P Nation’s first girl group Baby DONT Cry made their pre-debut last week with the predictable but pleasant Bet You’ll Regret It. Now, it’s time for them to unleash their title track. As with much of the promotion surrounding them so far, F Girl‘s provocative title is bound to raise eyebrows. The agency’s goal is clearly to titillate without actually doing anything controversial.
I prefer my titillation to exist within the music itself, and F Girl doesn’t get there. The song opens with promise, delivering a bouncy new wave beat that offers plenty of energy. The verses aren’t particularly notable, but the production buoys them with enough momentum that you’ll hardly even notice what the girls are doing or saying. But sadly, F Girl just can’t resist plunging headfirst into novelty for its spell-it-out chorus. Talk about a buzzkill! The producers seem to be going for a Chappell Roan style “Hot To Go” chant (another chorus I personally find annoying), but what works in a colorful indie pop sphere isn’t as well-suited to K-pop.
Speaking of producers, one look under the hood of F Girl reveals the reason the song isn’t clicking for me. Like its predecessor, this is the brainchild of i-dle’s Soyeon. Her songwriting has rarely appealed to me and we’re now at a point where she’s delivered enough clunkers to become a sort of persona non grata in my own music library. I just find her work so juvenile and tryhard, sabotaging its best instincts with cloying catchphrases that strain for cleverness and faux edginess. Such is the case with F Girl, and Baby DONT Cry aren’t yet established enough to crawl out from this “Jr. i-dle” sound they’ve been gifted.
Hooks
6
Production
8
Longevity
7
Bias
7
RATING
7