StayC gimme a little of what I need right now, with “Run2U”

I be dipping in and out of K-pop. It’s weird how it simultaneously manages to move really fast and yet not change at all. But every now and then I come across a song that sucks me back in. And today, that song is StayC’s “Run2U”, which gives me that sugary sweet vibe I like. With a bit of a throwback to K-pop circa 2010.

A lot of these newer groups are releasing genuinely good, even great songs which are better than what a lot of the more popular and established groups be putting out.

Aespa are HUGE. But their songs do nothing for me. All that time and effort wasted on putting GOT the Beat together, just for them to put out a trash song. Blackpink trotting out the same templated songs, over and over.

These newer groups deliver quality music (some times), but they come and they go; which is why my mindset with a lot of their songs is ‘This would have worked better with another group’ rather than ‘I hope this group sticks around’.

If SM wanted to pimp GOT the Beat with a song to fill the void of Girls' Generation, “Run2U” woulda done that swimmingly. And StayC’s Young-Luv.com EP also has songs that other acts coulda done with. Red Velvet’s Queendom needed a song like “247”. Rosé’s debut song shoulda been something like “Young Luv”. Taeyeon’s album INVU coulda done with “Butterfly”.

StayC - Run2U | © 2022 High Up Entertainment

The trouble with newer K-pop groups is that they are ALWAYS going to get compared to other already established girl groups, because the look, sound and aesthetic for a lot of these groups are all the exact same. That’s one thing I have to give Girls’ Generation. At one point in time they had a look that set them apart from their peers, and every other group that was coming up. But after Oh!, SM didn’t know how to transition the look of the Girls’ Generation, or their sound. So they ended up looking and sounding like knock-offs of everybody else. It’s tough out there. And whilst girl groups get most of the heat for this, it’s the same shit with boy bands. They all be looking and sounding the same. In fact, I find it harder to tell the boy bands apart than the girl groups, because the material, TO ME, is never as good as what the girls put out.

HENNYWAY.

Let’s see if StayC can stick around longer than the pandemic. Two years and counting.