Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
G-Friend are unique not only in the sense that they’ve vaulted themselves from a nugu company to massive success, but that from debut to now, I’ve found all their releases to range from impressive to “bah gawd king this is a legendary bop”. “Fingertip” a deviation from their previous efforts as it was a significant switch in concepts, but thankfully the one thing that didn’t change was the quality of the music.
Sonically, “Fingertip” absolutely kills it for me. The synth-heavy 80s funk sound was the star of this track, and the added modern electronic elements gives it this Daft Punk-esque futuristic twist. The best thing is that it somehow still stays within the range of a G-Friend sound, keeping a few markers to remind us of that in the tempo that will make you sweat, the epic guitar riffs, and a signature hook.
Speaking of that hook, the “tang tang tang” works as an earworm, though I did think the chorus as a whole was a bit more subdued than I expected after the excellence that was the verses. So we’ll see if it has the lasting power of their other efforts, but my initial takeaway is definitely positive. Also of note, the bass was killing it throughout the track, but was especially shining during the dance breaks.
KARA would’ve killed this.
Not only have I found that “Fingertip” get better on repeat listens, but it takes the rare step of actually appearing to get better as the song goes on, perhaps because it keeps the listener on their toes with stuff like the pseudo-rap verse. I feel like “Fingertip” could actually end up as one of my favorite G-Friend tracks, which is saying something considering my love for their other releases.
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As always, G-Friend’s music videos don’t disappoint. They are consistently among the best of all groups I look forward to for the choreo for their releases and “Fingertip” isn’t an exception.
It’s a beautiful music video visually, for starters.
And the dance breaks were impressive, as expected.
It even included throwback references to their previous releases like “Glass Bead.”
And most importantly here’s Sowon and Yuju trying to do their best Nichkhun imitation by running down SinB with their car.
It was always a question of what G-Friend would do once their school trilogy ended, but they’ve handled the transition with aplomb and have definitely proven they’re here to stay. “Fingertip” might actually be more of an evolution than conceding anything from their past efforts, which is saying something considering those will be remembered years from now. The music video was also everything I expected, plus a more impressive visual effects budget than I was used to from them.
In the end, somehow G-Friend have managed to carefully walk the fine line of differentiating themselves from their past and moving forward, but also maintaining a consistent familiarity to their efforts without being repetitive. The formula helps them branch out while maintaining their core identity, and “Fingertip” seems to prove they have the ability to handle anything.
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“Fingertip” Song
‘The Awakening’ Album
