Today I will update my blog again, just talk about kpop girl groups at October this year.
For October, there's actually no big group comeback, actually not many girl groups comeback this month. So I will start with JYP's new girl group Twice
Twice - Ohh Ahh
Twice is a nine-member K-pop girl group formed by JYP Entertainment through the 2015 reality show Sixteen. Selected from a pool of sixteen JYP trainees, the group includes five members from South Korea, three from Japan, and one from Taiwan. The name Twice was chosen because members will be able to “wowing their fans once through their ears and twice through their eyes.
Similar to Miss A which includes two Chinese members, Twice is also a multi-nation girl groups, which gradually becomes a strategy in JYP Entertainment, who got trainee from other countries besides Korea.
On October 7, 2015, JYP Entertainment launched the band's official website and announced via SNS that the group would debut with the mini-album The Story Begins and title-track "Like OOH-AHH". The track is described as a 'color pop' dance track with elements of hip-hop, rock, and R&B. The music video reached almost 1 million views in less than 12 hours
Besides JYP's new girl group Twice, I will divide the groups into cute concept and sexy concept as before. And as usual, I will talk about the cute concept girl group first....
Secret - For Secret Time
As stable 1st tier girl group Secret, they released the MV "For Secret Time" for their 6 years anniversary. Even though I'm not a big fan of Secret, they always compete with my fav APink and old Girl's Day, and they all belong to the cute concept.
Especially for the most popular and talented member Jun HyoSeong made Secret into sexy concept as well. They also experienced similar path to APink and Girl's Day, from unknown girl group to consistent first tier girl group.
Oh My Girl - Closer
From my previous post, Oh My Girl was one of the more successful new girl group debut this year. On October 1, 2015, teaser images for their comeback track, "Closer", was released. The group was praised for their excellent visual effects and concepts for their newest promotions.
The title track "Closer" is a sweet and catchy track with a mystical element in the instrumental and the girls' soothing vocals. The dance is also fun and fairy-like with the members' graceful movements. The MV is artistic and beautiful, capturing the fairy tale concept they've gone for with great success.
Oh My Girl show off their Zodiac-sign dance moves in 'Closer' performance MV. Looking innocent and pure in all-white, matching dresses, the girls dance away to their hearts' content in the performance version of their MV that shows off their choreography in its entirety.
Dia - My Friend's Boyfriend
Since the success debut single of Dia "SomeHow" , they become a hot topic in kpop last month.
Dia stood out among the competition when they released several MVs for their debut, and now they're back with another one for follow-up track "My Friend's Boyfriend"!
The MV actually starts out off, let's say, in a unique way, but quickly turns into a bright, bubbly and fun MV which matches perfectly with the sweet, pop track. The video is shot as if you, the viewer, are their 'boyfriend', or at least in the POV of the MV's male lead.
All the above cute concept girl groups are doing pretty well last month, but for sexy concept girl group, they are not doing so well last month....
Melody Day - Speed Up
Since last comeback, Melody Day became more popular and gained more fans.
Their title track "Speed Up" is a contemporary pop song about a girl who's completely straightforward with her feelings for a guy. The MV is colorful, fun and fierce, everything we like in an MV.
HOTTIES - Bam Bam Bam
Hotties is a brand new girl group, I don't know much about this group. The girl group dropped their debut MV for jazzy track "BamBamBam," which uses a lot of brass instrumentals to go with their whispery, seductive voices. Their choreography goes along with the sexy image as they strut their stuff with confidence.
ATT - Temptation
Another new girl group, I don't have much information about this group....
Today I will update my blog again, just talk about kpop girl groups at September this year.
For September, there's actually no big group comeback, just some new group comeback or some new debut girl groups, the most famous one will be Red Velvet.
Red Velvet - Dumb Dumb
On September 3, 2015, Red Velvet announced their first full-length album The Red through their Instagram account. It is set to be released on September 9 with a total of ten tracks, including the single "Dumb Dumb".According to the group's members, "Dumb Dumb" tells the story of a teenage girl who becomes awkward whenever she falls in love. The music video for "Dumb Dumb" is set in a doll factory and was released on September 8, 2015. The album was received positively by critic.
