[Review] GOT7 - If You Do

I'm kind of sick of the boy groups already but I'll give GOT7 another chance to impress me. While "Girls Girls Girls" was a good debut they haven't released anything close to par since, and "Just Right" was all kinds of awful. The teaser for "If You Do" looked promising, and I know that from experience, JYP teasers are slightly more trustworthy than say S.M. Seemed like we'd be seeing a return to a dance-oriented song and video.

This MV is half choreography and half angst. From what limited dance we get to see, the choreography looks sharp and that's what we like. Serious choreography is the best kind of choreography. Since this is a fresh new release there aren't any lives yet. The rest of the video is shots of the members being desolate and angry. They're smashing cars, slamming doors, punching bags, etc. GOT7 is full of angtsy young boys and this video is pretty much all about that. Shoutouts to Mark though, he kept his composure throughout the entire video like a boss, albeit not having that much solo screentime. What's up with that break in the middle of the song with the British chick? That insertion ruins the flow of the song and I really hope that's not in the full audio of the song.

The clear vocals of GOT7 continue to do decently well for themselves in "If You Do." The hook is a little awkward sounding to me, as some syllables at 1:15 sound more stressed / loud than others which makes the whole thing sound jumpy. I still don't think anyone in particular is very impressive, or better than anyone else so while they have good line distribution, their singers are pretty average. The rapping, in contrast, is quite pleasant. Jackson and Mark glide through the lyrics that intersect the singing, similar to how Hani and LE shifted control of the verses in "Ah Yeah." Bambam continues to be the weakest link as his voice and skill is below his hyungs. Thankfully his rap presence is limited and he's resigned to attacking cars with a baseball bat. At least that's kinda fun?

While "If You Do" is a song with a few minor weaknesses, I would still classify GOT7 as one of the weakest in their class. Groups like EXO and BTS have been putting out better music, and far more consistently. If GOT7's releases can fall more in line to this song and "Girls Girls Girls" I'd be more inclined to check out their music. But as it stands, the divergence between those songs and songs like "A" and "Just Right" force me to label them as a group that struggles with identity, similar to Rainbow and Secret.

[ Overall: 85 / 100 ]