After discovering that SuperM’s 5th anniversary was coming up, I was considering doing a review of them. But, being an SM supergroup, they don’t have that large a discography, and so I decided to combine a deep dive of them with one of SM’s other supergroup, GOT The Beat, and then compare and contrast, similarly to my soloist reviews. Will it be the boys or the girls on top? Let’s see.

SuperM

SuperM was the first of the two supergroups created, formed in late 2019 with seven members: SHINee’s Taemin, EXO’s Kai and Baekhyun, NCT’s Mark and Taeyong, and WayV’s Ten and Lucas (the last of which has now left). 

Here are my credentials: I know a bit about SuperM, being a huge SHINee and Taemin fan and somewhat following NCT. But I don’t know the others very well and I’m looking forward to seeing what they create together. Let’s get into it!

EP #1: SuperM

Jopping was their first single, and (probably) the only line I’ve heard of it is the easily memeable “cause when we jumping, it’s popping, we JOPPING”. I will say, it’s definitely a good introduction to the kind of group SuperM is; it feels like a comeback, rather than a debut, feels momentous in a way that’s hard to achieve. It starts with its hook, which is quite a bombastic one, but then, in the way of so many boy group songs from the time, it ends up with an anti-drop chorus. There are parts of the song that work, like Taemin’s verse, the pre-chorus, and especially the dramatic bridge courtesy of Baekhyun, but they don’t go together, and they don’t save the song. It’s one of those tracks that could’ve been good, but keeps preventing itself from actually getting there.

From the EP, I enjoyed the clippy pace of 2 Fast. My hidden gem was easily I Can’t Stand The Rain, with its insistent beat, interesting percussion, and great combination of gentle melody and more fast-paced moments.

Album #1: Super One

100 sticks in the same cooler-than-you trap that Jopping did, but at least it’s honest about its genre from the first moment so I wasn’t punched by an anti-drop. Yet, it has a similar issue, just magnified. The song is honestly pretty good; the verses are expansive and build on the momentous feeling that Jopping started, the bridge is pretty close to being fantastic, and the raps have a great flow too. And then that goddamn chorus comes back and just ruins all of that hard work. It’s incredibly frustrating, and even more so than their first single because it was so, so close to being a very good song. And it isn’t.

Tiger Inside had me intrigued with its title—hesitantly so, given my thoughts on the last songs—but intrigued nonetheless. It has a more minimalistic sound in its verses than the past songs did, like a big cat stalking its prey, and that works as a good setup for a chorus that finally feels earned. It doesn’t go as far as I would want it to, that’s for sure, and I could do without the shouty hook after it, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. To add onto that, the bridge may be their best so far. Call me predictable, but I’m a sucker for a dramatic high note. In my opinion, this song captures what SuperM could be: powerful, cathartic, and compelling, and I wish that their other singles did too. 

One is SuperM’s final single, as of now, and likely in general, given that several of its members have now left SM Entertainment. I was hoping to have something that followed in the footsteps of Tiger Inside, and while I don’t think it’s quite as unique, it comes close. It makes the most of all the members’ talents in ways that Jopping and 100 didn’t, and even better, has a chorus that’s expansive and powerful without sacrificing melody. I have my qualms too, like the iffy flow of the raps or the somewhat questionable lyrics, but those are mainly small, and I can get past them.

To my surprise, SuperM actually has a full album, so there’s a lot to talk about here. Firstly, One is actually the combination of two songs, Monster and Infinity, just like SHINee’s Sherlock is actually the combination of Clue and Note. It’s incredibly interesting, because while Sherlock is clearly the strongest of the three, I don’t know if the same is true here. Almost all the parts I liked in One were from Infinity, but here they were paired with a more minimalist sound and a backing choir too, which really worked. I kind of wish that that had just been the single.

As for the rest of the album, I enjoyed the laid-back tropical pop of Wish You Were Here, the Red-Velvet-worthy harmonizing in Big Mistake, the handclapping percussion of Together At Home, and the clear emotion in So Long. My hidden gem, surprising no one, was Better Days. Look, I’m a sap. A sweet, gentle song meant to reassure the audience that everything will be okay, with touches of gospel and R & B? Sign me the hell up. This was quite a strong album, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I wish their singles reflected this amount of range and talent.

