Kpop Girl Groups 2019 Review (Second Half).

Continue from the the previous blog, from July to Dec.

July

         Few other girl groups like Nature, Honey Popcore, and Busters also made comeback as well, but not quite successful. GWSN's lead single "Red-Sun (021)" on July 23. The MV is huge success with over 21 million viewers so far.

        

   In the mean time,  GFriend released their seventh mini-album, Fever Season, with title track "Fever". It debuted at number 10 on the Billboard World Albums chart.It topped the Gaon Album Chart.

The biggest news about kpop girl group in July is definitely the debut of JYP girl group 'ITZY', the next Twice. Itzy's debut EP, titled It'z Icy was released on July 29, 2019 along with an accompanied music video for its lead single titled "Icy".On August 5, It'z Icy debuted and peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard World Albums chart and at number 19 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums, making it their first entry on both charts. Even from the same company, ITZY might be very different style from Twice.

 

So girl group of the July is ITZY

August

There are quite a few kpop girl groups comeback in August this year. Oh My Girl, FANATICS, Rocket Punch

EverGlow have a comeback on August 19 with their second single album Hush and lead single "Adios". On September 24, 2019, Everglow won their first music program broadcast award on The Show

The ReVe Festival: Day 2 is the seventh Korean extended play by kpop girl group Red Velvet, released on August 20, 2019 through SM Entertainment. The EP was announced on August 12, this EP is the second release of The ReVe Festival trilogy. It is No 1 on Gaon South Korean Albums ranking.

So girl group of the August is Red Velvet

September

There are also 5 girl groups comeback or debut at September this year, same as August. Laboum, Saturday, We Girls didn't make much success.

Dreamcatcher made a major comeback at September with Deja Vu with a sequence of teasers and trailers.

On September 23, 2019, Twice released their eighth EP, Feel Special, along with the music video for the lead single of the same name produced by Park Jin-young. The lead single scored group's second number 1 on the Billboard's World Digital Song Sales which previously hit the top spot in 2017 with "Likey". "Feel Special" also stretching group's dominance across North America as the single debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 chart at number 82—the group's first entered on the chart, making Twice the third K-pop girl group and ninth K-pop act to appear on the chart. On September 30, 2019, Twice broke their own first week album sales record with Feel Special, previously holding the record with Fancy You

So girl group of the September is Twice

October

      There are only 4 girl groups comeback or debut at October this year. Ladies Code, Sunny Hill comeback didn't draw much attention with their own group issues. Ariaz is still new. 

                                                           Sulli Suicide

       At October 13/14th the f(x) member Sulli commited suicide due to hate comment, which shocked the kpop world.

      Sulli's death was linked by various media outlets to depression caused by cyberbullying. Following her death, it was revealed that Sulli had repeatedly asked her agency, SM Entertainment, to take strong measures against the malicious comments and cyberbullying. A total of seven petitions were posted at the South Korean presidential office website demanding tougher punishment for cyberbullying and strengthening use of the real-name system when posting comments and creating accounts

      Yes, the famous older generation girl group Brown Eyed Girls are back. Many fans thought they stop activity or retired, but they are actually still active, and made a comeback.Fans are holding their breath as they count down the days to legendary girl group Brown Eyed Girls' comeback album 'Re:vive'.

So girl group of the October is Brown Eyed Girls

November  

            There are 6 girl groups comeback or debut at November last year. Nature, Rainbow, WJSN was not quite successful. 

            The new kpop girl group Bvndit debut single Dumb is considered really good as new group.

          AOA also comeback at this time as well,  AOA also made their presence known at the international iTunes charts.  Their new album NEW MOON climbed to the top of K-Pop charts of eight countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Russia

                                                    Goo Hara suicide

        Following Sulli's suicide, former KARA member Goo Hara also commited suicide On November 24, 2019 Following her death, a petition was submitted to the Blue House with over 200,000 signatures demanding a more severe punishment for filming sexual acts without consent and distributing it

                 

          Since rise to fame, Mamamoo  released their second full album, Reality in Black, on November 14, 2019, with its lead single "Hip". Over the years, Mamamoo has grown prominent in South Korea for their powerful flouting of convention when it comes to stereotypical K-pop idol performance and fashion styles, resulting in both praise and hatred aimed at the group.  Until the most recent "Show Champion", Mamamoo already got 5 wins with their latest track “HIP.”

