Kpop Girl Groups Update July 2015

      So it's the end of the July again.  And I will update my blog once again as usual. Since it's long weekend, and I'm away from home in Seattle on vacation, so I will keep this blog short. However, there's a lot of stuff going on for girl groups in July, like SNSD, APink, Girls' Day comeback, so July was actually the most intense competition for kpop girl groups this year,  so I will try my best to cover all of them as well.


What's the biggest News for kpop girl groups this month?
of course it's SNSD comeback.

                                   Girls' Generation  -   Party

        Since the last single SNSD released "Catch Me If You Can" was really disappointed. At the beginning of July, SNSD once again try to lead the summer theme comeback for all kpop girl groups.
In July 2015, Girls' Generation released a single titled "Party". The single debuted on top the Gaon Digital Chart with first week sales of 256,390 units. It also peaked at number 10 on the Japan Hot 100 and number 4 on the World Digital Songs chart by Billboard. The physical edition of "Party" and its B-side "Check" peaked at number 2 on the Gaon Album Chart. And it's much better than the previous single. However, some SONES still thought this single is not goo enough.
         However, SNSD didn't get winner right away after the release of "Party", it was until July 14th, almost two weeks after they released "Party", they got first win on music program, which means the importance and influence of SNSD is not as good as they used to be cuz most other 1st tier popular girl groups could get the same result as well. Also SNSD promote this single only for less than 2 weeks after they got their first win, then they stop promoting that song on many music program. It's a big question there because their previous singles back in 2013/2014 could stay on chart for few month in kpop ranking.(and gee actually top the chart for over 2 month).
         I would say SNSD was still No 1 girl groups in kpop now, but their influence and popularity are decreasing right now, maybe they passed their peak period already?
   

Besides super group SNSD, I will divided all the other girl groups into mainly cute style and sexy style, or ballad group. So Since this week it's my fav girl group now APink comeback, so I will write cute style groups APink, GFriend, MINX first.

                

                

 APink  -  Remember

           Finally, my fav APink girls are back !!!.....I have been waiting for this comeback for few month already. and I actually mark the calendar and watching APink comeback MV  was first thing I did when I woke up that day....APink Panda

           On July 16, the group released their second full-length album, Pink Memory, along with the title track "Remember". I really love this song, from the music, MV, APink members outfit, and of course my Eunji and Bomi Panda, all look so cute. It also had some kind of 90s feel, the only thing I don't like was probably the background music is too similar to the previous "LUV" song.

            Despite very strong competitor like SNSD comeback at the same time, APink managed to get their very first win on Show Champion Music program 5 days ago. Right now, APink was considered the second most popular kpop girl group right now after SNSD.

APink Bomi Panda's pink hair really got most fans' attention this time.....

 G-Friend  -  Me Gusta Tu

               The next group I will talk about is G-Friend. I introduced G-Friend in my very first kpop article this year. I said since the huge success of APink at the beginning of this year, many other similar girl groups debut, I think G-Friend was one of them really stands out, and they actually got full potential to become the next SNSD or APink if their agency could promote them correctly.

               I saw few of their performance and live singing, they definitely got talented. Their dance was actually difficult and all group members have great voice. One member look like Jessica from SNSD, one look like IU, and they got look as well. It's definitely my type of girl group, all look so cute and innocent....and their MV already passed one million views within one week, it's like 1st tier girl group level, and they only debut less than one year....

 MINX - Love Shake

         MINX  are a five member girl group formed under Happy Face Entertainment in 2014. The group consists of Ji-U, Su-A, Siyeon, Yoohyeon & Dami. 

         I don't really know a lot about this group, still new to me.  I actually quite like their song during summer time, all members are good looking and  fit in their style as well.I would recommend this comeback.