Billboard's Jeff Benjamin called The Red "an impressive, solid debut album" and stated that it "indicates big things for the act that needs to follow in the footsteps of their beloved female label mates Girls' Generation and f(x)." The album topped both South Korea's Gaon Album Chart and Billboard's World Albums Chart.
It did better than the previous Ice Cream Cake comeback, now I can see Red Velvet has somewhat enter the 1st tier girl group level, but they are still new, need to work very hard in the future.....
As usual, I still divide comeback as cute style and sexy style or ballad comeback, and I will talk about the cute style comeback first.
DIA - Somehow
Besides Red Velvet, the most successful debut this month I would say DIA. (also known as Do It Amazing) is a 7 member kpop girl group debut under MBK Entertainment. They debuted on September 14, 2015 with the album Do It Amazing.
When DIA debut, they released 3 music videos in a row, also spent a lot of money filmed the title track in Hong Kong. It was considered as a very strong debut. The title song Somehow was quite catchy and also the dance as well. And I really like their outfit....
Unicore - Huk
Another new girl group also debut this month is Unicore, Unicore is a 5 member kpop girl group debut under ETN on September 3rd this year.
Their debut album are produced by Kim Jo Han, who's known for his R&B hits. The 5-member group are also be the first girl group ever to debut through a 'web-com' called 'I Am A Girl Group. And it's a brand new girl group as well.
VIVIDIVA - Service
VIVIDIVA is another 7 member kpop girl group debut under DN Entertainment this year. Unlike other new debut groups, DN Entertainment is trying an entirely new concept called performance idols. The performance idols focus solely on live performances, and the group VIVIDIVA is the first of its kind. The group will perform on small stages, where the fans and audience members will have more direct communication with the idols.
I think it is a very good approach, since there are way too many girl groups and competition nowadays, getting close to audience will let this group stand out with those too many girl groups.
Also for sexy style girl groups, there are few girl groups comeback this month as well.
Purfles - A Bad Thing
Purfles is a 3 member kpop girl group debut under Crescendo Music at 2014. Actually this group was already active since last year with their single 1,2,3. And this year they made a comeback at Sep, with the single "A Bad Thing".
This is a typical sexy style girl group, and their songs are actually not bad, and some are quite meaningful,
Global Icon - Doligo Doligo
Global Icon (also called GI) is a 5 member kpop girl group formed by Simtong Entertainment in 2013. he original line-up made their debut with the single "Beatles", released on April 3, 2013. The group originally debuted with a "boyish" concept, in which the members take on a more masculine attitude and style, opposed to feminine concepts many girl groups have. But as the group has gone through a change in the member lineup, they're taking on a more feminine concept compared to their original image since 2015 September comeback
BADKIZ - come closer
Badkiz is a 5-member kpop girl group that debuted in 2014 under Zoo Entertainment. And they only had 4 members left now. Even though they debut almost a year until now, it seems to me they are still a new girl group for some reason.
The very last category, it's not either cute or sexy style girl gorup, BerryGood made a ballad comeback, so I made a separate list for that.
Berry Good- First Love
Berry Good is a 5 member kpop girl group debut under Asia Bridge Entertainment at May 2014 with the debut single "Love Letter". And they changed their members early this year, but still remains as a 5 member group. And they cameback with the ballad song "First Love".
It's a ballad single with a poetic melody and sad lyrics. It's a song that matches the fall season perfectly, and anyone who's experienced heartbreak will be able to resonate with the song
They are probably all good kids....
From here we can see except Red Velvet was under SM Entertainment, all other girl groups are from small labels for this month comeback, and a lot of agency I never heard of. But again, the problems with way too many girl groups in kpop nowadats which increases the competition and made them become famous much harder.....
So it's the start of September again. And I will update my blog for August as usual. Since July was the most competitive month for most kpop girl groups comeback this year. So August was relatively less competitive and less girl groups comeback at this time.
What's the biggest News for kpop girl groups this month?
of course it's SNSD comeback again.
Girls' Generation - lion Heart
After the release of "Party" song, a lot of kpop fans including SONES are not satisfied with that song. And their popularity is decreasing right now. SNSD does need a very strong comeback, "Party" song was not enough......
