AOMG is primarily known as a hip-hop agency, but they’re getting into the idol business with girl group Keyveatz. The group hasn’t officially debuted yet, but pre-debut single Key Beats offers a taste of what we can expect.

There seems to be an appetite from agencies to develop this style of swaggy hip-hip girl group. They tend to cater toward an international audience, but most seem to be stuck in hip-hop trends of years past. Trap music has lost its place at the center of pop, giving way to different genre influences. Key Beats seems to know this, balancing its trap percussion with jolts of electronic textures. However, the end result isn’t very pleasant and the song is too short to offer more than a glimpse into the group’s potential. At just over two minutes, I hesitate to call this a song at all. It feels more like an intro. And as an intro, I struggle to hear what this group are bringing that their peers don’t already have covered.

Grade: D+