As winter reaches its doldrums, it never hurts to look back at a burning track that undoubtedly helped Hallyu's rise to international fame.

With a sound that would have been right at home in the Hollywood hot spots of the 1980s, the 2011 Kara single "Step" is an homage to everything that was great about the electronic dance music of the period.

And or those of you that feel that '80 LA sounds like a terrible time and place to be, kindly consider this--context can often define the way we feel about music, regardless of quality. If a hot indie electropop group released "Step" today, I have no doubt it would get plenty of bloggers pretty worked up.

So, what makes "Step" so great?

Though slightly abrasive at first glance, the song upon closer inspection is a delicately constructed, multilayered affair. Even beyond the stellar production and whatever your thoughts are on electronic dance music or Korean pop, it is hard to ignore the solidly constructed hooks here.

Beneath all of the intricately arranged synthesizers, there is a solid song here.

Any fan of KARA knows 2014 was not a great year for the band, with members Nicole Jung and Kang Jiyoung both choosing not to renew their contract with record label DSP Media almost exactly one year ago. Perhaps it's even painful for some to be reminded of how great this group was in their prime.

My thoughts on this matter are somewhat different.

With over 58 million YouTube views, if KARA's "Step" shows us anything, it is that these K-pop innovators have what it takes to make pop that goes quite well past the norm and that the fans are hungry for more.

Watch the music video for Kara's 2011 K-pop hit "Step" RIGHT HERE