[Blog] New Muse

So towards the first months of 2014 we received news that 9MUSES would be losing Eunji and Sem through “graduation”. “Graduation” happens to be a substitute word for “getting the hell out” a neither would be renewing their contract. At that point in time, I’ll admit, I was saddened by the news but not entirely devastated. 9MUSES’ inability to keep a stable roster has been shown time and time again, year after year. Their management claiming this is a “graduation” system is complete bull because (a) this group was never marketed as such (think After School) and (b) Sem and Eunji clearly wanted to just GTFO of Star Empire. Sem was a support vocalist and Eunji is second to Erin in the rapping, so their contributions were solid but nothing extraordinary. The problem lies in that 9MUSES had a very successful 2013, stringing off releases from “Dolls”. Losing members after gaining such momentum was going to hurt them a fair amount.

Then came Sera. Now I’ll keep what I want to say simple. Sera may be better off as a soloist or without 9MUSES, but 9MUSES won’t be as better off without Sera, at least not immediately. Sera’s presence was so important as the de facto leader and the vocalist with the most strength. Hyuna, Hyemi, and Kyungri are all very capable singers but they are more of the airy sultry type vocalist (especially Kyungri mmf). Sera’s voice is very pretty and delicate, but able to stretch out for power if necessary. This void is likely to be felt for a while unless the new recruit is a vocal specialist.

Speaking of the new member. On the bright side, while 9MUSES has a horrific track record for maintaining members, they clearly are prepared with some quality trainees. Hyuna, Kyungri, and Sungah were all new members at some year or another and they’ve been key components of the 9MUSES machine ever since. I’m tempted to believe this new Muse is gonna blow the 3 outta the water. Let’s hope so.

The vocal lineup is still strong and consistent and almost no other girl can compare to Erin for rapping. What 9MUSES really comes down to is this: can this new 6MUSES bring quality tracks like “Gun” and “Wild” to the table? Nothing says otherwise, but we’ll have to see how the new Muse and new MUSES will develop.