Honest Review of Girls on Top: Step Back

So SM's brand of female empowerment seems to be "women should love themselves by tearing down other women to uplift themselves and their man." The lyrics ranged from terrible and misogynistic to just strange, and apparently the writer has had some controversy before so interesting that SM would choose him (why choose a man at all?) to write the lyrics for the unit designed to showcase their most talented female idols.

Cringey lyrics aside, the song was probably an NCT reject with the original lyrics scrapped and replaced via SM's version of girl power. There was too much noise and the vocals were too shouty at many points.

Performance-wise, most of them killed it though. I feel like this is the kind of song that would be intolerable without the performance, particularly if you are Korean and can actually understand the lyrics. Wendy surprised me the most. She lowkey ate her parts - her stage presence and dance were great, and her vocals sounded completely unlike her usual self yet still top-tier. SM has been making Karina use a certain voice (here and in DCT) while rapping lately, and honestly I'm kind of here for it. It's much better than that high pitched shouting they've been making Giselle do.

Anyway, Wendy, BoA, and Seulgi were the standouts for me. The only criticisms performance-wise I have are for Hyo and Winter. Winter's vocals were great as usual, but her lack of stage presence stuck out like a sore thumb amidst this group of seasoned performers. She couldn't even move one face muscle during her close up of the Next Level part? As for Hyo it isn't really a criticism, but since people have hyped her as an amazing dancer in the past, I was kind of underwhelmed. She didn't stick out from the group, and Seulgi and BoA executed the dance break better than her.

I can't see Irene, Joy, or Yeri pulling off "Get on my man's level" without an eye-roll at least, so it's probably for the best none of them ended up in this group. Jopping outsold, but it was nice to see the Velvet girlies included in GOT slay.

Song: 6/10

Lyrics: 0/10

Performance: 8/10

Choreo: 4/10

You know you can post it on your main account, it's not a controversial opinion that's going to get you in trouble.

The performance killed it. It was top notch. wouldn't listen to the song without it.

And I agree with Winter having no stage presence. Hyoyeon rocked! She was the standout for me.

Stepback is better than Jopping. Jopping was 'What the heck?!'

And yeah, Step back was hard carried by the performance.

Performance : 9/10

Song: 4/10

Lyrics: didn't get to read it

Choreo: 8/10

Outfit: 10/10

not smiling = no stage expression? I learn a new thing everyday.

The performance is okay. The song and the lyrics are bad. SM need to cut ties with demjointz. Noise song without working chorus and shouting vocal, wasting all these woman talent. I get it he's grammy nominee but all kpop song that he produced sorry to say are mess. And don't let me talk about ryan juhn. SM should know better.

I'm just dissapointed with Boa. She has all the power to reject this song and the writer and yet she approved this? Totally different meaning with Girls On Top as a group name . Watch Girls On Top by Boa lyrics and you'll get what I meant.