Yellow Slug Spotlight: GLAM (GirLs be AMbitious)

It’s a little weird to spotlight GLAM right now as they don’t have much of a track record to go off of, and their members don’t really have defined idol personalities or performances to mock/drool over. Nonetheless, with the ways that I’m kind of jazzed over them now, I figured I’d do one of these so I can say that I knew they’d be bigger than Jesus before they sell out stadiums and we make them into universal overlords.

GLAM is best described as what would happen if Big Bang and KARA made a baby (Now try getting that image out of your head). They display some of the edge and genre blurring tendencies of the former with the fun and joy of the latter. Indeed, what makes GLAM such a great act is this marriage of genre bravery and edge while never losing an understanding of what makes pop music enjoyable. GLAM is one of the few groups who has managed to have it both ways. Where groups like Big Bang can often stray too far towards taking themselves too seriously (and thus end up being unintentionally farcical as a result) and groups like KARA can be infuriatingly insubstantial, GLAM slickly and smartly plays genres against themselves (hip-pop and trot in ‘In Front of the Mirror‘, techno-hiphop and euro house in ‘I Like That‘ and pure pop with a splash of rap in ‘Party (XXO)‘) while never losing a sense of fun  that, at the end of the day, is what makes great pop music. Indeed, it is that sense of fun and lightness that allows GLAM’s talent to shine all the brighter. It is a group that has an uncanny sense of who they are and what they’re good at and it is that confidence which translates so well onto video and so well into headphones.

Now for the members which make GLAM awesome:

Jiyeon

Jiyeon is the leader, lead rapper and vocalist of GLAM. She is the leader in the same sense that Yoona is the face of SNSD in that she gets the most screen time but her abilities as a rapper and singer aren’t the greatest in the group. There’s no denying that she’s pretty though, so it makes sense from that angle. Her presence helps anchor GLAM between its hip-hop elements with pop as she’s a solid singer in her own right as well.

Zinni

The original reason I was curious about GLAM. It’s not too often a young group has a member on it that’s older than yours truly so when I heard that GLAM had a member who was born before this slug AND who was also a B-boy (B-girl?), well I was pretty sure I had fallen in love with her before knowing anything else about her. Zinni is the main rapper of GLAM and she’s solid, not great but not embarrassing. Her delivery will probably end up having as many detractors as it does defenders. Her real asset is on the stage where she can show off her great dance skills and I move to institute a law that Zinni get a solo dance moment in every song that GLAM does from here on out.

Dahee:

Coming to a Waifu Wednesday post in the future near you is Dahee. She may have the bear designation of “vocalist” but that doesn’t do justice to what Dahee does for the group musically. In a group with four, two of who mostly rap, Dahee has the huge responsibility of ensuring that the actual singing elements of GLAM songs go off without a hitch. Her success in that arena is no more clear than in GLAM’s latest single. She carries ‘In Front of the Mirror’ (along with Miso) and her airy, high yet strong delivery is a joy to listen to as well. She’s also stupidly cute and pretty, so there’s that.

Miso:

Miso is the maknae and vocalist of GLAM. Unlike the stereotypical maknae, she’s not useless musically nor does she suffer from being made into a manic pixie sugar rush of sweet. She’s just a very solid singer who doesn’t really put on airs of needing to be anything else. She has a confidence about her that almost makes one forget that she’s nine years younger than Zinni and should be busy learning trigonometry.

Song to Check Out First: Party (XXO)

Talk about a pretty flawless thesis statement for a group (ex-member Trinity adds near nothing musically but her image fits in so seamlessly here that it makes me wish that she was still a part of GLAM). There’s a hint of the genre mashing that would define GLAM’s next two singles but what really stands out here is the joy that GLAM stuffs into it’s music. It’s not that cheesy, fake off putting joy that has infected every SNSD single since ‘Gee’ either. There is such a conviction behind the vocal delivery of every member that, combined with their stage presence and the video’s slick editing, Party (XXO) sounds and looks like everything one could want out of a K-Pop party. If pop music is meant to uplift and make one’s day just a little brighter, than GLAM kills it with ‘Party XX(O)’.

Songs to check out later: ‘I Like That’, ‘In Front of the Mirror’ (what? Their discography is tiny. No excuses, all aboard the GLAM jock riding train!)

Tags: dahee, girls be ambitious, glam, i like that, in front of the mirror, jiyeon, Kpop, miso, party (xxo), zinni