SZA saved our souls

Dani Itkin-Ofer ’24 Copy Editor

K-Pop continues to grow in its dominance in the global music industry, infuencing related industries such as makeup, fashion, and graphic design. For those unfamiliar with K-Pop, it’s an umbrella term, short for “Korean pop,” featuring a wide range of genres, such as hip-hop, dance, rhythm & blues, ballads, and several others, originating in South Korea. During the emergence of new girl groups, NewJeans headed to the top of this revolution. The fve members are remarkably young, consisting of Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein. In their initial appearances, the audiences doted on their youthful and stylish teen looks, characterized by bright Y2K outfts, long dark hair, and natural makeup.

Aside from appearances, NewJeans’ innovative music style is the key factor of their success. Ofcially debuting on August 1, the group’s EP New Jeans— consisting of four songs “Attention,” “Hypeboy,” “Cookie,” and “Hurt”—hit #1 on iTunes in nine diferent nations, just eleven days after its release.

“Attention” combines calm and lower-range vocals with a groovy beat. Fans were captivated by this composition: Samantha Mai ’24 commented, “I haven’t heard this sound from any fourth generation group… I also love the choreography.” The lyrics refer to the exhilarating stages of teen romance. This combination of playfulness and purity adds to the group’s charm perfect for their predominantly teenage audience.

The other two title tracks “Hype Boy” and “Cookie” the students had to sight-read one randomly chosen excerpt of music. While this audition process was common procedure in the past, it was brand-new for juniors, sophomores, and freshman, who had only experienced video auditions in which scales and excerpts were predetermined and sight-reading was not included. Not only was this element of surprise new, but in-person auditions eliminated the ever-useful ability to restart after making a mistake while playing. In the past, nearly every student could re-record until they perfected their video. But, as Adina Olson ’24 describes it, “with in-person auditions, if you mess up, there’s no redo. You’re stuck with that performance and it will afect your score.” Most students agreed that the auditions were extremely stressful and time consuming. Junior Emily Zhang reported waiting and practicing for “over four hours before it was [her] turn to audition.” Despite many being unaccustomed to the audition process, LM students Olson, Zhang, Henry Koban-Payne ’25, Joseph Fiore ’24, Lela Miller ’24, Natalie Chen ’24, Jennifer Yang ’25, Nathalie Bordon ’23, Yiguo Zhou ’26, and Liana Yau ’26 were all accepted and participated in the orchestra. Having this large number of students accepted into the orchestra is a refection of the high level of musical talent at LM. Abby Kaufman, from George School said that, “I’m the frst freshman violinist from my school to make it into District Orchestra in eighteen years.” At LM, there were two freshman violinists this year, one last year, and two the year before. On January 25, LM and Harriton students were bussed up to Perkiomen Valley Middle School, where they promptly began the process of seating auditions. Unlike the initial auditions, seating auditions only involved excerpts from the orchestra music. However, much like the initial auditions, the excerpts were a complete surprise upon entering the audition room. Of the close to twenty pages of music the students had to learn for the festival, a random half of a page was chosen. Those who placed in the top half of their section based on also got their own music videos on July 23 and August 1. “Hype Boy” is my personal favorite, with its vibrant electropop sounds and genial lyrics. “Cookie” has a minimalistic and bubbly instrumental, accompanied by lyrics that supposedly refer to giving cookies to express one’s love. However, listeners quickly caught on to the inappropriate connotations. This alarmed fans as the majority of the members are still minors. The last track on the EP is their B-side “Hurt,” a soft ballad with lof beats. Maintaining their pure image, NewJeans expresses their sense of vulnerability through a mellow and heartfelt melody. their scores from the frst two auditions received the opportunity to audition for State Orchestra, and an invitation to Region Orchestra, of which fve LM students will be attending. While the audition process was a lowlight for many participants, the length of the festival was celebrated. Harriton violinist and concertmaster of the District Orchestra, Hannah Gao ’23, said “it was defnitely more fun in-person than before. I got to meet a lot of new people from other schools. It was more stressful too but that’s part of the fun I guess.” From January 25 to January 27, the orchestra rehearsed Smetana’s “The Moldau,” Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” Hugosson’s “Lament,” and Mendolsson’s “The Hebrides.” Many students were pleased with the music selection. Chen, an LM violinist, said, “the pieces were so pretty and I had so much fun learning and playing them. However, it took a lot of practicing.” Led by the guest conductor Timothy Schwarz (accomplished violinist, soloist, and head of strings at Rowan University), the young musicians from 35 schools came together and worked hard to produce a spectacular concert on January 27. Chen said, “I was really proud of how we played as an ensemble. I am very excited for Regions.” With so many exciting opportunities, these talented LM musicians can look forward to another great year of PMEA festivals.

The EP album sold over 300,000 copies the frst week of its release, setting a new record of the highest sales for a girl group’s debut album. As their popularity skyrocketed, they won many awards, including Melon’s New Artist of the Year, The Fact’s Next Leader, and the K-Billboard’s Hot Rookie in 2022.

After an impressive hit with their frst promotion, fans were thrilled upon hearing news that the girls would have a winter comeback on November 10, 2022. ADOR announced the new single album “OMG” to consist of two songs, one that had been planned since their debut as well as a completely new track.

Despite debuting less than a year ago, the girls have certainly impressed their audience with their musical versatility and engaging themes. As a part of their ever-growing fandom, I too am excited to see what other projects the group has to ofer.