[Bonus] Girl Group Power Rankings VI: Fall 2017

Originally, I was going to have a late November installment of the Girl Group Power Rankings. However with the SNSD news and my desire to put out rankings on a more regular basis (somewhat) means we'll have a new edition a few weeks early. I think having at least three or four installments per year for girl groups can show how the landscape changes every few months. Let's look at the girl group ladder for what may be Girls' Generation's last ride. Remember: this is my list, not yours! Music, roster, and consistency are my go-to attributes when determining rankings.

Honorable Mention: Lovelyz
* New Releases: N/A
As much as I dislike the idea of putting three bubblegum pop groups on the list, Lovelyz is probably the next best group to join the Honorable Mentions section. They've been pretty consistent since their debut, and "Goodnight Like Yesterday" is still an elite ballad. This year they've had a handful of releases (which unfortunately don't get included since the last writeup was in late June) and are looking to wrap up a solid year with an upcoming November comeback. I'm hoping for something more experimental rather than a traditional pop dance track but I'd be open to another high quality ballad, too.

Honorable Mention: 9MUSES
* New Releases: Love City
9MUSES remains on the outside looking in. While they haven't lost any more members since the last time we checked them out, their successor to a fantastic "Remember" comeback was the mediocre "Love City." The song was a little too all over the place and particularly disappointing was Sojin. Her encore performance to the spectacular rap from "Remember" was boring and repetitive. It's doubtful we'll see any new action from them in 2017, but I'd say this was a good rebound year for them, "resetting" the subunit as the full team and all that. Now if only Sungah could come back from hiatus...

#10. Dreamcatcher (--)
* New Releases: Fly High
They're not technically new as they made an appearance under Honorable Mentions but now they've moved into the top 10. Fusing rock and dance, they really give off Jpop vibes and their trio of releases this year reflects that. Even though it lacked a true rap segment, "Fly High" might actually be my favorite of the set. The high tempo of the song is awesome and makes for an exhilarating listen. Now that they've sort of settled into their niche, it'll be interesting to see what direction they try and tackle in 2018. Other groups might have had bigger numbers and more production, but Dreamcatcher's turnaround story is the best of the year.

[Misc] Bias Power Ranking Timeline

After the Girls' Generation timeline, we got another one. This one is a timeline of the Bias Power Rankings since the first installment in 2014. Since these were actual blog posts, the data is legit and not estimated haha. I only included the top ten members since 12 is such an awkward number that only works for the actual posts and not a picture. Anyway here's the history of my biases over the last three years!

[Review] GOT7 - You Are

Throughout their career, GOT7 has been mostly a miss for me. With this newest inclusion, they have ten title tracks to their name, but I only really liked one of them ("If You Do"). "Hard Carry" and debut track "Girls Girls Girls" were alright but never fully lived up to the hype surrounding their name and label. What they do have going for them is intricate and expressive choreography, so we'll see if that trend continues in "You Are."

"You Are" shows a lighter side to GOT7 while still keeping their dance-friendly (or is it dance-heavy?) atmosphere. It's like they toned down the hype dials from past hits. In this way, "You Are" reminds me of BTS' "Save Me," though frankly the former is nowhere near as good as the latter. That being said, the instrumental is quality and the work of the vocalists like Jr. and Youngjae make the verses really smooth. Then there's the chorus which is powerful and uplifting, something which is also reflected in the lyrics. It does feel a little jarring compared to the main verses (mainly due to the long notes) but overall makes for a good combination. Unfortunately, what could've been a solid GOT7 release was instead ruined by an uncharacteristic mistake.

[Misc] Girls' Generation Power Ranking Timeline

To tribute the unofficial end of Girls' Generation, I did a little experiment where I ranked the members in terms of bias. We have to go all the way back to when I started listening to them way back in 2009. Think of this as Bias Power Rankings but only within Girls' Generation. Keep in mind I never did these officially throughout the years so I went off memory for pretty much all stages. As always there isn't really a method to my madness. Here's what I finalized, with some explanation after the jump (if only so this isn't just a picture post haha).

