SF9 fails to make big first impression
.jpg?w=728)
FNC Entertainment’s first male dance group SF9 performs at its debut showcase, Wednesday, at the YES24 LIVE Hall in Gwangjin, eastern Seoul. / Courtesy of FNC Entertainment
FNC's ambitious boy band falls short of expectations
By Kim Jae-heun
FNC Entertainment (FNC), one of Korea’s top talent agencies, launched its first K-pop boy band Sensational Feeling 9 (SF9), Wednesday. The band members said they want to blow a fanfare in the K-pop scene like the title of its new lead single and win the rookie of the year award. However, that seems unlikely to come true in the near future as none of the tracks on their new mini-album have made it into the top 100 of the local major music charts online.
The nine members of the boy band are the first graduates of FNC’s NEOZ SCHOOL, appearing in Mnet’s TV survival show d.o.b (Dance or Band) before the group officially made its debut.
In a month long competition series aired on the music cable channel from May to June, FNC contracted with Mnet to make a program showing the process for the debut of an all-boy dance group or an all-boy instrumental band.
FNC has long been enjoying the success of its previous instrumental bands, such as FT Island and CN BLUE. In 2012, the entertainment company introduced its first girl group Ace of Angel (A.O.A), which suffered a failure with their first four singles, but finally managed to rise to stardom with the fifth after adopting a sexy concept in “Miniskirt.”
The talent agency had trouble deciding whether to follow its tradition of producing another instrumental boy band or to create their first male dance group, and so left the job to the audience by launching d.o.b ― where the company could reflect the audience’s preference.
Unfortunately, the reality show shut down due to low viewership rate. The audience criticized that the TV program was no different from previous Mnet’s idol series with YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment such as “MIX & MATCH” and “SIXTEEN,” respectively.
SF9, nonetheless, beat its counterpart in the show to enjoy being FNC’s first boy dance group and revealed its debut single album “Feeling Sensation” at the YES24 LIVE Hall in Gwangjin, eastern Seoul.
The mini-album consists of three tracks “Fanfare,” “K.O.” and “Together.” The first song is a mix of trap hip-hop and electronica that adopts an addictive melody in the verse with strong beats. The second track “K.O.”, which was already revealed on d.o.b, is powerful so that SF9 can perform a charismatic dance. The third track “Together” is a medium-tempo song on a groovy beat that tells of a man’s hope to be with his loved one.
“We beat the band group to earn the chance to debut in d.o.b.,” said Youngbin during the showcase. “We have many more skills to show that were not revealed in the TV program and we’ve worked hard not to disappoint our fans who support us as the first male dance group from FNC.
The members in the group picked SHINee and BigBang as their role models and the benchmark as the next boy band to sweep the K-pop scene.