Friday, March 8, 2019

Kpop Girl Groups 2018 Review (Second Half).

Image result for APink - I'm so sick




July

                It's pretty much around the same as April.  The big three Twice, APink and Gfriend all came back at the same time again. Also the best girl group of March Mamamoo joined the competition.
               Unlike the previous very strong comeback, Twice came back with the single Dance the night away, which was written by former YG artist Wheesung.
               Also in early July, GFriend released the new album for fans entitled Sunny Summer.The album contains five songs, including the title track, "Sunny Summer,"  It was considered a strong
comeback for Gfriend at early July.


Compare to Twice and GFriend, it is Apink released their seventh mini album One & Six. The title track, "I'm So Sick". "I'm So Sick" topped several music charts in South Korea after its release. The album itself topped the Gaon chart and led Apink to reach their highest-ever position on Billboard's World Albums chart at No. 11. The success of the song and album further led to Apink making their debut on Billboard's Social 50 chart, opening at No. 39
        And Until July 17th 2018, APink got 4 wins already for various music program.4
                         

                      So girl group of the July is APink:

Image result for APink - I'm so sick







August

          Red Velvet also had a summer cameback, but SM Entertainment being smart, avoid comeback around the same time with Twice, APink, GFriend those big girl groups last month.
          There are few new girl groups also debut or comeback at August, but less well known than July. e.g: DIABerry Good, Loona, Nature.  One thing to notice is that the lead dancer of DIA
Eunjin quit the group, which limit the popularity of the group.
                                                         Image result for Eunjin

Commercial Success of Red Velvet.

Now I will talk about the commercial success of Red Velvet. their second special "summer" EP following The Red Summer, which was released on August 6, 2018. the EP contains seven tracks, including the lead single "Power Up" and the English version of "Bad Boy" as a bonus track, 
They The EP was a commercial success domestically and internationally, topping South Korea's Gaon chart's Album Chart, Single Chart and Download ChartElsewhere, it debuted at number three on the US Billboard World Albums chart. It also charted on the website's Heatseekers Albums chart at number 3, the Digital Albums at number 21, and became the group's first release to enter the Top Album Sales chart at number 91. The lead single "Power Up" also debuted at number 6 on its World Digital Songs chart. In France, the album charted at number 42 on the French Album Downloads Chart. The EP is also the group's first release to chart in the UK and Australia, debuting at number 38 on the UK Album Downloads Chart and at 31 on the Australian Top 50 Digital Albums Chart


                   So girl group of the August is Red Velvet:

Image result for Red Velvet - Power Up









September

  Compare to August, there are even more girl groups comeback, but most are even less well known. Oh My GirlWJSN, and Dream Catcher are 3 relatively well known ones among them.
    It is obvious Oh My Girl's Remember Me is the most well known comeback.



               So girl group of the September is Oh My Girl:
Image result for oh my girl remember me








October

      After July, August, September 3 month with massive kpop girl groups comeback, there are fewer comeback at October last year. April changed their style and evolved after release  "Oh! My Mistake". 
     Weki Meki's crush has some unique style, the rap portions on the album written by member Yoo-jung

                                                    Image result for Choi Yoo-jung

    Speaking of the popularity, the new Korean-Japanese girl group IZ*ONE quickly becomes a hot topic right after their debut.Iz One  is a Korean-Japanese kpop girl group formed through the Mnet reality competition show Produce 48In its first day of release, the EP sold over 34,000 units reported by Hanteo Chart, setting a new record for the highest number of albums sold on the first day of a Korean girl group's debut release. The music video for the lead single "La Vie en Rose" achieved more than 4.5 million views within 24 hours of its release on YouTube, making it the most-watched debut music video by a Korean act in 24 hours. On November 8, Iz One garnered their first music program win for "La Vie en Rose" on M Countdown. This was the fastest music program win for a girl group, just 10 days after their official debut

             So girl group of the October is IZ*ONE:

Image result for IZ*ONE - La Vie en Rose









November

    November is a huge month for kpop girl groups comeback. Not only new girl groups like Nature, DreamNote, also LovelyZ and GuguDan join the competition. Also at the same time,  EXID and Mamamoo also made the comeback.
     Speaking of EXID, member Solji rejoin the group after 2 years, all five members of EXID released a song entitled "I Love You". The song entered Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart at number 5
Image result for solji exid

The biggest competition this month was none of above. In terms of sales and popularity, bot Twice and Red Velvet going very strong. 
On November 9th, SM Entertainment announced that Red Velvet will release their third album in the year and their fifth EP in total. The EP, titled Really Bad Boy, was released on November 30. It has six tracks including the lead single "RBB (Really Bad Boy)" and its English version.
      The album was a commercial success overseas, with RBB and its lead single debuting atop Billboard's Top Heatseekers Album chart and World Digital Songs chart for the first timeThe EP became the group's fourth consecutive album to earn a new best sales week in the United States. RBB also charted in France, Japan and the United Kingdom. It received generally positive reviews from critics who praised all of the album's tracks, with Caitlin Kelley of Forbes noting that all of the songs on the album "are strong enough to stand on their own".

          Image result for red velvet - really bad boy
But this time, Red Velvet cannot avoid to compete at the same time with Twice from JYP Entertainment.  Twice released their sixth EP Yes or Yes on November 5, 2018 by JYP Entertainment and is distributed by Iriver. It contains seven tracks, including the lead single of the same name and the Korean version of "BDZ". In early October 2018, advertisements with the phrase "Do you like Twice? Yes or Yes"  were put up on subway billboards, drawing attention online.On October 11, JYP Entertainment confirmed that Twice planned to release their third Korean album of the year on November 5.
   In South Korea, the album topped the Gaon Album Chart while the title track topped the Gaon Digital Chart. Yes or Yes was also Twice's first Korean album to rank number 1 on Japan's Oricon Albums Chart and Digital Albums Chart




             So girl group of the November is Twice



Image result for twice yes or yes









December

  Because too many girl groups debut or comeback last month, Laboum is the only girl group who did comeback this month. Laboum's sixth single album was released on December 5, 2018 with the title track "Turn It On."





