Kpop Girl Groups 2016 Review (Second Half)

           So this is second half of the blog.....

         July

             At July 2016, there were more sexy concept girl groups comeback such as Wonder Girls, f(x), Hello Venus, Stellar, Melody Day, D.Holic, PPL. Among them, I would say Wonder Girls comeback lead to some discussion, but not other groups.

Also at the same time, some girl groups use old school kpop single as their comeback song, which leads to some copyright issue as well, such as Oh My Girl, C.I.V.A

Speaking of Girl group of the month:

  (On June 29 2016 , Source Music started teasing for GFriend's first studio album LOL, signifying at the same time "Laughing Out Loud" and "Lots of Love". LOL was released on July 11 with the title track "Navillera" , and reportedly had more than 60,000 pre-ordered copies worldwide.On July 19, GFriend earned their first music show win for the album's single "Navillera" on The Show. Until July 29th, GFriend earned 7th win already on various music program.
           " Navillera"  is a reference to Cho Chi-hun's poem "The Nun's Dance" , and is a phrase used to describe a fluttering action similar to the movement of a butterfly.The song's lyrics describe a girl's feeling of wanting to fly like a butterfly to be with the person she loves
          Influence:  The album was a commercial success in South Korea, reportedly selling more than 60,000 physical copies in pre-orders before release. It entered the Gaon Album Chart at number three, while "Navillera" topped the Gaon Digital Chart. "In the United States, LOL charted at number seven on the Billboard World Albums chart, while "Navillera" was number 12 on the World Digital Songs chart.)


                   So girl group of the July is GFriend

  August

            Some big news in August includes disband of Sunny Hill, other girl groups comeback include I.O.I , Spica,  Brave Girls,  Bambino ,WJSN, Laboum and few other small girl groups.
            The biggest news in August would be debut of YG's next girl group Black Pink.

     Yes, after many YG kpop fans' waiting for years, YG Entertainment's new girl group Black Pink officially debut this month.
              The group consists of four members Jisoo from  Korea, Jennie from New Zealand, Rose from Australia and Lisa from Thailand. Among them, Lisa was the first non-Korean member under YG Entertainment. So they have the exactly same number of members as 2NE1, their last very successful girl group

First non-Korean artist under YG Entertainment Lisa

They debuted with two singles, "Boombayah" and "Whistle", from their single album           Square One on August 8, 2016. Both songs ranked well after debut. Whistle ranked No 1 on Korea chart and Boombayah ranked No 1 on US World kpop chart as well. And both MV also pass 10 millions very easily, becomes a hot topic and trend in kpop as well.

   If you listen to their new songs carefully and their new image, each member in Black Pink tried to imitate someone in 2NE1,especially Jennie imitates CL, spotted by lots of kpop fans.

BlackPink Jennie Kim VS 2NE1 CL

Can Black Pink eventually catch up and becomes the next generation of 2NE1 ? I'm not sure, they just start, so we will see. But from here, we can see kpop girl groups are really competitive nowadays, Black Pink maybe another girl group will join the 1st tier girl group competitioin..

                So girl group of the August is Black Pink.

September

      At September 2016, there's a trend of many kpop boy groups comeback at the same time, Infinite, 2PM, SHINee almost made comeback exact the same time. During the boy groups comeback wave, there are still quite a few girl groups comeback as well, Russian Roulette from Red Velvet is a pretty strong one, Crayon Pop, DIA, Mamamoo, Dalshabet all made comeback this month.

        But the best one is still:

According to wikipedia, their  third full-length Korean album was released after one year and two months on September 26th with the name of Pink Revolution including title song "Only One"On the same day, they held a showcase which was broadcast live through V-live. "Only One" topped seven music charts in Korea just a few hours after it was released. During the showcase, leader Cho-Rong stated that Pink Revolution would incorporate a new sense of Apink's growth and maturity since debut, while Eun-ji explained that Apink will begin to focus on making complex and beautiful music, rather than tracks that "are simply fun and catchy."

         What does this mean???..so APink will abandon their old innocent and cute image, which is how APink is different from the rest of other girl groups.

                So girl group of the September is APink.

October

        Because of the CL concert and the huge popularity of Black Pink, so instead of talking about girl group at October, I write a special topic about YG girl groups.  And during this time, Black Pink was indeed really famous.
           But everyone who listen to kpop probably know who is the most popular kpop girl group:

       I'm like TT....Just like TT...

