Tag: TripleS

When I reviewed Rising by tripleS last year, the group only had 16 members out of the confirmed 24-member lineup. Earlier this week, tripleS made their comeback with their full lineup of 24 members. Along with the additional 8 members, tripleS returned with the title track Girls Never Die, which is featured on their first studio album titled Assemble24.

I find Girls Never Die to be a pleasant dance-pop track. As initial thoughts to the song, Girls Never Die feels well-polished and seamless as a whole piece. The beat in the background felt very rhythmic and groovy. But at the same time, the background is also quite paced, which creates an easygoing and interesting aesthetic. But I have explained in the past that some ‘pleasant’ tracks do have a flip-side. At the moment, Girls Never Die does come off positively to me. But I fear that through repeat listens to Girls Never Die, that aesthetic might fizzle out and the underlying plainness in the song’s instrumentation would take over. Girls Never Die lacks excitement and a powerful eventuating peak, hence why I worry the plainness will prevail. Rather than being stuck in the same gear for the entirety of the track, Girls Never Die should have shifted a bit in momentum, tone or energy. The electric guitars was a nice addition to the song that could have impact in this area, but they were only added to the end, so too late to actually have an effect. As for tripleS themselves, there was some really nice vocals/rapping in the song from the members. Those ad-libs from Dahyun were very impressive. The song itself had a decent chorus, though the main “La La La” feels plain and unimaginative. Overall, Girls Never Die is a good song and starts off their next chapter of their careers as a full group strong. I just wished, like with most songs nowadays, there is more to Girls Never Die.

The music video was quite aesthetic. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise, given how MODHAUS is co-founded by the creative director (Jaden Jeong) who was behind LOONA’s aesthetic solo, unit and initial group music videos. Girls Never Die is a song about girls being resilient and stronger together. And that is what we see in the video. Different members of the group hanged out with one another and supporting each other. I think the following lines in the bridge sums up the music video and lyrics quite well: “If we ever stay together during fear and more, Nothing will scare us now“. When one of the members looked like they were going to give up (i.e., the bathtub scene), we see another member join them later to help them rise back up against their difficult circumstance. The funeral scenes look to be a bit counter intuitive to the messaging/intent. But I think the members surrounding the grave site weren’t lowering a member down (even though it was alluded), given one of the members was kneeling by the grave. Now that last bit is me speculating. The rest of the group could just be there to support one another to the very last moment, but that didn’t feel as fitting to the broader meaning of the video.

24 members on the stage for a performance sounds like a big mess waiting to happen. But tripleS handled it well. They started off on stage and ended the routine as a whole group, but broke into smaller group for the body of the performance to make everything more manageable and less overwhelming. They also performed classy moves that wouldn’t create a mess should a member miss a beat. However, better sychronisation could have enabled an even more refined performance to wow me even more.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10

tripleS is one of the debuts this year that I have yet to review on the blog. Today, I will finally get around to reviewing their March 2023 debut with lead single, Rising, from their debut mini-album Assemble. What makes tripleS an interesting debut is that the group is still expanding via the addition of new members to reach the group’s confirmed 24 member lineup. As such, throughout 2023, tripleS has seen the addition of new members to form new subunits – +(KR)ystal Eyes, Acid Eyes, LOVElution and EVOLution (I will be returning to reviewing these unit’s releases in the future). But as of today, 16 members have been announced as part of tripleS’ final lineup, with more subunits and new members on the way. tripleS’ debut back in March with Rising only features 10 of the members – Yoon Seo-yeon, Jeong Hye-rin, Lee Ji-woo, Kim Chae-yeon, Kim Yoo-yeon, Kim Soo-min, Kim Na-kyoung, Gong Yu-bin, Kaede and Seo Da-hyun.

Rising definitely heads in the right direction in terms of a being a standout debut track. While I didn’t pay too much attention to the track when it was first released, I did turn my head towards the debut track a few times since then. And those few times have managed to convince me that Rising is a likeable track. Rising‘s rhythmic groovy instrumental and beat is quite sleek and keeps the song moving along. It also gives off a subdued vibe to the dance pop track, which is very much on trend in the KPOP industry. The instrumental steers closer to the pop genre as we get into the chorus territory, and I liked the bright and boosted energy they manage to give off during this sequence. The “La La La” in the background is a catchy element that I am surprisingly not tired over despite it being repetitively looped. The instrumental sequence we get following the post first chorus and its flourishes keeps the dynamic energy going. The vocals and rapping from tripleS in Rising is very solid and that subdued vibe comes off in a charming manner through their delivery. But while I do like Rising, there are some flaws and lacking elements that ultimately holds back the track for me. The biggest flaw is that Rising‘s shortness, which I also see as a strength. I liked that Rising is filling, as it does have a fair bit to it in a short amount of time and doesn’t mess around with that. But at the same time, the shortness does mean there isn’t opportunity for Rising to do more, such as having a similar (but not the same) instrumental sequence following the final chorus. In addition to that, I feel like Rising also lacks a catchier centric hook and melodies that could have taken the song to the next level. But overall, a very strong debut effort that I honestly should have reviewed earlier.

The music video sees the group hang out with one another after the sun goes down to dance, watch dance performances with one another and attend a concert of their favourite artists (i.e., themselves). The video highlights Rising‘s lyrics well, which calls out society for saying they support the dreams of individuals, but ultimately looks down on the individual who want to be different. In the video, it is the group’s love for dance that people say they support, but the same people who gives them weird looks for pursuing that passion – such as the other school students at the bus stop. By extension, sneaking out at night probably alludes the members parents do a similar thing to them. But the video also does show that the members have each other and are connected with one other by their common dream. I also like how the video ends with how it started, with the members sleeping on the bus travelling home after a busy night.

The choreography is good, but I think it could have been better. The routine could have been more polished with better synchronisation between the members on stage. I also felt like the members were pretty focused on looking cool and serious, which resulted in the dance moves looking less powerful then what it could have been.

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 8.1/10