Release Date: January 25, 2023
Track Listing
- SHOOTING STAR
- LEFT RIGHT
XG (Xtraordinary Girls) is a seven-member international Hip-Hop/R&B girl group under the XGALX label. The group consists of all Japanese members.
- Jurin (Leader, Lead Rapper, Main Dancer, Vocalist)
- Chisa (Sub Leader, Main Vocalist)
- Cocona (Main Rapper, Maknae)
- Hinata (Main Dancer, Sub Vocalist)
- Maya (Lead Vocalist, Rapper)
- Juria (Main Vocalist)
- Harvey (Main Rapper, Sub Vocalist)
Observant readers may have noticed that despite being a group originating in Japan, consisting of all Japanese members and being part of the AVEX group of labels, XG is structured much like a K-Pop group.
Other things to note with XG are that they primarily promote in South Korea and sing in English. So let that mess with your head a bit before we continue.
XG made their debut in March 2022 with the single Tippy Toes, followed by MASCARA at the end of June 2022. These two songs show that their thing will be dropping bold and confident tracks with a touch of a girl crush.
What immediately comes to mind are EVERGLOW and ITZY as comparables, except XG has a street edge. What might also pop up in your head is that XG borrows heavily from the YG girl group formula.
This looks like the case on paper, but it’s been clearly stated by YG that they have nothing to do with XGALX and XG.
XG is a complex group to categorize or put into a box. Are they K-Pop? Not really. Are they J-Pop? Maybe if it were the 2010s, they would be, but they don’t seem to check off the boxes of what the average person would think J-Pop is in the 2020s.
XG seems more like FAKY, a talented Japanese group that puts out great music.
So that brings us to their most recent release, SHOOTING STAR. It is unlike their previous songs having the girls go hard during the verses and smooth during the pre-chorus and chorus sections. Lyrically, this is probably closer to the bravado of Tippy Toes than the “bite me” lyrics of MASCARA.
When it comes to the whole song, the transitions from Hip-Hop to R&B in SHOOTING STAR are seamless and result in a very slick track that should satisfy Urban music lovers.
The real star on this single is the b-side LEFT RIGHT which is the closest to a pure R&B song that XG has released. This smoothed-out version of XG is a nice break from the intensity of their a-sides.
Overall, SHOOTING STAR arguably contains XG’s best pair of songs in their short discography. I recommend checking it out and then going through their earlier songs if you like what is on this single.
