Rookie 4th gen girl groups at SBS Gayo: mixed reaction for NewJeans, NMIXX barely covered BLACKPINK’s rap?
At the 2022 SBS Gayo, rookie 4th gen girl groups deliver outstanding performances of 3rd and 2nd gen songs, drawing attention.
On December 24th, the 2022 SBS Gayo Daejeon (SBS Song Festival) was held, welcoming a star-studded lineup. While most 3rd gen artists didn’t appear at the song festival, the outstanding 4th gen lineup delivered an outstanding show, with beautiful stage set ups and covers of previous hits. The 4 performances delivered by NewJeans, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, and NMIXX, in particular, garnered a lot of topics.
NewJeans received mixed reactions
At the SBS Gayo, NewJeans opted to perform Wonder Girls’ megahit “Tell Me”, tackling on a Y2K spirit that is expected to fit them seamlessly. Unfortunately, the remix delivered by NewJeans was slower, leading to their performance having a poor buildup and repetitive choreography.
Nevertheless, the girl group still received a lot of praise for their excellent styling, which perfectly combines retro and modern, with miniskirts, crop tops, leg warmers and iconic hairstyles. Haerin, who wore a cat hairband suiting her “cat-like” visuals, immediately became a hot topic. The stage presence of other NewJeans members are also being praised.
NMIXX needs improvements on rapping
Instead of going way back to 2nd gen, the JYP girl group NMIXX selected “How You Like That”, an iconic song of 3rd gen artist BLACKPINK. Here, tough vocal parts of Jennie and Rosé were well covered, while NMIXX in general was excellent at live singing. However, as “How You Like That” include a lot of iconic rap part, NMIXX wasn’t able to fully deliver the energy of the original song through these parts.
In particular, Lisa’s rap in the song once went viral across the global, and is considered the “killing part” of the song. As NMIXX is a rookie, it’s hard for them to exude the same presence, though the rest of their cover is considered decent.
LE SSERAFIM never disappoint, IVE is a perfect match
Despite choosing “The Boys”, an extremely hard song of SNSD to cover, LE SSERAFIM did an outstanding job, from singing, dancing, to styling. The girl group is currently praised as the “top performer” of 4th gen girl group due to their overwhelming stage presence and dancing skills.
With their performance of KARA’s “Pretty Girl”, IVE perfectly embraced the song’s feminine, sweet, refreshing, and cute spirit. Dressed in light pink outfits that make the members look like princesses, IVE can sway the toughest hearts.
Source: k14
