2015 is proving to be an exciting year for Korean pop music (k-pop) fans, specifically those who worship the “2nd” generation of idol groups: Super Junior, Girls Generation, EXO, Big Bang, 2ne1.

On April 10th, Girl’s Generation released a new Japanese single, “Catch Me If You Can”. The single was unique not only because it was Girl’s Generation’s first song of the year, but also because it was the first song produced without all nine members.

Jessica Jung, former Girls Generation member, was kicked out of the group in September leading to confusion and outrage among the fans. Although, it is not uncommon for k-pop groups to change members, this change came as a surprise to many as Girl’s Generation had stayed the same since their debut in 2007.

Although, I had never liked Jessica Jung as much as some of the other girls in Girl’s Generation, the band feels incomplete without her – not only with their new eight member image, but also their music.

Jessica was one of the main singers in the group and for good reason. I hadn’t noticed before she left, but after, I realized that it was her parts that I always sang along to, her parts the would get me pumped up and add excitement to the song. And her unique voice added that perfect, ice princess, I’m better than you, sound that fit the Girls Generation image so well.

It was this uniqueness, this sound, this energy that I felt was lacking in Girl’s Generation’s new single “Catch Me If You Can”. Where was the layering of harmonies and melodies like in “I Got A Boy”? Where was the energetic, but slightly nasally sound like in “Mr. Mr”? Without Jessica, the song just got a lot more… boring.

“Catch Me If You Can” did have it’s good points though. Girl’s Generation, like many other k-pop groups, is known for it’s uneven distribution of lines to it’s members. In this song though, every member (except Jessica) had a substantial part in the song. Hyoyeon especially, thoroughly nailed all her parts. Her voice, though opposite of Jessica’s higher, nasally voice, replaced some of the lost energy of the song.

The ending of “Catch Me If You Can” with the layering of Taeyeon’s (amazing!) voice over the other girls brought back some of the uniqueness of Girl’s Generation songs. Why couldn’t they have more of that?

The best thing about the new single though, is the dance. Whereas Girl’s Generation had before formed the image of a innocent girl group in the past waving lollipops and making cute, “aegyo” faces and poses in songs like “Gee” and “Genie”, they completely changed their image in this video with fast-paced, power dance moves.

Overall, I liked the new Girl’s Generation song. It’s definitely not my favorite song – and overall it’s pretty average especially compared to their other songs – but to be honest the song is starting to grow on me.  I look forward to how Girl’s Generation will evolve in the coming years and I hope they will continue to be perform for many years. SNSD Fighting!