"Lion Heart" is considered a very strong comeback for SNSD this summer. The song talks about women falling in love with men who have a cheating heart and how they try to tame him like taming a lion. From August 18th to the 25th, Naver’s “V” phone application streamed several live shows of Girls’ Generation. A total of eight episodes were aired, covering Girls’ Generation’s “Lion Heart” comeback, the date I wrote this blog, SNSD already had 6 straight win on various music program so far, which is much better than "Party" promotion period.
Girls' Generation - You Think
At the same time when SNSD released Lion Heart, As the album's second title track, this single is also promoted widely.
"You Think" is a powerful pop dance song". The song expresses a woman's warning towards a former male lover, who spreads bad rumors about her after they have broken up. Girls' Generation member Seohyun described the song as an opportunity to "demonstrate SNSD performance and vocal skills properly"
So before I jumped to the next section, I'm gonna talk about other very important comeback in August, which is Wonder Girls and T-ara.
Wonder Girls- I feel you
As I said before, girl groups from JYP Entertainment are always dressed a bit too old style, which put them into disadvantage compared to groups from other talent agency. And this time is the same.
The Wonder Girls returned as a four-member band rather than a dance group with each member playing an instrument: Yubin (drums), Yeeun (keyboard), Hyerim (guitar), and Sunmi (bass), which is really different from other girl groups nowadays.
After the release of the single, "I Feel You" become a hit in Korea and zooming to No 1 on all the music chart.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of most JYP girl groups because their representation is a bit too old fashioned. But I do agree Wonder Girls was really famous back then, it's around the same level as SNSD back in 2008/2009....
T-ara - so crazy
T-ara was also considered as 1st-tier girl group back in days, then lost competition later on, but still ranked somewhere between 1st and 2ed tier girl group.
And in this MV, T-ara girls are back as sexy sailors, and the MV itself is really funny as well. The MV passed 2 million views in only 2 days,which still indicates the popularity of T-ara. Also this song had both Korean and Chinese version, which was the strategy of promoting themselves in China just like the "little Apple" song.
For the month of August, there's a lot of cute style girl groups comeback such as APink, myB, 2EYES, Year 7 Class 1.
APink - Petal
After the promoting of "Remember" period, APink continue to surprise their fans with following single "Petal". And it's such a beautiful song.
Since APink is my bias, especially Eunji and Bomi, so I won't say a lot about them here.....
myB - My Oh My
myB (마이비) is a South Korean girl group under Maroo Entertainment. They debuted on August 25, 2015 with the single "My Oh My". Their name stands for You're my Best, meaning the group's ambition to become the best in the music industry
So it's a brand new girl group, and their debut single is pretty catchy, not bad....
2EYES - PIPPI
Compared to myB, 2EYES is not a new group.2EYES (투아이즈) is a 5-member South Korean girl group who debuted in June 20, 2013 under SidusHQ.
They exist in kpop world for around 2 years now, but they never get famous like a lot of other girl groups , probably even worse than 3rd tier group.
Their new song "PIPPI" is actually pretty decent compared to those new girl groups or not famous girl groups.
Yeart 7 Class 1 - Always
Yeart 7 Class 1 was a girl group debut at 2014 under DRB Entertainment.And I am pretty sure I mentioned this group in my previous blog.
Anyways, they are not famous at all. This time they remake their old MV, make the second version of "Always". Only the visual changed a bit,but not music at all.
So this is pretty much about this month, not a lot compared to July. See you guys next month for the new update.
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.
It's the end of the June , so I will update my blog once again. There are not a lot of girl groups comeback this month, but there's a lot of teasers going on this month. Why?
1 The girl group comeback season is coming next month , it will be some of the toughest competition ever. Usually, big idol groups used to avoid making their comebacks too close to one another, to avoid unneeded competition. But this summer, it seems like all of the top girl groups are making a comeback at the same time staring late June such as Sistar and AOA. So before that, there will not be a lot of comeback at June.
