In the lead-up to XG’s first mini album, the Japanese girl group continue to tease new sounds with their second pre-release TGIF. Prior track GIRL GVNG was a fun — if slight — nod to their hip-hop side. TGIF takes them straight to the dancefloor with a nimble beat that feels like a natural successor to LE SSERAFIM’s current smash Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s Wife.
I won’t pretend I don’t love a good deep house beat. The production here is right up my alley, and I can definitely get down with the instrumental. The problem comes with the song placed on top of this groove. Braggadocios tracks like these are at their best when embracing clever wordplay and lyricism. “You call it cocky. I call it true.” borders on clever if it wasn’t delivered in such a cutesy style. But the rest of the track is just too cringy for me. It’s the kind of obvious “look at me, I’m the best” catchphrasey, corporate posturing that desperately needs to develop into something more original. Rather than cool or youthful, most of TGIF simply feels juvenile.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Yanno, sometimes with kpop or jpop, the language barrier is a good thing. It hides highly suboptimal lyrics. Here, in plain English, we just hear it too well and it sounds uncool. That line between cool and uncool is so hard to navigate.
Also, another song that sounds better faster. 1.1x is about perfect.
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I disagree on the tempo for once – I think it loses some groove at 1.1.
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Honestly their solo and subunit vox sounds better and less cringe. As much as I love this group, they really come off as cringey with lyrics sometimes. Maybe if they stopped trying to delivery bars in such a cutesy preteen way
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Oooh. Interesting. This is the Queencard dilemma again: super catchy song, cringy lyrics. I don’t think the lyrics are quite as irredeemable as Queencard’s though.
A song like this can only be pulled off with the right delivery, by the right performance. For some reason I was thinking that 2NE1 would kill this – with their charisma and iconic status this could be cool and a little campy.
As of now it is a liiiittle too close to cringe territory.
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Now I’m imagining CL singing the “Damn. Thank god I’m fly”. It would even work as a solo song for her.
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Oh my goodness, that would be Fire (excuse the pun). Amp up the camp to 11 and inject it with more charisma and maybe a bit harder hitting of a beat and it would be a classic.
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I hard disagree tbh. I think the lyrics fit with the song well and the girls all have enough charisma to pull it off without seeing disingenuous. Im ngl I think XG is very much girl crush and gen z vibes and if you didnt like that brattiness to begin with then you wont like any of their music. Imo they fit perfectly into what they are trying to do and are prob the best in terms of that niche.
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¿Soy yo, o en algunos versos tiene parecido a “Bouncy” de Rocket Punch?
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Similar, but at least Bouncy had a good drop. Really didn’t care for it either.
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I DONT NEED FAKE GUY BUT AWESOME BOOY DONT STOOOP i’m sorry that intro reminded me how much i miss rcpc, is that an interpolation of something? anyway i kinda like the song’s vibe, kinda like alien superstar by beyonce. this would be great if it had a chorus like alien superstar (or any chorus at all tbh) or if the beat just went way harder as the song went on. potential missed imo
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If they go the Japanese pop route, it will probably get a gajillion remixes. Hopefully one just adds a harder hitting instrumental and does something to make that “you call it cocky; I call it true” line tolerable… or just gone.
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¿Soy yo, o en algunos versos tiene parecido a “Bouncy” de Rocket Punch?
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Similar, but at least Bouncy had a good drop. Really didn’t care for it either.
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This blog’s resident XG hater here to say that I actually liked their styling and aesthetics for once. They substituted tacky cultural appropriation for actual creativity, and it made the music video very fun to watch. If only the song didn’t put me to sleep.
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I can never be a fan if they keep trying to act like they’re cool/ hard. You shouldn’t have to tell us
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It bugs me too. I can stand it a little more from them than most K-Pop groups (particularly in rap sections) just because most of their rap line is actually good and skilled enough to pull it off (plus the pronunciation is good, and while it’s braggadocio, the lyrics are still better than your average “I’m better than you” K-Pop song). The abilities they bring to the table make it feel slightly more authentic to the 90s and beyond hip hop genre… but it still feels like aping without bringing enough new to the table.
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Ok Liked shooting star after a few listens, and maybe it’ll happen with this song, but right now this song is a snooze fest. It’s boringness made me actually notice the bad lyrics and how empty the song really feels. The only thing I like is Maya’s rap everything else is boring. I’m going to listen to Girl Gang and Left right until their next song comes out.
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I have loved most of what XG has released, but this one is seriously meh in my opinion, cringey lyrics or not.
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You singled out my major problem with the song. I think if that “you call it cocky, I call it true” line was removed entirely, or at the very least delivered in a lower register that matched the rest of the song, I would actually like this release. As it is, that one line kills it for me. I cringe every time I hear it, and it completely takes me out of the dance floor groove of the song.
So if anyone ever finds a version of this with that line edited out, please let me know! I’d love to hear what it sounds like without that.
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idfc what yall this right here is pure unadulterated early 2010s camp and i fucking love it
(also one of my twt mutuals was saying that this song is basically lmfaos sexy and i know it if it had been released this year instead of 2011 and. yeah it rlly is if u think abt it)
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The difference being that LMFAO were not playing it straight: they fully leaned in to the camp and ridiculousness of the lyrics. This group is still kind of playing it cool – a little more charisma and explicitly leaning into the camp is needed here.
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