K-Bops in K-Pop

Ah, GOT7. My journey with GOT7 has been long and convoluted. From the jump, I was only really invested in may three out of the seven members but I tried to find things to love in the other four for the sake of maintaining my obsession with the group. Of course, that didn’t last long.

Which isn’t to say that GOT7 isn’t talented—because they are. They just haven’t made music that I really like since 2016 (Lullaby being the only exception). I think somewhere along the way JYP tried to make them more and more into a group that resembled BTS, Monsta X, and B.A.P. when all GOT7 needed to be was GOT7.

I fell in love with Identify the instant I heard it. It was such an incredible album because all the songs fit their concept without sounding like replicas of one another, and it managed to showcase their vocal talent while still giving rap line a chance to shine. It was an album that defined GOT7 for me and it is honestly such a shame that they’ve strayed so far from that.

I started struggling with GOT7’s sound around the time they released Hard Carry. That did not sound like a song that GOT7 would have released and I didn’t feel like it played to their strengths. I feel like there’s a really fine line between evolving and mutating and GOT7 was shoved over that line in a really aggressive way.

This is not at all to attack GOT7 because I understand the politics at play with any album and the amount of control that a group has over their own image is limited even in the most free-thinking companies. This is just a mix of nostalgia and personal disappointment.

In any case, I’ve seen GOT7 make amazing music in the past so I have no doubt they could do it again in the future.

What’s your favorite GOT7 song? When did you get into them? Let me know in the comments!