Global Icon's original single from 'Tremendous' was supposed to be "Don't Lie" ft. Dok2. The lyrics are based on a popular bit of folklore- Aesop called it 'The Honest Woodsman', and in Korea it's know as 'The Silver Axe and the Golden Axe'. The story goes that a woodsman dropped his iron axe in a river, and a spirit showed up. The spirit dove in the river and pulled out a golden axe, but the woodsman said it wasn't his axe. The spirit then pulled out a silver axe, and the woodsman again said the silver one wasn't his either. Finally, the spirit pulled out the iron axe, and the woodsman said it was the right axe. Because of the woodsman's honesty, the spirit let him keep all three axes, which the woodsmen then sold for a bunch of money. Later, a friend of the woodsman heard the story and tried to trick the spirit into giving him a golden axe- however, when he lied about which axe was his, the spirit wouldn't even give him back his original axe.
In "Don't Lie", the girls of Global Icon take on the role of the spirit, asking, "Is the golden axe your axe? Is the silver axe your axe? Is the iron axe your axe?" and then answering their own questions with, "The golden axe is my axe," later going on to admit "I'm a greedy person" in response to the same questions. Like the spirit in the story, they don't want to be lied to, but they also declare that they're going to be 100% honest about how awesome they themselves are.
This song has already been banned by broadcast companies- probably because the girls say "bullshit" multiple times in the background of the chorus, and Dok2 says a few choice words of his own in his rap. Honestly, I doubt they ever intended this to be the title track- Simtong Entertainment isn't stupid, and they obviously knew that all that swearing wasn't going to fly, but the noise marketing can't be bad for them if they're trying to reach out to a more rebellious fanbase. Beyond that, we already know from less than stellar sales of CL's "Baddest Female" that K-Pop isn't quite ready for female rappers bragging about themselves over a slow tempo. While GI's debut single "Beatles" (also included on 'Tremendous') showed commercial pop sensibility, "Don't Lie" takes a stab at something less conventional that probably wouldn't sell well as a title track.
The single we got instead is "G". The Korean title is "?", which is the first letter of the Korean alphabet, as well as the first letter in "Global Icon" when it's written in hangul. "?" sounds like the Korean word for "memory", and essentially what they're trying to say is (I'm paraphrasing), "We're GI, everyone remember us!" "G" follows in the footsteps of EVOL's "Get Up" and f(x)'s "Rum Pum Pum Pum" by mixing mostly electronic elements with with vaguely middle eastern inspiration- in this case, with a sitar-sounding line and some hand drums. While not quite as interesting as "Don't Lie", "G" is a less polarizing style and more fit for general consumption.
Another almost-single on 'Tremendous' is the opening ballad, "Because of You", which was originally teased months ago. This song isn't one of those Davichi-style ballads that are so popular in Korea, and there's nothing particularly exciting about it, so it's probably best that this one got buried on the mini album anyway. Also buried on the album is "Diddy Dum" which is a decent, if slightly disjointed, dance track. It'd have more impact if it was edited down to maybe a runtime of two and a half minutes.
While their visual style has been a bit confusing so far, 'Tremendous' makes it clear that Global Icon has some idea of what kind of music they want to create, bringing an attitude to their sound, which isn't a bad place to be for your sophomore release.
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