If you didn’t already know, Skarf is a 4 member kpop rookie group who officially debuted on 14 August 2012 with a showcase in Seoul.

What warranted a blog article from me about this group is that it consists of 2 Singaporean members. It is a first really, in the sense that they are the first 2 Singaporeans to debut in the kpop market. For that itself, they deserve a round of applause for even getting there.

I’m not going into to post/talk about the contents in their media release with regards to who they are as Skarf; you can go google about their name and why they are called Skarf; I thought the whole thing was so cheesy and lame.

Also, I must highlight that they decided that the image and concept for Skarf is “cute and innocent”. This isn’t going to go well. I can pretty much guarantee that: most Singaporean girls are not good at acting cute (the way the Koreans and Japanese can)… AT ALL. It is just not in our culture/DNA. Period.

The first thing that struck me about Skarf is the amount of money (or lack thereof) that is put into creating this group. Everything about them, from their music video to stage wear screamed, “NO BUDGET!” to me. I understand that this is Alpha Entertainment’s first group and they might not have the budget and know how of the Big 3 in the Kpop world but still…

Anyway, here are the members of Skarf:

Name: Tasha (Leader)
Date of Birth: 11 October 1993
Nationality: Singaporean
Blood Type: A
Hobby/Skill: Sports, Dance

Name: Ferlyn
Date of Birth: 1 February 1992
Nationality: Singaporean
Blood Type: O
Hobby/Skill: Dance

Name: Sol
Date of Birth: 12 May 1991
Nationality: Korean
Blood Type: AB
Hobby/Skill: Writing lyrics

Name: Jenny (Maknae)
Date of Birth: 16 February 1996
Nationality: Korean
Blood Type: AB
Hobby/Skill: Playing on the piano

** With thanks to Lyddish of x-clusive.sg for providing some translations for me to reference due to my basic knowledge of Korean.

First up, here is the official music video of their debut single “Oh!Dance”:

Their debut single “Oh!Dance” is alright but I really hate the chorus. Honestly, if it wasn’t because there were 2 Singaporeans in the group, I would have completely written them off.

From my constant observation of the pop entertainment world, Skarf wouldn’t make a dent at all with this music and concept. The only thing that is generating a lot of buzz and interest about them is the Singaporean factor.

I’m very sure that majority of you non-Singaporean readers has never really heard of a Singaporean celebrity. Even we Singaporeans know that our local celebrities don’t exactly  make the A list anywhere (Jet Li and Gong Li don’t count!).

As I’ve always said, I’ll try to support fellow Singaporeans so I decided to give them a chance and I went to watch their performance at their debut showcase:

I must say that I still don’t like “Oh!Dance” much but I think that “My Love” is a better song.

I also watched their first TV performance on Music Bank:

So now that I’ve watched all their performance available so far, here’s what I feel: Skarf isn’t going to go very far with this music, image and concept. A more street and sassy image would have worked better.

The more I repeat their performance, it strengthens my gut feel that Skarf was put together with Tasha and Ferlyn in mind. Jenny and Sol were added to the group as the Korean factor in the Kpop scene. Sorry girls. 죄송이에요.

Vocally, Ferlyn is the strongest amongst them in terms of tone and technique. Sol is good but she needs to work on control, support and rounding her tone. Tasha has a nice tone but her voice is too weak. Perhaps her mic needs to be better adjusted for volume or something. Jenny has similar issues with Sol.

As they’re a rookie group and have only trained for 1 year compared with 3 – 7 years compared with other Kpop idols, I’m going to cut them some slack and say that they’re doing pretty well.

Also, if you look at their dancing, Tasha is clearly the best dancer technically. Ferlyn is doing pretty ok with Jenny. Sol looks like she still needs to work on a lot of body isolation techniques.

Finally, I need to give kudos to Tasha and Ferlyn for their grasp of Korean. I understand that they’ve only learnt it for a year and they’re pretty fluent in it. To the point that they managed to go through the press conference at the showcase without really needing a translator. (Did I hear this bit right?)

I’d keep Skarf on my radar for a while more coz we gotta support our homegirls. Make us proud y’all. 타샤 와 페린아, 화이팅!

I’ve said what I thought. Now your guys, what do you think about Skarf?

Note: Before you guys judge me for judging them, you need to know that I have 10 years of choral stage experience and I have sang on many stages including the Esplanade Concert Hall choir stands. I have also dabbled in various types of dance and still dance a little now so I do know what I am talking about. You don’t have to agree with me but your opinions/comments are totally welcomed.