's good. Onwards we go.

Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion

Try: Tiffany - Talk, f(x) - When I’m Alone
Tiffany is one of eight members of South Korea’s most successful girl group, Girls’ Generation. Talk is a track on her solo debut, and was written by London producer GRADES, and Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud! It's pretty much there for anyone who's craving anymore of the chugging bass and 80s synths of Carly's album. Alternatively, listen to f(x)’s When I’m Alone, which is a Carly Rae Jepsen song since she wrote it. This would happen to be that song that she sold off to Asia which is about the thing that rhymes with contemplation.
Deeper? Wonder Girls’ Reboot (album), Tiffany’s I Just Wanna Dance (EP)

Disclosure, AlunaGeorge

Try: f(x) - 4 Walls
4 Walls is not just one of the best k-pop songs of 2015, but one of the year's best pop songs, full stop. Its UK garage flavour can be attributed to the fact that it was produced by London duo, LDN Noise, but maintains girl group harmonies and a subtly weird double bridge that only k-pop manages to stick in. A natural partner song is SHINee’s View, written by same said Londoners, that leans towards deep house. Their respective parent albums delve into other EDM subgenres like piano house and Europop, for the interested (although admittedly nothing comes close to the joy of 4 Walls).
Deeper? f(x)’s 4 Walls (album), SHINee’s Odd (album)

Justin Bieber's Purpose, Nick Jonas

Try: BTS - Save Me, Block B - Toy
BTS is as close as k-pop gets to Justin Bieber in his post-Purpose era. Lots of hip-hop and EDM-inspired pop songs, often with drops instead of choruses, vague Diplo influences and so on. Their latest single, Save Me, sits somewhere between Where Are Ü Now’s explosiveness and What Do You Mean?’s tropical house vibe. Block B’s Toy is also a fairly chill pop song in a similar vein (and the video’s choreography includes dabbing).
Deeper? BTS’ The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever (Album), Taemin’s Press It (album)

Grimes, Beach House, Chairlift

Try: Neon Bunny - Romance in Seoul, Yukari - Marginal Man
If you enjoyed Grimes’ Visions and the cuts off of Art Angels like REALiTi or Butterfly, or stuff by the other aforementioned artists, either of these tracks might interest you. Both are pretty disparate artists from the whole mainstream k-pop scene and the lucrative idol industry, instead kinda serving up their own spins of dreampop from their bedrooms.
Deeper? Neon Bunny’s discography, Yukari’s Echo (album)

Fifth Harmony, Ariana Grande's "Problem", "Focus"

Try: EXID - Ah Yeah, AOA - Good Luck
For general new-gen girl groups in the vein of Fifth Harmony, EXID and AOA are both worth checking out. They pretty much are doing the same as in Western pop regarding those ridiculous brass hooks, and are just as (if not more) catchy and often more weird. You're not pressed to find more pop in this vein, just as it's not that hard to find in Western pop either. EXID, AOA, Sistar and so on are all groups doing stuff like that. For simplicity, I might as well just recommend the parent EPs that the singles come from.
Deeper? EXID’s Ah Yeah (EP), AOA’s Good Luck (EP)

Rihanna, Drake, The Weeknd

Try: DEAN x ZICO - Pour Up, NCT U - The 7th Sense
Names like DEAN represent the vanguard of alternative R&B in Korea (and all that trap influence), and share a lot of musical DNA with the biggest R&B/pop hybrid acts at the moment (Rihanna, The Weeknd), and lots of the upcoming acts too (dvsn, Bryson Tiller). It's hard to ignore how similar to intro of DEAN's Pour Up is to Kendrick Lamar's Swimming Pools, although it quickly turns into a totally different seedy R&B jam. Alternatively, try The 7th Sense, the debut track by the newest lucrative boy group, NCT U. Also, visuals and choreography tend to be intricately linked with songs, and the choreography to this track is actually phenomenal.
Deeper? Crush’s Interlude (EP), DEAN’s 130 Mood: TRBL (EP)

Britney Spears, Kesha

Try: 2NE1 - I Am The Best, Girls’ Generation - Run Devil Run
2NE1's brand of pop is incessant and bursting with attitude. Their single, I Am The Best, threatens to sound dated, but with some of the most memorable hooks in k-pop history, it is rightfully an iconic pop song. Alternatively, the Girls Generation single, Run Devil Run, which was actually initially pitched to Kesha, who's recorded her own demo of it, matches the best of Western 00s electropop.
Deeper? f(x)'s Pink Tape (album), 2NE1's 2NE1 (2011 EP)

Justin Timberlake's Futurelove/Sexsounds

Try: EXO - Lady Luck, Seungri - Strong Baby
Hell, EXO's Lady Luck does actually sound like Timbaland produced it. Its beatbox-laden instrumental with sampled acoustic guitars carries an NSYNC-esque melody until it randomly explodes into a drop punctuated with female moans. I think, once again, k-pop has the case where most of its 00s material just sounds like either Justin Timberlake (or NSYNC), or Boyz II Men. Still, slightly more recent material like the EXO single put modern spins on the formula.
Deeper? EXO's EXODUS (album), f(x)'s Red Light (album)

