Grading the K-Pop Agencies 2020: YG ENTERTAINMENT
The Bad
As always, I’m going to come off like a bitter old curmudgeon longing for “better days,” but I truly do miss some of YG’s older composers.
Teddy seems to have lost some of his creative touch, and the talent driving much of the agency’s current output seems more in love with noisy EDM drops than timeless choruses.
With this in mind, I think YG needs to branch out and find some new behind-the-scenes talent. Other than Chanhyuk (who mostly just works on his own projects), the agency is in need of another great melody writer. Years past saw talent like
Kush,
Choice37 (who did co-compose a couple tracks this year) and
Lydia Paek. Then of course, there’s
G-Dragon, whose skillful, idiosyncratic ear has been missed for far too long. Newcomers
R.Tee,
24 and
Future Bounce show glimpses of potential, but so far most of their work has yet to reach the level that YG used to produce on the regular.