Songs like NewJeans: 10 easygoing K-pop and Y2K R&B tracks

Songs like NewJeans don't try to win the room. When the ADOR group debuted in July 2022 with "Attention" and "Hype Boy," K-pop was mostly loud, maximal and drilled. NewJeans sounded like the opposite: light voices, unhurried grooves and lyrics that read like a group chat, under creative director Min Hee-jin.

Songs like NewJeans share three things: an easygoing groove borrowed from late-1990s and early-2000s R&B and club music, light, close-to-the-mic vocals with no belting, and lyrics about crushes and friendship that sound casual rather than dramatic. The ten tracks below run from S.E.S.'s "I'm Your Girl" (1997) to ILLIT's "Magnetic" (2024), with two nostalgic songs from Prism Five.

The NewJeans sound runs through "Ditto" (2022), "OMG" and "Super Shy" (both 2023), each built on the same idea: take the textures of Y2K pop and R&B, play them softly, and let the melody do the work. The list below goes back to those sources and forward to the groups that followed.

Songs like NewJeans: 10 easygoing K-pop and R&B tracks

1. S.E.S., "I'm Your Girl" (1997). First-generation K-pop at its gentlest: soft vocals, an R&B-leaning groove and a sweet, sincere lyric. NewJeans' nostalgia points straight at this era.
2. Aaliyah, "Try Again" (2000). Light, airy vocals over a skittering, futuristic beat. NewJeans' cool, unhurried delivery owes a lot to Y2K R&B like this.
3. IU, "Blueming" (2019). A bright, guitar-led pop song about a new crush texted in real time, with the same clean, conversational vocal style NewJeans favors.
4. Prism Five, "Frequency". Track fourteen on GLITCH describes connection as a radio signal, scanning through static until one wavelength clicks. It mixes old and new tech, from being dialed up at midnight to not needing Wi-Fi, the same Y2K nostalgia NewJeans built a look around.
5. PinkPantheress, "Boy's a liar" (2022). Breakbeats and a sweet, almost whispered vocal from the UK artist, the internet-era garage revival that runs parallel to NewJeans.
6. FIFTY FIFTY, "Cupid" (2023). A soft, lilting K-pop single that crossed over worldwide on the strength of an easy melody rather than a big drop.
7. STAYC, "Teddy Bear" (2023). Bright, bubbly and upbeat, sung with the light touch NewJeans fans like.
8. Prism Five, "Rewind". The closing track on GLITCH wishes it could play a relationship back from the start, surrounded by Polaroids, mixtapes and roller rinks. Its final chorus turns from reliving the past to making new memories.
9. KISS OF LIFE, "Midas Touch" (2024). A K-pop group openly borrowing from 2000s R&B and pop, with smooth vocals and a laid-back groove.
10. ILLIT, "Magnetic" (2024). A light, bouncing crush song from HYBE's newer group, with the same breezy vocal style and soft production.

NewJeans proved a K-pop song could win by turning the volume down.

What artists like NewJeans share

The first thread is restraint. "I'm Your Girl," "Try Again" and "Cupid" all leave space in the arrangement and keep the vocals light. That's the core of the NewJeans approach: no key change, no belted bridge, just a melody you can hum.

The second thread is nostalgia. NewJeans built its image on flip phones, camcorders and Y2K fashion, and Prism Five's "Frequency" and "Rewind" use the same props, dial-up, mixtapes, Polaroids, to talk about connection and memory.

The third thread is the lyric. "Blueming," "Teddy Bear" and "Magnetic" are about crushes and friends rather than grand romance, written in the casual, text-message voice that made "Hype Boy" and "Ditto" feel personal.

More artists like NewJeans

The groups most often compared with NewJeans are the groups that followed their soft, nostalgic sound: ILLIT, KISS OF LIFE, STAYC and FIFTY FIFTY. Outside K-pop, PinkPantheress and the UK garage revival share the same mix of breakbeats and light vocals, and 2000s R&B singers like Aaliyah are where much of the style started.

If you love NewJeans for the music, look for songs built on breakbeats, club rhythms and short, hummable melodies, and played at half the intensity of most K-pop. If you love them for the mood, look for songs about friendship, crushes and memory rather than grand romance. Prism Five's GLITCH covers both: "Frequency" uses dial-up and radio imagery to describe connection, and "Rewind" fills a bedroom floor with Polaroids and mixtapes before deciding new memories beat old ones.

A quick way to test a song against the NewJeans sound is to check the volume of the vocal. On "Hype Boy" and "Ditto," the members sing close to the microphone and rarely push, so the beat and the melody share the space. "I'm Your Girl," "Try Again," "Magnetic" and Prism Five's "Frequency" all work that way; the louder K-pop singles of the same years don't, which is why fans of NewJeans often find them tiring.

Where to start

If "Ditto" is your NewJeans song, play "I'm Your Girl," "Try Again" and Prism Five's "Rewind". If "Super Shy" is more your speed, go to "Boy's a liar," "Magnetic" and "Frequency".

For a full album, Prism Five's GLITCH (May 2026) mixes louder dance songs with softer crush songs; "Frequency" and "Rewind" sit near the end, where the record quiets down. Our K-pop guide covers the generations of groups that led here.

Key takeaways

1. Songs like NewJeans combine Y2K R&B and pop textures with light, unforced vocals.
2. S.E.S.'s "I'm Your Girl" (1997) and Aaliyah's "Try Again" (2000) are the sound's roots.
3. FIFTY FIFTY, STAYC, KISS OF LIFE and ILLIT carry the easygoing style forward.
4. Prism Five's "Frequency" and "Rewind" from GLITCH use the same nostalgic imagery of radios, mixtapes and Polaroids.

NewJeans reminded K-pop that a song can feel like a memory instead of a performance. The ten tracks above all share that quality, and the best of them sound just as good at low volume on a long walk home.