Kpop Girl Groups Update Januaray 2017 (Second Half)

         Ok, here is the second part of the blog.
         So all the famous groups I already talked about in part one, I will talk about the rest in this blog.

 April - April Story

         April is a kpop girl group formed by DSP Media in 2015. They debuted on August 24, 2015, with the mini-album Dreaming and its title track "Dream Candy". 

         On February 9 2015, DSP Media announced that they will debut a new girl group, April, in the first half of 2015. They would be labeled as sister group to Fin.K.L and Kara. The name April is a combination of "A" which means the best, and "Pril" stands for a lovely woman you can't help but love

          April released their third mini-album Prelude, on January 4, 2017. The title of the album Prelude represent the group's new beginning, with their new line-up consisting of Chaekyung, Chaewon, Naeun, Yena, Rachel and Jinsol

Dream Catcher - Chase Me

           Dreamcatcher (Korean: 드림캐쳐), formerly known as Minx (Korean: 밍스), is a South Korean girl group formed by Happy Face Entertainment. The group consists of seven members: JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Handong, Yoohyeon, Dami and Gahyeon. They officially debuted in January 13, 2017 with the single album Nightmare.
          Basically this group was Minx(which I talked about last year), which was 5 member girl group before. In November 2016, they announced that they were to re-debut under the new name, Dreamcatcher, with the addition of two new members and plans to debut in 2017

                                                            Minx (2014 - 2015)

                                              Dream Catcher

Melody Day: U Seem Busy

           First of all, I think Melody Day is well known enough, so I won't give introduction here.

          Melody Day released their third digital single You Seem Busy featuring BtoB's main rapper, Ilhoon, on January 24, 2017. The song was produced by Polar Bear and its lyrics were penned by JQ and Ilhoon

Year 7 Class 1 - Please remember me

          I also mentioned about this group before. Year 7 Class 1 was a 7 member kpop girl group debut under Dareun Byeol Entertainment. They were not well known. Until Jan 2017, fans guess this would be their very last release, perhaps a farewell song for the fans. Fans just got to wait for more info from the girls' agency.
           Even they are not famous, some of their songs are really good, you can check them out if you are interested.

MIXX - Love is a Sudden

            I used to think MIXN and MIXX are the same group, but they are actually not the same group.

          MIXX is a five-member girl group under Chiko Bros Entertainment. They debuted on May 3, 2016 with the single "Oh Ma Mind". The meaning of their name is 'M' for Motivate, 'I' for Impression, and 'XX' for the female chromosome.
           They made a comeback Love is a Sudden at Jan 2017.

Laysha - Party Tonight

      Laysha is a 4 member girl group under JS Entertainment. They are Chae Jin, Som, Hyeri, And GoEun. They released their first digital single "Turn Up The Music" on June 13th, 2015. They are the sister group to label mates BAMBINO.

A- Daily - White Snow Day

                I mentioned about this group like probably last year, so A-Daily was a 4 member kpop girl group debut under DK Entertainment at 2014. And they made a comeback at early Jan 2017 with White Snow Day.

          

H2L - Winter Story

        H2L is a three-member girl group under Regolith Entertainment. They debuted as SUS4(see my previous blog about SUS4) on March 18, 2015 with the single "Shake It" before leaving their previous agency, TK Entertainment, in November 2016.

        They re-debuted as H2L on January 16, 2017 with their first digital single "Winter Story".

Kpop Girl Groups Update Januaray 2017 (First Half)

           Ok. So it's time to update my blog once again....

           At Jan 2017, there are quite a few big event happened.
           1  Comeback of first generation girl group S.E.S.
           2  Disband of YG girl group 2NE1.
           3  Disband of Produce 101 girl group I.O.I

        Since there are many kpop girl groups comeback at Jan 2017, so I will write two posts. The first one I will focus on the few most popular one, the second post I will focus on less known group and new debut.

  S.E.S.: Remember, Paradise

        Since late 2016, there are various rumor about first generation kpop girl group S.E.S. will make comeback in early 2017. And eventually , they chose Jan 1st 2017 as their comeback day.

       So who is S.E.S. ?  a lot of new kpop fans never heard of them....

        S.E.S. is a South Korean girl group trio formed by S.M. Entertainment in 1997, consisting of members Bada, Eugene, and Shoo. In their early years, they were also known as the female counterpart of H.O.T., and raised phenomenal popularity at the time.

          S.E.S. is considered one of K-pop's first highly successful girl groups. They were challenged by groups like Fin.K.L and Baby V.O.X, which debuted soon after S.E.S. and also enjoyed success.

          From the general vote in Korea back in 2011, S.E.S. was considered the second most popular kpop girl group of all time, only next to SNSD. One thing I did mention here is around year 1999 to 2000, so S.E.S. 3rd album LOVE, which released at 1999 was the best physical selling album of all time, even any single SNSD album doesn't sell that much.

        Also S.E.S. got many awards during their active year, 1998 New Artist of the year award. From 2000, 2001,2002, S.E.S. won Best Female group of the year award 3 years straight. They were definitely the most popular girl group back in early 2000s.

              

      The lead singer and dancer of S.E.S. is the well known Bada. Even before the S.E.S. reunion, Bada was already famous on Immortal Song and various Korean entertainment program.

 2NE1: Goodbye

           As many people won't believe, the most successful girl group 2NE1 will disband very soon.

