Girl group RESCENE have gone viral several times in their career, but this latest boom seems to be sticking. Their 2024 highlight Love Attack has been lodged in MelOn‘s top ten for awhile now. In fact, as of writing this review, it just hit number one. Rather than attempt to steal that song’s spotlight with new material, the girls have opted to come back with a remake of a K-pop classic.
Pretty Girl was originally released way back in 2008 by legendary girl group Kara. Though far from my favorite Kara single, it’s one of a handful of tracks that helped bring producers Sweetune to prominence. As delighted as I am to see RESCENE’s 2026 success, I’d be even happier if their Pretty Girl smashed the charts and somehow beckoned Sweetune out of the cave they’ve been hiding in for the past few years. There is no greater K-pop producer and those in charge of this remake seem to know this because they’ve changed barely anything about the original.
Because of this, it’s hard to rate this version of Pretty Girl. I have the original at an “8.75,” though objectively it probably deserves higher for its impact alone. This update bolsters the instrumental a bit but misses the iconic vocal layering that makes Sweetune songs so unique. RESCENE do a fine job with the material and if nothing else I hope it inspires newer fans to check out the original and Kara’s discography as a whole. Now that we’ve remade a classic, can we get new material within this same musical vein?
Hooks
9
Production
8
Longevity
9
Bias
9
RATING
8.75