Idol Watch #23: Thai Edition 2024
With some guest writers, we highlight the best idol songs from Thailand this year so far, ft. PRETZELLE, 4EVE, BUS and more
Hi! Welcome to Idol Watch, a bi-monthly companion newsletter to This Side of Japan that’s all about Japanese idols… But today, we have a special edition for you where we put the spotlight on idols from Thailand! You can also check out previous months here: January & February / March & April / May & June
If you already follow Japanese idols, you’ve got a head start into the world of Thai idols. A portion of the Thailand’s scene resemble acts representing Japan’s mainstream, like AKB and its sibling groups as well as the schoolgirl acts born in their wake. But they respect the alternative styles come about in Japan as a counter-response as well, revering, say, BiSH or Dempagumi.inc as canon as they do AKB classics. It’s easy to see why Tokyo Idol Festival has invested in the country’s scene this decade, hosting showcases in their main festival as well as satellite tours overseas. The foundation has already been laid out.
But arguably, the more visible idol groups in Thailand follow the way of K-pop, a scene that’s become the global pop standard at this point. Like its South Korean counterparts, the groups embrace international pop styles and project them through their own domestic-born tastes. I love following this scene because it respects my two favorite idol scenes while revealing their own perspective and standards through their influences.
You’re bound to come across a group from Thailand while browsing for Japanese idol music online, and more and more, that reality seems to unfold IRL with Thai idols making their way to stages in Japan. Thai Expo Tokyo just took place during the weekend before I wrote up this intro, and acts like MYLINZ, RedSpin and Gen1es performed in a bill that also featured names like ONE LOVE ONE HEART and meme tokyo. So why not start now and take a dip into a new idol scene?
I invited a few guest writers from The Singles Jukebox to help present Idol Watch’s 10 favorite Thai idol songs of 2024 so far. Hope you discover something new.
“Dream Girls” by PRETZELLE [54]
Pretzelle has been my favorite T-pop group for a while, and they’re perfect at performing what I think of as the uniquely T-pop sound: cute and chipper pop with an un-serious edge, even more un-self-conscious than the K-pop it’s often in conversation with. Pretzelle’s resume includes light-hearted bops like “Baby Boy” and “Oh My God,” but they’ve never been this sparkly or this deeply uncool (affectionate). This glorious ‘80s synthwave cheese is littered with over-the-top choices: synths ripped straight out of Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” unnecessarily rocking guitar riffs, a chanted nursery rhyme-esque post-chorus, the four girls mugging for the camera throughout the video in a haze of sequins and bell bottoms, and have I mentioned how dated those synths are? But even amidst this whirlwind of retro, reckless abandon that might test any performer’s commitment, not once do the members of Pretzelle let their confidence falter: they’re singing about being someone’s dream girl, but they might as well be addressing the UN. —Kayla
ORIGINAL is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
You can find Kayla over at her blog Pop Excellence. She also recently contributed to our K-pop issue.
“LUCKY BELL” by Gen1es [RYCE MUSIC]
Groups being produced from an idol-survival program is such a standard routine all across East and Southeast Asia at this point, though I’ve yet to grow immune to the kind of song they end up making as their grand announcement to the world. The winners of this year’s Chuang Asia: Thailand, Gen1es go more for cool and sassy in their pre-debut single than the brazen themes that usually grace, say, the Produce 101 shows. “No one bringing me down, that’s a no-no,” they boast in “LUCKY BELL” over a hip-hop beat mostly made of bass, recalling early ITZY in attitude if not in style. But then the song clears the space in the pre-chorus so they can flex their vocals while unrolling lyrics tailor-made for these idols who competed their way to the top: “For so long, I waited for my time to come, finally I can shine.” All that television drama, funneled into a stylish anthem—it’s a formula that has yet to fail me no matter who uses it.
Listen to it on Spotify.
“Octa” by Mirai Mirai [Catsolute]
If Sora! Sora! represent the twinkling school-uniform groups, and Yami Yami their stern, metal-girl alternative, Mirai Mirai offer the third, electronic-heavy J-idol option among the great Catsolute camp with their noisy debut “Octa.” The track immediately weeds out the weak with screeching hard-style synths like ones that might also open a BPM15Q single, and they keep on loading the production with pots-and-pans clatter and more bombastic blasts. That said, the idols reveal their earnest heart in the extended bridge, letting the fuzzy arena-trance synths elevate them to the stars.
Listen to it on Spotify.
“Believe / Not” by HatoBito [Space Idol Co.]
Alluded from their darker gothic styling, HatoBito shift their musical lode star in “Believe / Not” from the royal-road power-pop of AKB to a tougher rock sound closer to ones from like the late BiSH. That said, their classic-idol tastes still shows through as the single follows the “Orchestra” mold: sentimentality over edgy aggression, with lush orchestral arrangement atop lite pop-metal, all engineered to build up emotional stakes as it peaks to its skyward chorus. While not entirely a full-on punk makeover, it’s a good outfit change for HatoBito that hints at the potential for some more new styles.
Listen to it on Spotify.
“Kiss Me!” by BNK48 [Independent Artists]
“Kiss Me” time-leaps BNK48 back into the current post-IZ*ONE times after the group’s continued run of AKB classics—“Iiwake Maybe,” “Gingham Check,” and like anthems from that period. The production does away with their big brass music in favor of a bouncy dance-pop beat with synths that pop and snap. There’s still some sugar coating its attempted girl-crush styling in a manner reminiscent of the tween-girl sportiness of a Girls2, but the sweeter level of sass suits their bubbly character. Feeling their new style, BNK sound off with personality: they can’t get more upfront than the titular hook, which breaks away any bit of bashfulness left in them.
