GFRIEND’s concepts throughout the years
a girl group with their own unique sound and concepts
GFRIEND is a 6-piece K-Pop girl group meant to approach their listeners “like a good friend" and are mostly known for the innocent concept. However, this girl group has many layers that deserve to be be seen. Their trajectory is like a coming-of-age series progressing chapter by chapter. In this article I will introduce the labels coined by the company with my own perspective of their concepts as a fan:
- Powerful innocence (Glass Bead, Me Gustas Tu, Love Whisper and others)
- Powerful chic (Fingertip)
- Passionate melancholy (Time for the Moon Night, Sunrise, Crossroads and others)
- Powerful refreshing (Sunny Summer)
- Passionate sophisticated (Fever)
- Vibrant witch (Apple and Mago)
From the beginning the group combined an upbeat, summery feel with melancholic and sentimental melodies. I used to see it as a sun and moon atmospheres reflected in their music as a duality. However, most of the public wouldn’t see past the cute and fairy concepts dumped in this giant umbrella called “innocent”. Even if there is a certain maturity in the elegance of fairy concepts, the nuance is lost for non fans.
GFRIEND is even recognized for dealing with youthful themes around their friendship and evolving through the years. Even so, rather than gradually changing, the group was in a back-and-forth with concepts, experimenting before before a leap of faith. The similarity in GFRIEND's body of work being nostalgia as its core.
Nowadays I see their concepts more clearly thanks to the units from their latest album and I separate them in innocent, melancholic and mature as the three main branches.
- “Secret Diary” (refreshing and innocent) represents GFRIEND early days (officially called powerful innocence for the girl-next-door image and hard-hitting choreography). The song is about Yerin’s and Sinb’s friendship, just like their early lyrics were about puppy love, friendship, encouragement, this song reflects that well. That initial and natural innocence of young girls.
- “Night Drive” (melancholic and elegant), the gfrienaissance during “Time for the Moon Night” era consolidated this one (officially called passionate melancholy), Eunha even joked about Yuju writing the line mentioning smoke. This side is more intense, introducing more adult elements and nuanced emotions, longing, regret etc. The songs are lyrical and poetic… adding sorrow to their until then “pink world”. The until then innocent selves discover the pains of growing up.
- “Better Me” (bold and mature), consolidated with “Mago”, “Labyrinth” and “Apple” in 2020, but not before the attempts with “Fever” and “Fingertip” (it’s officially called vibrant witch, referring to women = witches as an empowerment message). A song Umji and Sowon wrote about self-empowerment based on their own experiences, straightforward and with beautiful metaphors in the right measure, keeping that lyrical aspect as they compare a flower in its own season as everyone has their own moment to bloom. Now they are confident women, this doesn’t erase the past at all, but this is exactly where their journey led them to.
Sowon (2018): We heard the words ‘ForLifeFRIEND’ in the sense that it contained our story in the song. We want to keep making stories and be a group that will last a long time. (1)
A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO GFRIEND ERAS FOR NON FANS
ONCE UPON A TIME…
These six female idols came from a small label called Source Music and established themselves as a top girl group. The low budget can be noticed especially during “Glass Bead” and “Me Gustas Tu” music videos. Despite making noise with their debut, it was the latter that propelled the group to stardom. A refreshing and catchy summer hit with strenuous choreography that was followed by the wintery and epic “Rough (Running Through Time)” closing in a melancholic note the dearly called school trilogy compared to a slice of life as it follows this group of girls during their high school years.
As an epilogue to this arc introducing the monster rookie, the high energy “Navillera” comes with a retro concept and their first full album. Loved especially by the LGBT+ fans.
Highlights: “White”, “Under the Sky”, “Say My Name”, “Gone with the Wind”.
THE THREE ARCHETYPES (IN ONE YEAR)
The group tried a bold change with “Fingertip” and its EP, adding a more mature sound to their discography and fantasy elements to their story. The concept was their own take on the “girl crush” concept, that’s commonly painted as empowering for showing that women can lead the game, but sadly a one time thing.
