Edited by Yoon
Translated by Na Young Gil
OH MY GIRL made a successful comeback with the 8th mini-album, Dear OHMYGIRL, after 13 months of hiatus. The album is doing fantastic on the charts, and it is also keeping its place on Melon’s 24 Hits, a chart which is difficult even to enter. Since their debut, OH MY GIRL has showcased high-quality music. And they seamlessly maintained the team’s identity by showing perfect live performances and create fantastic themes on Queendom. Their singles “Nonstop” and “Dolphin,” included in their 7th mini-album released last year, made their most significant achievements so far. Plus, they established their position as one of the top girl groups among the 3rd and 4th generations of K-pop idols. Here are the top five songs that best highlight the artist’s style.
CLOSER (2015)
“CLOSER” showed the character of OH MY GIRL’s music in their early career. They created a holy and dreamy vibe, and the voice of the members, who are exceptionally skilled vocalists, raised the quality of the song. Especially, the bridge sung by Seunghee, the emotional climax of the song, is the best part. Since the release of the track, great reviews gradually spread among K-pop fans to praise OH MY GIRL’s music. The song’s progress might have been a bit of a safe try for a rookie group that made their debut just seven months ago. But ultimately, it made a difference from other acts.
Secret Garden (2018)
“Secret Garden” is simply a good song. The stable and comfortable progression of melody is ideally suited for listeners than viewers. Moreover, the sound effectively highlights the features of the Swedish pop genre. They successfully delivered a fairy-tale-like storytelling style to listeners by reciting each line of lyrics one by one. �And with the additional help of the follow-ups such as “Remember Me” and “The Fifth Season (SSFWL),” the style has become one of their most iconic characteristics. So, it was a fair victory that they earned 1st place with the song by not going after fancy and flashy style.
Remember Me (2018)
They compared a good memory, which comes to your mind when you close your eyes to think of someone, to splendid fireworks. Combining the beautiful vibe in “Secret Garden” and the glamor of “Coloring Book” makes the people keep listening to the song. They succeeded in the difficult task of mixing the strong beat and fairy-tale-like lyrics without making it too emotional. The bold verses, Mimi’s rap part that offers a significant turning point, emotional pre-chorus, and sentimental chorus all work together well. It conveys the two images of fireworks: the glamor and sentimental. It was definitely the best single from a girl group in 2018, and its rival was “Secret Garden.”
Dolphin (2020)
The song is easy but very addictive. It’s so catchy that you can’t get it out of your head once you’ve listened to it. This song gained sudden popularity after IU, a big fan of the act, mentioned it on her social media account. It received a lot of love for a long time, like their title track “Nonstop” did. Every seven members took turns to sing the chorus to prevent it from sounding plain since the hook has repetitive lyrics, “da da da.” The group smartly used the advantage of having many members. Although the production is very minimal, the hook “He’s got another splash(물보라를 일으켜)” and the witty lyrics made the song very attractive. A non-single track becoming one of their most iconic songs is a significant musical achievement for them. Not only that, the feat is not easy to be won for idol groups.
Dun Dun Dance (2021)
It didn’t follow in the footsteps of easy, catchy tropical house “Nonstop” to become a successful single. If “Nonstop” was their move to become more mainstream, “Dun Dun Dance” is the song that can satisfy their old fans. They put more emphasis on the song’s genre. It incorporates upbeat and free choreography, typical of disco. The funky rhythm and retro sounds facilitate the song very well. And It’s a song that’s hard to perform live since it’s got lots of high notes. But they manage to allow each member’s voice to shine equally. Their stable live performances of the track on music programs certainly meet their fans’ expectations for them.
Editor Yoon: I love music, especially K-POP, and I dream of becoming an A&R person, lyricist, artist, etc. I will cover various articles, including song reviews, artist reviews, and K-pop market analysis.
Translator Na Young Gil: ZAPZEE is the best Korean pop culture community, and I’m happy to be part of it.