Kiss Me! is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
“Ooh!” by PP Krit [PP Krit ENTERTAINMENT]
The year is 2024, and every pop song comes from the UK garage or Jersey club diaspora. We’re definitely reaching the late stages of this phase of 2000s revival, as the twenty-year trend cycle crawls onward, and some of the most recent attempts are facing an uphill battle to bring something new to the conversation without feeling uninspired and repetitive. It’s especially hard to find a fresh angle within genres that thrive on precision and minimalism, where you can’t just keep adding layers and ideas without collapsing the delicacy that makes them work.
T-pop loves to pull from international influences (This is Blackpink! This is “Say So”! This is Afrobeats! This is… Barbie zeitgeist?), and it hasn’t been immune to the lure of garage either. But what’s made the verbosely-named “Ooh!” a favorite for me this year is how it puts a distinctly T-pop spin on a global trend and, against all odds, makes it feel fresh again. I say this with lots of love, but some T-pop artists aren’t great singers at all, and they have to make it up for it with total directness in their performance, daring you to be interested anyway as they pull out production tricks and rely on confidence to sell whatever is going on around them. From the first measures of “Ooh!”, you hear those gentle shuffles and chill synth chords that characterize garage, and the beat creeps in gradually from verse to pre-chorus to chorus just as you expect it to. But there’s something so specifically T-pop about the conversational way PP Krit drawls out the pre-chorus: “If you like me, just come closer and closer,” he says, moving between coy and flirtatious, teasing with each change in pitch. At the beginning of the second verse, he delivers the line “Stop! You have enchanted me” in a breathy talk-rap, and the song obeys and stops exactly where he tells it to before sliding back into the groove. It’s a perfect balance between casual and intentional. —Kayla
Listen to it on Spotify.
“Situationship” by 4EVE [Warner Music Thailand]
The current run on “neo” garage pairs well with feelings of excitement. The uptempo pacing sparks goosebumps when paired with lyrics about longing, and transforms into sonic fireworks if that love is realized in the frame of a jaunty pop song. 4EVE opt to use the speedy sounds to try to make sense of a very different emotion—frustration.
As the bit of magazine-born slang serving as the title implies, “Situationship” obsesses over the status of a relationship left unclear. The electronic details that would normally communicate giddiness turn disorienting as our protagonist practically grits their teeth trying to figure what are we? Credit to producer Prateep Siri-issranan for shaping a U.K. garage-indebted beat and warped vocal samples swirling around 4EVE to reflect a frazzled mind while still being bubbly enough to stand with any other dance-pop mutations today. The members themselves, meanwhile, sing in a way often bordering on monotone, as if holding back just a little as they attempt to decode the maybe-romance at the center of this “Situationship.” It’s that tension, though, that makes it so exhilarating. Sure, the question marks and confusion can annoy...but it's that sliver of knowing what the answer could be that turns this ecstatic. —Patrick
Listen to it on Spotify.
You can find Patrick over at Make Believe Mailer as well as a number of outlets like the Japan Times.
“brother zone” by BUS [SONRAY]
BUS are awkward and clumsy from the start: “6 6 6 Wi-Fi password, it’s my password in case you wanna use it / it’s from my date of birth and yours combined.” (Try and figure that riddle out). But the nonsense of that pick-up line feels fitting for a song titled “brother zone” as the group attempt to dismiss the hierarchy implied by its title—important that the song isn’t “friend zone,” but even more consequential is that its title in Thai better translates to “younger brother zone.”
Throughout, BUS play mature, or as is more often the case, they fail at playing mature: “Ayo shawty,” sings Nex in a stiff, deeper voice, “what are you doing right now?” The song mimics their attempt to act older with a throwback to ‘90s R&B in chunky keyboard melodies, budget synths that twirl and dance, and buttery vocal harmonies. There are moments where you could almost see it working—Khunpol’s vocal runs as he sings “just wanna be with you” is all wide-eyed glances and electric grazes—but BUS’s inexperience weighs heavy on “brother zone.” They realize the same hopelessness: its key change on the final verse doesn’t feel hackneyed, but arrives with the bridge’s promise of being fine as they acknowledge their relationship will never be anything more. A constant across “brother zone” is the chime of a dial-up phone that begs the other to stay on the line; hear the way BUS let that final line hang in the air like that draft that doesn’t need to be sent. —Michael
Listen to it on Spotify.
Michael also writes about Mandopop on his Substack The Mando Gap. He recently contributed to our Friends Recommends column.
“วาร์ปไปหาเธอ (191)” by KYLINZ [IC45]
KYLINZ seem to indulge in a rather casual love affair in their summer single if solely based on the breeziness of its airy, UKG-esque groove. The light touch extends to its call-me hook in the chorus, its gesture to the emergency hotline cool and flirtatious without an ounce of urgency. Yet underneath the untroubled music is a plead from the idols to not only be noticed by the one they love but also relied upon as a shoulder to lean on. “You can call me, you don’t need 191,” they sing. “No matter where you are, I’ll warp to you.” Though KYLINZ offer their hand stakes-free, you can imagine them in reality camped out in front of their phones, impatiently waiting for it to ring.
Listen to it on Spotify.
“REPEAT” by ATLAS [Warner Music Thailand]
Was there even a chance that I was not going to be charmed by the homage to Cheiron Productions done all over this ATLAS single? “*NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?” defined my playground conversations about pop during my childhood, so I’m almost unfairly susceptible to the kitchen-sink drum-machine fills, the loud slab of guitars and the woozy strings in the production of “REPEAT.” Beyond the nostalgic sounds, ATLAS understand what drives all the machinery to turn as they lay out a delicious piece of break-up melodrama: “Have my heart ever learn from being hurt by you,” the idols sing in the chorus as they nurse their wounds in shame, and the gothic sounds color their heartbreak into something even more fatalistic.
Listen to it on Spotify.
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