It was a cold rainy day in December of 2023. I was on my way to school, scrolling through Spotify and found this small band called “Korea Girl.” It was a relatively small band with only a few thousand listeners and a singular album, nothing crazy. I was curious nonetheless, so I scrolled through the tracks and listened to “Serpentine” and almost immediately fell in love. Soft shoegaze instrumentals with a pop influence and amazing vocals.
There seems to be this internet phenomenon where old bands get found, usually through thrift store CDs. Then curious people ask the internet if they’ve heard about the band because it’s not on any streaming platform, and through digging, they find the band and give them a resurrection of sorts. Over the past few years, TikTok has blown the band up completely with their track “Reunion”-the band surging in popularity seemingly overnight.
And with this resurface the band has remastered all of their songs in an album called “ Korea Girl: Renovated, and on Feb. 14, only a few months ago, they released a two-song long EP called “Reunion Rawk” which took me by surprise because they never announced it anywhere. Rather than Panchiko, and how their resurrection had been brought upon by a forum on the website 4 Chan, Korea Girl was brought to the public eye by a TikTok trend that was primarily used for melancholic videos.
Track One
“Reunion (Rawk Version).” A fun revamp of their most popular track, “Reunion,” they took more inspiration from rock, but the pop is still present in the vocals. The instrumentation carries more weight, the drums hit harder, there are new guitar riffs that utilize power chords, and overdrive with slight distortion. When comparing it to the original track, I personally enjoy this one more. Simply because the added guitar parts are used as a medium to convey her emotions, which perfectly support the emotional weight of the vocals; they get louder and more aggressive when she speaks more angrily, while being soft and melancholic when she’s reminiscing about her past. Then there’s the delivery of the lyrics. The lead singer, Elizabeth Yi, is fantastic at using her tone to portray emotions that she felt, the jealousy, disdain, anger, and weary deliveries make it easy to imagine what she experienced throughout the song. Though not my favorite, I understand the reason it’s popular. It’s an easy song to relate to. The amount of depth the song contains makes her singing so heartfelt.
Track Two
“Launched” Sung by the secondary lead singer Tobin Mori, this song is a new addition to their discography (as far as streaming services go), and it’s just as amazing as their other work. The influence of alternative rock is felt far more in this one. The rhythm is far more groovy, which contrasts well with his delivery. I enjoy this track deeply, the themes of labels, disappointment, reluctant acceptance, the need to prove yourself, and feeling as if you don’t fit in are some that I resonate deeply with. This is emphasized with lines such as, “Shut me down, shut me up, tell me that I’m wrong.” I think the instrumentation works perfectly for this song because it represents both the sadness and frustration that the singer is trying to get across. I enjoyed this EP greatly overall. I’d give it a 9/10. Korea Girl is definitely a top-tier band, and I’m glad they’re getting the love they greatly deserve. You can find them on Spotify and Apple Music. They have social media but aren’t very active on it, so just a fair warning. Some songs I recommend you check out would definitely have to be “Serpentine,” “Peon,” and “li’l bunch” are some of my favorites, but their entire discography is astounding, so definitely check them out! I think you’ll be taken aback by how creatively and well-structured their music is.
