Top Six Memorable Lyrics from 2023's First Half K-POP Girl Group Songs: From NewJeans to (G)I-DLE

We are already past the first half of 2023 and into mid-July.

We have collected girl group songs with memorable lyrics from the first half of 2023 to summarize the past six months. The order does not indicate a ranking but is arranged by release date.

1. NewJeans 'OMG' (2023.1.2)

Lyrics: Ylva Dimberg, Jo Hwe Il, Oohyo, MINJI

Composition: 250, Ylva Dimberg

Arrangement: 250

"Like the memories we made together, my feelings for you grew. Before I knew it, summer passed and it was autumn."

When you listen to K-POP idol songs for a long time, you occasionally encounter works that you think will become tear-jerkers for fans. Perhaps, for NewJeans, this song will be it.

The new song 'OMG' serves as a bridge to the 'virtual existence' Banhee Soo and 'virtual memories'. However, in the distant future, 'OMG' will function as a bridge to 'real memories' with NewJeans. In that sense, 'OMG' is a completed song and also a song that is being completed.

It's a song that makes you imagine what it will be like when the lyrics "I've grown up so much" echo at a NewJeans concert ten years from now.

2. H1-KEY 'Rose Blossom' (2023.1.5)

Lyrics: Young K(DAY6)

Composition: Hong Ji Sang

Arrangement: Hong Ji Sang

"Ugly flowers are picked and cut. If they're pretty, they're plucked again. Eventually, they wither."

The speaker in 'Rose Blossom' is a rose with quite a broad view.

Why? Because, despite the high probability of growing up in various difficult situations, it also takes into account the sufferings of 'pretty roses'. It's a work where the insight of 'rose blooming between buildings' is felt, encompassing both the ugly rose blooming downtown and the glamorous rose blooming uptown. Through savoring the lyrics, I understood why the word 'building' was used.

It's a song where you can indirectly feel what DAY6's Young K, the lyricist, has seen, heard, and thought about the world. As someone who, due to their profession, has seen more and closer roses being cut and broken, the lyrics "Thank you for enduring" do not sound light.

3. STAYC 'Teddy Bear' (2023.2.14)

Lyrics: Black Eyed Pilseung, Jeon Goon

Composition: Black Eyed Pilseung, FLYT

Arrangement: Rado, FLYT

"Make your mood clear. If it's not a worry, don't interfere."

Songs with the consciousness contained in STAYC's 'Teddy Bear' existed in the 20th century, and particularly in the K-POP idol scene targeting younger age groups, there were many similar messages.

However, there is a significant problem with this common subject matter: it's hard to completely erase the 'age mark of the lyricist' in the lyrics. By the time a professional lyricist writes such a message, the young, brash, and sharp emotions typical of youth are likely to have faded.

There are times when you can feel the seasoned lyricist through the self-assertion songs sung by young idols, which sometimes leads to awkward feelings. 'Teddy Bear' was a song that did not cause such feelings at all.

When confined to similar K-POP girl group songs, it is considered the best song since Weki Meki's 'Picky Picky' (2019).

4. 'Girls Reverse' Destiny Team 'Like Destiny' ('Girls Reverse' - FINAL / 2023.3.6.)

Lyrics: Lee Minhyuk (HUTA)

Composition: Lee Minhyuk (HUTA), AFTRSHOK, Joseph K

Arrangement: AFTRSHOK, Joseph K, Paulo

"You know, even if we say goodbye, it's not the end, we're together."

The essence of a debut survival show for idol groups is not survival and success, but failure, frustration, and parting. A ranking announcement event is not truly a debut, but an elimination, with the broadcast completed not by the survivors, but the eliminated.

The reason the song 'Like Destiny' was chosen was due to this perspective, referring not to the debut group Fevers, but the 'Girl's Reverse' destiny team. This song, in many ways, seems to be closer to the stories of those who didn't make the cut, rather than the debut team.

Even though we part ways, the moments we spent together twinkled like beautiful stars, and this parting does not signify 'the end.' We met 'like destiny'.

The 'Girls Reverse' has previously been praised as the girl group debut survival show that showed the most respect to participants. In the same context, 'Like Destiny' is regarded as the most respectful tribute that can be made to participants of an idol debut survival show.

5. Apink 'D N D' ('SELF' / 2023.4.5.)

Lyrics: danke (lalala studio), Jang Hanbit

Composition: Kwon Deokgeun, clovd, PUFF, C'SA

Arrangement: Kwon Deokgeun, clovd, PUFF

"I'll always be with you in your process of becoming an adult"

If a song is a book, often the idol singer is more of a reciter than an author. This is because a team of professionals often decides what melody and lyrics the song will have, and how the stage and costumes will be presented.

This was also the case for Apink 10 years ago, at the time of the release of 'Secret Garden' (title song 'NoNoNo'). "Don't be sad, I'll always be your strength," they said, but in reality, they were not in a position to console or support anyone, and the song 'NoNoNo' was more like a gamble for the team's survival.

Fast forward 10 years, and Apink, with 'D N D', shows themselves as 'complete authors' delivering messages of healing and support. The message of "Believe in yourself as you are" conveyed by Apink, who have tasted the bitterness and sweetness of life as idol singers and faced glory and crisis, carries the heavy weight of life.

6. (G)I-DLE 'Young Adult' ('I feel' / 2023.5.15.)

Lyrics: Jeon Soyeon, Yuqi ((G)I-DLE)

Composition: Yuqi ((G)I-DLE), Joon, Wooseok (Pentagon)

Arrangement: Joon

"I'm still a young adult, just with a bigger body, feeling so insignificant, wanting to use youth as an excuse"

If someone were to summarize the (G)I-DLE 'I feel' album in one word based solely on the lyrics, the writer would likely choose 'disparity.' One axis causing this disparity is the album's title song 'Queendom,' with the song 'Young Adult' positioned exactly opposite.

'Queendom' seems to portray a person inside Instagram, while 'Young Adult' represents a person outside Instagram, and it wouldn't be strange at all to consider the speakers of both sides to be the same person. People often live both inside and outside the highlights, predominantly outside.

Idols, too, are one of the professions that strive to shine within the highlights of society, represented by platforms like Instagram. However, perhaps the depth of the profession is truly realized not when they are in the spotlight, but when they support those on the outside.

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