BABYMONSTER Makes A Debut-Comeback With "SHEESH" And VVUP Debut With "Locked On"

BABYMONSTER - SHEESH 

BABYMONSTER is currently a seven-member girl group under YG Entertainment, after the return of Ahyeon a couple of months ago. Ahyeon left the group before their debut for health reasons and did not participate in their debut "Batter Up" and first comeback "Stuck In The Middle". For obvious reasons YG brought back Ahyeon claiming she never officially left the group and that her health reasons had been resolved. They also declared that everything till now was pre-debut and that this release marks the group's proper debut and they will finally start promoting. So although this is technically a comeback, or a re-debut, it is marked as the group's debut.

"SHEESH" is therefore the debut song and the title track of Babymonster's debut mini album "BABYMONS7ER" that was released on March 31, 2024. As you can see they replaced the T with a 7 to make sure anyone understands this isn't the same group that debuted 4 months ago. They also re-recorded their two previous songs with the new line-up. The album will contain seven tracks including the new versions of their previous songs. The physical release on a CD will come out in only one photobook version. 

Track List 

1. "Monsters (Intro)" 
2. "Sheesh" 
3. "Like That"  
4. "Stuck In The Middle (7 ver.)" 
5. "Batter Up (7 ver.)" 
6. "Dream" 
7. "Stuck In The Middle (Remix)" 

Unfortunately I can't find anything positive to say about "SHEESH". Everything in this comeback/debut screams Blackpink and not in the most flattering way. Everything form music composition, to stylistic choices, wardrobe, MV, image, concept etc tries to copy Blackpink and fails. Like they took all the bad points of all Blackpink's title tracks and put them all in one song. Atrocious, repetitive chorus: check, non-sensical lyrics: check, completely incoherent raps: triple check, pseudo hype-inducing chant-ending: of course check. Although Teddy wasn't involved (presumably), this is the Teddy-est song I've ever heard. Like whoever produced it used an AI to create a new song based on Blackpink's last 4 title tracks. 

This song was also definitely written for Blackpink and a four member group. You can actually listen which part was meant for which Blackpink member. And since Blackpink is a 4-member group while Babymonster now has seven, they moved all the extra members to the rap parts. And on top of that the raps were awful with lyrics like "Vroom vroom', "pump pump pop" and "Click clack click". They were literally rapping sounds. Because that's what these words are: onomatopoeia.

About the music video itself, again everything seems "stolen" from previous Blackpink's music videos. Backgrounds, costumes, camera work and angles. Even the choreography was just simply there, for the girls to just to move and there was nothing original or even impressive.

YG has lost almost everything in the past six months. They lost their big-shot producer Teddy, all members of Blackpink and all members of BigBang. So I was expecting to give their best to get something back with Babymonster. Instead they replaced Blackpink with with some new faces, which although they are very talented, they are still very young and lack the presence to own this concept, which is "I am the best and I have the more expensive bling". Instead of giving them their own identity they promote them as replacement-Blackpink, giving them Blackpink rejects and leftovers. I honestly feel sorry for those girls. Nobody became successful by simply coping others. And this is not the girls' fault.

I admit I had very high expectations for this release because for YG it was now or never, but it seems they don't want to change. I literally had to force myself to listen to this song a second time and I have no desire to listen to it again. Basically it's the chorus makes it unlistenable but overall it a mess. Even if I had never heard of Blackpink before, I wouldn't like this song. It feels so fake, like a patchwork of ideas, like it was created by a group of company executives that all wanted their pitched ideas to be included in the final version of the song, but nobody willing to do the actual production. And the saddest thing is that the album has an amazing song in it, "Like That", which will not be promoted because it is the only song that was not written by YG. This track produced by Charlie Puth and was given to Babymonster as a gift.

VVUP (비비업) - Locked On (락던) 

VVUP is a four-member multi-national girl group under EgoENT. The group finally made its debut today on April 1, 2024 with their digital single "Locked On" and the same-titled track as the album's title track. The group has already pre-released "Doo Doom Chit" on March 13, 2024. 

At first their image put me off, because they are obviously copying the so-called NewJeans-image. Four fresh, young girls, with long black hair and toned-down make-up who can't be bothered to dance properly because they are too cool for it and can just do it effortlessly. But then I listened the song and it was amazing. It catches you from the first note and it gets better and better. as it goes on The girls exude real confidence without pretending to be something they are not. The tempo changes constantly and the melodies come one after another but the energy remains. You may think that would make the song incoherent, but every single part is so memorable and catchy that it feels solid in the end. The girls also compliment each other expertly and that makes them seem more like veterans instead of the rookies they are. I have to admit I don't know anything about their company but the production of the song is perfect and that is a huge plus. This debut was an unexpected but pleasant surprise!