EP Review: NewJeans - Get Up

NewJeans have blown up out of what feels like nowhere. They had people talking with “Cookie” (for all the wrong reasons). But “Ditto” is when NewJeans shot into the stratosphere and everything changed. Not only was the music video concept fresh and a bit different from your regular K-pop video, but the kinda Jersey club and Baltimore club-ish sound of the song was fresh too. Not just within K-pop, but pop in general. It’s been a sound which has always had a presence in the clubs and within subcultures, but has never quite hit with the mainstream the way it managed to with “Ditto”. A song like K.P. & Envyi’s “Swing My Way” from the 90s might be the closest we had gotten.

“Ditto” established a formula with NewJeans, which Ador revisited for their second EP Get Up. And whilst it makes sense that NewJeans’ follow up would capitalise on the success of this song, this EP does make me wonder what more NewJeans has to offer in the long run. And it’s hard to not think about what comes next, when what we get here is so little.

NewJeans’ career can be split into two periods. Before “Ditto” (B.D). And After “Ditto” (A.D). Get Up acknowledges B.D. momentarily. And for good reason too, because it’s not like the songs released prior to “Ditto” were bad and should be forgotten about. “Cookie” controversy aside.

Get Up is very much geared toward being a primer on NewJeans. It doesn’t try to do anything new or make any bold strokes, and I think this was a smart move. We’re in a strange age in music where record labels and acts can’t rely on listeners jumping back into discographies to get a full picture of who an act is, no matter how much they may like a particular song. This is incredibly unfortunate, but it’s where we are right now - even in an age of streaming where people have more access to music catalogues. Unless an old song has a revival as a result of featuring in a popular TV show (i.e Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” in Stranger Things 4), or becomes a TikTok trend, few music listeners will check out old shit. So Get Up being New Jeans 1.5 with a couple of dashings of “Ditto” is a good call. And when you take Get Up for what it is in this regards, it’s fine.

However.

If you are somebody like me who was perhaps wanting to get a little something more, then you might be disappointed with Get Up.

NewJeans - Get Up | ADOR Co., Ltd.

“Ditto” was the song for NewJeans which gave them a sound and effectively defined them. So Get Up doubles-down on this sound, and it works. It’s a great sound for the group, and it makes NewJeans’ music far more distinct than it was on the first EP. It brands NewJeans with a sound and makes them so synonymous with it to a point that I think most will just start identifying anything which is Jersey club or Baltimore club adjacent as the New Jeans sound - which would be incorrect. But, whatever. I get it. Ador have clearly done their job in this regard. But whilst Get Up has a stronger sound and direction for the group overall, their first EP had better realised songs, which felt like actual songs, and not just ringtones and jingles.

I bet Liz is pissed. Because she dropped a whole EP with this sound back in 2014 that nobody paid attention to.

My grading criteria for EPs really changed after listening to Rina Sawayama’s debut EP, Rina. She managed to make an EP feel like a body of work, taking approaches most only reserve for albums. But Rina’s approach resulted in a great representation of who she was / is as an artist. There’s no other piece of a puzzle that you needed to get a sense of who Rina was. It’s all there in the EP. So when artists half-arse EPs, I find it disappointing. And there is definitely some half-arsing afoot with Get Up.

The title song of the EP “Super Shy” re-treads the same ground as “Ditto”, and understandably so. “Super Shy” is a good song, which cements NewJeans’ angle when it comes to their sound. Same with “ETA”, which is easily the best song on the album and the one which goes some way towards bridging NewJeans’ earlier sound with their current one. But nothing on Get Up is doing anything more than just putting New Jeans on the same types of beats. There’s nothing more being pushed or explored. I don’t want to say that it’s ‘safe’, because it is only their second EP and it’s not even remotely a rehash of their first. Get Up displays a shift and a push toward something at least. But I do wonder how Ador views NewJeans’ music. Whether they see it as something which can exist and be built upon on its own, or whether they simply view it as a soundtrack to all of the visual elements of the group, which seem to take a lot of precedent.

Music being used as a soundtrack to visual components is not an inherently bad thing. You could argue that Michael Jackson approached some of his music this way. That Beyoncé has done so. It’s not hard to imagine that a song can be born out of a visual concept and act or a songwriter has. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is probably the best example though; being an act who got into music to pretty much create themes for her product tie-ins, public persona and fashion antics. And what started out as a once or maybe two-time joke, resulted in a whole-ass discography with some genuinely great music. And NewJeans have also delivered great songs. But when I listen to Get Up as an EP, I can see and hear the vision when it comes to the sound, but wonder if NewJeans could ever deliver something which feels like an actual body of work.

