u/AggravatingFlow398

This video randomly popped up on my feed and it ended up being a pretty interesting watch. The panel consists of music show producers, radio producers, and radio hosts reviewing the recent “girl group showdown” happening in K-pop right now.

The video does have English subtitles, but they seem to be auto-translated, so there are quite a few inaccuracies. I figured I’d give a more concise and accurately translated breakdown of most of the comments they made about each release. I've excluded the parts where they talk about the b-sides.

ILLIT - IT'S ME

• “I was leaning towards disliking the song on my first listen.”
• “What am I even listening to? Is this English? Korean? What language is this?”
• “It’s techno, very unusual, and incredibly fast-paced.”
• “It’s not really my style of music and it leaves you confused, but somehow it sticks in your head.”
• “This might become another forbidden Suneung song following SHINee’s ‘Lucifer.’ We recently had ‘REDRED,’ and now ‘It’s Me.’”
• “It’s really weird, but you keep listening because you become curious about what they’re even saying.”
• “The chorus kind of reminds me of Jennifer Lopez or Madonna.”
• “You keep listening out of curiosity to see where the song is heading.”
• “You become curious about how far the weirdness is going to continue.”
• “The lyrics remind me of f(x). You have no idea what they’re saying, but it’s fun.”
• “It sounds like they sampled a eurodance beat you often hear during an aerobics class.”
• “Ironically, the older generation might actually find this sound more familiar because it resembles Lee Junghyun’s mega hit from the 2000s.”
• “They should do an end of year collaboration with Lee Junghyun.”
• “I think the label clearly had a global audience in mind when producing this song. The techno and EDM sound feels very accessible internationally.”
• “The song feels very optimized for Shorts and TikTok. I think that was definitely part of the strategy.”
• “The song is very different from ILLIT’s previous releases, but it still sounds like ILLIT. The fact that they stepped away from their usual formula made me think, ‘Oh, this is new for them. This is interesting.’ I think that’s why people are more drawn to it.”
• "It's Me was the best song of the EP for me. The other songs didn't really grab my attention."

aespa - WDA (feat. G-Dragon)

• “This feels like aespa’s ‘iron taste’ concept at its peak.”
• “On my first listen, I wondered if this was the right direction, but after a few listens I grew accustomed to it.”
• “It was difficult to digest initially, but by the second listen I was like, ‘Yep, this is aespa.’”
• “It felt like they intentionally avoided doing something conventional. The electronic production felt unconventional, the overall sound was very hip, and it highlighted their rap potential.”
• “This is real hip hop.”
• “It feels like a more hip version of ‘Armageddon.’ It gave me the impression that aespa wants to lean further into hip hop, and I think it suits them.”
• “GD’s flavor felt stronger here compared to his feature with IU because the genre fits him more naturally.”
• “I think GD is good rapper, but if the song leaned more toward something like ‘Spicy,’ the collaboration would've been better.”
• “The moments leading up to GD's part and GD’s verse felt like the highlight of the song for me. That's when I thought that it could become a downside when you feature such a huge superstar.”
• “I didn’t think his feature was bad.”
• “The MV felt very animalistic and grotesque in a stylistic way. aespa now feels like a group that can fully pull off this kind of aesthetic.”
• "It felt like I was watching a visualized form of my inner fear and anxiety"
• “I usually like reading lyrics while listening to songs, but WDA had too much English for me personally. I hope their next release connects with the Korean general public a bit more.”
• “Personally, I actually want them to go even further in this WDA direction.”

BABYMONSTER - CHOOM

• “There's so much overflowing energy in this song.”
• “Whenever they say ‘choom,’ it feels like you’re supposed to spin your head around.”
• “This is classic YG style. They followed the YG formula to the tee.”
• “The song sounds mainstream and instantly sticks in your head while maintaining that momentum until the very end.”
• “You can hear oriental influences in the intro.”
• “There are hints of traditional Korean elements embedded into both the melody and instrumental.”
• “I wish they put as much effort into the lyrics as they did into the production. The production was solid, very YG, but the lyrics were questionable.”
• “I liked the way they pronounced ‘choom’ during the ‘I’ll show you my choom, choom, choom’ part. Each ‘choom’ hits like a heavy percussion beat. That was my favorite section.”
• "If you ask others what this song sounds like, most people will know which label produced the song"
• "It continues all the way back from 2NE1 to Blackpink. You can't help but imagine, 'Oh Lisa would've had this part, Jenny would've had this part'. I don't think that kind of reminder is necessarily a good thing."
• "It's just a matter of personal preference, It's not something to say it is good or bad."
• "I don't think it's inherently a bad strategy to maintain that old DNA. But if they want to build something unique, I'd like to suggest that they make bold changes to the production team, or exploring genres that they haven't tapped into before."
• "Just changing the genre can still be limiting. I think they should consider working with other producers"
• "They're good at both vocals and rap."
• "They're really good on stage, but I'd like to see some different sides to them."

NMIXX - Heavy Serenade

• “It’s been a long time since I’ve come across a song that felt almost too good to listen to.”
• “It felt like ‘Blue Valentine Part 2.’ The song keeps building and completely explodes during the final chorus.”
• “This EP is excellent. It shares some similarities with Blue Valentine, but personally I think it’s even better.”
• “I couldn’t fully process the song on first listen because musically it’s very complex.”
• “It feels like an overwhelming serenade pouring out an unbearable kind of love.”
• “The lyrics were written by Hanroro. It’s a really interesting collaboration and the lyrics are very poetic. The song gave me a deeply sentimental and emotional feeling.”
• “Vocally, the song has a very high level of difficulty. There’s a strong balance between chest voice and head voice throughout the track, and they executed it really well.”
• “The choruses are handled by Sullyoon, Haewon, and Lily. The sound becomes fuller and tighter with each chorus, and I thought the structure was very cleverly done.”
• “‘Heavy Serenade’ is structured in a way where the best parts keep appearing one after another. There’s not a section you want to skip.”
• “Every time I thought I had reached the best part of the song, something even better came next.”
• “I've listened to ‘O.O' again recently. You can really tell how much this team has evolved to reach this point.”
• “Their mixxpop identity isn’t as overt as it used to be.”
• “I think it’s more accurate to call it evolution. It’s no longer just Genre A mixed with Genre B. Now there are multiple genres layered together in a much more intricate way to create this current version of mixxpop.”
• "They're the best when it comes to vocals alone in their generation. You can feel that they are a group with really well-balanced vocal harmonies."
• “Personally, I enjoy their recent musical direction much more than their earlier projects.”
• "NMIXX is a group with songs that can show more appeal to the GP if they get aired on the radio."
• "I've already aired 'Heavy Serenade', and plan on airing 'Crescendo' and 'LOUD' as well."