Concert review: Hit K-pop boyband Got7 shines with laid-back, confident display during Singapore show

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SINGAPORE - Relaxed is not usually the way one would describe a pop concert, much less a K-pop concert, but it was exactly the vibe that Got7 managed at their second concert in Singapore.

The seven-member group, which has achieved mainstream success in the four years since it debuted under star-making label JYP, was high-energy but the performance never tipped over into trying too hard to please. The group exuded a confident ease.

Their concert, held at Zepp @ Big Box on Saturday (Aug 4), was intimate and candid - exemplified early on in the concert when Thai member Bambam joked during some banter with the audience that they were stalling for time talking as their youngest member Yugyeom had to deal with a wardrobe emergency - he had ripped his pants dancing earlier in the concert.

The spontaneity of the members made them entertaining to watch in an era where K-pop idols can easily come across as being overly produced and curated.

While Got7 is very much mainstream K-pop - from the synchronised dancing to the coordinated outfits - they also came across as genuine, just a group of boys doing what they enjoy.

Although the mood was laid back, the concert - the second-last stop of their 17-city Eyes On You World Tour, named after their latest album - still boasted high production values.

Despite the relatively small venue, the concert featured fairly elaborate set designs, especially during the unit performances where members performed in sets of twos or threes.

Video segments in between songs were also well-produced. This included an animated love story, which strung four songs together and was well-received by fans.

The relaxed setting also helped the different personalities of Got7 come across. Leader JB, vocal Youngjae and California-born rapper Mark seemed to be more cool while Yugyeom with his distinctive vocals and fluid movements - whether he tried to or not - pulled off cute.

Jin-young was the proper one, with his hands often folded behind his back, and Bambam leaned into and played up his androgynous qualities. Jackson Wang, the group's rapper from Hong Kong and a variety show darling shed his lively television persona (and his shirt, of course), trading it in for a sexy swagger perfectly backed up by his deep, raspy voice.

The group's dancing was another highlight. Perfectly choreographed dances are par for the course in K-pop at this point but usually groups still have dancers of varying abilities. Got7, however, has some of the most impressive dance abilities overall as a group, which they showed off with physically taxing dance numbers like Look.

Sound-wise, Got7's vocals were strong and clear most of the time, although I struggled to hear some portions where members went for falsetto high notes and there were parts where the loud music threatened to overwhelm them.

Still, the parts of the night that will likely leave the most lasting impression on fans are the parts the group did not practise - the times when the boys truly seemed to immerse themselves in the moment, like when Yugyeom crouched down to pose for photographs that fans were taking of him or when members broke into exaggerated dance moves for laughs. And, since delighting in entertaining is very often what makes an entertainer good, that was good enough for me.

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