HYBE’s New Girl Group: Is the Techno-Pop Sound Too Repetitive?

HYBE’s KATSEYE, LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT have all been set to release new music within the last six weeks all built around anti-drop choruses, chant-heavy hooks and a techno-pop production. While each group still abides by a different concept, listeners felt the overall formula for their comebacks felt a bit similar. This has brought them to question if this is an industry shift or if this is HYBE’s new formula which could ultimately be making them lose their individual identities.

KATSEYE’S “Pinky Up”, released on April 9th, leans into the use of aggressive techno drums combining intense percussion, bass, and flashy synth textures. The distorted club production which oscillates between elegance and sharpness beneath a dazzling beat gives the track an afterparty warehouse atmosphere. Furthermore the lyrics emphasize what female friendship means in the form of rebellion, fostering a message of living the present moment intensely and uninhibitedly while fully immersed in it.

For KATSEYE this isn’t a major shift though. Their previous single “GNARLY” introduced the same glitch-heavy energy and helped open a new chapter for the group achieving a whole new level of virality. However, compared to their earlier vocal-focused tracks such as “Debut” or “Touch” this was a very clear transition for the six-member group.

The difference however, becomes more clear with LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT, whose established concepts highlight this shift. In the case of LE SSERAFIM, their pre-release track “Celebration,” released on the 24th uses melodic techno and hardstyle influences with repetitive hooks and dramatic drops. The track is described as an anthem celebrating the moment one acknowledges their fears and gains the strength to face them. While the message does align with the group’s self-love, belief and confidence ideologies, the track’s chant-heavy structure creates a noticeably different listening experience, making the structure of the track feel thin and empty compared to tracks such as “EASY” and “Anti-Fragile”

ILLIT also faces a similar reaction. After the success of “Not Cute Anymore” strengthened the group’s softer, more whimsical identity with their magical girls concept, the release of “It’s Me” on April 30th surprised listeners. The track consists of a more techno-driven foundation, sticking to repetition and less vocal-focused verses. The only vocal moment comes in the pre-chorus before it switches up to the repetitive chant-focused chorus. While this comeback allows for ILLIT to experiment with their musical spectrum, the timing of the release places them within the same structural space as recent releases from other HYBE girl groups. It feels as if they have lost that “magical” touch and instead have aligned themselves more with a wider production trend.

The similarity between all three releases begins to reflect a wider industry shift away from melody-driven songs to personality-driven ones as groups want to encompass a vibe rather than delivering a feeling. Rather than building songs around large vocal choruses, these tracks focus more on virality through repeated phrases and instantly recognizable choreographies. The goal is now to make audiences remember a moment that they can easily share and that companies can ultimately capitalize on.

This structure tends to work best on short-form platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, where a repeated performance challenge can travel faster and garner attention quickly. Through replays, choreography moments and global pop accessibility, it shifts the conversation away from the talents of the artist and instead to talk about the song as something ‘controversial’ thus bringing ultimately more attention to the artist. This can be seen with KATSEYE’s “Gnarly” as it was the short-form content that ultimately made the song gain a massive turnaround in public opinion in just three short weeks. This later turned into more attention to what the group would do next.

In addition, this formula can also create a clear concern as many of these groups are known for having strong vocalists. Artists such as Huh Yunjin, Sophia Laforteza, Par Min-ju and Lara Raj have proved their vocal ability whether it be through live stages, covers or previous releases. Fans love their vocals and the issue that arises with these types of tracks are that they seemingly begin to hide their vocal abilities. The anti-drop structure limits their vocals, replacing any type of melodic payoff with a chant-driven hook. Here, the concern is not simply a genre preference thing, rather whether the strongest vocalists being underused in favor of a trend-driven track could lead them to lose practice of their strong ranges.

What feels most strange about this approach is that the groups seemingly seem to be losing their own uniqueness, their sound and individual concept that has set them apart from others before. Furthermore, the overuse of this trend-driven formula could make fans stop associating a specific sound with the groups. Rather than saying “This sounds like an XYZ artist” they will begin saying “This is a HYBE sound” which continues to strip the own identity of the artist meshing them all together into one

For KATSEYE this shift feels more natural whereas for LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT, it could throw off the musical identity that they have already established for themselves. Which is not to say artists are not allowed to experiment with their artistry, but the timing and overuse of these genres could not just make them chart weaker but could also be the reason why fans could start to feel less connected to the group.

Another consequence of this for HYBE moving forward could be that if all their groups begin to have the same sound, it leaves a gap in their market or genre catalog for other groups to ‘take’ those listeners and thus that revenue and attention away.

Anti-drop techno-pop is not the problem itself as it is not a new genre nor are these artists the first to use it within the K-Pop industry. Rather the issue is whether the formula later on becomes stronger than the artist’s identity. While HYBE might have found it to be strong on a short-term basis, the long-term fandom and support depends on the group’s identity.