Get Up shows that Ador have a definite point of view when it comes to the branding and the sound of NewJeans. They are also amazingly reactive and have continually struck whilst the iron is hot. But as good as Get Up is for doing what it needs to at keeping NewJeans in the conversation, I still don’t think it says enough. The songs sound good enough to rack up streams from all the youngsters who like fun bops, and some of the older heads who appreciate the club sound of songs such as “Super Shy” and “ETA” - both great songs. But Get Up doesn’t really say much about NewJeans at all beyond being a product. And d’you know what? Maybe this is all NewJeans are. A product. An idea.

A group being a product is not an anomalous thing. There is also nothing wrong with it. Most successful girl groups have at some point been nothing more than a product, and then managed to layer something on top of that. But I wonder if Ador has anything more in store. The visual branding of NewJeans is airtight. And whilst NewJeans do have a sound, I feel that it’s being treated almost like an avatar. That NewJeans will just release songs with the same sound, but never really be pushed when it comes to song structures, their vocals or tinkering with the formula. K-pop generally is very risk averse. And with groups where a formula has been established so early, it’s even more risk averse. It’d be a shame to see NewJeans get stuck when it comes to their music. It’s too early to call this after just two EP’s. But Get Up did make me wonder ‘Can they deliver beyond this?’.

NewJeans - Get Up | ADOR Co., Ltd.

None of the songs on this EP feel like full songs, because none of them are. Get Up features six songs, and the runtime of the longest song on it is 2 minutes and 35 seconds. Every song on Get Up is effectively a jingle. Every song seems to have been crafted around sounding like something which would play in a commercial for a brand deal. And whilst they’re all good jingles, they say so little about NewJeans. I don’t need deep introspective songs which tap into the hearts of each member. But SOMETHING would be nice. Because going off of this EP, I wonder if Ador and NewJeans could actually deliver a full length album. Because even with the extremely lean tracklist and runtimes of the songs on Get Up, it feels like they were really being stretched just to deliver this EP. And whilst I commend the commitment to a sound, the EP still runs like a playlist because of the sequencing. Given NewJeans’ Y2K angle, maybe it was intentional for the EP to sound like a mix CD. Except “ASAP” sounds like an intro despite being the last song on the EP. “Get Up” sounds like a mid-EP interlude, despite being the penultimate song. And “New Jeans” sounds like the intro to a tour or an LP. There is a clear narrative which each song ties into, but it’s told out of order.

Get Up delivers enough for those who tapped in to NewJeans at “Ditto”, as it smartly capitalises on the mammoth breakout success of that song. And for me personally, “ETA” is so damn good that I couldn’t sit here and say this EP is pointless. But there isn’t a lot to this EP, and I hope that Ador are able to deliver something more with whatever comes next; whether it is just another EP or a full length album. It’d be a shame to see this group end up like Red Velvet; just constantly release EPs which say and do so little, and place branding and concepts which don’t even fit the group above all else. Ador would at least ensure the core sound of NewJeans is retained, something SM Entertainment are delusional about when it comes to Red Velvet.

NewJeans are in a unique position where I feel they could really play with the way they release and present their music. K-pop isn’t as album focused as some markets (I wonder if this will start to change as a result of the popularity of K-pop in the North American and European markets), and it moves quicker. And I think the premise of NewJeans allows Ador to do some really cool things for the group. Maybe there is never an album. Maybe it’s just singles. Maybe it’s just an EP of jingles, where each song is tied to a product-tie in. But wherever NewJeans do, I just want the music to feel like it is everything it could be. As much as I *looks into the camera* ‘Ador’ “ETA”, it is too damn short and sounds incomplete. And as cute as “Super Shy” is, it could have given just a little bit more so that it felt like it was building on “Ditto” as opposed to just trying to replicate it. And the song works far better with the music video than it does on its own.

NewJeans - Get Up | ADOR Co., Ltd.

I see the vision for NewJeans and their music, and I like it. Which is why I was a little disappointed that Get Up felt so by numbers. But I do get why this EP ended up as it did. I just hope that whatever comes next pushes things further in a way that shows NewJeans are growing, evolving and building on something. Because there is so much potential in this group and they seem to have a great team behind them to help realise it all.

Take Get Up as a small set of songs which sell the potential of the group, and it works. And maybe this was all the EP was intended to be.

Highlights:
▪ Super Shy
▪ ETA
▪ Cool With You