DAL⋆SHABET "Fri. Sat. Sun." Review and Analysis

DAL⋆SHABET came back after 8 months with "Fri. Sat. Sun.," a song expressing the joy of breaking the everyday routine with an exciting and free weekend.

Debuted in 2011 under Happy Face Entertainment and created by E-Tribe, DAL⋆SHABET is a group that has been on the journey to win a music show for around 5 years. This group started off with a strong debut, much like NU'EST's "Face," but has suffered through untimely injuries, member changes and malicious rumors, all while never quite having the correct timing or musical concept that could strengthen their fandom or appeal to the general public.

DAL⋆SHABET was the first girl group to debut in 2011. These six girls were rumored to be as good as SNSD, or Girls Generation, because they were brought together by E-Tribe, the creator of SNSD's hit song "Gee." DAL⋆SHABET's debut with "Supa Dupa Diva" was highly anticipated and the buzz around this group and this song made them a success during their debut.

However, following this success were the pressures of being a celebrity and being put in the spotlight. One of Happy Face Entertainment's smart managing moves was to keep the members promoting for as long as they had the public interested in them. Unfortunately, during comeback "Bling Bling" promotions, Subin was injured, so their promotions were halted. Afterwards, in 2012, one of the most important years in k-pop, DAL⋆SHABET's leader was under question, and subsequently removed, for her rumored bad personality, and a fan war between DAL⋆SHABET's fans and B1A4's fans got so severe, that it prompted police interference.

Overall, DAL⋆SHABET's debut was strong, but unfortunate events reduced the group's momentum, and they have been struggling to hit their peak. Aside from this, is their lack of identity due to a flip-flop between different styles and concepts over the years paired. DAL⋆SHABET's concepts have always been either sensual, or fun, or an exciting mix of both, but there hasn't really been a distinct sound that comes from them. The songs DAL⋆SHABET performs could be performed by any other girl group like Nine Muses, Rainbow, or After School, because they are standard textbook k-pop songs.

The same goes for "Fri. Sat. Sun." What should be a song about letting go and getting ready to have loose-canon fun on the weekend, is actually a song with a rising beat leading to a mellower-than-expected drop. It's still a catchy song, with the classic 3-syllable title and chorus that has proved to be successful for groups like A.O.A, but the song's potential is limited by the girls' vocal ranges. DAL⋆SHABET doesn't have the vocal range that groups like Sistar or Spica have, so they need to rely on a lower sound and chorus in order to sing well. This makes the song awkwardly mellow in a time where the song should have an outburst of energy.

Fortunately, the unexpected change from hype to mellow in the song can be justified. This is a direction in music that hasn't really been tested before, and could potentially become trendy, if the right musical tweaks are done to smooth out the transition between rise and fall. Also, the music video and dance performance are very well done. This music video's outfits and concepts fit a mature yet fun DAL⋆SHABET image. They're seen as part time workers ready to dance the night away in the upcoming weekend, and their dance comes off as mature yet fun due to the body roll that leads into a hop-skip-jump kind of dance. This concept fits well with their ages since its not as innocent as their image during "Someone Like U" and it's not as blatantly sexy as their image during "Joker."

DAL⋆SHABET's mature yet fun image, established in "Fri. Sat. Sun.," could be the right direction for them in future songs, and could be their best approach towards a music show win.