     
     
       and as usual, most kpop girl groups still follow the sexy style, so the next section I will talk about  Girl's Day,Nine Muses , Hello Venus , Stellar, Sonamoo, Wanna.B , POTEN 

                                      

Girl's Day - Ring My Bell

            Besides SNSD and APink, another huge comeback for this month is Girl's Day. Similar to APink,, Girl's Day released their second full album Love, along with its title track "Ring My Bell", on July 6, 2015.
             As the first 1tier girl group, Girl's Day released the single "Hello Bubble" previously, and this is considered as Girl's Day major comeback this time. Also the leader singer Minah was focus on her solo career a while ago, it would be really busy for her to focus on both solo and group activity. Unlike APink, Girl's Day transformed into sexy style and gained a lot of success in recent year as well.

           

Nine Muses - Hurt Locker

           As the solid 2ed tier girl grou, Nine Muses was the first girl group to make comeback this month. After watching their comeback, I didn't feel anything new or unique about this group. They probably compete with groups like Dal Shabet , AOA, or Rainbow those 2ed tier girl groups nowadays. Also I watched few of their dance practice videos before, the group members are really good dancers as well.

              Girl group Nine Muses took their sexy concept to another level. 

Nine Muses’ agency Star Empire revealed recently that they changed their stage outfit from ‘retro swimsuit look’ to ‘sporty look’ concept for their song “Hurt Locker.” But for me, I considered them as another AOA, and I personally prefer AOA's "Heart Attack" than this one.

Hello Venus - I'm ill

               Still remember Hello Venus' transformation to sexy style earlier this year?....yes, the "wiggle wiggle" song, which went viral for a bit.  However, compared to EXID, Hello Venus was not actually breaking into 1st tier girl group, they were probably still somewhere between 2ed and 3rd tier girl group.
               Also the dance performance version came before the actual MV of this song, and the music was similar to their previous "Wiggle Wiggle".  This group really needs some song just like "Ah Yeah" to promote themselves, and let's see if their dance version could go viral again?

           

Stellar  - Vibrato

           Speaking of Stellar, people will think about their over exposed MV, and this time they made a comeback with no exception. The MV of this song is rating 19+ in Korea, which is same as their previous single.

            Then I was curious about it cuz very few kpop MV is rating 19+. I think Stellar is trying too hard to expose themselves instead of making better music and their talent, that's one of the reasons they still cannot enter even 2ed tier girl group....

            

(This MV is 19+, if you are under 18, please don't watch this MV)

Sonamoo - Cushion

             If I remember correctly , Sonamoo debut as a fierce girl group, which reminds me of 2NE1 back in old days.  And Sonamoo was one of the girl group I said to watch out this year and also in the future. All group members have talent, and they got a lot of good comment when they just debut last year. This time they moved away from that fierce look , but they got less views from their MV this time.

Wanna B - Attention 

             WANNA.B  is a 6 member South Korean girl group under Zenith Media Contents. They made their debut on November 17, 2014 with the single "My Type". Eunsom and Seoyoon were former members of their sister group LULUZ. And they made comeback with sing;e "Attention" this time.
            I don't know who is Wanna B or LULUZ, never heard any of them before, some random girl groups from small label, it's even outside of 3rd tier...

4TEN - Go Easy

        4Ten, commonly stylized as POTEN, is a South Korean five-member girl group, formed in 2014 by Jungle Entertainment. Its name comes from the word "potential", and consists of Hyeji, Hyejin, Heeo, Yun and Hajeong. And this group had lineup change earlier this year.

         I also considered this group as new, and outside of 3rd tier for now, and the MV is a bit weird too....

          Note: So first of all, after this month, I wish APink could get as many win as possible, but I also wish SNSD could stay their popularity longer. Even though I am a big fan of APink since 2013, I used to like SNSD since 2009, so I was also considered SONE as well, so it's really hard decision for me to prefer APink over SNSD even though I had more bias in APink now.

           Besides that, I think nowadays a lot of small labels try to create a lot of random girl groups like every month, I will introduce a few new girl groups each month in my blog  as well.....

           Also, if anyone are expert or knows a lot about boy groups, you can write the boy group version of this, I will appreciate since I don't know boy groups as much as girl groups.