Disappointments, Highs, & Surprises (A Personal Assessment Of A Few Recent Girl Groups)
Hello all.
I've haven't been around much lately. But I thought I drop in and states some of my feelings on a few groups I've been keeping an eye on.
Disappointment:
WEEEKLY has been my OG Pick. My Great Kpop Hope. The one I so want to fly into the stratosphere and become the next big thing.
With Tag Me, they captured this kind of infectious youthful energy I hadn't seen since the likes of TWICE. That stellar debut thrown out in conjunction with a plethora of dance videos that were absolute magic (see their Hello Baseball uniforms one) had me betting the house on the group that would take kpop to the moon.
But..... they've kind of languished.... in my opinion. With the exception of After School, which was a minor peak, they have yet to really follow up Tag Me with another offering of the same caliber.
It's frustrating. As on paper WEEEKLY is everything I want in a group. They have amazing members who are talented and beautiful. Positioned in a ethos that I think kpop needs right now, that youthful energy. With a company that seems ready to take them there.
But they just haven't produced the songs to back it up yet. They need songs that are more than mere filler or to pass the time. Something to really carve out their own identity.
They need hits that stand up and say "WE'RE WEEEKLY! AIN'T NOBODY LIKE US!"
I hope they can right this ship. As I already plastered my signature with their likeness as a stan just based on my original bet.
I'm still with you WEEEKLY! I just need you to deliver what I know you can!
High:
WOO!AH!
WOO!AH! is my other rookie fav. The one I thought of as secondary to WEEEKLY.
Yet they've actually become my main event.
Their charm and ability is exciting.
With a span of titles that have proven their capability and unique charm, they have skyrocketed to the forefront of my stan list. Payday may be my favorite title in the last several years. It's literally girl group magic.
Despite not exactly being in love with their latest title choice of Purple, they made up for it with their secondary offering of Pandora and the wide array of covers and solo efforts the girls have put out.
See Sora's cover is an absolute win.
This group keeps me engaged and excited and I can't wait to see what they do next.
Surprise:
This was the group I originally kind of wrote off. Didn't think much of them after their debut song seemed like another forgettable offering of 4th gen.
But then slowly but surely little things from them would pop up in my Youtube feed.
Their ASAP single was a pretty good song and that sort of broke my spell of indifference.
Then I listened to Like This, and Sieun just took me by storm with her voice.
Add in their amazing cover of Doja Cat and it just demanded that I not be indifferent any longer.
I'm officially excited to see where kpop takes this group and I can't wait to see more!
What do you think? What are your disappointments, highs and surprises?
