Review: GOT the Beat - Step Back
K-Pop has been going on for long enough to have quite a few supergroups. Most of them were created for ad campaigns (does anyone remember Yonique's Maxstep and Anyband's Promise You? Only me? Come on!), but 2019's SuperM by SM entertainment easily became the most prominent, and possibly the most permanent. It spawned more memes than expected while making music that was off-kilter and weird, certainly not for the American market, as claimed. Nonetheless, their melodic b-sides remain fantastic.
Now, SM entertainment is continuing their supergroups with the girl group series Girls on Top, taking members from various SM groups. The title instantly reminds listeners of BoA's revolutionary 2005 album, Girls on Top, and its famed title track. Given that BoA herself is in the first unit, GOT the Beat, it was expected that the album would follow the footsteps of this legendary release.
Unfortunately, GOT the Beat's debut single, Step Back, is a little bit of a mess. Quite notably, the lyrics fail to live up to their expectations. Ryan Jhun, the controversial composer, known for making misogynistic statements, was chosen as the lyricist. As one can expect, this is certainly no defiant and powerful anthem. Instead, the lyrics are about two girls fighting over a boy. It is as far from progressive as possible, with some of the fighting lines being quite regressive.
(Update: Apparently, the lyrics were written by Yoo Young-Jin. I am shocked at this, especially since he wrote the original track.)
The song is also a musical and compositional mess. The production is chaotic, driven by a choir sample looping throughout the song, along with an aggressive organ. Other than this, there is the drum pad, and nothing else. This creates an empty atmosphere over chaotic instrumentation. It is hard to know what is happening, but it is nothing much anyway.
This is certainly quite a shame, as the members of GOP The Beat are highly talented, with many being influential vocalists in their own careers. Each of them sound great, but they don't have much to do. The lack of a strong melody does not help. The members clearly do their best, with Winter, Wendy, Taeyeon, and of course, BoA, standing out.
Despite the high potential, Step Back remains highly frustrating. Nothing works the way it is supposed to. Hopefully, the next GOT track is better.
You summed it up perfectly. Also everytime I read GOT my brain adds 7 to it lol.
ReplyDeleteLol same!
DeleteAh yes the score is about right. I also did not like the song and the vocal effects (which i never liked since i kept on hearing last year in NCT's songs) sound even weirder here since they're all singing in a high register.
ReplyDeleteI actually like the vocal effects here, works on the voice. But yeah, the song is a mess.
DeleteI checked the credits and apparently only Yoo Youngjin is credited as the lyricist. The other composers are those working for NCT songs (like Dem Jointz) and this explains why the song sounds like this.
ReplyDeleteI wrote this review before the credits were released, and have now updated it. It still shocks Young-Jin wrote this, he seemed better than that. They should earnestly had Kenzie or BoA write the lyrics. So much in this release is just... off.
DeleteKenzie or BoA sounds great because it would be cool to have women working on SM's super girl group unit. Yeah everything about this seems off and it doesn't even feel like a grand debut or something. The song also sounds very NCT in essence instead of something new that only this powerful lineup can offer.
DeleteExactly! Everything from this release gives me the feeling that SM just did not care and released this half-baked track with no promotions, getting the wrong songwriters along the way.
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