Formed under a K-pop-meets-American-pop incentive from monolith labels
Geffen
and
HYBE
, international girl group
KATSEYE
debut at the crossroads: these are American popstars moving with Big-4 routines, U.S. radio anthems promoted by a relentless armada of documentaries and photocards, and stars from Atlanta and Los Angeles trained under the regimes of
LE SSERAFIM
NewJeans
. Yet, with the unique potential of this type of pop merger, it's surprising -- and disappointing -- how safe the two labels are playing it here.
's debut mini-album,
SIS (Soft Is Strong)
, runs at a shockingly short 11 minutes; although the marketability of two-minute, snippet-length songs can't be denied, it feels like an obvious mismatch for idols looking to establish their personalities on a global stage. While lead single "Touch" has all the traits of a viral single, it does little to establish any identity for the group: its light-touch sound has been reiterated ad nauseum in the modern K-pop zeitgeist, Auto-Tune warping the girls' voices until they're indistinct before ending abruptly without a bridge or final chorus. Though the track's "touch touch touch" chorus is catchy -- enough to be parroted almost beat-for-beat on the "say"s and "way"s of subsequent "My Way" -- it's too ephemeral to give the track any real backbone. The same can be said of first single "Debut," which, despite slick vocals from the
girls, feels like it's racing to be over, verses and choruses adamantly hurtling past one another. The project's B-sides, "I'm Pretty" and "Tonight I Might," offer more unique sounds, though even these fall a little short in their execution. The former leads with a beautiful pre-chorus from vocal titan
Lara
and a smooth set of group-wide melodies, but layers them over a sparse instrumental and an irritating refrain reminiscent of
Sam Smith
Naughty Boy
's "La La La." The latter resolves this issue with a strong piano line and a refreshing change of pace, but falls down sharply in the writing room -- "high on life for somebody's kiss" and "the kinda party required to go in fully inspired by" prove particular head-scratchers.
What results is a project that does the six-piece few favors. These should be the defining moments of these young idols' sound; instead, we're given rehashes of contemporary ideas and tracks that give the girls no room to build anything substantial. There's a lot of talent here -- and a solid premise to boot -- but
SIS
does very little to showcase it.
's idols deserve a better start. ~ David Crone