https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/80392310/978209151
So, some unpopular opinions.
NewJeans just doesn't work for me. "Attention" was a great debut, but most of their stuff sounds the same. It's all catchy but there is no substance. More importantly, their vocals are indistinguishable from each other. This is a big no-no for me since I value a good vocal.
OOOOOOF. jk. It is true that each member is seemingly not too far off each other.
The substance part...I feel like they had more coherent concepts than most others. They do seem to have a narrower focus on a subject, but I think they solidly make of it vs trying to go all over the place with it.
JYP's stuff the last few years has been a complete miss for me. Everything post TWICE has been very disney channel/kidz bop for me (I love "Fancy", though).
Yeah unfortunately I usually don't have much positive to say. Talent is there, product is not.
Stray Kids lost me when their main vocal was kicked from the group.
Could never really get into them. Hate to say it but with JYP being how it is, I always just SK was just a loose attempt at NCT (although the framework is different).
NMIXX can sing, but they don't sound cohesive as a unit at all. Lily is hailed as the best vocalist of her generation but her tone is nails to a chalkboard for me. I do like Sullyoon and Haewon, though. I was surprised to like Jinni's solo stuff way more than anything I've heard from NMIXX.
Lily has a strong voice, but yeah more over time, it seems like there's not much layers to it and it comes off a bit shouty. I don't know if it's just the direction she's positioned to take with how the songs are written, but it's she's just there to make the song louder.
I think the crazy part to go with it was how soon that album dropped after her departure. It was almost as if it was prepared ahead of her signing to ATOC. Stars kinda aligned and she landed with a mini album with all solid tracks which yes, outshine NMIXX's work imo.
ITZY has been plagued by these issues since their debut. I do feel like the more they flop the more interesting their sound gets, though. They definitely chose the wrong title track this time.
My favorite JYP group, and it seems like their talent and individual appeal have outdone the product that they are together. The stuff is usually decent. Only recent things I notably did not like was "Born to Be", "Ringo" and "Sneakers" and to your point that stings more because those were lead singles. Also getting sick of what appears to be fake high notes that don't even get synced in performances. Existing in this generation comes with pretty strong expectations.
LE SERRAFIM suffers the same fate. I did not like Yunjin's voice
at all
during PD48, I actually think she got worse. On the other hand Chaewon has really came a long way. Unfortunately she can't carry the rest of the group for me. It's too bad about Garam because she has a better tone than the other girls. "Antifragile" and "Eve, Psyche..." are cool but "Fearless" / "Unforgiven" were
awful
.
I'm bad with following elimination shows. In the case of PD48, I'm only more familiar with the end product in Iz*One. But I much agree with the preference in tracks within Le Serrafim's discography.
I think LSF was climbing through "Antifragile". I'm not so down on "Unforgiven" itself, but rather it panned out in a way that made me think they hit a (temporary) plateau vs continuing to build themselves. The production quality is still really good.
I find Yunjin to kinda serve as the base sound of the group. I still think Chaewon is all that, but when she was out for a bit, Yunjin imo kept the group's volume up.
Apart from the fact it should've been a NewJeans song, "Perfect Night" rubs me a little funny about Sakura's and Kazuha's vocals. Seems like the Today Show performance, it's believable they can hit those notes now. Hopefully writers do more with that.
BABYMONSTER is atrocious.
I don't think "Batter Up" is actually that bad, but it's just the makings and marketing of the group that don't leave a great taste and it seems whatever popularity they have largely rides on that.