VOCALS!!!

We said in our Pristin review that one of our biggest complaints about groups–especially girl groups–in Kpop is that the vocals of the large groups don’t always reflect their numbers.  So when group Elris announced their group debut after the solo debut of one of their members, we wondered if that meant that single person would be carrying the group.

Luckily the answer is a solid “no” as Bella, Hyeseung, Yukyung, Sohee, and Karin all have the vocals to back up the faith Pledis has put in them.  While they all sound very similar (and that’s not due to us being unfamiliar with their voices), they all have power in their vocals while also demonstrating the ability to modulate to reflect the mood and theme of a track, making them far less one note.

The lyrics, from what we’ve seen, can be generic at times, tending to focus on innocuous and flowery imagery about love and relationships.  This is likely due to the fact that, while the other members are all 18, Karis is only 15.  There have been complaints over the years the oversexualization of some of the younger members of Kpop groups and the lyrical choices seem to be a reflection of that.

The production for the tracks are very good and show of the range of their abilities.  Starting off with an a cappella intro before transitioning into a range of pop tracks that have a mixture of typical and more throwback sounding track, the sound is not generic (with the exception of one track).  There are moments that are very younger-BoA about some of these tracks, but it’s not so overarching that they sound like five copies.  of The overall product is a little cutesy for our tastes, but it also demonstrates a strength and a potential for growth that few female groups on a debut project.

Our favorite tracks are Searching For ELRIS and Miracle.  The most skippable track is My Star because it sounds very generic.