Alessia Cara’s “Here”, Frank Ocean, Gallant

Try: Primary x Ohhyuk - Island, Crush - woo ah
For R&B that leans more traditional, although is still in the alternative R&B-sphere, the likes of Primary and Crush have been working in that area for a while. Lots of Rhodes electric keyboards, lots of jazz-inspired chord progressions and slightly wonky beats. Primary's Island is a certified slow slink of a song, while Crush's woo ah starts as lounge R&B, but ends with a trap-influenced psychedelic coda.
Deeper? Primary’s & Ohhyuk’s Lucky You! (EP), Crush’s Interlude (EP)

CHVRCHES, Purity Ring

Try: Lim Kim - Awoo, Tiffany - I Just Wanna Dance
Also for fans of Lorde’s or Stromae’s style of songwriting, Lim Kim’s Awoo blew up on r/listentothis recently. Like Lorde or Stromae, the songwriting is relatively playful, but the production has more in common with CHVRCHES’ or Purity Ring’s shimmering synths. Alternatively, Tiffany’s I Just Wanna Dance goes heavy on 80s nostalgia, and a lot of the synths in it sound straight out of a CHVRCHES record.
Deeper? Casker’s ground part 1 (album), Tiffany’s I Just Wanna Dance (EP)

Skrillex, Diplo, Knife Party

Try: 4Minute - Crazy, CL - Hello Bitches
Both Diplo and Skrillex have had their hands in k-pop (producing for acts like 4Minute and G-Dragon), and the rise of absolutely over-the-top trap-influenced k-pop monoliths with Frankenstein bridges and big drops inspired by exotic scales instead of choruses is absolutely their influence. Of course, this being k-pop, it’s at least twice as absurd. In general, it's the singles that bang hard, hence the further recommendations being singles, but an album worth mentioning would be G-Dragon's Coup D'Etat with collaborations with Missy Elliot, Diplo, Baauer, Sky Ferreira and Boys Noize, making it an incredibly Western album.
Deeper? 4Minute - Hate, BTS - Fire, Big Bang - Bang Bang Bang

Meghan Trainor's Title, Lily Allen

Try: Lim Kim - Love Game, Akdong Musician - How People Move
Apologies for blaspheming and mentioning Meghan Trainor's debut on r/popheads. Lim Kim's Awoo blew up, but the follow-up single, Love Game, trades in the Purity Ring chill for a more playful, lounge-inflected clapping chant. For retro-leaning jukebox pop, slightly quaint sibling duo Akdong Musician's single How People Move also certainly fits the bill. While a lot of their other material is more folky and singer-songwriter styled, they're not shy of random over-the-top oddities.
Deeper? Lim Kim's Simple Mind (EP), Akdong Musician's Spring (EP)

Jessie J's "Bang Bang", Little Mix, Christina Aguilera

Try: Red Velvet - Dumb Dumb, MAMAMOO - You’re The Best
If you're in it for upbeat pop without being too incessantly sugar-sweet, Red Velvet are probably the group doing it best in k-pop at the moment. Their concept is to flit between two categories of songs: energetic bangers, such as Dumb Dumb, or decidedly cooler R&B swooning. Single, Dumb Dumb, is one of the most unbashedly fun pop songs of last year, recalling the best of Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj's Bang Bang, although it heads into far preppier, noisier territory with a chromatic bassline and detuned horns and an entire rap verse that literally just namechecks Michael Jackson songs for no reason (followed by a bridge that sounds like it's from a completely different song). Alternatively, MAMAMOO's single this year, You're The Best, is a horn-heavy Lady Marmalade-esque sort of song.
Deeper? Red Velvet’s The Red (album), Girls' Generation's I Got A Boy (album)

Lady Gaga's The Fame

Try: Super Junior - Sorry Sorry, BoA - Eat You Up
To be honest, half of all late 00s k-pop is just blaring electropop with ridiculous dance routines, and hair and outfits out of some lost sci-fi Justin Timberlake getup. For the rave synths present on Lady Gaga's The Fame, Super Junior's iconic single, Sorry Sorry (which has one of the most ridiculous dance routines amongst ridiculous dance routines), certainly satisfies that need.
Deeper? SHINee's Lucifer (album), BoA's BoA (album)

Kimbra, Kylie Minogue's Body Language

Try: Ladies' Code - Galaxy, Lim Kim - Love Game
Ladies' Code's Galaxy is one of my favourite singles of 2016, and this is despite 2016 being an absolutely packed year for music so far (Beyoncé, Radiohead, James Blake, Ariana Grande, the list goes on). For those who enjoy the jazzy cool that folks like Kimbra and Kylie Minogue often breathe, it's absolutely worth a listen for its featherlight production and delicately shaped melody. Its last chorus adds in a great upright walking bassline, making it the preppiest thing I've heard this year.
Deeper? Ladies’ Code’s MYST3RY (EP), Red Velvet’s Ice Cream Cake (EP)

Eurodisco

Try: Orange Caramel - Catallena
A fan of cheesy eurodisco? Look no further, and simply take on some Orange Caramel songs. Their 2014 single, Catallena, samples a Punjabi wedding song, setting it to Gloria Gaynor-esque disco. Also, the video is silly. Their songs also channel trot, the most traditional pop genre in Korea from the 1910s or so.
Deeper? Orange Caramel's Lipstick (album), Orange Caramel's Catallena (EP)