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This week started with the long awaited debut of BABYMONSTER, the latest female group to debut under YG Entertainment. They kicked off with the single BATTER UP, which was released on Monday this week. For those who are now aware of who BABYMONSTER are, they are a seven member group formed through the Last Evaluation survival show. The lineup of the group consists of Rami, Ahyeon, Chiquita, Asa, Rora, Pharita, and Ruka. But days before their debut, it was confirmed that member Ahyeon would be sitting out due to health reasons, reducing the group temporarily to a six-member lineup for their debut.

My first impression of BATTER UP was that it felt very quintessentially YG Entertainment. The song is firmly within the YG wheelhouse of hip-hop. But while the company has put out songs in that realm successfully, BATTER UP feels like a drag and lacks any form of excitement. This really dampens the whole ‘long awaited’ description to the debut, as it a major disappointment after what felt like years of the news of a new group under YG Entertainment. Even the rapping, which usually is an eventful aspect of YG’s songs, just didn’t add any new or excitable energy to BATTER UP, making it feel even more lethargic and bland. Though, the skill is there. The chorus was so generic and lacked any form personality or soul that turns me away from the song (and if this is the what to expect moving forward, the group as well, though I am holding onto hope they will put out something better in the future). There are two good aspects to BATTER UP, in my opinion. However, both are not in any form a saving grace for the track The first are the vocals. There is definitely potential for the group in this department from what they showed us in this song. I just wished BATTER UP had more worthwhile material to really highlight that potential. The second is the anthem end to the song, the literal first sign of any form of energy in BATTER UP. Yes, such an ending is very YG and has been done so many times before by … you guessed it … YG groups. But in such a bland track, I will take it. Overall, unoriginal and terribly boring. Not exactly the words you would want to hear for a debut track.

If there is anything YG certainly does well, that is the music video for their artists’ comebacks. And BABYMONSTER, fortunately, benefits from this. Visually, the members all looked very pretty or fierce, depending on what part of the song you are listening to. And they all look very good throughout the video. The music video sets looked very clean, the quality was very crisp. The best part of the video is the orange and black spikes in the background during the second verse of the song. That effect looked very cool and was the most memorable aspect of the music video for me. There was opportunity to make the music video cooler, with even more visual effects and stuff. But it was a well rounded music video, in my opinion.

In an interesting move from the company, BABYMONSTER will not be promoting BATTER UP on any music shows. While music shows are a bit scarce at this time, the lack of promotions is an odd path to take, especially for a debuting group. From what I can see in the music video, I find the chorus to be a bit awkward. The “looking at the ball” in a distance felt cringy with such an empty and lackluster chorus. The ending, when the energy in the song picks up, is the only decent part of the choreography. Logically, that was the only part of the choreography that I enjoyed.

Song – 5/10
Music Video – 7.5/10
Performance – 6/10
Overall Rating – 6/10