 

           girl group of the November is Mamamoo

December

     
          JusticeForAPink hashtag:
APink were performing their song "% %" at the annual music festival, one of the country's biggest music shows, which is broadcast live on South Korea's KBS television channel. Their performance was abruptly cut short before they could perform the ending of the number they prepared. The band members were left lost and confused before they were forced to head backstage. As one of the most senior girl group, it is very disrespect for APink.

           Red Velvet Wendy Injury:
 Wendy suffered from an 8-foot fall off stage while the K-pop group was prepping for SBS's annual Gayo Daejun event, she broke multiple bones, including her right pelvis and wrist, while also sustaining a cracked cheekbone, as well as multiple bruises. She will reportedly require six weeks of healing time, which result in lawsuit between SM Entertainment and SBS.
  There is only one girl group Red Velvet came back, so  The final release of the trilogy, The ReVe Festival: Finale, was released on December 23, which lead single "Psycho".

           The single "Psycho" topped all of South Korea's realtime music charts upon its release, being Red Velvet's second song to achieve a "realtime all-kill" after their 2018 single, "Power Up".The song has also achieved the "certified all-kill" status, where a song is topping all the charts, both realtime and daily, simultaneously.

The album went on to sell over 30,000 units on the first day of availability according to Hanteo, their second-best, just next to The ReVe Festival Day 1, released June earlier that year, selling over 45,000 units on the first day of availability

     

                girl group of the December is Red Velvet.

As usual, I will do a summary  a summary of the whole year 2019: Girl group of  Jan is APink, Feb is (G)I-DLE, March is  Mamamoo,  April is BlackPink, May is EXID,  June is Red Velvet, July is ITZY,  August is Red Velvet, September is Twice, October is Brown Eyed Girls,  November is Mamamoo, December is Red Velvet.

Overall, Red Velvet got 3 times, then Mamamoo got 2 times, then is BlackPink, APink, Twice those well known girl groups got once. Older girl groups Brown Eyed Girls got once, EXID got once, new girl groups ITZY , (G)I-DLE got once.

Kpop Girl Groups 2019 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 2019  first.

January

At mid Jan 2019, during the 2nd week of promotions, GFriend took 1st place on all music shows, making them the first artist in 2019 to achieve a grand slam.

   
During the same time,  CLC released 'No', which also got certain popularity.  3 Chinese members from WSJN won't able to participate in group activity due to prior commitment.
Among all the new girl groups,  Cherry Bullet from FNC entertainment  stands out with their unique style.


   Speaking of the major comeback,  The first Monday of 2019 saw a new release from girl group APink! 'Percent' contains 6 fresh tracks, including the title track "%%." This is their eighth EP, a follow-up to last July's 'One & Six.' In a press conference, they revealed that they've been retooling their sound, starting with "I'm So Sick." This release is just the next step to a more mature-sounding A Pink.




                    So girl group of the January is APink

February

Few kpop girl groups comeback at February this year, but certain girl groups chose to debut later to avoid APink vs GFriend  those 2 big girl group in January.  (G)I-DLE , Dream Catcher, and Loona all have certain popularity and their own fans.

On February 13th, Dreamcatcher released their fourth EP, The End of Nightmare. As with the title, the album heralds the end of the 'Nightmare' concept. Dreamcatcher's agency, HappyFace Entertainment, also announced that they will henceforth be renamed as DreamCatcher Company.

It was  (G)I-DLE's Senorita stands out from the rest, become the most popular girl group for a short period of time at Feb. Also the lead single 'Senorita", written and composed by member Soyeon.

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

March

      Not like Feb , many groups comeback at March this year, which means more competition as well.    

