As fans celebrated Brown Eyed Girls’ 15 anniversary on March 1, I decided to review their most recent work, a cover album of some of South Korea’s hit songs. “Re_vive” was released to the world on October 28, 2019. 

Brown Eyed Girls are a girl group from South Korea that debuted in 2006. Since their debut, they have released a total of seven albums and over 15 singles.   

I remember Brown Eyed Girls being one of the first groups I discovered when I first listened to Korean pop music, also known as K-pop. They were pushing the boundaries of what a female group can do and withstanding the norms of what others were doing. 

The album which features all four members, JeA, Miryo, Narsha, and Gain, showcases each girl’s strengths in their group tracks and each member’s solo track. The 10-track album displays their “distinct artistic flare” as Billboard recalled. The album follows their 2015 album titled “Basic,” which left all four members to pursue their own solo acts for four years.  

I chose “Re_vive” to write about as it is of my favorite album from the group. The maturity in the vocals from their “Basic” to “Re_vive” showcases why the group is still around, 15 years after they debuted in 2006. My most liked and listened to songs off the album are “Abandoned” and “Invitation.”

The girls’ rendition of “Abandoned,” originally titled “The Reason I Abandoned Myself” by Basis, starts off with a ballad style piano. With echoes of “oohs” heard in the beginning, it brings a  haunting yet beautiful tone to the track. The five minute and twenty-eight second song picks up some tension later on as the song moves from soft to dramatic. A small piano scale introduces Miryo’s fiery yet haunting rap that brings the whole track together. 

The music video sees JeA, Narsha, and Gain dressed in white lace dresses in a cobwebbed, abandoned house. Miryo dresses in a black pinstripe suit  Each member excels in their own way through facials of feeling abandoned by the would-be prince. JeA, Narsha, and Gain tell the story of how the prince left them with nothing, and left them no other reasons but to abandon themselves. Miryo raps about how she still remembers the pain and how there is no gravity for what she’s feeling.

The song gives off a Halloween vibe off from the style of the track and video. The song gives off a message of “because of you, I’ve had to do this to myself in order to remain sane without you.” 

“Invitation” which happens to be Miryo’s solo track, is the opposite of “Abandoned” due to the fact that it has a more mature vibe and feels like a good song to jam out to in the car . Originally by Uhm Jung-hwa, one of South Korea’s top female artists who features on the song, it brings a pop, adult contemporary feel to Miryo’s rendition of her 1998 track. The three minute and twenty-seven second song gives off a more diva, flamboyant attitude to the track. Uhm shines with her more raspy tone throughout the song that helps give off the track’s flamboyant attitude.

Although there is no official accompanying video, the song was performed and filmed at an M Countdown Studio M Stage in January 2020. Jung-hwa did not take part in the performance, but member Narsha filled in for her spot. 

The attitude of the track is helped out by Miryo and Narsha’s outfit: Miryo in a short, red long sleeve dress with thigh-high boots and Narsha in a leotard, covered by a sparkly black blazer and sparkly boots.

Brown Eyed Girls have come a long way since their debut album “Your Story” in 2006 and the girls have only gotten better. Their music has inspired countless music and dance covers on YouTube including other k-pop groups like EVERGLOW.

Music can go beyond the borders of just the English language. The energy and the style can just pull someone into the genre of K-pop. Whether you listen to it or not, K-pop has made a huge breakthrough in the last couple of years. 

Natalia Ribeiro is a news editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet her @nataliar_99.