Lovelyz

Oh help, I'm starting to fall very deeply into Woollim's new girl group Lovelyz, LOL. I haven't been this invested in k-pop in a while. I NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT. THIS IS MY INTERVENTION.

The horrible group name itself makes them a guilty pleasure. Their music so far as a group is pretty basic and nothing to write home about. They're what lots of people would consider "bland" and overly cutesy. BUT I HAVE THE EXACT ACQUIRED TASTE THAT FINDS THEM AND THEIR MUSIC SO CHARMING AND DELICIOUS. SOBS. Actually their very image and the sound of their bubblegum pop has a very J-pop and slightly old-school feel to it. And I like that a lot....


Candy Jelly Love

This won me over almost instantaneously because I have hella bias for cute candies. I LOVE the style of the MV with the bright boldness of the jellybeans contrasting and complimenting the light pastel colors and flowy whites with soft flares. YES. YESS.
First and second listens: "This is ok. I can probably dig."
Now: "THIS IS MY JAAAAAM."


Good Night Like Yesterday

First listen: "Who are they this is boring and I can't even watch this all the way."
Now: "SO....... CATCHY...... NEED TO LISTEN ON REPEAT."
Objectively not the best ballad, but ... my acquired taste loves it. Also it helps now knowing who the girls are because I can put the singing in some kind of context and thus appreciate it better.



Initially, most of them look like the same person, their voices sound dry and the same, and they kind of give off the impression of not being musically driven. qqqqq now I find them super cute in their unique ways and you know what: THEY ACTUALLY CAN SING SURPRISINGLY PRETTY WELL.

So, 3 of them have had solo debuts before.
One being Yoo Jiae, who honestly is one of the weakest vocalists of the group. Despite being the well-known frontrunner face, I'm glad that Woollim seems to acknowledge her weaknesses instead of trying to shove her down our throats. xD In Candy Jelly Love, her only lines are.. the titular "candy jelly love"s at the choruses HAHA. She has an important iconic part--suitable for her role--but befittingly small. And I'm very okay with that; it works! Giving her solo Delight a second listen (okay I ended up listening to it a lot more after), it's not as unimpressive as I remember? It's forced. Technique is lacking. But she tries!!! In latter parts of the song, she belts a bit and she even has a baby vibrato. I can respect that. :D

Baby Soul is fucking awesome. I defs dig all her pre-official-debut work.
See: Stranger (ft. Wheesung)
I feel like this girl really works against her odds. She's now debuting at 22 years old, which is considered a bit old for k-pop idols. She has a high and light tone, but still shows that she can sound strong. You'd have the expectation for the Lovelyz concept so no surprises there, but things like Stranger (power ballad song and the cool way she's presented) are unexpected especially given her 'type' and the industry.

Jin I feel like mostly got attention because her solo Gone had a QQQQ feels-inducing MV starring goddess child actress Kim Yoojung and EXO's Xiumin. Unfortunately, the MV does overshadow the song, which took me a while to get into. But she pulls off ballads so well that I'm kind of left wondering why she's in this cutesy pop girlgroup where her lines are enough quantitatively but don't seem to stand out or scream, "hey guys this is Jin singing here!" (She sings the first chorus to Candy Jelly Love and STILL I tend to overlook it because of distracting other things.)

And then the rest of the members who didn't have solo exposure before Lovelyz:
There's Kei, who reminds me of Girl's Day's Minah in terms of the way she's styled (the bangs and clean cute image, I suppose) and because she's the main vocalist ahaha. I'm surprised she was never in the media before. Her voice is pretty similar to many of the other girls' voices, but there's a smoothness and control to it that I can pick out. ;u; I do like that she doesn't actively try to sound cuter despite softening up for Candy Jelly Love. (In contrast, Jin obviously tries to use a cuter side to her voice in the song.)
For anyone questioning her main vocal abilities, see 1:43 of: Acapella performance of Word Up

My bias in the group so far is Soojung, who sings the first solo of Candy Jelly Love. She's uuuuugh so cute/pretty and reminds me of Morning Musume's Kudou Haruka who I also find to be an angel. I love that she's one of the youngest (born in 1997 lord help me) but is the one with a deeper, slightly husky voice AND is one of the vocal carries, with really good lines. (She does choruses in both Good Night Like Yesterday and Candy Jelly Love!)

Speaking of young, then there's maknae Yein who's born in 1998 jfc.. She has a certain awkward cuteness to her that's very appropriate for her 16 year oldness LOL. Something about her's very endearing. I don't know the range of her vocal prowess but so far to me she seems like she can sing well enough? There's a certain rawness and husky undertone to her voice that makes her one of the easiest to pick out. (Her parts are the 1st solo of the 2nd verse of Candy Jelly Love and the 1st singer in the bridge of Good Night Like Yesterday.) (I like that the two members with slightly lower voices in the group are the youngest ones LOL I can see this group having hella maknae power..)

And who can forget Mijoo? What the hell. She's so fucking pretty. Maybe it's because she has a gorgeously bright smile showing all her straight teeth, but she reminds me of Sooyoung from SNSD. And it's also because they're both so-so singers that do try! Soft tones and they both do the little squeak that even I do because I don't have the technique/control to end notes in a more complete way. It's charming from them though! I hope she'll be able to prove my impression of her as a passable-but-not-spectacular vocalist wrong. ;u; I think she has potential?

Ah... and lastly Jisoo, who's immersed in scandal to the point that she couldn't join the girls for their debut. It kind of works out since she had THE TINIEST TINY part in "Candy Jelly Love," thus it doesn't feel like much is missing. She does the engrish speaking part before the bridge that goes, "You're the best ever come in my life. You're the best of my life," and I think that's it ahah. So my assumption is that she's not a strong singer, though I guess I can't judge from this. AND THEN she's given the entire 2nd verse of Good Night Like Yesterday and doesn't sound impressive but also is passable enough?! So good for her! She probably has hidden potential too!

I love that despite their image of being cutesy (which is linked to being weak tbh), that's not all and they do sing. Especially after hearing their acapella bits, I think they have the potential to really bring it.... And I do appreciate that their weaker vocalists or members considered the "visuals" do make efforts to sing. They're actually more than passable and I like their voices enough. ;u; A Pink and SNSD are some of my favorite groups but to use them as an example: Na Eun and Yoona in purely vocal performances. Objectively, they struggle to be passable in terms of singing ability. (But still they've got plenty of other strong points and they're some of my favorites tbh. I just don't look to them for vocals.)