[Idol Special ①] “Amidst the Oversaturation of Idols, Infinite is different.”

The saying ‘Idol groups’ music is hackneyed and low quality’ doesn’t work anymore. To survive the competition between the idol groups, you must have great music quality. Truthfully speaking, idols musical quality has to be evaluated but with the three minutes they’re giving to put on a stage is just asking for too much and it gets hard.

It is important to know that the idol group Infinite gets good reviews from the public and the music critics because of these reasons. Coming from the company, Woollim Entertainment, who houses talented musicians such as: NELL, Jisun, Tasty, etc; Infinite does not bring out music that is usually connected to an idols’ image but of an 8~90’s music that catches the eyes of the general public and that charm is what the critics say that made them closer to their music. 

June 9th 2010; they entered the music industry with their first album ‘First Invasion’ and their title track ‘Come Back Again’. Yoo Hee Yeol even chose them as his favorite idol music and their music styles have been approved of since their debut.Although they couldn’t get first place, their musical quality gave them the greatest praise.

Infinite’s ‘Come Back Again’ was reviewed as a song with powerful beat with a vintage rock guitar riff that combines the 90s funk style with a unique dance style. Also, they are the ones who brought the ‘synchronized dance’ through their perfect dances that makes 7 people look like 1. The word that comes along when someone says Infinite’s name is ‘칼군무’ which means that their synchronization is down to a knife blade and that even at the hardest dance moves, their footsteps make the same noise and this is what became Infinite’s biggest qualities.

After that they promoted endlessly with songs such as ‘She’s Back’, ‘Nothing’s Over’, Can U Smile’ and more and soon, they released their first full album ‘Over The Top’. The title song ‘Be Mine’ is what brought them to their first win and at the same time, this was the album that brought them good reviews from the critics. 20 music critics chose Jo Dukhwan’s ‘A Long Way’ and Infinite’s album on #2 as best album of the year and music critic Kim Do Hoon even stated that “it’s hard to find idol groups who can surpass the quality of Infinite’s music” and gave them great praise.

Musical quality and synchronized dance, in other words their music and dance, were at a unique spot; they came out onto stage with ‘Paradise’ on October 9th [of that year]. As soon as they started their promotions with that song they took their spot as one of the best group and even one of the major celebrity magazines placed their albums as one of the best albums of that year and showed their growing talents and powers.

May 15th 2012; Infinite returned with their mini album ‘Infinitize’ and showed their new image with their title song ‘The Chaser’. That is, they used melody and lyrics that were very Korean in a way. Truthfully speaking, they had another nickname other than the one of their synchronized dancing and that was ‘obsessed-dol’. Throughout the songs they promoted most of them showed the obsession over the person they love and even in the song that was in complete Korean they showed their own way of obsession. Also, their outfits were flavored with a traditional look and made them stand out even more. The song ‘The Chaser’ made it to the best K-Pop song of the 2012 year on America’s Billboard website and opened up a new playing field for the idol music industry.

Infinite shows great skill in being loyal to the music and the stage, but they also show a wide variety of talent and charm as an ‘idol’ and started activities in acting and different show programs, but they wanted to add another thing to their list of new things and that was hosting their own ‘small theater concert’. Infinite’s ‘small theater concert’ was enough for them to get a chance to see their fans up close but also a great way to show off their improvements in music. It was a three-in-one effect as they showed off the songs, dances, and charms they couldn’t show on music shows. After Infinite’s small theater concert became a hit a lot of idol groups followed their footsteps and motive and set up their own small theater concerts. Because Infinite tried new things, it opened up a lot of directions different idols could take.

After their 2013’s ‘New Challenge’ and ‘Destiny’ release, they made a comeback with ‘Season 2’ and they continued using their weaponry of great musical quality and showed more improvement. Naver’s music panelist Park Sangjun praised that “something so natural renormalized to uniqueness and it’s all thanks to Infinite opening it up” and to balance those words out they finished the promotions for ‘Last Romeo’ and their repackage album ‘Back’ successfully.

The praise that Infinite received for their musical quality shows that idol groups should not overlook the importance of musical quality. The charms and specialty they showed ever since their debut song was music quality, synchronized dance, and ‘obsession’ and these weapons slowly brought them up to the top and kept them up there and that is their own special musical quality. Without anyone even noticing it, Infinite became a 6th year group and they still show their own charms through solos and units, and even their own live-album release. And luckily we heard the news of Sungkyu’s preparation for his 2nd album with the help of his company senior NELL. He will definitely greet the general public with great music. I hope that Infinite’s musical colors will not be forgotten and continue to shine bright, and with that said, I will continue supporting them. 

Sources report from News Herald