The summer of 2022 has led to a lot of new K-pop releases, including Seventeen’s “Sector 17” and “Face the sun,” Enhypen’s “Manifesto” and Twice’s “Between 1&2.” One of my favorites: New Jeans’ self-titled debut album “New Jeans,” which was released on Aug. 1.
New Jeans is one of the newest K-pop girl groups to enter the scene, consisting of five girls between the ages of 14 and 18. It has been more and more common to have new groups being quite so young, so they can last longer in the industry.
They now comfortably hold two songs within the top 40 on the Korean music charts.
The album New Jeans consists of four songs:
“Attention” is my favorite track. It begins with a twinkling sound effect that gradually builds up to the chorus. The chorus gives the song its name through the repeating of a high, smooth “Attention.”
The song ends with a few repetitions of “A-T-T-E-N-T-I-on Attention is what I want,” with the final line ending with a perfect beat and the lyrics “You got me looking for attention.”
The repetition of the drawn out and quick soft-spoken version of “Got me looking for attention” closes the song in a full circle.
The title track is called “Hype Boy.” Though not my favorite, it is by far the most popular song on the album. It starts off very mellow, but the chorus begins with a beat drop. Although I liked it when I first heard it, the repetition of the song all over TikTok and across every single K-pop playlist has caused me to deconstruct the song to the point of dislike.
The other two tracks, “Cookie” and “Hurt,” are both strong songs. “Cookie” is a chill song, with a smooth beat throughout, but still remains a song with a wide vocal range. “Hurt,” as the name suggests, is a song about a broken relationship. Similar to “Cookie,” the track’s beat remains the same throughout the whole song, without very much excitement or beat drop.
Both are songs I wouldn’t skip if they came on shuffle, but I would never go out of my way to put them on.
New Jeans is an exceptional debut album, and they have a lot to be proud of. I am excited to see what other music, be it albums or singles, the group can produce.
