First of all, warning, I have opinions and I’m going to voice them. If you don’t like that, well then toodle-oo.
So. I don’t really have to say how much I love iKON, right? Y’all know this if you’ve read my blog for more than five minutes. I love iKON. I love WINNER. I love YG in general.
#YGTRASH <–me
Anywhoodle-doodle-poodle, My friends and I had a discussion recently when they came out with their full album, releasing two music videos for their songs “Dumb and Dumber” and “What’s Wrong?” The other new song is “I Miss You So Bad,” which is perfectly fine. My favorite out of the three, in fact.
However, we were discussing it and it all just seems…like nobody gives a fuck. YG (not Papa YG per se, but some PR person) is putting Bobby and B.I. at the head and not focusing on the group enough vocally or taking cohesion into the equation.
I love Bobby and am partial to B.I., so as far as them being the ‘faces’ of iKON doesn’t really bother me. However, the group lacks cohesion when it comes to vocals. Now, I think that Junhoe is a great singer. He has a very distinctive voice, so distinct in fact that it doesn’t fit with the other vocalists of iKON, and in a lot of songs, it makes the group sound…awkward.
There are songs where they sound tremendous, however. “M.U.P,” “I Miss You So Bad,” “Rhythm Ta,” and even though it was lukewarm, “My Type.”
I (and some of my other friends) feel like YG is trying to make iKON the next BIGBANG, but…they were toting them as a hip-hop group…so giving them pop-y songs that would suite BIGBANG when you’re promoting a hip hop group, doesn’t make sense. Especially when they don’t have the harmony for it.
To me, if I had to compare (and oh, I will and HAVE):
WINNER = BIGBANG
iKON = 1TYM
WINNER is capable of pop tunes because of the way they are put together, and were promoted as a boy band that does those types of songs. Look at “Color Ring,” “Empty,” “Don’t Flirt” and “Love Is A Lie.” Pop, and the latter two songs had a bit more hip-hop, but they were more pop, like BIGBANG.
However, The pop-y tunes that iKON has, like “Dumb and Dumber,” “What’s Wrong?” and “Welcome Back” don’t fit their group dynamic. It just sounds so weird. Especially for a group that was being hyped up and described as ‘hip-hop’ while they were being promoted before debut.
I also feel like their full album and their double single were rushed because YG was bringing back WINNER from Japan to make a comeback back home in Korea, and they were like, ‘oh shit, promote iKON,’ but since they didn’t, in my personal opinion, take their time with iKON’s comeback, it was subpar to what it could have been in order to fit both groups into this comeback cycle.
So yeah, I was disappointed with 2/3rds of their latest releases. Yes, I am still hoping for something better the next time around.
Thoughts? Comments? All are welcome to discuss below.
Ms. ThugBear 
I’m kind of lukewarm on iKon – I think because like you mentioned, they really lack in the vocal and group cohesion department. It’s like they are Bobby & B.I. ft. some other people, but they don’t mesh together well.
I don’t quite know why because Junhoe has some nice vocals, so they should be able to at least carry the songs with his colour added, but it just sounds… awkward a lot of the time.
*sigh* Much as it kills me to say it about a YG group especially, but I think they really needed some more time to sort out their group dynamics and work on their vocals. It’s pretty clear that YG is going to promote them with the standard pop/hip-hop blend, and sadly their pop side is lacking. They’re young though, and I’ll watch to see how they develop.
WINNER are my preferred group of the two because they sound more polished. A year worth of hiatus was annoying but I loooooooved the pre-release track ‘Pricked’.
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