TWICE While it’s hard to deny that TWICE is one
of the most successful acts of KPOP at all time, and probably the most successful one
in JYP Entertainment, many people believe it’s still hard to ignore how their concept
is repetitive and their new song is always like the recycled version of the previous
release.
As some pointed out, the fact that TWICE always stuck to their bubbly and cute image but failed
to incorporate more unique elements to their songs made them really bored.
According to netizens, TWICE always follow the same formula of making cute and bubbly
songs for their title tracks. Though it’s impossible to deny how this has helped them
be where they are today, for example some iconic tracks like Like Ooh Ahh, Cheer Up,
TT, and Knock Knock got really good reactions from the public and even helped TWICE bag
home many prestigious titles, it was also this type of formula that made their career
go downhill after BLACKPINK debuted in 2016 and give rise to the girl-crush concept in
KPOP.
As some noticed, TWICE not only made the same upbeat songs but also the same line distribution
and arrangement throughout many years. For example, ever since debut, Nayeon always opened
the song, Sana continued with some line to add some earworm, viral element to the track,
then Jihyo and Nayeon sang the first chorus, Chaeyeong and Dahyun had their rap right after
that, Mina sang the bridge and Jungyeong did the last chorus.
While the line arrangement has started to have some changes since the Signal and Likey
eras, it basically still stayed the same for the rest o f their following comebacks up
until now.
For example, in their comeback with More & More, many fans found it extremely disappointing
to see how the song was super generic, lacking and repetitive. Some also said the track was
underwhelming and since all the members all have fairly good vocal capabilities, they
just couldn’t understand why JYP had to unnaturally shoved the rap verses into the
track instead of letting Dahyun, Chaeyoung show off their vocals.
The reactions for their following comeback weren’t good as the public taste had already
shifted to the more powerful, badass image but despite all those trends, JYP still made
TWICE do the cute and bright concept.
Actually, they did try out the mature and empowered theme in I Can’t Stop Me and Perfect
World, and the reactions to this fresh change were super good, but that ecstasy didn’t
last long for fans because for heavily invested comebacks like SCIENTIST, the go-to concept
would still be cute, similar line distribution and repetitive role arrangement.
SCIENTIST’s rank was so low that netizens found it impossible to believe how they used
to be the digital monster but now ended up debuting at 144 on Genie and 95 on Melon Daily
Chart TOP100, lower than ITZY’s Loco, STAYC’s STEREOTYPE and even BLACKPINK’s Lovesick
Girls which was already a year ago.
Many netizens also believed that it’s time for JYP to stop making TWICE go everywhere
with that bubbly concept as you can see, there are no gen4 groups that even bothered to try
on this super cute image ever. However, many thought that it was too late to go back for
TWICE and even if they got a change up, their golden era was still very far gone.
G-FRIEND While many people agreed that it was the naive
and nature-oriented concept of G-FRIEND that was the major reason they got so far despite
coming from a relatively small company, they also believed it was the weak point of the
group as time passed and the public taste started to change.
Ever since the girls’ debut, it’s almost like the public could foresee the whole promotion
and fans would always know what to expect because literally for all their comebacks,
except for some most recent ones as G-FRIEND obviously started to go for a more mature
image after going under the same group with HYBE, they would always be there with the
girly images in long dress and cute makeup. Combining that with the trend where gen4 girl
groups started to thrive with all sorts of new themes, from highteen, girl-crush to the
AI one like aespa, some believed G-FRIEND would not have a very bright future ahead
of them. Actually, after the group’s disbandment,
a netizen also brought up this topic, implying how she already saw this prospect way earlier
since music wise, the group wasn’t that impressive and everything about their “setting
the standard for girl groups” were just a bubble of titles that would very soon burst
into thin air.
Moreover, even the casual listeners of G-FRIEND admitted that they had a hard time differentiating
the group’s title tracks, except for Fingertip because in that promotion, the group switched
up their theme completely.
ITZY Though ITZY recently spiced things up a bit
with a different theme in Loco, the group has been called to be recycling their songs
for a very long time since their debut.
As a netizen pointed out, ITZY was trying kinda too hard to make the “I love myself,
I’m different” signature image that up to this point, things have become repetitive
and boring rather than their trademark.
Surprisingly, while WANNABE was a real bop, the complaints from that point also started
to pile up quickly because on another forum, there was even a long thread dedicated to
only whining about how ITZY’s songs are becoming more and more dull with the same
materials, line distribution, vocal arrangement and especially the same concept.
This person believed while Dalla Dalla was good and ICY was tolerable, she couldn’t
even swallow WANNABE as she was so fed up with the same image and the music that sounded
like nothing but “noise.” This comeback also gave her the feeling as if JYP was desperately
trying to create a younger version of 2NE1 instead of something new.
From that point on, the public reactions started to turn for the worse and from NOT SHY to
Loco, many netizens believed ITZY was losing the title “best girl group of gen4” just
for their mistaken strategy in music.
EVERGLOW A bit more unlucky than all groups on the
list, EVERGLOW was not only criticized for recycling their music but also looked down
on for the long-time struggle in building their popularity.
As many netizens noticed, EVERGLOW has been stuck with the “I don’t need you” concept
for ages and oddly, though all the members are equally talented, their agency only chose
to push certain faces and as a result, people had to see the same line distributions sung
by the same members again and again.
On Reddit, there was even a long post complaining about how EVERGLOW’s song appeared to be
kinda good in the first place but ended up sounding dull and empty because of the repetitive
nature in not only the concept but also the lyrics and instrumental.
According to the OP, because EVERGLOW used the same formula for their songs, all Bonbon
Chocolat, Dun Dun and Adios failed to have a proper chorus, a melody that would make
listeners hooked and put the song on replay.
Besides, songs like No Lie, You Don’t Know M, and Salue also bore the OP out with repetitive
words.
MOMOLAND After the hit Boom Boom that one-step brought
the group to the brighter stardom of KPOP, many people started to notice how their music
was also becoming more and more repetitive. However, just like being trapped in a dilemma,
netizens also realized how Momoland could hardly release anything too different from
Boom Boom for the sake of album sales but could also not grow any further if they continued
to stick with the same old music formula.
Actually, the public was kinda happy to see MOMOLAND come back with Baam because making
a second song similar to the greatest hit was a safe and common move of many groups
to increase sales, grow fandom and build a signature image. For example, EXID did try
out this strategy by releasing Ah Yeah, which was basically a remake of Up & Down with some
small changes in the material and melody, and succeeded with a rapidly growing fandom.
However, since MOMOLAND overexploited their successes with Boom Boom and continuously
recycled this track for their later title tracks, the public started to grow out of
them in 2019 after Thumbs Up.
The boredom became so big that some began to say MOMOLAND’s producers must have had
a beef with the group and in 2020, more people even said MOMOLAND’s disbandment was only
a matter of time due to the mistaken path in music.
So, do you think that these groups could have been way bigger had they opted for an image
change every comeback or some people are just expecting too much? Comment down below to
share your thoughts with us. Also, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to BebossTV
for more interesting Kpop content. Thank you for watching!