Sowon: “Just because we changed, it doesn’t necessarily imply ‘we are no longer young girls’. There is a lot we can show, and we wanted to show everything. During the earlier stages of debut, I once said ‘I would like to try whatever fits us at that moment’, and I would like to try this and that. Perhaps we can go back to our innocence, and have variety like that.”
Yerin: “Like a chameleon?”(laughs) (2)
Back for the summer, something they would be known for never skipping later, they released the until then known as classic GFRIEND “Love Whisper” and later “Summer Rain” as a repackage, anticipating the melancholic of autumn and a foreshadowing for a new era to the group. An era that would gather a loyal and niche following in love with the delicate and melodic sound. They could be praised for not following trends, but that costed them a lot in a long run, since the Western audiences closed the doors for the group.
Highlights: “Hear the Wind Sing”, “Ave Maria”, “Rainbow”.
GFRIENAISSENCE WITH DUAL COLORS
After going through 2017 experimenting and trying to find their identity, they came back with their biggest hit since “Navillera”.
“Time for the Moon Night” coined their melancholic and orchestral sound going full with a chilling storytelling, but also doing a back-and-forth with more experimental summer releases.
The closest of a sun and moon duality being pulled constantly. No wonder the trilogy in the center of this era was represented by heavenly bodies. “Time for the Moon Night”, “Sunny Summer” and “Sunrise” are part of a connected arc, while “Fever” keeps the promise that they would always try to get out of the comfort zone.
[…] we have a lot to do in the future. Of course, the color and concept will be different each time. We want to be refreshing in the summer and show a sentimental side in the winter. Breezy, warm, bright, light — we still have so much to do.” (3)
“Memoria” and “Fallin’ Light” are loosely connected with the celestial thematic from the Korean discography and reaffirmed orchestral pop as their special flair that set them apart in the scene and “Flower” gives a different mood to their previous elegant and melancholic songs, being an orchestral-oriented track focused on their confidence.
Highlights: “Love Bug”, “Flower Garden”, “Vacation”, “You Are Not Alone”, “Only 1”, “Paradise”, “La Pam Pam”.
GFRIEND shows how they can remain powerful by changing the way the world views strength. (4)
BACK AT THE STARTING POINT, LET’S SPEED THINGS UP A LITTLE!
After 2019 their agency was acquired by Big Hit Entertainment and became subsidiary of HYBE Labels, since then there were noticeable changes.
The group started the year with a series called “回 (hui)” (a Sino-Korean word meaning “to return”) proposing a more in-depth reflection of their group identity in their music by being self-referential.
We know that the first chapter of the “回 (hui)” series is about confusion and indecisiveness (represented with a crossroads and a labyrinth), the second is about temptation and moral dilemma (represented with an apple, known as a symbol of knowledge and the forbidden fruit) and the third is about confidence and celebration (represented through the witches’ festival), and they are exuding this here. — An analysis of the lyrics and song meaning from “Mago” by GFRIEND
In the idol (and pop) industry every decision is made by the directors, but thankfully there wasn’t a big distance from the singers’ feelings, as the girls said several times when talking about concepts and sharing their stories (one of the perks of being in a one artist company and close to the CEO and staff).
However, starting from 2020 the members participated more closely in the creative input and songwriting, receiving total support to share their own stories and creating their own music. Their storytelling also was put on steroids with more fictional content than they had in the past years. Somehow, being completely intertwined and opening a brand new chapter for the group.
[…] combining the fantastical elements of legends and fairy tales with the raw, straight-forward emotionality of their own lives, GFRIEND has managed to craft an intricate soundscape that’s as imaginative as it is intimate. — Siren Songs: The transformation of GFRIEND
Highlights: “Here We Are”, “Room of Mirrors”, “Love Spell”, “Three of Cups”.
The “回 (hui)” series is over, but GFRIEND is not. Please, stay tuned! — Sowon
GFRIEND is gearing up for a summer comeback. It’s time to give a chance to this amazing girl group!!
you can check lyric translations here!
