[Bonus] Girl Group Power Rankings V: Summer 2017

With summer in full swing it's time to once again look at the state of the girl group ladder. There's been plenty of activity to go around, and that includes positive and negative moves. Sistar and Wonder Girls depart from the rankings, and T-ARA will soon follow, even though the latter has not made an appearance on this list in a long time. The younger groups have been promoting with fervor (hopefully I updated new releases as accurately as possible) and you can see the new generation of girl groups staking their claim in the industry. As always, we're looking at their main releases, the roster and talent, along with consistency (less of the past, more of the present). Since many of these comebacks have been recent it'll be fun to see what my early impressions are and how they influence placements.

Honorable Mention: Dreamcatcher (NEW)
* New Releases: Chase Me / Good Night
The rebranded Minx made a name for themselves early on in 2017, with "Chase Me" bringing a powerful sound uncommon for girl groups (and arguably boy groups, too). Both "Chase Me" and "Good Night" have Jpop influences and they're definitely darker than your typical girl group (reddit sure loves their MVs). Powerful instrumentals and choreography drive their music and they've rightfully been getting praised for that. I'd only heard of Minx by name before the rebranding so it really was like finding a new group for the first time. Having music with heavy rock elements that remind of Younha's early days is absolutely keeping this group on my radar. As long as they keep releasing quality content and sweet dance clips consistently, Dreamcatcher will enjoy new success to go with their new name.

Honorable Mention: 9MUSES
* New Releases: Talk About You (Kyungri), Remember
Frankly, "Remember" is one of the best songs this year thus far, and arguably 9MUSES' best song since the days of "Wild" and "Glue." Man how I miss those days... The dark concept and electric instrumental pair excellently and the balanced vocal attack continue to do work. Hyemi has never sounded better and the same could be said for Kyungri and Keumjo. Sojin's rap is also extremely impressive considering it's many steps above what she showed us in "Lip 2 Lip." "Remember" was everything I could've hoped for. Of course this is all fun and good, but 9MUSES - or rather Star Empire - can't be trusted. They've risen up so many times only to fall apart an equal number of times. The inconsistency with this group will continue to plague them as they move forward so they'll stay just outside the top 10.

#10. Red Velvet (--)
* New Releases: Rookie / Would U, Darling U / Our Story (Seulgi)
Red Velvet officially makes their appearance within the top 10. After sitting in the Honorable Mentions section for the last two times, a flurry of activity and departure of Sistar leads them to the 10th spot. "Rookie" really wasn't my cup of tea, and so I'll await their next slower song comeback ("Would U" sort of counts but sort of doesn't since it was through Station). What has also helped RV is Joy's collection of OST work for her drama which is bordering an entire library of its own. As you've noticed I've omitted them from the new releases line because that would take up unnecessary amounts of space. They are one of the few girl groups on the list that possess average vocalists at the worst, something their music generally utilizes well.

[Review] SF9 - Easy Love (Blitz)

Continuing with the hopping between boy and girl groups, we have FNC's boy group SF9. Of course, I wouldn't be writing about them had I not attended KCON, but still. They are FNC's first true boy group since FT Island and CNBLUE are bands. Anyway, this is your stereotypical dance track accompanied by your stereotypical MV, the latter of which we will simply acknowledge and move on. The first thing I noticed about this song is the voices of SF9. They all sound older than their actual ages, which is cool. And dear heavens are some of these kids young. There have been so many songs this year that build into lackluster choruses (mostly solo effort culprits) that I've started to become wary of this in any song, but thankfully they avoid this with a really great and catchy chorus. Even though this is the first time I've heard them, I like the rappers despite the quips here and there (which I've never been a fan of) during the chorus. Hwiyoung in particular shows potential and since they're so young they have that much more time to improve. And as a sucker for high / long notes, the last chorus is even better than the rest. But perhaps the most exciting thing about "Easy Love" is the choreography: there's just so much going on! I dig the variety in formations, especially during the rap segments. They have the number count to make the most out of formation changes. The dance moves themselves range across the difficulty spectrum, plus there's a little shirt tease action for all the fangirls. If this song is anything to prove, it's that FNC has found their staple boy group and I see no reason that this group shouldn't keep getting more popular.

Word Count: 297

[Review] Cosmic Girls - Happy

With Sistar disbanding, Cosmic Girls are the only other girl group left on Starship's roster. Personally I haven't paid them much attention besides "Secret," which is their superstar song. Exy is a rapping star, Cheng Xiao is their version of Seolhyun / Suzy / Hani, and generally they're very much like the Apink and GFriend groups, only with way more members. Still, I said this year would be about writing for new / less popular (in terms of my blog) groups, plus I know "Happy" is gonna be out of my comfort zone in terms of music. Let's give it a go.

For starters, there's a lot going on in this song. The instrumental is silly (in a good way I think) and overall there is a ton of background noise. Snazzy instrumentals, constant hyping and cheering from the girls, even backing male voices at some point. As what seems to be a growing trend, or perhaps just a trend, is the heavy usage of inflections at the end of words for intended aegyo effects. It's something that usually grates on my ears and "Happy" is no exception. Since it's always utilized for the cutesy songs, I've never been a big fan of it. However, it's more tolerable during the chorus, which is actually really good and honestly puts the rest of the song to shame. The chorus deserved a better supporting cast for how exciting and fun it sounds, at least outside of the rap break.

[Blog] The New Guard

By time of writing, there are some 10 girl groups who have disbanded, will disband soon, or are as good as disbanded. Groups in the first category include KARA and Wonder Girls, groups in the second category include Sistar and T-ARA, and groups in the third category include miss A and After School. I'm really sad - stop taking them away! Frankly, it's harrowing to think so many of the girl group staples are never coming back. If you looked at a list of girl groups pre-2010 and their status in 2017, it paints an extremely depressing scene.

[Recap] 2017 January-April: Delayed

It's June already. This is coming out really late but I had to keep consistent either way. Obviously the title says January to April but I've included some May stuff too which you'll see for yourself as this piece unfolds. Anyway most of the news that I paid attention do during this timespan wasn't good. It was mainly disbandment information and that's not very fun. Nonetheless the year has already had a number of notable releases, some of which we'll get to (or already have) here.

[Review] Sistar - Lonely (Blitz)

Sistar will exit the stage not with a bang but with a whimper, and truthfully that's okay. I think it'd be more painful to have another energetic summer jam conclude their act. "Lonely" is the exact opposite of what we've been hearing from Sistar: it's sombre and more on the darker side (in terms of energy). But that isn't to say it's slow. In fact the tempo is moderate and the group plays off this well, utilizing the chorus with repetitions of "lonely." For the first time in forever, the vocal levels of everyone are relatively together - though it's pretty much impossible to cloud Hyorin's talent. Soyu continues to do wonders with her voice and Dasom deserves a lot of credit for sounding the best she's ever been in the finale. She has slowly but steadily improved song after song and for that, she and Sistar fans everywhere should be proud. Lastly there's Bora. Even though she (still) didn't get any singing lines to the very end, she did receive a 20+ second rap that used her voice to max potential. This is the type of environment where Bora's rapping shines and I'm really happy this was the case for "Lonely." The MV was filmed in Hong Kong, which only doubles the feels for me as I'm from there, and watching the girls enjoy themselves, while knowing it will be their last time, in the comfort of such a great location is warming. Dasom's narration at the end is what brought me to tears but rest assured this group and its spectacular history will not be forgotten. Farewell, Sistar.

Word Count: 270