The first girl group debut of 2018 is here! GIRLKIND is a new, hip-hop-driven five membered group under Next Level Entertainment. The group makes their debut with single “Fanci,” a bright dance track with hip-hop undertones. The market has been lacking a hip-hop focused female group since the disbandment of The Ark, but GIRLKIND is finally here to fill in the gap!

Filling In A Desolate Gap

It’s no secret that K-Pop stan twitter has been incredibly vocal about the desire for a hip-hop girl group amidst the usual girl group concepts that don’t appeal to a certain group of fans. The release is only a single, so we are simply getting a taste of what the rookies have to offer by this point, but it’s fair to say that this group has a lot of potential.

While the song is less hip-hop focused than some may have anticipated and covers a more broad dance genre, the choreography is undoubtedly hip-hop based, as well as the music video’s aesthetic. If there is one thing that stands out from this group thus far, it’s definitely the choreography. All five of the girls are very talented dancers, and their movements are very coordinated and crisp.

While the choreography and execution of it is quite flashy and fancy, the debut is slightly bogged down by the song not being as dynamic as it could be. That’s not to say that the song is bad by any means; there just seems to be that special something missing that could push it over the edge into incredible.

As far as vocal talent and rapping, the girls are at a level expected of a group that has been approved to debut. Medic Jin seems to be the main vocal and definitely has the most pleasing voice and range among the members. When it comes to rapping, I’ll admit that I expected more on that front out of a hip-hop focused group. The rapping is on par with K-Pop groups that clearly manufacture rappers in order to fill a certain need, as opposed to the member being a natural talent at rap. It’s not hard to find some stellar female rappers out there, whether in K-Pop groups or not, but it seems that was not what Next Level was going for with GIRLKIND.

Any criticisms aside, GIRLKIND is definitely a group to keep your eye on in the future as the girls grow and develop their unique sound with time. In a time when we seem to be losing girl groups more than their counterparts, it’s nice to see a new group on the scene.