There isn’t a single box you can really fit XG into. Comprising seven Japanese members, the rookie group – barely a year old – sing and perform completely in English while drawing inspiration from K-pop. Although they much prefer to call themselves a “global pop group”, even that label is unable to wholly encapsulate what truly makes them so special. It is nothing like we’ve ever seen in the music scene before, and watching what XG and their team have accomplished in such a short span of time is nothing short of invigorating.
Their earlier 2023 singles ‘Shooting Star’ and ‘Left Right’ were R&B-infused pop gems that – excuse the pun – shoot XG into the stratosphere. But the girl group aren’t resting on their laurels with their debut mini-album ‘New DNA’. The project is a menagerie of styles, influences and genres, coated with a cybernetic, bio-surreal sheen. Though we have seen an uptick of these futuristic styles in K-pop, XG have gone all in.
The album’s opener, ‘Hesonoo’, sets the tone with foreboding mechanical echoes and electronic dissonance, against the cold, cyborg-like voices that immerses listeners into the world XG have created. ‘X-Gene’, which follows right after, wastes no time diving into the cyberpunk, hip-hop overtones of ‘New DNA’. Jurin, Cocona and Harvey’s verses are exceptionally fluid, their voices and tones complementing each other as trap beats pulsate. Meanwhile, main vocalists Chisa and Juria make full use of the short time they’re afforded on this track to showcase their vocal prowess.
Album closer and lead single ‘Puppet Show’ is unapologetically experimental, giving the song a personality only an act as versatile as XG can pull off. ‘Puppet Show’ also boasts the best songwriting we’ve seen from an XG song, with lines like “Welcome to the puppet show / Where we play ‘em like they’re plastic dolls / They’ll do anything, anything, anything / When you got ‘em hanging by a string, by a string”.
But, among all the tracks on ‘New DNA’, Jersey club-inspired ‘TGIF’ stands above the rest. Backed by a groovy deep house beat, ‘TGIF’ – an acronym for ‘Thank God I’m Fly’ – is a masterpiece. Harvey’s “You call it cocky, I call it true” hook, delivered in her unique cherubic vocal tone, is one of the most memorable portions of the song, but it’s Maya’s rap verse that lifts up ‘TGIF’ as one of XG’s best. The groups two other pre-release singles, ‘GRL GVNG’ and ‘New Dance’, hold their own on the record as well.
XG have been remarkably consistent when it comes to building and curating their discography, which has only been further proven with the addition of a powerhouse record like ‘New DNA’. With the amount of well-deserved attention the band have managed to garner so far, it really is only up from here, and XG undoubtedly possess the power, range, versatility and raw talent to launch them to stratospheric heights.
