Tuesday! I like Tuesdays! Why? I don’t know Mary get off my back! Just kidding just kidding. Tuesdays are fun because I have my shortest working day, getting home at around 6pm instead of half 8. That’s how I draw excitement from my life guys. Anyway, today is the second day of boy group week, and it might be the day where I cover the most famous active group I haven’t listened to. I can’t stress enough how much my boy group life is taken up with BTS **stares at Koya plushy whilst wearing Koya slippers and leaning on my Koya laptop case, drinking from my Koya mug**. So let’s branch out, to the (former) darlings of JYP, GOT7.
Who are GOT7?
No, non-K-pop listening Western plebs, this is NOT an acronym for the seventh season of Game of Thrones, how could you think such a thing? GOT7 are a seven-member boy group who debuted under JYP entertainment at the beginning of January 2014. This marks the first time in my little project that I will be reviewing a group from one of the commonly labelled ‘big three’ entertainment companies (along with SM and YG), who have dominated the K-pop landscape in terms of success rates with popular groups. At least until recently, when the YG company became involved in some pretty big scandals (google ‘Burning Sun’ for more on that), and BigHit pretty much Davided all these Goliaths through the rise of BTS. Nonetheless, JYP is a huge player in the K-pop game, with acts like Twice, Itzy and Stray Kids continuing to prove their importance. GOT7 is an important part of this narrative too, or at least they were until early this year, when their contracts expired and the group decided not to renew them. From having my ear vaguely on the ground here, the general vibe seems to be that, as time went on, GOT7 were not being as actively promoted by the company, which was a shame as they were growing to take an ever more active role in their music making. Now that they are out of the company, their future remains to be seen, though they have stated a commitment to continuing as a group in some form or other.
Regardless of this, GOT7 has a very high status among K-pop acts of the last five or so years, and, as much as I’ve somehow missed them, their reputation precedes them. The group also contains the member Jackson Wang, who is so famous as a soloist that I think I may have heard of him before I knew he was in a group. Other members have released solo work as well, indicating a level of enthusiasm for music making that I hope reflects in the quality of their work. Wikipedia and Spotify mention b-boying, R & B and layered harmonies as part of their signature style. If the music is anywhere near as beautiful as Jackson himself, I’m in for a treat. Sorry not sorry.
The First Song
The debut song of GOT7 is the wonderfully unambiguous Girls Girls Girls from early 2014. Now, I think my big challenge of this week is going to be in resisting the urge to compare boy groups with BTS, and really, I will try, but JEEZ there is a lot to notice here. GOT7 debuted only about six months after BTS, have the same number of members, and have heavy hip-hip influences in their work. Also, it would seem, both groups started out with a video that included some…unfortunate hair, and a lack of subtlety in the outfit choices. There is no doubt that they both want you to know WE DO HIP-HOP OK? There is even a similar amount of breakdancing style moves in both videos, though GOT7 does look more polished in Girls. The songs are fairly different though, with GOT7 taking quite a relaxed tempo and smooth electronic hook to exemplify their chilled sense of cocky bravado. The central chorus is based around the lyric ‘Girls girls girls/they love me’, pushing handsome confidence over a more clumsy attempt at aggressive swagger that we saw from, err….some of their contemporaries. The song is wonderfully 2014, and exactly what I would expect from a boy group wanting to prove themselves at this time. I hope the work gets a little more nuanced though.
Five of the Big Hits
Wow, I think these are the biggest of the big hits I’ve looked at so far. I chose If You Do, Look (at my friend’s recommendation), Hard Carry, Lullaby and Just Right. The last of these has 362 million views on YouTube at present, the group’s highest count. Now, as much as I said I don’t know GOT7, I have briefly come across this track: it’s iconic, so it’s kind of impossible not to. It’s the song with the famous video of the tiny members dancing in a little girl’s bedroom as they sing about loving yourself and being beautiful as you are. And trust me it’s less creepy than it sounds. This is just an absolute classic boy band pop song: it’s light, with a catchy ‘ooh-ooh’ hook in the chorus, and a gentle beat to compliment relatively soft, but still skilled, dance moves. Content-wise it’s saying much the same thing as One Direction’s Beautiful (is that its name? Who cares, you definitely know what I’m talking about), but much sweeter. Somehow, whilst this could be too cute for me, the charm from the boys takes that concern away.
