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XG’s THE CORE Album Review: Strong Debut Questions Its Own Cohesion

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Right before releasing their debut album, XG rebranded. “Xtraordinary Girls” became “Xtraordinary Genes,” and THE CORE arrived as the project meant to explain that shift.

What lands is ten tracks of impressively polished production showcasing seven capable performers moving confidently across genres.

The question isn’t whether XG can execute. They clearly can. It’s whether the constant pivoting serves a larger artistic vision or simply proves they’re capable of anything you ask them to do.

That question matters because JAKOPS, the group’s CEO and producer, explicitly set out to build something different from the K-pop training system he spent a decade inside as a member of DMTN.

THE CORE positions itself as evidence that an alternative approach works. In terms of craft, it does. The production is consistently professional. The performances land.

But craft and vision aren’t the same thing, and THE CORE sometimes confuses range with identity.

We track early momentum in music every week. Neon Signals is where it shows up first.

THE CORE - 核 - Album by XG

When the Singles Carry the Weight

“XIGNAL” opens with cinematic tension before “GALA” kicks the album into gear. 

The house-meets-hip-hop production from JAKOPS and Chancellor fuses voguing rhythms with sharp rap verses, creating something that stands apart from the TikTok-optimised pop flooding 2026. 

Choreographer Sienna Lalau, whose résumé includes Jennifer Lopez and Ciara, grounds the movement in ballroom tradition while showcasing XG’s precision.

The track commits fully to its fashion-forward concept, turning the Met Gala into an X-GALA without second-guessing itself. 

It’s confident pop that understands its references without drowning in them. The production works both as statement and as song, which isn’t as common as it should be.

“TAKE MY BREATH” shifts into disco-influenced territory, all glittering basslines and clean builds aimed squarely at the Future Nostalgia lane.

The bassline rolls with proper weight, not just programmed suggestion, and when the falsetto runs hit over those four-on-the-floor kicks, there’s genuine groove happening beneath the commercial sheen. 

The composition is solid: effective pre-chorus tension, layered vocals, a bridge that lets technique show without overreaching.

It has obvious commercial appeal while maintaining production integrity, with neo-city-pop touches that sit comfortably on XG’s voices.

“HYPNOTIZE,” positioned as the title track, brings atmospheric house production that finally allows space.

The hypnotic quality promised by the name actually materialises, with each member contributing without overcrowding the mix. The restraint here matters. The groove does the work instead of being buried under proof-of-skill.

This is the closest THE CORE comes to revealing what XG sounds like when they’re not trying to demonstrate anything.

Where Range Becomes the Question

“NO GOOD” strips everything back to straightforward R&B. The vocals hit immediately, the bridge shifts energy cleanly, the chorus lands. It’s fire, no caveats. 

Then “ROCK THE BOAT” arrives with early-2000s R&B aesthetics, bubblegum bounce, and rap sections echoing a specific moment in Black American pop history.

Chancellor has spoken about the members studying Usher’s 8701 and Omarion during training. That devotion shows. They aren’t tourists in these genres. 

They understand the vocabulary. But understanding a form and having something new to say within it aren’t the same thing. 

Both tracks work individually, yet they demonstrate command without expansion. 

The competence is real. Whether competence without distinct perspective becomes more than very good karaoke remains the question THE CORE keeps raising without answering.

“UP NOW” leans into light, playful summer energy. “O.R.B” follows by swinging hard into emo-punk, Harvey delivering the group’s first swearing on record over early-2000s aesthetics. 

The shift feels deliberate, but also illustrative of the album’s tension. As standalone moments, both tracks work. 

Placed back-to-back, they underline the same issue: is this versatility serving a vision, or assembling a portfolio?

The Most Authentic Moment Happened Off the Album

The most vulnerable transformation associated with THE CORE didn’t happen on the record.

In December, on their 20th birthday, Cocona announced they are transmasculine nonbinary and had undergone top surgery.

Leader Jurin photographed the announcement. Hinata did their makeup. Cocona appeared in a black blazer, surgery scar visible, holding a red dahlia. “I didn’t want to completely lose my old self, but I wanted to let it wilt in a way,” they explained.

This was radical transparency in an industry built on image control. Cocona shared their journey with the group first, asked if it was okay, and received unconditional support. That’s genuine revelation. That’s what “core” actually looks like.

The album offers something else: well-executed genre studies that showcase skill without revealing much about who these seven people are when stripped of production polish and choreography.

Harvey says there’s “a lot of inner energy that we are trying to bring to the surface.”

Yet the constant genre-shifting suggests acute awareness of how each track might land with different audiences.

What the Members Say Versus What the Music Does

“We want to keep going as we are right now,” Maya said in December. Jurin frames the album’s genre diversity as “different elements of our core.” Fair enough. 

But being true to yourselves requires knowing who that self is first. THE CORE shows what XG can do across hip-hop, R&B, house, disco, and punk without clearly stating what they need to say within any of them.

The house-rap of “GALA” courts fashion spaces. “TAKE MY BREATH” aims at radio. “O.R.B” provides alternative credibility. That isn’t necessarily cynical. 

It may simply be smart positioning for a global debut. But it makes THE CORE function more as showcase than statement. The tracks that work best commit fully to one idea rather than hedging.

The unit songs prove this. “4 SEASONS” strips things back to acoustic emotion. “PS118” lets Jurin, Cocona, and Maya claim space without compromise. 

These moments feel more focused, more honest. They also feel strangely disposable within the album’s arc, suggesting XG hasn’t yet decided which version of themselves matters most.

What JAKOPS Built and What It Reveals

JAKOPS wanted to create “an environment where growth is encouraged in a way I don’t necessarily think it was in the old systems,” referencing his decade in K-pop. Noble goal, and THE CORE delivers on it in terms of production quality and member support.

But escaping one system doesn’t mean you’ve dismantled it.

THE CORE still operates within commercial pop’s established logic.

They’ve swapped Seoul’s training infrastructure for L.A.’s production network whilst calling it liberation. The environment changed. The approach to career building remained largely the same.

Chancellor emphasises the members’ deep love of R&B and hip-hop, their scholarship of the forms they’re recreating. That devotion deserves credit.

But scholarship without perspective allows you to approximate anything without necessarily contributing something new.

THE CORE proves XG can execute multiple genres convincingly. It never quite proves why they needed to.

Where This Leaves THE CORE

As a debut, THE CORE succeeds at its basic task. It introduces XG as technically capable, professionally supported, and versatile.

The highs hold their own against contemporary pop’s better offerings on playlist terms. The production never drops. The performances stay committed.

As an album, it functions better as collection than journey. Jurin calls the genres “different elements of our core,” but that framing assumes the core has already been established.

The rebrand from Xtraordinary Girls to Xtraordinary Genes feels more like marketing repositioning than artistic clarification.

XG already have Coachella slots, Billboard entries, and a global fanbase.

The music works on playlist terms even when it doesn’t quite cohere on album terms.

Future releases will reveal whether they develop the range THE CORE demonstrates into actual voice, or whether versatility becomes the brand itself.

THE CORE proves XG can do anything. Whether they know what they want to do remains the more interesting question.

XG’s THE CORE is available now via XGALX. The group begins their second world tour in February 2026.

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