Indonesian girl group No Na drop it and pop it in the moonlight, in the video for their song “Star”

Indonesian girl group No Na released their single “Star”, which was new when I originally wrote this post. But Random J pop regulars know that I never be posting shit in a timely fashion. So, now at time of posting, this song and video are a month old. OH WELL.

No Na’s music is a mixed bag. Some of their songs, such as “Honk” and “Rollerblade”, are on some recent Katseye and Le Sserafim bullshit. But “Star” is thankfully no such case. “Star” feels truer to what their sound and look should be, compared to “Honk!”, “Rollerblade” and “Work” — which were each types of messes.

The ladies look great in this video. I like the sound of the song. But I don’t like the lyrics and the melodies…or lack thereof. So many songs from K-pop girl groups over the past few years have had the cadence of Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” and Blackpink’s “Doo doo doo doo” (not a typo), which have been pulled from trap music. It was tired back then and it’s still tired now, and it’s sad to see No Na doing this shit too. They are better than this. Throw their shit back to “Superstitious”.

Everything happens in waves and trends. Perfectly normal. But one too many girl groups out right now are being sold short by adhering to current trends and offering nothing new aside from simply adopting the trend. So many of these groups look the same and sound the same, even when once upon a time they had their own look and sound. The desire to follow a trend and quick-cash formula is hindering a lot of these groups. And to be following K-pop is crazy, because that whole music and creative eco-system is so different to everything and everywhere else. So to just copy and paste it, divorcing it from the K-pop business and culture itself doesn’t really work.