GOT The Beat perform a new song “Stamp On It”, and SM still don’t seem to know what they’re doing with this group

GOT The Beat [From Left to Right: Winter, Karina Wendy, BoA, Taeyeon, Seulgi, Hyoyeon] stood in formation whilst performing “Stamp On It” at the SM Town Live 2023: SMCU Palace, on a set which features a white palace behind them.

GOT The Beat made their comeback for SM’s winter livestream concert, just as they debuted. And once again, I’m sat scratching my heat at the choices that SM have made. Once again we get a filmed performance, but no music video. And once again, we get a terrible song.

As a concept, GOT The Beat is great, because SM Entertainment are one of the few K-pop entertainment companies that can form a group with members spanning multiple generations, going right back to the first. But the way SM are handling this group is messy and not befitting of a unit which is comprised of members from groups who at points were doing A LOT for SM. And in the cases of Girls’ Generation and BoA, those ladies were keeping the lights on in Samseong-dong.

And it just looks bad compared to what we’ve seen SM do for SuperM. They got a whole press tour and a shit load of promo leading up to the reveal of not just the members, but the premiere of the music video for “Jopping” - which was a terrible song, but it didn’t matter. We all knew about it, and the shit looked expensive. SM were investing in them.

Yet, GOT The Beat have been a thing for a year and put out two songs, and yet we have no music videos for either of these songs. No mini album at time of writing. And SM only bring them out for their lil’ livestream gigs.

And we’re gonna get into this song. Because that’s a whole other mess.

I get the sound and the vibe that SM are going for with GOT The Beat. I like that it’s different from not only the roster of sounds SM have their girl groups and BoA right now, but everything releasing in K-pop right now. But the execution is a mess, And I don’t think “Stamp On It” is of a vibe nor a sound which every member is able to sell. “Stamp On It” has elements which are good, but as a whole, it is trash. The middle 8 is great. But everything else is trash. And the song is too damn long for how uninteresting it is to listen to.

In its current form, “Stamp On It” would have worked better if it were given to NCT 127, because it feels like a boy band type of song, and something they would do. Also, the most dominant vocals on “Stamp On It” are the male backing vocals; which makes no sense to me on a song from a girl group with 7 members who can all hold a tune.

It’s a real shame that SM couldn’t have made the song work, because I like the idea of taking songs which would otherwise had been reserved for a boy band and giving them to a girl group - something I feel could have also been the case with BoA’s “Forgive Me”, which also sounds like a song SM would have parked for one of their boy bands. A quick side note. SHINee’s “Don’t Call Me” was originally intended for BoA. So, switching songs across groups isn’t just something SM could possibly do or entertain. They’ve already done it.

It would also help if the members of GOT The Beat looked like they actually wanted to be a part of this shit. BoA looked bored as hell. I mean...BoA looked bored throughout this entire event. She even pulled punches for her own performances. But the faces of every single one of these girls said ‘Fuck this shit’.

None of the energy (or lack thereof) given in this performance was not selling GOT The Beat and making me want to see more of them. And it also doesn’t help that these performances and songs do not play into the strengths of each member. Everything is flat. Nobody shines individually. Nobody sticks out. And you end up with a group which feels flat and doesn’t shine as a whole.

GOT The Beat [From Left to Right: Wendy, Karina, Winter, Hyoyeon, BoA, Seulgi, Taeyeon] performing “Stamp On It” at the SM Town Live 2023: SMCU Palace, on a set which features a white palace behind them.

I really don’t get SM’s creative decisions with GOT The Beat, or the roll out they’re getting. SM’s answer to all of this would probably be ‘It’s Kwangya’.

And the timing of this “Stamp On It” debut is..alot. Red Velvet hadn’t long put something out. Seulgi hadn’t long put something out. Red Velvet and Aespa hadn’t long put something out. BoA hadn’t long put something out. And now it’s like ‘HERE THEY ALL ARE AGAIN’. It’s overkill. I’m tired.

Some of the solo acts of the group have put out songs which were far better than “Stamp On It” and would have worked as a group song. BoA’s already been out here shaking her ass in leather mini skirts to “Forgive Me”, which I think would have made a great song for GOT The Beat because it has impact. Although I am glad it was a BoA release. Hyoyeon’s “Deep” woulda even made a great song. And if SM wanted the girls to have something a bit sultry which taps into R&B, they could snatched Seulgi’s “28 Reasons”. But here we are, with a song which sounds unfinished, unrefined and gives nothing. Nobody is remembering this song a week from now.

Random J Pop | Pop commentary foolishness

Search This Blog

GOT The Beat perform a new song “Stamp On It”, and SM still don’t seem to know what they’re doing with this group

Comments

Post a Comment