GOT7 – JYP’s talented group whose fortune hasn’t come

Many people have an unilateral opinion that Kpop idols just need a “big boss” to support them if they want to be famous, and that they will surely have a reputation without doing anything if they work under a big entertainment company (such as Big3). However, the truth is, it is not that easy. Kpop industry is an intense competition with many groups to debut every year. If we look at some Big3’s groups who debuted in the last few years, we can see it’s not true that they will become a super star in a short time if they come from big companies.

A clear example for this case is GOT7. Perhaps, they were lucky thanks to being trainees of a big company like JYP Entertainment, but that was not enough for them to be the top boy group. GOT7 has faced many difficulties and challenges for a long time since their debut to find their own stable position in this harsh Kpop battle.

Amazing debut with “Girls Girls Girls”

GOT7 debuted in January 2014 with “Girls Girls Girls” and was the 1st boy group of JYP after many years since 2PM’s debut in 2008. GOT7 was described as a hip-hop group that combines with martial arts and b-boy style in their performances. This style led to a comparison to their “sunbae” – 2PM who was once famous with acrobatic dance. “Girls Girls Girls” had a fast melody, focused on performing and skillful and attractive acrobatic dance and exploited the ability of owning the stage as well as singing and rapping skills of the group members. This could be considered as an ideal orientation for GOT7 and an opportunity for all members to show off their abilities.

Trying to find their positions and suitable styles

Nevertheless, the digital achievement of “Girls Girls Girls” was not positive nationally. In June 2014, GOT7 released the single “A” which showed a more colorful and brighter image of them. In November of that same year, the group published their 1st full album named “Identify” fronted by “Stop Stop It”. Though the song received a lot of expectations from “the boss” Park Jin Young, who was also the composer, “Stop Stop It” was assessed as an average song by many people. The song was lack of energy, of chances to show off their voices and of something unique. This theme song seemed not to be a wise choice for the group’s 1st album.

Impressive comeback with “Just Right”

After disappearing in Korea industry for a year, GOT came back with a song that was not more suitable with the summer. “Just Right” was a happy song that attracted listeners right away due to its catchy melody and easy-to-remember chorus. Therefore, it was understandable that the song got a lot of positive responses. More important, the song conveyed a very rare message in Kpop – to give prominence to loving ourselves no matter what. Eye-catching choreography, hilarious expressions of the boys, and the colorfulness as well as happiness of the MV created a perfect combination with their concept.

“If You Do” and their 1st trophy

Following the success of “Just Right”, GOT7 quickly came back with a song that had a contrasting concept. Even though they had tried many different concepts since debut, the JYP’s boy group was still in their certain comfort zone with a light, cheerful and easy-to-listen-to pop style. “If You Do” was an opportunity for the boys to prove their maturation not only in singing but also in their styles and choreography. The fast and complicated choreography of “If You Do” was totally suitable with the quick and dramatic melody of the song. “If You Do” itself can be considered as the most impressive and quality music product that GOT7 has released so far.

Having an outstanding comeback with this song, it was reasonable for GOT7 to quickly win their 1st trophy after nearly 2 years of working hard in the entertainment industry. On 6th October 2015, in The Show, the group’s name was called for the highest position. Finally, their efforts were recognized.

The “Flight Log” adventure

The boys started an adventure with “Departure” in March 2016, then full album “Turbulence” in September, and ended with “Arrival” in this March. Let’s explore the “Flight Log” adventure of GOT7 and discover their images and various music styles to see how they have grown up and changed during this ambitious project.

“Fly” – the theme song of “Flight Log: Departure” was about an interestingly new world of a newly formed relationship, which brought an optimistic and relaxing feeling. 6 months later, GOT7 came back with their full album “Flight Log: Turbulence”. They completely showed off all of their energy for the choreography of this song, and it was totally suitable with a quick digital melody and ear-catching chorus like “Hard Carry”. The choreography of the song was extremely sharp, strong and synchronous, and the members’ voices were much stable. “Hard Carry” probably helped GOT7 to “show off” their male characteristic and strength and, more importantly, their obvious maturation in Kpop – from newbie boys to strong men.

In their last product “Flight Log: Arrival”, GOT7 ended their adventure with “Never Ever” which was quite ear-catching with a fast beat. This was also the 1st time that GOT7 had participated in composing and producing their music products. Before “Flight Log” project, GOT7 hardly composed their songs, so this was totally a new yet necessary experience for the members to be more mature. The boys joined in all of the remaining songs of 3 albums (except for theme songs). Moreover, their single sales was also an amazing number that every Kpop artist was dreaming of. Probably, it couldn’t be compared to top names such as EXO or BTS, but to GOT7 themselves, this was a huge progress.

“You Are” and the 1st time being promoted with their own composed song
Not making their fans disappointed, JYP’s boy group brought a very ear- and eye-catching song as well as MV. This was the 1st time they had promoted their theme song which was composed by a member of the group. “You Are” was composed by some other artists and JB, the group leader. The new song of GOT7 was a modern pop which brought a warm yet bright feeling. Their brand new music style was a plus and also an evidence of their maturation after 4 years. The mini album “7 for 7” also ranked second in Billboard’s World Albums. This was a happy news for GOT7 because their ranking in the national digital music was not much positive.

When asked about their feelings for the new album, Jackson said, “We are proud that all of us have contributed to the production of this album. This is our 7th mini album, but it’s much more special because it’s the 1st one that we haved done for ourselves”. GOT7 has kept trying and improving in the last 4 years and when asked about their motivation, Jinyoung shared that, “We keep working hard to make things better and keep moving on”. When he was asked about what he hoped from other members, the group leader JB said, “They are all mature now, but I hope all of us will be more mature and have more improvements in everything we do”. “We have been mature in our own ways for the last 4 years, but I hope we will develop ourselves more”. When asked about what he wanted the new album to achieve the most, Mark said, “I hope it will be an opportunity for us to show off ourselves more. We hope that people will listen and enjoy our songs and that it will make people excited for our next album”.

GOT7 has kept trying and improving themselves in the last 4 years. However, their fans are still wondering if those achievements are enough for a Big3’s group. Will the answer “Yes” in this case be too safe? Though GOT7’s album sales is quite stable for an idol group, it is mostly from their fandom while their famousness is not very positive and has no progress after every comeback.

Conclusion

GOT7 is in a sensitive period when they haven’t had an outstand hit to be on the top. When mentioning about big groups, everyone will think about their hit right away. However, with GOT7, their achievements for all songs are the same; there’s no song better than and can beat others.
GOT7 has many factors to be successful and be on the top, such as: working under a big company like JYP, all members can compose and dance well, stable main vocal (Yongjae), good teamwork, members are from different countries, the group’s visual is highly assessed, plus their ability to attend shows diligently.

A lof of fans think that it is because they do not have a certain or unique music genre for the audience to remember. More simply said, the group may have a variety in styles, but when people listen to their song, it has to make them recognize that it belongs to GOT7.

In short, what GOT7 has achieved in the last 4 years in the entertainment industry is not bad at all. They still have stable album sales, still get small and big awards and still win trophies for their recent comebacks (except for “You Are”). Members such as Jackson, Jinyoung, Bambam are still well-known in a certain case. All they need to do now is to find their own unique music color and make a famous hit that is good enough to bring them to a new position.

And you, what do think about the orientation of GOT7? In your opinion, what makes them can’t reach higher position?