#hope yg and ahyeon listen

[dreamofbona]

just found out that ahyeon said the n slur? that is not okay and i really hope she apologizes... especially cuz she knows english too.

[maximura]

I have listened to Babymonster's Sheesh so you don't have to.

NMIXX made AESPA sound like Mozart. Babymonster makes NMIXX sound like Vivaldi. It's not a compliment. I understand YG want lightning to strike twice and comparison is the thief of happiness but this is a budget Blackpink cosplay with none of the Teddy/Bekuh hooks, like at all. That was a very interesting choice.

Aespa were smart enough to realise that being BP 2.0 wouldn't cut it and worked on their own group personality. It's not all good but I think they have plenty of redeeming qualities. Prayers for Giselle to step up because her lack of everything is startlingly obvious when she performs with the other three.

IVE never played the same game with their concept or sound, even with the woefully unsuited 'Baddie'. Wonyoung's position as Thee IT Kpop Girlie has not had a worthy challenger for years. Hopefully Starship don't fuck this up but let's be honest, they probably will. Still, I look forward to their comebacks the most.

NewJeans started so strong but I am now losing interest. I'm not their target audience so I can't criticise them for how juvenile Supershy sounded to me. It's nice to see youthful music for a youthful group though and I like that they aren't trying to be mature too fast. It's just hard to vibe sometimes.

NMIXX are just strange. I don't understand them but I do see how talented they are. It's just a shame their skills are wasted on such polarising music. It takes some balls to knowingly deviate from the safe path just for the vision. I have to respect them for that tbh haha. I can see this group really maturing into something great in a few years, if they can keep relevancy. I said the same exact thing about NCT when they came out so maybe there is hope (and despair).

Le Sserrafim are a Jukebox Group. Their last albums sounded like covers of Tyla, Rosalia and Rema. It's very trendy music and I don't fault them for doing that but when I'd rather listen to the original over them? That's not really good. No amount of aesthetically pretty lore videos compensates for their current lacklustre music (and vocals). I feel like we're heading into 'great gowns, beautiful gowns' territory with them.

Now Babymonster. I have not been impressed by them at all. The much-heralded Ahyeon has apparently returned to the group like Lazarus and I was informed she would be Wonyoung's successor but she does not even stand out in her own group. I would not be able to pick her out of a line up. They get full points for effort and I do like Stuck In The Middle but I begrudgingly admit that for these girl crush concepts, Teddy is Teddy for a reason. Choice37 and Jared Lee just don't produce in a very impactful way that I like. Good luck to them but I have no desire to replay any of their songs.

(G)-Idle remain playing chess.

[aplateoflasagna]

My thoughts on Batter Up by Babymonster

First things first; I really liked it! It's a good song and I'm happy to see that most people agree. Of course there is critisism, but there always is when big 4 groups debut (though I agree big 4 debuts should be held to a higher standard because they have all the money and connections)

The song is good. I'm not going to call it 10/10 because there are some things I wished were different, but overall I'm very satisfied with the result. It's catchy and it will still hold up when they are further in their career.

The chorus is a bit empty but it grew on me after a few listens. I do agree it sounds a bit too much like Lisa's Money. It sounds very much like a YG song (which is good for me because I love the YG sound), but with that, they kind of failed to let Baemon have their own unique sound right from debut. I remember YG stating that WINNER's music needed to be completely different from BigBang because they were YG's new boygroup and he wanted them to be unique and that worked. Now Baemon is getting compared to Blackpink and I understand why. It might be too similar to Blackpinks music which is a shame because the Babymonster members have such unique voices and they don't sound like BP at all.

And that's my second regret with the song. Their unique vocals don't stand out enough because there isn't enough singing in the song. They sing in the pre-chorus and that's kind of it. The verses are talk-singing and the chorus is empty. It would have been cool if they debuted with a bside that showed of their vocals more. (something RnB!)

The rap was great! I'll have to wait for Hyunsuk to go on Weverse live but It does seem like he wrote Ruka's part and Asa wrote her own rap. I'm happy Asa was able to fit her fast style of rapping in the song. I really love it alot.

I like the YG ending, I like that it's a song fans will be able to party to and chant to together with the members at the end. It has a fun vibe that's shown with the members smiling while performing the choreo in the MV (especially Chiquita!)

The MV is fun and, just like the song, will hold up well in a few years. It's a bit all over the place though, it's like they wanted to show as much as possible and forgot to make it narratively coherent. It's lots of cool sets that don't really have anything to do with eachother. I do think the the two themes in the MV were clearly 'Youth' (the classroom, the school bus, the uniforms, baseball) and 'New Beginnings' (Batter Up, the broken egg, the broken cage, the defrosting of the ice (I'll admit that one's a stretch lol). I'm happy it's so crowded though... After watching the teaser I was really worried it would be like 3 sets in a white void, so I was relieved watching the MV

The best scene is definitely Rora's flower scene. She looks absolutely gorgeous and she stole my heart 🙈

The outfits are all great too. I don't have a single complaint, they all look fantastic in every scene!!

They haven't shown the choreo much, but I'm not really impressed by what is shown in the MV. That doesn't really mean anything though. There have been many instances where I ended up loving the choreo if I saw it performed in full.

Spreaking of performances, will Baemon even go on music shows for Batter Up???? Apparently they aren't attending Inkigayo this week?? There has been no confirmation for any other music show performance and in december lots of music shows won't be broadcasting at all...

I've been a YG stan for quite a few years now and time and time again my patience and faith in the company is tested I swear to God. I have long learned not to get my hopes up, but only giving bare minimum promotion to your first girl group in 7 years seems a bit much no?? I really hope this is not the case and many more content is to come, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised it there wasn't.

There are many thing I probably forgot to talk about, but this is most of it. I miss Ahyeon, I think this concept would suit her very well and if she ever rejoins the group she would fit in perfectly! Nevertheless I'm very proud of the records Baemon has broken already. Most watched kpop group debut MV in the first 24 hours ever 👑 + most watched Kpop group MV in the first 24 hours in 2023 🏆

Congratulation on debuting Babymonster! 👏👏👏 I hope we get to see a live performance very soon 🙏