Summer is probably the season most people look forward to the most since the season itself signifies the start of vacation and travel. Unfortunately, the planet has been struck by an unforeseen pandemic cancelling all our summer appointments. Don’t be too sad though, they say listening to music is a form of escape, so perhaps through listening to these summer tracks will make you feel as if you’re in a summer vacation.
Subjective to the author’s opinion, here is The SLY Choice for favorite summer girl group tracks per year since 2014! Take note that the only songs considered were songs released from June to August and sounds fit for summer (for example, EXID’s LIE was not considered though it was released during the time period as it doesn’t have the tropical/summer-y sound).
2014 | Hot Baby – BESTie
First of all, don’t judge me for choosing Hot Baby over Sistar’s I Swear or Touch My Body for 2014. It was a tough decision, I swear (no pun intended). I equally love all three as songs so it came down to the three’s music videos, dance routines, and showcasing of talent, by which Hot Baby was slightly to my preference.
The music video is very fun and pleasing to the eyes. I love that even though the set is very simple and inexpensive, they managed to make it very fun to watch. The choreography for Hot Baby is also bomb! All the girls are crazily in-sync and the dance steps are very enticing and satisfying to watch. Lastly, what impressed me the most about Hot Baby is the vocals. When the group is still active, U-Ji is undoubtedly one of K-Pop’s best girl group singers, but that doesn’t mean the other vocalists are bad! Lead vocalists Hyeyeon and Dahye are also amazing singers, BESTie was actually a very well-rounded before they disbanded.
2015 | Hurt Locker – 9Muses
This one is another hard decision. I had to choose between Hurt Locker, AOA’s Heart Attack, and Sistar’s Shake It by which Hurt Locker was obviously chosen. 9Muses / Nine Muses is one of my all time most favorite girl groups. They had killer tracks which definitely deserved better than what they received. Literally none of their comeback songs are bad.
When Hurt Locker was released, I was struck by love at first sight. Everything about it is just fantastic. The song is incredibly good and catchy, and the girls are stunningly beautiful during this era too. They almost got their first win with Hurt Locker but lost by only a few hundred points, which was a bittersweet moment for us fans.
2016 | Crying – Stellar
Pardon the thumbnail, lol. If I had to choose my most favorite Stellar song, I only have one answer and it’s this song. I admit that I only noticed Stellar after Marionette but since then I looked forward to their music. Not only are their songs really good (I’ll give that to Entertainment Pascal) but the members are also beautiful and really talented even without the excessively sexy outfits.
Wonderful song and beautiful styling aside, what made me really love Crying era was seeing the girls genuinely happy of what they are doing. If you are an active K-pop fan before Stellar disbanded, you may have heard of their hardships because of their company forcing them to perform sexy songs in really revealing clothes. Watching them on Crying makes me realize that these girls really hanged on tight despite the hardships because of their love of performing.
2017 | Red Flavor – Red Velvet
2017’s song of the year, Red Flavor, is phenomenal. No other explanation needed.
2018 | Wag-zak! Lovelyz
Choosing my favorite summer track for 2018 is the hardest part of writing this because aside from Wag-zak!, there is also Gugudan Semina’s SEMINA which I also really really love. If we’re talking about vocals only, then SEMINA already gets my vote, but considering everything, I ultimately choose Wag-zak! That doesn’t mean SEMINA is lacking in any way though, I just really love Wag-zak! more.
Wag-zak! is Lovelyz’ first ever summer release and despite the absence of JIN, the seven girls still managed to do it amazingly. The song is extremely catchy and the choreography is very much cute. The girls really look happy performing this song and are styled very prettily too!
2019 | Umpah Umpah – Red Velvet
I’m in no way a fan of Red Velvet, their summer music is just THAT good! When Umpah Umpah got released, I initially did not care to listen for Red Velvet releases that time continued to disappoint me from Peek-a-boo to Zimzalabim, which really is unfortunate after how I loved Red Flavor. However, after hearing Umpah Umpah as a background song on a Twitter video, I really liked it.
The song is very different from other K-pop summer songs as it just doesn’t give the tropical/upbeat summer vibe but has sort of a hopeful and wholesome feel to it. If I were to compare it to other songs, it sounds like a Disney/Nickelodeon series theme song and that certain vibe made me really love Umpah Umpah.
2020 (so far) | More & More – Twice
Just like with Red Velvet, Twice’s songs prior to More & More also disappoint me. I’m not quite fond of Fancy nor Feel Special so I had very low expectations for More & More but Twice proved me wrong because More & More is a total bop! Not the biggest fan of the music video but the song is really good as well as the choreography. The girls also look very beautiful during this era!
Summer still ain’t over so my choice for 2020 may still change. What’s your favorite girl group summer tracks per year? Drop them on the comments down below!