[Blog] End Of A Generation

Pack it up y'all, the girl groups we used to love are all dead and gone. Girls' Generation is the proverbial nail in the coffin, with recent news reporting that some members did not resign with S.M. Entertainment. Seohyun, Sooyoung, and Tiffany will not remain under the label, while everyone else - Taeyeon, Sunny, Yuri, Yoona, and Hyoyeon - will resign. Whether it's official or not, Girls' Generation is finished. Yeah they may not have disbanded, but you can't realistically expect all the members to come together in the future when they're under different management. I also feel there's no way S.M. would let that happen, this is S.M. we're talking about.

[Bonus] Best Of EXID

After sitting out of a few discussions, we're back with more r/kpop's Top Ten Tuesdays mixed with Best Of pieces. I really like writing for these because it not only keeps me to another schedule, but also (potentially) generates discussion both here and on reddit. This week we have EXID on the block. With Solji recovering and getting active again it's the perfect time to look back on some of their best music. Let's get started with #10.

#10. L.I.E

What "L.I.E" did was breakup the usual formula that we saw out of EXID during their rise to superstar status. Junghwa's normal-sounding lines, LE's incredible rap verse, and the electric instrumental used in the snazzy dance break all contributed to the song moving away from the "Up & Down" shell which was good. Solji, Hani and Hyerin continued to do their thing as the vocals were also quite comfortable. When I look at EXID in terms of their title tracks, I treat "L.I.E" as the baseline for quality.

#9. 3%

Another track from the "Street" album, Solji's solo makes it onto my list. Coupled with a simple guitar, Solji's voice does the rest. She sings across her range - listen to that contrast between her verses and chorus - and sounds really good throughout all of it. I think I've said this before about Solji but when she reaches / strains for notes it doesn't sound as bad compared to other singers. Maybe that's just another aspect that makes her great.

[Misc] Bias Power Rankings IX: Fall 2017

For the first time since early iterations of the Bias List (5th iteration to be exact), I will not include any honorable mentions. They will be psuedo-replaced by something else that will be posted shortly after this goes live. Would've liked for this change to come for the 10th Bias Power Ranking but alas. We'll still keep the list to the top 12 because it's a nice number for the pictures, so let's close out the Bias Lists for 2017 with the October edition.

12. Chorong (-1) / 11. Mina (NEW) / 10. Sojin / 9. Seulgi (NEW)

At first, I didn't think Chorong would even be on this list but Apink is full of wonderful personalities and Chorong's is my second favorite within the group (with Eunji of course being the other). Mina makes her debut and is the first Twice representation, and also the first non-Korean member on the rankings. Double congrats for that! Sojin maintains her spot because Girl's Day continues to be (at least) relevant and we all know how groups struggle with doing that nowadays. Seulgi appears for the first time, and her charisma both on and off the stage is pleasantly charming.

[Review] Bolbbalgan4 - Some (Blitz)

A new Blitz piece calls for a new artist to discover. Bolbbalgan is a folk duo and apparently they were on Superstar K6 back in 2014. Granted, I have no idea what makes folk music folk music but hey that's a work in progress. In my library, I categorized people like Lim Kim or Kim Greem as ballads (primarily) so we'll see if "Some" is of a similar style. Upon first listen it certainly appears that way. Maybe folk is simply relaxing or "hipster" style. Jiyoung's voice is really calming and has a slightly husky nature to it. I wouldn't say that it's uncommon but certainly a nice change of pace from the usual bright and cheery voices many girl group members have. She sounds really good in the choruses, you can almost hear her expressions. Jiyoon doesn't have any lines but is responsible for the instruments and backing vocals. There's not much to say about her unfortunately, besides good work on the guitar haha. Given their label as folk artists, I definitely could see Lim Kim singing to this, which shows consistency at the least. I'm all for more duos in Kpop: Davichi and Akdong Musician have their own niches and styles, Bolbbalgan4 seems no different. "Some" is a relaxing piece and really represents the shift from upbeat summer jams to collected fall tunes. This song sounds perfect as we move into the colder fall weather. Excellent song from start to finish. Bolbbalgan4 is definitely on my radar now.

Word Count: 250