I’ve talked about Kep1er (pronounced “kepler” as it appears, just like the person) a lot in the last several months, haven’t I? I mean, you can’t really blame me; I’ve been looking forward to the group’s debut since Girls Planet 999 started in Aug. 2021! First Impact was originally going to be released on Dec. 14, but was postponed due to one of Kep1er’s staff members testing positive for COVID-19 the week before the group’s debut. Out of caution, the group’s activities were halted until Jan. 3, when Kep1er finally debuted! I discussed the lineup and my thoughts on it back in my article about Girls Planet 999, but now that they’re finally debuting, I’m just really excited for them all!
Let me refresh you all on the final lineup and positions as best I can given the information I could find online. From ninth place to first: Shen Xiaoting (C), Sakamoto Mashiro (J, co-leader), Ezaki Hikaru (J), Kang Yeseo (K, maknae), Seo Youngeun (K), Kim Dayeon (K), Choi Yujin (K, leader), Huening Bahiyyih (K) and Kim Chaehyun (K). (Note: no other positions such as vocalist, rapper, etc. are listed online.)
Of them, three of the members (Yujin, Yeseo and Hikaru) have experience from previous groups, and as seen by the notation, three of the members are not Korean. I did talk a bit in my previous article about Girls Planet 999 and its claims of being a global girl group despite having only three non-Korean members (though Bahiyyih is Korean-American), but I won’t go into that here. Also a fun fact, there’s a ten-year age difference between Yujin and Yeseo, the oldest and youngest. This is notable to me given that these two arguably have the most experience in actually performing with a K-pop group, as Yujin has been a member of the group CLC for seven years and Yeseo was previously in the groups CutieL for three years and Busters for one.
Of course, like most groups formed from shows like Girls Planet 999, they’re on a special contract through WAKEONE and Swing Entertainment (since most of the members are from different entertainment companies) that only lasts roughly two and a half years, though that in itself is a fairly lengthy contract. And I’ll be here (hopefully) throughout it all to share their strengths! I’m here bright and early, 6:44 a.m., with my coffee, so without further ado, here is Kep1er’s first mini album, First Impact!
“See The Light”: 6/10
“See The Light” is one of three new songs for the album, and actually kind of surprised me the first time I heard it. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it fits the vibes of “Wa Da Da” in terms of energy, though the sound is definitely distinct. I still haven’t gotten too good at explaining this sort of thing in words yet, but it kind of reminds me of Oh My Girl’s song “Neon,” and once I drew that connection, I could imagine Kep1er performing this song on a stage of neon lights. It’s incredibly short, probably meant to serve as a group introduction, which some albums have, so I’m going to give this a six.
“Wa Da Da”: 9/10
“Wa Da Da” serves as the title piece for this group’s debut, and before writing this section I listened to it twice for the music video and showcase stage sections of this article. It’s already stuck in my head! I actually put it on for a third time while writing this. It’s so catchy and full of energy, with the rap section being split up between members, too, since they’ve all proven to be good with rapping. I think this is going on my “Best Of” playlist immediately, so I’m also giving the song a nine out of ten!
“MVSK”: 6/10
“MVSK” is the second full-length new song for First Impact, and definitely has a unique sound to it. While I love the verses, I’m not the biggest fan of the chorus. It kind of reminds me of some of ITZY’s songs in terms of the overall sound quality, and it has some nice-looking choreography to boot. All-around, not a bad way to kick off Kep1er’s debut, especially once the section near the end that shows off their harmonies kicks in. Still, I’m not a personal fan, so I’m giving this a six.
“Shine (Kep1er ver.)”: 9/10
“Shine” was created for Girls Planet 999 as a sort of final competition between the remaining eighteen contestants in the final episode. The format of that was a bit complicated, but long story short, it’s a really fun and energetic song.
I loved seeing the choreography for this song again, since it’s really a huge part of the energy of the song, but it’s also time to appreciate the vocals of this song! I think the lines were split in a way that’s able to highlight everyone’s charms, though I did note that some members clearly had more lines than others, which I’ll discuss a little later in the article.
As for now, I’m still a huge fan of this song, and it’s going on my “Best Of” playlist with a final score of nine!
“Another Dream (Kep1er ver.)”: 8/10
“Another Dream” is one of the songs created specifically for Girls Planet 999, also debuting in final episode with “Shine.” It’s mean to symbolize the final debut group and the contestants who weren’t able to make it, and I found it very emotional the first time I heard it (though I was also itching to get to the final eliminations faster than Mnet was dragging it out).
It’s interesting to me especially, since this is an arrangement for half of who originally performed “Another Dream.” It still has the same smooth sound that really makes everything feel celestial, if that makes sense. It really is a good song, a nice slow one to add to the energy of some of the other songs on First Impact, and helps show off the vocals of the group and even how they’ve improved since the finale in Oct. 2021. I think this song has earned itself an eight out of ten!
“O.O.O (Over&Over&Over) (Kep1er ver.)”: 7/10
“O.O.O (Over&Over&Over),” as you may recall, was the signal song/theme song for Girls Planet 999. We got to hear it so many times throughout the show’s run, and it really grew on me fast. Knowing that, even within the show we never saw this specific lineup perform the song together as a group.