  So girl group of the December is Laboum

Image result for laboum turn it on






Now, just a summary of the whole year 2018: Girl group of  Jan is Red Velvet, Feb is  CLC
March is  Mamamoo, April is Twice ,May is  G-Idol, June is  Blackpink, July is APink,
August is Red Velvet, Sept  is Oh My Girl, October is IZone, November is Twice, December is Laboum.

Overall,  Red Velvet and Twice both got twice, then is BlackPink, APink, Mamamoo those well known girl groups got once.  Oh My Girl, Laboum, CLC those less well known girl groups also got once. New girl groups such as  G-Idol and IZone both got once as well.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Kpop Girl Groups 2018 Review (First Half).

So it's time to write year review again. Same as last year, 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 2018  first.

Image result for Red Velvet bad boys




January

             At Jan 2018,  after a long time and hard work,  Oh My Girl got their first ever won since their debut for single "secret garden"

     
     Also, Momoland starts getting very popular after the  famous "bboom bboom" song, they even won M!CountDown as an rookie relatively unknown group.


      Speaking of popularity, Red Velvet  got promoted with their single "Bad Boy". The album topped the Gaon Album Chart upon its release while "Bad Boy" debuted at #1 on Gaon's Download Chart and at #2 on the Gaon Digital Chart. The Perfect Red Velvet also charted at #3 on Billboard's World Albums chart while "Bad Boy" debuted at #2 on its World Digital Songs chart.


                               
                         So girl group of the Jan is Red Velvet
Image result for Red Velvet bad boys








February

   Not many big comeback for this month, Gugudan and Cosmic Girls tried to break through, but not quite successful. It is CLC who stand out from the rest, with their single "Black Dress" with its well known dance version.


                       So girl group of the Feb is CLC

Image result for CLC - Black Dress

       


March

            Only April and Mamamoo came back this month, without much competition, Mamamoo won with their new style in MV " Starry Night".



                     So girl group of the March is Mamamoo

Image result for mamamoo - starry night





April

         After Feb and March those two month, April is one of the most intense competition month at 2018,  4 of the big girl groups Twice, APink and Gfriend, EXID choose to come back around the same time.
          Speaking of GFriend,  title track "Time for the Moon Light" debuts at No. 17 on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart. Also APink complete their 7th anniversary single, "Miracle.


Even GFriend and APink have strong comeback, it is Twice who released their fifth EP with a same lead name single title track, What Is Love? on April 9.  So how popular is exactly this song?  TWICE's MV for "What is Love?reached 20 million views at around 5:30 AM KST on April 11, about 35 hours since its release! This breaks the previous record held by Black Pink's "As If It's Your Last", which held the record at about 47 hours. The JYP Entertainment girl group took the trophy home with a dominating score of 10,527. 10,527 is the highest score set on 'Inkigayo's current system



                

  So girl group of the April is Twice
Image result for Twice - What is Love






May

Follow the girl groups comeback wave at April, all the relatively new girl groups follow the trend. Pristin and DreamCatcher  are getting more popular than before. AOA's   Bingle Bangle also got popular as well after they return as 6 members.

However, all the fans attention attract to the new coming girl group (G)I-DLE. (G)I-DLE achieved combined views of 2.2 million for the "Latata" music video within two days of its release. The mini-album debuted at number 13 on the Gaon Album Chart issued on April 29, 2018.I Am also debuted at number seven and has since peaked at number five on Billboard's World Albums chart on May 9, 2018. "Latata" debuted at number thirty-five on the Gaon Digital Chart on May 17, 2018. (G)I-DLE received their first-ever music show win on SBS MTV's The Show on May 22, twenty days after their debut. Two days later, on May 24, the group received their second music show win for "Latata" on Mnet's M Countdown and followed by their third win on The Show.


                    So girl group of the May is (G)I-DLE


Image result for (G)I-DLE - Latata






June

       The girl groups comeback still hold strong at June. Few new girl groups debut this month, one of them called Elris got great potentials. Momoland drop another single called "Baam" , it has become a hot topic among K-pop fans due to its similarities to the group's last hit, "Bboom Bboom."

Speaking of popularity,  BlackPink definitely won for this month. On June 15, the group released their debut EP titled Square Up. The single “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” debuted at number 17 on the Official Trending Chart in the United Kingdom, making them the first female K-pop group to enter the chart since its launch in 2016. The single also debuted as the highest-charting Hot 100 hit ever by an all-female K-pop act, opening at number 55 with 12.4 million U.S. streams and 7,000 downloads sold in the tracking week ending June 21, 2018In South Korea, Square Up debuted at number one on Gaon Albums Chart. The single “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” peaked at number one on the Digital, Download, Streaming and Mobile charts on Gaon in its second week, while “Forever Young” also managed to peak under top five.YouTube's official tally saw the music video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" garner a total of 36.2 million views within 24 hours after its release and became the most viewed online video in the first 24 hours by a Korean act and second most watched music video of all time, surpassing lable-mate Psy's "Gentleman" and behind only Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do.


            

                  So girl group of the June is BlackPink

Image result for Blackpink - ddu du ddu du



   From here, we can see  both Blackpink and Twice are super big groups in kpop right now.