I’ve resisted writing about JYP Entertainment’s GIRLSET until now because they only have the slightest connection to K-pop and I haven’t cared enough about their music to have much to say. However, it’s a slow day/month/year and the group is set to promote this new song on Korean music shows, so it feels like the right time to check in.
After listening to new single Chat, I’ll be checking in and checking right back out thank you very much. I fear the viral success of Katseye’s Gnarly has done irreparable damage to the industry — especially its girl groups. I’ve tried to get into hyperpop as a genre for many years because it seems like something I should enjoy, but the overall sound is not for me and the twists K-pop producers are putting on it are practically unbearable.
Not to sound like the elder millennial I am, but I fear we’re losing track of the ingredients that make a pop song satisfying. Chat has one idea it thinks is very clever, so it repeats this schtick over and over with little variation or growth. For those counting, GIRLSET say the word “chat” 124 times in just under three minutes. That doesn’t leave room for much else, but when they’re not chatting they’re talking their way through a fractured electronic soundscape, rattling off catchphrases that no real person could utter without visibly cringing (“How she got the spot so litty?”). Melody is in short supply (nearly nonexistent), but you can’t really call this rap either because it isn’t particularly rhythmic. As with so many tracks of this nature, Chat feels like a meme set to music. It’s exhausting.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 6 |
| Bias | 5 |
| RATING | 6 |
Grade: D-
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