By Julie Jackson
The nine ladies of the K-pop girl group Girls’ Generation made their comeback official with the release their fourth full album, “I Got a Boy,” on New Year’s Day. However, despite not receiving the fan fever that the starlets are accustomed to hearing, Billboard’s recent track-by-track review raved at the group’s new found electro dance pop sound.
“‘I Got A Boy,’ their fourth full-length album, is a confident return home with polished K-pop confections that combine elements of forward-thinking EDM, classic and modern R&B, ’80s new wave, and more,” a review in Billboard Magazine said. “It should more than satisfy not only K-pop fans but also listeners of all types of popular music.”
The girls, who are best known for their cute and innocent qualities, took on a new image and a more hip-hop/upbeat dance approach with their newest release, which received only 5.8 out of 10 stars on the listener-rated chart on Naver Music, an online music site. The album’s early release track, “Dancing Queen” currently sits at the No. 2 spot on the K-pop Billboard Top 100 charts after two weeks, whereas the “I Got a Boy” title track is at No. 36 in its debut week.
However, despite the title track’s less than stellar rankings on the chart, the Billboard Magazine applauds the girls for their attempts to mesh various sounds and genres.
“The girls’ first Korean single since 2011 needed to be one that caught everyone’s attention. And boy does it.
“I Got A Boy” is not one sound polished and packaged for popular consumption (like past singles), but five completely different sounds stuffed for widespread music consumption,” said the Billboard Magazine review.
“I Got a Boy” is the first full album that SNSD has released in more than a year after their third album, “The Boys,” was released in October 2011.
(juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)