There’s a choreography practice for this song posted to the group’s Youtube page, but I really like just listening to how the vocals are split up between the members. According to a Youtube comment, which seems to be true given the choreography practice, the song was split up line-wise from first place to ninth, which upon listening, sounds about correct. I’m not exactly sure that was the right way to split it up for fairness to all the members, but I have to admit, it does sound pretty good. Of course, I’ll be adding this version to my “Best Of” playlist despite having the original 99-member version on it already, just because I really like this group and the song. However, I think I’m only going to give this a seven out of ten, since I do think the lines could’ve been split up in a better way.
Music Video/Concept: 10/10
So normally, with most reviews I do, I don’t say much about the music video, since I don’t know the most about production or set design, that kind of thing (though I did take a Stage & Screen class in high school, shout out to my old teacher if she’s reading this!). That’s why this time, I thought I would tie it into the overall concept of the album and Kep1er so far, as concepts can shift from comeback to comeback. Since throughout Girls Planet 999 some of these contestants were regularly put into specific concepts (like Hikaru being in more mature, darker concepts compared to Bahiyyih in cuter concepts), I thought it would be interesting to see what the first mini album would follow.
The music video, right from the start, was really visually pleasing, showing off all the members and the elaborate sets they had. I think it really embraced the sort of “universe” theme that Girls Planet 999 had in the best way, with different galaxy and planet themes throughout. Something I really liked about the music video itself was that it was easy to tell who was singing which lines, which is great for people putting together lyric videos without referencing the live stage. Needless to say at this point, I really enjoyed it! The contrast between the lighter and darker themes throughout the video was perfect for the individual concepts each member seems to best fit. I have no choice but to give this a ten out of ten!
Showcase Stage: 8/10
Just as with the music video, I think the live stage (linked above) for “Wa Da Da” did a great job at highlighting the members, thanks in part to the choreography I’ll discuss in a second. The outfits were both fantastically on-point for the concept and seemingly easy to move in, a staple for live stages with choreography. I think this is one of the best debut stages, with the best kind of stage presence, I’ve seen in a while. A lot of the members have really good stage presence already, and this stage just solidifies that. I think I’m going to give this stage an eight out of ten; it’s clear that they aren’t singing live with this performance, unfortunately, so I’m docking a couple points for now.
Choreography: 9/10
With dancers like Dayeon in the lineup, I was really excited to see the kind of choreography that would be present from debut. She gave a great performance in “Ice Cream” during Girls Planet 999, and the other members certainly didn’t lack dance skills, either.
The choreography for “Wa Da Da,” as seen in the showcase stage linked above, looks like so much fun, honestly. It fits the concept and song perfectly, giving a chance for all the members to be highlighted at their best and just look like they’re having an amazing time while performing. That, for me, is something I look for: chemistry between the members. There’s no question that Kep1er has that! Quite honestly, after having seen some of these members compete in dance-heavy songs on Girls Planet 999, I was really excited to see what they would be doing with their debut choreography, and clearly they aren’t messing around. I’ll give this one a nine out of ten!
Line Distribution: 5/10
Since I watched all of Girls Planet 999 and still listen to some of the covers of songs the contestants performed, I’m more familiar with their voices than LIGHTSUM’s, though less so than Oh My Girl, so I’m relying both on myself and any line distribution and lyric videos I can find to score this. Knowing the popularity of certain member over slightly less-popular members, and without knowing their official positions yet, I have a feeling that the line distribution is going to be skewed towards those who are more popular, or towards those who have the position of main vocalist.
Three of the five songs performed (I’ve decided not to include “See The Light” since it’s an intro song) had live performances, so those were a lot easier to do lyric distributions for. For the other three, I relied, as I mentioned before, on lyric videos and my own knowledge of their voices. This part … definitely took the longest of the rest of the sections.
Going from ninth place to first:
Xiaoting has 42 lines; Mashiro has 47 lines; Hikaru has 30 lines; Yeseo has 42 lines; Youngeun has 40 lines; Dayeon has 60 lines; Yujin has 36 lines; Bahiyyih has 33 lines; and Chaehyun has 52 lines.
So Dayeon, who was in fourth place, has the most lines, while Hikaru, who was in seventh place, has the least, with a range of 30 lines. Compared to the line distributions I did for Oh My Girl and LIGHTSUM, that’s pretty large. Even Oh My Girl only had an average line difference range of 24 lines, though there’s plenty of time for Kep1er to rectify this. I’m honestly disappointed in how few lines even Bahiyyih has; the girl earned second place, and she has the second fewest amount of lines! Honestly, all of these girls are so talented, and they weren’t used to their full potential. I’m giving line distribution a five. Just, come on.
Overall: 77/100
It’s 9:18 a.m. I’ve been working on this for nearly three hours. Wow.
Overall, not a bad debut! I think there were some things that could’ve been done a lot better, but as I said before, that can always be improved in the future. I really did enjoy this debut for the most part, so I’m looking forward to everything that Kep1er will do in the future! I hope you all stick around to find out what great things they’ll do!