Yes.the 

           Ever since Minzy's departure, YG Entertainment stated that the group will carry on as a trio. Later on November 25, 2016, YG Entertainment announced the disbandment of the group, with CL and Sandara signed their contract as a solo artist, while Park Bom left the agency and did not re-sign her contract.

            On January 5, 2017, it was announced that 2NE1 would be releasing a final single, titled "Goodbye", as a farewell song to their fans. It was released on January 21, with lyrics being credited to CL, who had originally written the song as a letter for Minzy. The song topped Billboard World Digital Songs.

           

         Similar to S.E.S. I mentioned before. 2NE1 also had big impact on kpop,  they could easily rank the 4th most popular kpop girl group of all time as well.(After SNSD, S.E.S. and Fin K.L)

         2NE1 had very impressive result in the past:

          2NE1 got 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards, Cyworld Digital Music Awards for top Selling artis, Best Rookie Group, Bonsang Award. Also 2009 Golden Disk Awards. The group was one and the only rookie of the Top 10 artists in South Korea and the Best New Artist.[ They won This Year’s Stage, This Year's Album, This Year's Song on 2009 GQ Awards. They received 4 out of 10 nominations on Rhythmer Awards 2009 including Rookie of the Year, R&B Artist of the Year, R&B Single of the Year for "I Don't Care" and R&B Album of the Year for their 1st Mini Album. 

        2NE1 won their first Artist of the Year and Album of the Year award for To Anyone at the 2010 Mnet Asian Music Awards, in addition to awards for Best Female Group and Best music video for "Can't Nobody".They are the first artist who has won all 3 grand awards at Mnet Asian Music Awards.

      On November 29, 2011, 2NE1 won the Best Vocal Performance by a Group for their song "Lonely" and was awarded their 2nd Song of the Year for "I Am the Best" at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards. After 2011, 2NE1 has won the most grand awards, for a female artist, in MAMA history with 4 wins (2 Song of the Years, 1 Album of the Year and 1 Artist of the Year).

Goodbye, 2NE1 !!!

                                        I.O.I : Downpour

          Compare to 2NE1, they probably won't have loyal fans, but the disband of I.O.I still breaks a lot of some recent kpop fans' heart as well.
           As I mentioned before, I.O.I  was a South Korean girl group formed by CJ E&M through the 2016 reality show Produce 101 on Mnet.
          The group's concert titled Time Slip – I.O.I, which was held on January 20 to 22, 2017, marked their last group activity on stage. They officially disbanded at the end of January 2017 and returned to their respective agencies...
           However such a girl group like this, I.O.I. was considered one of the most popular girl group at 2016 in Korea. There are a lot of  news and commercial related to them, and also popular on Internet as well, and their dance skills of course...




After the release of the song, the single "Downpour" achieves all kill.
On January 18 (KST), IOI released their much-anticipated track "Downpour" and it's anything from down as the track is sitting on top of 8 real-time music charts: Melon, Mnet, Bugs, olleh, Soribada, Genie, Naver, and Monkey3. 

After these 3 big events, the next section I will talk about major comeback for Jan 2017.

AOA: Excuse Me, Bing Bing

            AOA released their first Korean studio album titled Angel's Knock on January 2, 2017 through digital and physical platforms, which came more than four years after the group's debut back in July 2012. Various teasers were revealed from December 21, 2016 to January 1, 2017 through a special web page designed for the group and various social media networks.
           Double title tracks, "Excuse Me" and "Bing Bing," which represent two distinctive concepts, were released and promoted simultaneously on the music programs during their comeback week. 
           However, many Netizens say AOA is going downhill now, and criticize their new release as well.

CLC: Hobgoblin

         On December 27, 2016, Cube Entertainment announced that CLC would be releasing a new album in January, with a revamped image, different concept from the group's existing image. It was also stated that CLC's new album aims to show a more charismatic, hip-hop and chic image. On January 4, 2017, CLC released an album art for their 5th mini album titled Crystyle which was released on January 17, 2017, with the title song Hobgoblin. In the making of this album, they were assisted by their senior labelmate HyunA.
          And I feel like their MV is a combination of both 2NE1 and 4 minute...

Hello Venus :  Mysterious

      On December 29, 2016 it was reported that the group will be making a comeback with a mini-album on January 11. Mystery of Venus was released on January 11, 2017, in conjunction with the music video for the title track "Mysterious".

     The album was a commercial success entering at number 12 on the Gaon Album Chart.

Sonamoo - I think I love you

              From the legendary TS Entertainment, Sonamoo is back again. On December 21st 2016, TS Entertainment announced that group will return with their 1st single album on January 9th, 2017. The lead single is a brighter dance track produced by hit-maker Shin Hyuk.

Cosmic Girls(WJSN) - I Wish

          On January 4 2017, Cosmic Girls released their third extended play From. WJSN composed of 6 new songs, including the title track "I Wish" . On January 11, Starship Entertainment unveiled their official fanclub name, Ujung (Hangul: 우정, Friendship).
          

   Remember the girl always make very difficult move move in Cosmic Girl? One member I need to mention about this group is one Chinese member called Cheng Xiao. So after she showed  her special move and took very difficult dancer roles in this group, Both Chinese and Korean media call her "Gymnastics girl". And She was compared to f(x) leader Victoria, became one of the most well known kpop star in China very recently.

So this is the end of Part 1, I will continue writing about Part 2 next.