Kara vs Girls’ Generation

If 2011 was the year that K-pop conquered Japan, 2012 might go down as the year in which the Evil Empire struck back. Last week, there was a minor media kerfuffle when NHK revealed that there wouldn't be any Korean acts appearing in this year's Kohaku, the pop song slogathon that still commands a 40% chunk of the nationwide TV audience on New Year's Eve. Given current diplomatic tensions between the two countries, it was tempting to see the gesture as political – a slap on the wrist for all that Dokdo business.

The reality, however, might have been more prosaic. When Korean idol groups Tohoshinki, Girls' Generation and Kara appeared on the show last year, it was on the back of platinum-selling Japanese albums. By contrast, the Tohoshinki boys have only released a couple of singles this year, while both Kara and Girls' Generation took until November to put out new full-lengths – not exactly the best tactic if you're hoping for a televised rematch with Hiromi Go on December 31.

Then again, there might be something in NHK's observation that the acts just didn't seem to be as popular as they were this time last year. Kara's Girls Forever entered the charts at number 2 and swiftly nosedived towards the lower reaches of the Top 20, while Girls' Generation II: Girls & Peace comes in the wake of the group's lowest performing single to date (it was called 'Flower Power', in case you missed it – apparently the Nayutawave Records promotional department did too). Could the Japanese public already be tiring of these exotic imports?

Maybe they're just confused about which group is which. Kara spend a good portion of their latest album sounding suspiciously like Girls' Generation, adopting the sleek Eurodance format that the latter used to occasionally brilliant effect on last year's eponymous full-length. Listen to the first 30 seconds of 'Speed Up', the opening track on Girls Forever, and you might swear you'd just put the wrong album on. Ditto 'Rock On', which pairs a clomping Schaffel beat to moody rave synthesizers… sound familiar?

Yet there's a sense of playfulness here that's increasingly rare in Girls' Generation's own music. 'Electric Boy' may start with a distorted electro-house groove, but it quickly shifts gears to make way for a chorus that would've felt at home on a Costa del Sol dancefloor in the mid-'90s. 'Gimme Gimme' reaches back to Speed-era J-pop for inspiration, while 'Kiss Me Tonight' is the kind of sugary R&B confection you could nibble on all day.

It's not all great, of course: 'Orion', a SMAP-grade ballad supplied by the same writer responsible for last year's ghastly 'Winter Magic', is pretty vile, though not nearly as irritating as the five rehashed versions of earlier singles that come at the end of the album. That aside, Girls Forever is a briskly efficient pop record and a significant improvement on 2011's Super Girl – even if it probably isn't going to sell nearly as many copies.

And Girls & Peace? Rather less winning. If the group's debut Japanese album was one of the J-pop highlights of 2011 (and, it must be said, far better than any of their Korean full-lengths), the follow-up seems content merely to be good enough. Working again with the same international songwriting stables who churn out hit tracks for Jedward, the Girls stick mainly to the electro-inflected R&B they peddled last time around, although you'd struggle to spot many real improvements (what was this year's 'Paparazzi' if not 'Mr Taxi' redux?). When they divert from the formula, it's mostly to make a bid for 2NE1's tough-girl R&B crown (as on 'I'm a Diamond' and 'T.O.P'), just without the sass or bravura production flourishes that might've made it even semi-convincing.

Tellingly, one of the standout tracks is also the oldest one here. Whatever motivated the group's label to release bouncy pop number 'Oh!' – a song that's been knocking around since the start of 2010 – as a Japanese-language single earlier this year, it can't have been for artistic considerations. Heard in the context of Girls & Peace, it sounds like something plucked from an earlier, simpler time, when producing effervescent, fun pop music was enough in itself. The only other song that compares is the eponymous 'Girls & Peace', which comes on like Gary Numan producing The Bangles, complete with intrusive '80s snare hits, shimmering synthesizers and a joyous head-rush of a refrain. Not surprisingly, it's written by the same team responsible for signature GG hit 'Genie', and it taps a strength for euphoric, feelgood pop that's too often forgotten elsewhere on the album.

For the most part, however, Girls & Peace is a suprisingly generic listen, full of off-the-peg songs that the group never imbue with enough personality to make their own. Throughout, I found myself imagining the tracks – be it high-energy dance number 'Reflection' or down-and-dirty grinder 'Boomerang' – being done better by someone else, possibly Norway's next Eurovision contestant. It could be anyone singing these songs, in any language: a global pop music whose appeal is as broad as it is bland.

Time Out Tokyo rating:
(Girls Forever)
(Girls’ Generation II: Girls & Peace)

‘Girls Forever’ is out now on Universal Sigma. ‘Girls’ Generation II: Girls & Peace’ is out now on Nayutawave Records