GOT The Beat

GOT The Beat is the second supergroup, also with seven members, but this time female idols: soloist BoA, Girls Generation’s Hyoyeon and Taeyeon, Red Velvet’s Wendy and Seulgi, and Aespa’s Karina and Winter.

Here are my credentials: Opposite to SuperM, I know a lot about each of the members of GOT The Beat; Red Velvet and Girls Generation are two of my favorite groups, I’ve done a review of Aespa, and of course I’ve heard of BoA. But I’ve never sat down and reviewed GOT The Beat’s work, and now seems like a good time. So let’s get into it!

Single #1: Step Back

Step Back, right from the jump, is different from SuperM’s debut. Firstly, it’s a standalone single, not part of an EP, and secondly, while Jopping had a full music video, Step Back only has a performance, which is…a choice. A choice that I’m heavily side eyeing. Like Jopping, though, it certainly starts with a bang, combining a choir chanting in Latin with the girls’ vocals. It’s interesting, the genre they went with, because the song is quite sing-talk heavy despite most of the group being vocalists, and yet you can see those strengths come through in spades. They harmonize with each other beautifully and there are several moments of such great vocal control, especially in the high notes. It’s not the best vehicle for those talents, but I was prepared to give it an “alright”. 

But then I looked up the lyrics. And while I forgive some dumb lyrics sometimes (just look at SuperM’s 100), it genuinely pissed me off to see that SM took these seven fantastic performers and had them sing a song about telling a “silly girl” to back off from their man. SuperM got to sing about how incredible and talented they are and GOT The Beat is just a jealous accessory to a man? Come on, guys. That’s just insulting.

EP #1: Stamp On It

Stamp On It is GOT The Beat’s second (and as of now, only other) single, and hey, at least it has a full music video. It too features a sample, this time from an opera, I believe. Thankfully, this song is much more fleshed out, both in terms of lyrics and in making use of their vocals. That bridge? Great. It’s not perfect, that’s for sure; I wish that the chorus was more fleshed out and didn’t feature random moments of sing-talk. But it’s a step in the right direction. All of the members get their chance to shine, from Karina to BoA, but more than that, they work better together, and when the chorus comes around, we finally see their talents on display. And I hope that this means that there’s better things coming down the road.

From the EP, I enjoyed the brassy interpolations in Goddess Level, the bombastic sound of Alter Ego, and Latin Pop influences in Mala. My hidden gem was Outlaw, with its high speed distorted chorus, cathartic bridge, and new take on sing talk. Do the girls’ talents completely make this album? Absolutely. Did I still really like it? Absolutely.

Verdict: TL;DR

I’m glad I did this. Like I said, I didn’t know much about either SuperM or Girls On Top before this deep dive, and I’m happy that I’ve changed that. While SuperM has way more content out there than GOT The Beat did (another decision I’m side-eyeing), I tried to watch a balanced amount, so I ended up watching SuperM’s friendship test and an episode of their reality show and GOT The Beat’s MV commentary and BTS.

My Top 3 songs from SuperM were Together At Home, Better Days, and Infinity, while my Top 3 songs from GOT The Beat were Outlaw, Stamp On It, and . I wasn’t sure what score to give either one, because they both had great parts about their work and bad ones too. GOT The Beat’s EP is pretty solid, and I loved SuperM’s b-side, but the former’s biggest single is stupidly sexist and the latter has the tendency for just shouting at a screen in the worst NCT 127 way. But in the end, I decided to give SuperM an 8 and GOT The Beat a 7.75.

Not for the first time, I’m tempted to just shout “What on earth are you DOING” at SM Entertainment for all the great opportunities they’ve squandered here. They took 14 of their most talented idols across four generations—Taemin, Wendy, Mark, BoA, etc—and just…didn’t use those talents? It’s so confusing and I don’t understand why they did it this way. I don’t run a k-pop company (and every day the industry should be grateful for that), but it really seems like SM were onto something here, and just let it go.

Next time, we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming, with a girl group review out tomorrow and a boy group later this week. Tschüss!