 So girl group of the October is Twice.

                                     November

        At November 2016, there are quite a few pretty strong comeback this month, T-ara, Mammoo, few small groups also made comeback such as Berry Good, Badkiz ,new debut girl group Momoland
           Speaking of the winner of this month:

        Blackpink released their second single album Square Two with the lead singles "Playing with Fire" and "Stay" on November 1, 2016. The songs are similarly produced by Teddy with R.Tee and Seo Won Jin. They performed their comeback stage in SBS Inkigayo on November 6 and in Mnet M!'Countdown on November 10, 2016. "Playing with Fire" was their second single to hit number one on the Billboards World Digital Songs Charts
          Afer Twice's TT trend, Black Pink's "play with fire" quickly became few No 1 place on various music program. In less than 4 month, Black Pink already released 4 hot top singles already, some of  their  MV views are over 50 million already as well.



             So girl group of the November is Black Pink.

                                 December

       I didn't write the blog for last month December either, but very few groups comeback during holiday season. Laboum and Twice Christmas season song is quite decent, compare to them, APink did a good job on Cause You are my star, so I would say


       So girl group of the December is APink

So in the end, let me make a conclusion here, who is the most popular kpop girl group at 2016?

First half year: Jan  APink,  Feb  GFriend   Mar  Red Velvet  April  Twice  May  AOA   June  Sistar

Second half year: July GFriend  Aug Black Pink  Sep APink  Oct Twice Nov Black Pink  Dec APink.

so based on my article, APink won 3 times,  GFriend, Twice, Black Pink all won twice. But APink doesn't face strong competition as other 3 girl groups during their comeback month.  And GFriend had record breaking wins at the first half of the year, the popularity of Twice Cheer Up and TT song,and the second half year Black Pink almost dominates kpop girl groups for almost 3 month.

So APink, GFriend, Twice and Black Pink, which one would you vote as the most popular kpop girl group in 2016 ? and why?

Kpop Girl Groups 2016 Review (First Half).

          First of all, Happy New Years !!!....
          Today I will write a special topic, basically I will give a quick review about what happened each month last year , pick one girl group from each of my blog last year, the girl group of the month.(one group per month). And we will see the result....
          And I will write the first half of the year 2016  first.

January

 
         For Jan 2016, I didn't write the girl groups, I write something called Kpop breaking news, I basically talked about disband of KARA, Tzuyu Incident from JYP, Infinite World Tour....and the most important, Vancouver APink Pink Memory concert !!!


                                 So girl group of the Jan is APink.

   

                                                February

         Even with APink's brand new days and comeback of Mamamoo, and debut of few other small girl groups, the success of GFriend is definitely the highlight of this month.

        . (On February 2, GFriend received their first music show win on The Show.The next day, they won on Show Champion, on February 4, they won on M! Countdown, and on February 5, GFriend won on Music Bank.They won on Inkigayo on February 7. GFriend took their first "Triple Crown" on the February 18 edition of M! Countdown. On February 19, they took their second "Triple Crown" on Music Bank. On February 24, they took their third "Triple Crown" on Show Champion. And they had over 10 wins already, which is one of the most successful comeback in recent years.(Only SNSD Gee and APink LUV had such successful result in recent year so far)....


                               So girl group of the Feb is GFriend.

                                                 March

              During March last year, it is the new wave of cute concept girl groups debut and comeback, CLC, Oh My Girl, Matilda and few others. And among the cute concept girl groups,  I would say Red Velvet won a few times on various music program after the GFriend domination.

(First of all, I have to say SM Entertainment is really smart at business, they avoid letting Red Velvet comeback as the same time with G-Friend last month.
             Red Velvet's second mini album The Velvet was schedule released on March 16, 2016 but ten minutes before schedule release, S.M. Entertainment announced that the music video and album's release would be delayed to March 17 "to guarantee a high quality of work".The album showcases the smooth R&B-influenced "velvet" side of the group's concept and is a direct follow-up album to The Red, which highlighted the band's bright and bold "red" persona.
             Until now, they have won a few times on various music program.
             But one thing I noticed that SM Entertainment idol group doesn't completely dominate kpop now after the decline of SNSD. Even though Red Velvet will be a successful girl group, but compared to G-Friend, I still don't know yet....)


