10 months after making their grand debut with hip-hop, EDM track “Tippy Toes,” XGALX’s Japanese girl group XG is back. This multi-talented and multilingual girl group has already made big waves within the music industry with their strong global presence, image, and use of all-English lyrics in their singles. Their rap line (GALZ XYPHER) also went viral with their “XG TAPE #2” performance, gaining worldwide attention that saw GOT7 member and solo artist Jackson Wang exclaim “...they’re going to change the world…XG is the future” in a reaction video for 88rising.

Now, XG is ready to showcase more of what they have to offer, unleashing more of their pop, hip-hop, and R&B infused sounds into the world with new singles "SHOOTING STAR" and “LEFT RIGHT,” released on January 25, 2023. 

Title track “SHOOTING STAR” is a track that utilizes a hip-hop beat in the verses before transitioning into an R&B instrumentation in the chorus and pre-chorus, perfectly displaying the members’ rap and vocal talent. The instrumentation uses an interesting high-pitch, alarm sound effect that listeners might find quite conflicting; you’ll either like it or you won’t, but the more you listen to the song, the more this effect adds an extra charm to the track that you can’t imagine the song not including. The lyrics talk about XG dreaming big, making big moves, and wanting to take off, becoming huge stars in the music industry. At the rate XG is moving now, they’re definitely on their way to achieving this dream. 

The music video for “SHOOTING STAR” puts the XG girls in different concepts and styles with locations and sceneries that are hip and colorful as well as sci-fi and video game-like, as if watching XG as characters in a game or a movie. This music video and its various locations show how well XG is able to pull off any kind of concept, giving fans ideas of what they can look forward to in the future.

It’s not even the end of January yet, but B-side track “LEFT RIGHT” is already a strong contender for being one of the best global pop releases of 2023. “LEFT RIGHT” carries major nostalgia with a heavy ‘90s R&B influence in the beat and through the members’ vocal style, immediately taking you back to the sounds of ‘90s R&B girl groups like TLC, who rapper Cocona revealed to be one of her biggest music inspirations in an interview with NME. While there is rapping involved, “LEFT RIGHT” seems to focus more on the vocalists as opposed to the singing-rap balance that their previous tracks have provided, highlighting their strengths and talents as singers as well as rappers. 

Both “SHOOTING STAR” and “LEFT RIGHT” are fierce tracks, joining their previous releases “Tippy Toes” and “MASCARA” as some of the best songs released in global music. With only four songs released so far, XG is well on their way to becoming everyone's latest girl group obsession with high anticipations and expectations of what they will release next. We can’t wait to hear more from them!

Edited by Rashelle B.