2 Right now in kpop , big boy groups Big Bang and EXO are compete with each other very seriously. It's either Big Bang or EXO got first place throughout the month. Also other boy groups such as SHINee, BTS those groups comeback made June the month of boy groups comeback instead of girl groups comeback. And I'm not interested in boy groups, so I will omit this part....
so let's see which girl group made comeback or any new girl group came out this month....
Comeback: For all the girl groups comeback this month, SISTAR and AOA symbolized the girl group comeback trend this year. And both groups comeback at the same day, June 22ed 2015.
SISTAR - Shake It
Yes, SISTAR make comeback once again. Due to their previous continuous success, SISTAR's new MV Shake it pass 3 million views easily. And I think Hyorin is trying to show her body in this MV as well. But for some reason, not only their outfits styles or their dance moves, even all SISTAR songs sound very similar, and this single sounds similar to their previous single as well. However, I don't really like the newest single this time compared to their older songs.
A.O.A - Heart Attack
On the same day when Sistar released "Shake It", another kpop sexy girl group A.O.A released their comeback single "Heart Attack". After few successful release from last year, A.O.A's popularity increased a lot since last year as well. In a summer lacrosse game setting in this MV, A.O.A fully show up their sexy style and also fit the summer season. Their MV already passed 4 million, which is more than Sistar's Shake it . Personally I prefer their MV than Sistar's "Shake It".
(But I feel like the MV and dance step is too similar to SNSD's "Oh" for some reason).
Besides Sistar and AOA , some less well known girl groups made comeback as well such as Melody Day, Mamamoo, Year 7 Class 1 .
Melody Day - Love Me
Melody Day was a 3 member girl group debut under Viewga Entertainment at 2014, and they add one more member this year, so Melody Day is a 4 member girl group now. Even though they released few songs since last year, but a lot of kpop fans nowadays don't even know this group ever exist. So far, their comeback single "Love Me" ranked Number 14 on chart, which is already the best result they got since their debut. But I like this song, pretty catchy.
Mamamoo - Um Oh Ah Yeh
Considered one of the best kpop debut at 2014, among all the rookie groups, Mamamoo was considered one of the successful group among the current new girl group wave. And unlike other girl groups, their MV is always very funny and entertaining, which draws a lot of fans as well. This time Mammoo made the comeback "Um Oh Ah Yeh" is also really funny. Check out the MV and what do you think?....LOL
Year 7 Class 1 - white wind
Debut at early 2014, Year 7 Class 1 is 1 7 member girl group debut under DRB Entertainment. And they are typical cute and innocent concept girl group since their debut. There are many cases girl groups similar to this even since 90s with name like "class sth, grade sth". But none of them got popular. Coming from small label, Year 7 Class 1 was the only innocent concept girl group comeback this month, and their MV suits their concept as well, which is actually not bad.
Besides, these 3 comebacks, A KOR sub group A KOR Black amd also there's a girl group called playback also debut this month.
A KOR Black --- HOW WE DO
A KOR is a 5 member girl group also debut last year. Since their debut, this group become full of controversy. As a typical hip hop style girl group ,there's rumor says the member Kemy diss senior artists Park Bom from 2NE1, which gains a lot of attention from 2NE1 and blackjacks. This time, A.KOR debut sub group A.KOR black, which is duo Minju and Kemy. I suspect they copy 2NE1 style, and it's typical hip hop style. (And I am a bit scared of Kemy for some reason, maybe the new CL)
Playback - playback
Also there's new girl group called PlayBack debut this month. They just released their self-title track "PlayBack" just 4 days ago, so it's a brand new girl group. I checked out their debut MV, it's really catchy, actually really like it, it seems like I want to click the playback button to replay this song "여자애들이뭐해 남자얘기만해 내가어제음 hit the playback" . and SNSD member Soyoung likes it as well, so good luck to this group to join the competition.
The next month and this summer will be very exciting. Nine Muses comeback July 2ed, Girl's Day July 6th ,APink and SNSD will comeback soon as well, so do many girl groups..... Note: If anyone have any questions related to kpop girl groups, you could leave a comment below, I could answer with the best knowledge I had, I think I know kpop girl groups way more than enough .And since I'm not into kpop boy groups nowadays, if anyone want to write the boy group version of the blog, it would be awesome....
