These MNET survival shows are getting out of hand because I didn’t even know Unpretty Rapstar: HIP POP Princess existed until I heard about the group spawned from it. H//PE Princess is scheduled to make their full debut soon but they’re testing the waters with pre-release Stolen, which arrives in its Japanese/Korean/English version before the full Korean hits next month. The lines between music markets are blurring and blurring and then some!

I’m curious to see how this all pans out. Hip-hop girl groups are nothing new in K-pop, but similar acts (Young Posse) have struggled to gain a foothold in the market. Of course, they don’t have MNET’s substantial power behind them, which will almost certainly give H//PE Princess a head start. As a song, Stolen isn’t ‘bowl-you-over’ ear-catching, but it’s a pleasant take on a funky hip-hop sound. It’s quite limited where ideas are concerned, as it feels like the main hook repeats about two hundred times throughout the song’s nearly three minute runtime. It’s not necessarily an irritating hook, but it does grow tiresome pretty quickly.

More than anything, Stolen needs an extra musical highlight to offer a counterpoint to the loose, cavernous groove that drives the track. It’ll be interesting to see if their eventual title track can strike a better balance.

Grade: C