For me, Look and If You Do were the least interesting of the five songs. Look is smooth, but a fairly standard pop formula of dancey verses rising into a lightly EDM chorus. It’s fine, but nothing I want to return to time and time again. If You Do felt kind of similar to me, though I enjoy the summery, gentle groove of the pre-chorus, and the strength of the singing in the chorus. The title’s refrain is undoubtedly catchy, but not quite up to the levels of Just Right.
Then we have Hard Carry and Lullaby. The former of these is exactly what I like to hear to from K-pop boy groups, loud, dancey, aggressive hype songs. The chorus is basically a chant, the beat is strong, and the electronic hook is exciting. I can imagine this being a key moment in a GOT7 live show, and the crowd jumping like crazy to the chorus. Lullaby is different, much smoother and more mature in its general sound. I don’t think I can exactly pinpoint what I like so much here, because ultimately, I think it’s about how well it all gels together; the calm beat slowly building to the joyous chorus; the melody; the layering of these elements; the disco feel in the chorus, everything just works. This is the nuanced pop song I was hoping to hear as GOT7 progressed, and it’s a long way from Girls Girls Girls.
Oh yeah, and Jackson is very attractive in all of the videos. If you were wondering.
The Latest Song
The most recent song from GOT7 has an amazingly appropriate title for their last release under JYP: Last Piece, released in November 2020. This song has that anthemic sound: belting vocals, synths as the backdrop, a slightly slower than usual tempo. Alas, it still didn’t really grab me initially, though the outfits in the video are stellar (red velvet and sparkly jackets are always a yes from me). However, the addition of growly electric guitars in the latter half of the chorus added a darker extra layer that ended up giving the rest of the song depth. I know that this song comes from their latest album, which was largely created by the members themselves, adding to the power of the song. This track was actually written by member JB to express GOT7’s powerful side, and I feel that this is definitely achieved. It’s an impressive journey from the characters we met in 2014.
The Latest Album
As mentioned above, GOT7’s latest album turned out to be their last with JYP, 2020’s Breath of Love: Last Piece. Various members have writing, composition and production credits here, so I am expecting something that feels a lot more personal. The opener, Breath, is a playful mid-tempo opener, followed by lead single Last Piece. As the album goes on, I can see pretty swiftly that this is more of a slow jams, feelings-led piece. This isn’t surprising, given the album’s title and its position in their discography. After the first listen I was underwhelmed: it turned out Last Piece was as edgy as things got. None of the songs on the album hit a faster pace, though Born Ready has a calm swagger and Special a sunny disposition. The latter half of the album slips far too much into this mid-tempo, hinting-at-ballad territory for me to really enjoy it: it’s just not really the kind of energy I normally look for in K-pop. There’s an ethereal quality to Waiting For You, but it still didn’t grab me. When I say ‘ballad territory’, I don’t mean full on piano or violins and crying: there is still groove and rhythm here. Just at a much calmer register. There are some lovely harmonies in the chorus of I Mean It, which is also a little more upbeat with a bouncier rhythm, and We Are Young has an easy repetitive chorus to clearly aim at a big, anthemic finish. It’s all good and accomplished, just, if we’re speaking of personal taste, it’s not the most exciting music I’ve heard from them. The introspection and production values are impressive, and hopefully as they progress outside JYP we can see more creativity alongside this.
Thoughts?
It’s easy to see why these guys are one of the biggest boy groups of the last five years. They have charisma, undeniable talent, and a discography that hits all the different elements of K-pop, from hip-hop, to cutesy, hype to emotional, and from big bold statements to subtlety and nuance. I was a sucker for the hype of Hard Carry, though Just Right won me over in much the same way, such is the power of this most iconic of 2010s K-pop anthems. Lullaby was easily my favourite, combining so many different elements into a fun and less predictable pop song. As much as the album wasn’t particularly for me, the lead single Last Piece is growing on me with each listen, and I can appreciate that this is the music that the group actually wants to make. Everyone will be watching to see what becomes of GOT7 on the next step of their journey, and hopefully it will promise more room for experimentation and creativity. They’ve shown it already, so, free of JYP, the sky is really the limit.
And also Jackson Wang is really fit. In case I didn’t mention that.
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