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Weekly K-pop faves: Aug. 7 – 13

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Each week, KultScene’s team gives you a taste of their favorite new Korean music of the past few days. The second week of August 2017 brought some new music from Gugudan’s subunit Gugudan 5959, the debut of Produce 101 group Wanna One, and a special anniversary celebration from former Girls’ Generation member Jessica Jung.

“Ice Chu” by Gugudan 5959 (Released Aug. 11)

Between this and their last single, “A Girl Like Me” Gugudan are proving that they can hold down chaotic tracks with relative ease, and they pack a huge amount of musical details into standardly structured songs. With “Ice Chu” the first (and hopefully not last) release from sub-unit Gugudan 5959, made up of maknaes (youngest members) Mina and Hyeyeon, the pair deliver a funky summery disco track. Brass takes the frontline for the gloriously fun chorus but as the song progresses more electronics are added to change the tone, notably at Mina’s second rap and the voguing breakdown in place of a bridge. The thing that really sets apart Gugudan is that they add personality to their music through their vocals, especially Mina whose raps here are just the right amount of sweet and cheeky. In what feels like a particularly crowded battlefield of new girl groups forming out of I.O.I’s corpse, none of the other groups can claim this yet.

—Joe

Also on KultScene: Wanna One’s ‘Energetic’ song & music video review

“Burn It Up” by Wanna One (Released Aug. 10)

After participating in the second season of competition show Produce 101,Wanna One finally made their debut this week. And while fans voted for “Energetic” to be their debut track, they also released a music video for the runner up “Burn It Up.” On this track, the boys showed a darker, sultrier vibe than the bubbly and, well, energetic from the debut track to match the hard-hitting EDM sound. “Burn It Up” is not particularly bringing anything new to the table, but as a Wannable (their fandom name), I was obviously sold on the choreography, the styling, and the waterworks on the music video. Although Wanna One has plenty amazing dancers, with “Burn It Up,” the rest of the guys showed their growth as performers, mainly Guanlin and Jaehwan. For me at least, this video shows that Wanna One isn’t just a group of popular members who got through solely based on looks or likeability. And even with a couple of more seasoned performers, the group looks cohesive and proved they can go up against any other boy group.

—Alexis

Also on KultScene: BlackPink & 2NE1: Unexpectedly Different

“Summer Storm” by Jessica (Released Aug. 10)

With Girls’ Generation’s long-awaited 10th anniversary comeback crowding the airwaves this past week, the release of Jessica’s third mini album has been shown markedly less attention. And that is truly a shame, because My Decade’s single “Summer Storm” is nothing short of a pop confection, as Jessica’s signature sound becomes ever more clear with each release. The song begins with the musical twinkle of a Disney movie: she hits notes lightly but with poise and precision, mixing Korean and English lyrics with greater ease than most K-pop artists can (fitting of the Korean-American singer). While verses carry a building sentimentality and nostalgia, they quickly, but effectively, move into an infectious chorus, characteristically uplifting despite lyrics centered around what seems to be a breakup. But the conspiracy theorist and Golden S<3NE that I am, I can’t help but question Jessica’s lyrical motivations. “Will we be able to go back?” she asks, calling herself a fool “tied up with the memories.” Is she talking to a lost love, or maybe her former groupmates? As tension builds during the bridge and resolves into the final chorus, Jessica makes it clear that she still has mixed feelings towards someone. And on her 10th anniversary, she unwinds that anxiety into a song that is unapologetically her own, adding further definition to her budding career as a singer-songwriter.

—Kushal

What was your favorite K-pop song released this week? Share your picks and thoughts in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.

Let’s Discuss: Jessica’s Departure & Girls’ Generation’s Future

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Let me tell you something before getting into anything else: We’ve been here before and we can get through it. But can Girls’ Generation?

A member leaving one of the biggest idol groups in K-Pop? Fans going crazy? Support the member’s decision? Protest their selfishness? Is the company lying? Who is telling the truth? Are the members upset? What’s going on??

First off, K-Pop is a business. Both fans and idols delude themselves into believing the lies of the industry, but, at the end of the day, idols are employees of companies. And, if an employee has a disagreement with a company about what sort of work he or should be doing, they often leave or asked to leave the company.

Girls’ Generation’s Jessica is currently embroiled in just that situation. Fans might be angry, hurt, upset, confused, and any other synonym for “what the eff?” But Jessica clearly started a fashion brand, Blanc, and SM Entertainment reacted in a certain way. Jessica released her own statement saying that the other members decided to force her out of the group, but that surely wasn’t an easy decision to make– the members were in tears at their latest performance. As outside observers, we may never know the entire truth from both sides.

So what does this mean? It means that Girls’ Generation’s tightly wound image is starting to break apart. Does that mean that it will completely unravel? Maybe yes, maybe no.

There are three paths for a group when a member leaves: continuing on without them, replacing them, or falling apart. SM Entertainment tends to opt out of replacing members, and isn’t a company that just lets it groups disappear when there are still viable members. TVXQ, Super Junior, and The TRAX all showed that SM’s management style is to keep going ahead with what it has rather than trying to do something new.

Girls’ Generation (and this applies to f(x) as well but that is for another discussion,) is likely to keep promoting as a girl group with eight members, as SM Entertainment has already said. However, unlike TVXQ, Super Junior, and The TRAX, where members left the group to pursue their own careers willingly, Jessica’s situation is different. From her point of view, Jessica was kicked out by the other members because her personal desires didn’t fit in with the group’s, which may show the fragile ties keeping Girls’ Generation together.

The lifespan of girl groups are much shorter than male idol groups. Looking at all of the first generation groups that are making a comeback –SHINHWA, g.o.d, Fly To The Sky –they’re all males. Girl groups by definition are meant to be youthful- girls, not women. Girls’ Generation’s name has come under fire for several years now, as the members of the girl group got older. The group’s concept has also not changed so much, varying from cute to sexy but still maintaining the image of youthful, spunky young ladies. Soshi’s songs have shown change and maturity, but as a whole, the group hasn’t quite morphed from girls into adults.

Jessica’s departure highlights the problem, because it is all happening due to her desire to have a more serious, adult, career and personal life. The other mature groups at SM (TVXQ, Super Junior, The TRAX) all have members who do something other than their activities as group members. Girls’ Generation has a few members who have done so (YoonA and Sooyoung act, Sunny DJs, Taeyeon and Seohyun sing solo songs, etc.), but none of them really are able to stand on their own two feet as anything other than a Girls’ Generation member doing some other activity.

A member leaving doesn’t mean a death sentence for a group, even one as cohesive as Girls’ Generation. But it could hint to the fact that Girls’ Generation’s concept is unstable, and unless SM Entertainment reconsiders the fact that the members are women and not girls, more members are going to search for more fulfilling, more problematic “secondary” activities. If SM doesn’t want to lose its most prominent girl group, it had better think fast.

What do you think? Is Girls’ Generation’s future at stake? Is Jessica in the wrong? We’d love to hear you thoughts on the subject, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Bloglovin’ so you can keep up with all our posts.