       Small groups like Dreamnote, GWSN comeback, not very successful. S.I.S. tried to become another GFriend, but also not successful, D.I.A experience member changes as well.

      In the mean time, Momoland held promotional events in Tokyo and Osaka from February 28 until March 4, 2018. The group garnered 25,000 spectators at an event held in Japan over four days. Approximately 100 media also participated in the showcase held at Tower Records in Shibuya, the song I'm so hot became another major hit.

         

Everglow was one of the new girl group which really stands out.They made their debut on March 18, 2019, with the album Arrival of Everglow. The song Bon Bon Chocolat actually got really popular when it just came out.

Even though Momoland and Everglow both have very strong comeback and debut, it was Mamamoo

really top the kpop girl group at March.Mamamoo released their ninth EP, White Wind, on March 14, 2019, with its lead single "Gogobebe" This EP is the fourth and final album under the 4 Seasons, 4 Colors project. During that time, Mamamoo won 6 times in various music program such as Show Champion, M Countdown, Music Bank, made them one of the most popular kpop girl group at that time.

                So girl group of the March is Mamamoo

April

      There are not many girl groups comeback at April this year, but all those who comeback are all famous ones. BlackPink, Twice and IZone.

      For Izone,  On April 1, the group released their second EP, Heart*Iz, with "Violeta" as the album's lead single.Heart*Iz sold 132,109 copies in the first week which is a new record for girl groups at the time.Off the Record released a special video in commemoration of achieving 40 million views for "Violeta" music video.

     Then the next one is BlackPink vs Twice. As two of the most successful kpop girl group nowadays, but they have completely different style. Let's see what Twice achieved at April.

                                               Twice vs BlackPink

Twice made history as the first female K-pop girl group to hold a Japanese dome tour, named Twice Dome Tour 2019 "#Dreamday", with a total audience of 220,000 during five shows in Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya was held in March and April 2019.On April 22, they released their seventh EP Fancy You. The music video of "Fancy", which garnered over 42.1 million views in a single day, also reached the seventh position in the list of YouTube's biggest debuts during the first 24 hours.The release of Fancy You made Twice the best-selling Korean girl group of all time with a total of 3,750,000 copies sold from their twelve Korean releases, surpassing the twenty-year-old record of S.E.S.Twice has also sold over approximately six million albums worldwide.

For BlackPink, As of 2019, Blackpink is the highest-charting female K-pop act on both Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, peaking at number 41 with "Kill This Love", and peaking at number 24 with Kill This Love, respectively. They are also the first and only K-pop girl group to enter and top Billboard's Emerging Artists chart. They are also the first female K-pop group to have four number-one singles on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart..Blackpink's second EP, Kill This Love, was released on April 5, 2019. Blackpink performed at the 2019 Coachella Festival on April 12 and 19, 2019, the first female K-pop group to perform at Coachella. 

At the end of year, Blackpink is regarded more popular than Twice and North America, but Twice still remains more popular than Blackpink in certain countries in Asia such as Japan. So I would give the title to BlackPink this time.

                    So girl group of the April is BlackPink

May

There are quite a few girl groups comeback in May this year, especially cute concept girl group, but not many famous ones comeback. Oh My Girl, LovelyZ, Weki Meki, Berry Good all came back this month with the similar style. Cherry Bullet made some new concept again, with VR showcase on the scene.

Without many competition, EXID easily become the top girl group this month.

               So girl group of the May is EXID

June

  since June, the sales and comeback of kpop girl group declined. At June, despite  WSJN got one first place on Gaon chart with Boogie Up songs, Cosmic Girls (WSJN) and formis_9 failed to achieved what they expected.

  It is Red Velvet from SM Entertainment dominate June this month.On June 19, Red Velvet released their sixth EP, titled The ReVe Festival: Day 1, which features the lead single "Zimzalabim" and is the first entry of The ReVe Festival trilogy. The CD version of the EP debuted atop the Gaon Weekly Album Chart, and sold 182,210 copies in June 2019 in South Korea, placing second for the month

                    So girl group of the June is Red Velvet