                        So girl group of the March is Red Velvet

                              

       April

             During the April last year, the second save of cute concept girl group comeback,  first is APink 5 years anniversary....

           

                                            (I was joking I want to be one of the Panda there...)

LovelyZ, Laboum,  April, Berry Good all made comback this month, but the most successful one would be Twice.

( JYP's new girl group Twice is back.  Twice's second mini-album, Page Two, was released on April 25, 2016. The album includes title track "Cheer Up", a remake of Park Ji-yoon's "Precious Love", and "I'm Gonna Be A Star", which served as the theme song for Sixteen. The group held their comeback showcase the same day at the Yes24 Live Hall located in Seoul, South Korea. The music video hit 10 million views on YouTube within five days.
                  I would say JYP's Twice is definitely a rising star in kpop right now. However, after I listen to "Cheer Up", I didn't find anything similar to Park Ji Yoon's old songs, anyways....)


                               So girl group of the April is Twice

                                          May

        During the May 2016, there is a new trend of new debut girl groups, among half of the girls groups are new debut girl groups, so many people never heard of them before. Among them, I.O.I would be a unique one stands out.

        ( I.O.I is a South Korean girl group formed by CJ E&M through the 2016 reality show Produce 101 on Mnet. The group is composed of eleven members chosen from a pool of 101 trainees from various entertainment companies. They debuted on May 4, 2016 with a mini-album, and are expected to actively promote four albums, either as a whole or as sub-units, over the next 10 month

              Which means this group is a highly qualified group. So among those 4 new girl groups, I would rank I.O.I the first.)




           However, I would say AOA is actually the winner here.
         ( "Good luck 길이길이 You like me,Good luck 길이길이 I like you,Good luck 놓치지마 Lucky lucky,Good luck 나는 너의 Lucky lucky"....Yes, you are right. If you always heard the above part of lyrics, AOA is officially back. FNC Entertainment announced on the 1st of May that AOA would release their 4th mini-album Good Luck on the 16th of the same month. I would say AOA's comeback was one of the biggest among kpop girl groups comeback this month....)

AOA Visual member Choa during good luck MV filming

                                       

  So girl group of the May is AOA

                                              

                                               June

         For June 2016, it takes turns, the most sexy concept girl groups made comeback. Sistar, EXID, Brave Girls, Wanna.B, O21. Also cute concept girl group such as Gugudan also made debut. and old kpop girl group As One come back

( So first of all,I will introduce one new girl group called Gugudan. So how is this group formed?

         According to Wikipedia, In January 2016, Kim Na-young, Kim Se-jeong and Kang Mi-na were introduced as Jellyfish Entertainment's first female trainees on the Mnet survival show Produce 101 where 101 female trainees from various companies competed to debut in an 11-member girl group that would promote for a year under YMC Entertainment. After placing 2nd and 9th respectively in the final episode, Sejeong and Mina eventually debuted as members of I.O.I in May 2016.  

          Despite denying earlier reports about Sejeong and Mina debuting in a 7-member girl group in June, the company confirmed on June 7 that the two I.O.I members would debut within the month in what would be the company's first girl group. Because of YMC Entertainment's special terms in which I.O.I's members are allowed to do activities under their respective companies while IOI was on break or while the group promoted in sub-units, there were no complications with the plan.

         So this is another girl group which members come from survival show after I.O.I.)

        On June 1 2016, it was revealed that Sistar will be coming back in June with a title track produced by Black Eyed Pilseung who also produced Sistar's song, "Touch My Body".  On the same day, Sistar released the first teaser for their fourth EP, then releasing two riddle images the next day.

  On June 4, Sistar and their fans celebrated Sistar's 6th Anniversary, displaying a picture of the girls with the gifts and cakes that they received.

     On June 10, Starship released a mash up collaboration of Sistar and DJ Soda. On June 14, it was revealed that the title song of their fourth EP, 몰아애 Insane Love, is called "I Like That" On June 20, Sistar had a live countdown for their music video and album release. On June 21, Starship released the "I Like That" music video on their official YouTube channel and officially released 몰아애 Insane Love physically and digitally.

                          So girl group of the June is Sistar

               I will write the second half part sometimes in the near future....