SM Leisure’s experiments with supergroups have been famously polarising. When the Okay-pop megalabel debuted SuperM – a gaggle that mixed a number of the greatest skills throughout Okay-pop generations – with the bombastic ‘Jopping,’ they clearly meant to attraction to a modernised, world viewers. Whereas bold, maybe it additionally proved counterproductive in locations, counting on the idea greater than the output.
Happily, the corporate has been much more savvy with GOT The Beat, a sub-unit of the rotational supergroup Women On High that options soloist BoA, Women’ Technology’s Taeyeon and Hyoyeon, Purple Velvet’s Seulgi and Wendy, and aespa’s Winter and Karina.
GOT The Beat’s debut undertaking expertly harnesses their mixed strengths, making for a assured and tightly structured work replete with nice surprises. The mesmerising chorus on title monitor ‘Stamp On It’ serves as a reset button because the group switches genres at warp velocity à la Women’ Technology’s ‘I Acquired A Boy’. Whereas not laden with the musical whiplashes of the SNSD track, ‘Stamp On It’ continues to be well-executed, a musical delicacy as intricate as it’s pleasant.
In the meantime, the lure and bass-laden ‘Goddess Stage’ pumps adrenaline into the veins. Hovering vocals heighten the depth, whereas a ridiculously catchy saxophone melody underlines the refrain, the musical equal of an smug smirk.
Maybe it’s the mixed years of hits that the ladies of GOT The Beat have beneath their belts, however the overconfidence this album exudes is something however off-putting – it even prices acquainted sounds with a beautiful depth. The members are beauties wrapped in barbed wire on ‘Rose’, which compares fatalistic magnificence to the thorns on mentioned flower. Over luxurious, sensual R&B, the group alternates between low-pitched rapping and candy, lethal harmonies. “I don’t have to take your love. Don’t, don’t, don’t ? You bеtter go away,” they declare on the refrain, the vocal harmonies amplifying the menace.
And GOT The Beat are nonetheless scathingly blunt even after they discover a extra light-hearted sound. On ‘Mala’ – which is very Purple Velvet – the melodic vocals, flute melody and heavy bass create a heady concoction. The kaleidoscopic association pulls and pushes, retaining a good grip on the rap verses and introducing launch on the pre-choruses because the members ask us to lose management, simply in time for the flute to string all of it collectively.
Kudos is as a result of deliberate resolution to construct many of the album’s songs round standout hooks, such because the saxophone on ‘Goddess Stage’ and the flute on ‘Mala’. Even within the songs that falter, fascinating hooks assist. ‘Alter Ego’ turns into a little bit predictable within the latter half, however the bass-laden breakbeat saves the momentum. On this monitor, GOT The Beat wield Dreamcatcher-esque environmental metaphors to stress the ability of small, deliberate motion: “I convey the doom, I convey the bless / That selection is all at my fingertips / On the dry, achromatic earth / The act of planting a single hope (it’s as much as me).”
GOT The Beat do stumble, although, on ‘Outlaw’, with its busy association that tries to do an excessive amount of abruptly. Even the commendable vocal selection suffers from components clamouring to overpower one another.
The sturdy sonics of ‘Stamp On It’ have made GOT The Beat’s undertaking debut a commanding one – however a query of identification stays. How may this supergroup change into extra the sum of its extraordinarily proficient components? How do the members’ particular person prowess contribute to a collective imaginative and prescient distinct from that of their very own teams? The solutions could solely change into clear when SM begins to train Women On High’s rotational format, however till then, GOT The Beat nonetheless deserve reward for a job effectively performed.
Particulars
- Launch date: January 16
- Document label: SM Leisure
