Category: K-POP ARTISTS

In this industry of Korean pop music which we all love, change (pun alert to HyunA’s debut single) can be a good thing. The risks associated with change paid off for groups like Apink, BTS, and Dreamcatcher, as well as with Jay Park who established a solo career after leaving 2PM, and Chungha and Somi who opted to go solo after being identified with the girl group survival show Produce 101 and the subsequently produced girl group IOI.   

But changes are indeed risky. The odds of getting good results after a change can only be matched by the odds of falling flat on your face after deciding to go ahead with the change. Here are two cases of changes in K-pop that may not have gone in the artists’ (and their companies’) favor.  

Weeekly: The Case of the Unexplainable Concept Change

When it comes to image, concept, or sound change, IST Entertainment (aka the company that is only keen on changing its name from A Cube to Plan A to Play M before finally settling on IST, but who knows what the future holds) is one of the more conservative companies. After all, IST is behind the most enduring concepts for a girl group in K-pop, with Apink taking a whole seven years before finally tweaking their bright and innocent concept into a more sophisticated one. With how the concept change was resoundingly successful for their banner group and not a lot of revamps have also been implemented on the company’s male group VICTON, it was expected for the company to also be very cautious and deliberate when it comes to any change for their representative 4th gen group, Weeekly.     

The group actually started out well. Considering everything (the fact that they’re not a Big 4 group, they debuted four days after Blackpink released How You Like That and a day after Hwasa released Maria, among others), their debut with the EP We Are and Tag Me went fairly well. Their steady performance continued with their next single Zig Zag from their second EP We Can released four months after their debut. By this time, people were anticipating that it won’t be long before the group will get their big break ala My My of their sunbaes Apink, their breakthrough song that was released six months after their debut. 

Alas, IST hit a gold mine nine months into the group’s career as After School, a single off Weeekly’s 3rd EP We Play became a viral hit. It wasn’t just one incident or factor, but Koreans started using the song on their social media posts because of its inherent catchiness. Casual K-pop fans quickly pointed out that the song sounds like something Apink can release, which means that the song sounds like a 1st to 2nd gen k-pop song, something that obviously piqued the interest of the more “advanced” (in age) music lovers.

With IST’s track record of shying away from risky concept changes, no one expected the company to rock the boat, especially after a wildly successful release. They did exactly that, all right, with the bright and cheerful Holiday Party, which more or less continued the group’s infectious and youthful sound. Alas, Holiday Party did not perform as well as the viral After School, for which the company seemed to take matters into its own hands. And by that, they implemented a concept change that was something so left field with the group’s next release Ven Para.

Ven Para… an attempt at doing a Chungha/D.O by releasing a Spanish-tinged song? Not really, because as you may have heard and seen from the song and the music video, there’s not a lot of Latin flavor on both, except that phrase. Instead, we were given a girl crush song coupled with a girl crush music video. Yes, the girls we saw donning casual attire and performing silly cute antics were not wearing leather-infused outfits and dancing with literal fire (not just fire on LED screens) in the background. 

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Weeekly in onesies is the best thing that happened in ven para era pic.twitter.com/fsRarJfZzE

— J ✦ ColoRise(d) Talaarawan (@prodbyjiyoon) January 25, 2023

Now, you may argue that this is basically a Cube Entertainment move when they completely revamped CLC from cuties singing No On Oh with fruits in their outfits (watch the music video and look for the cherries, strawberries, and lemons in the girls’ shirts, pants, and skirts) to barbed wire-covered baseball bat brandishing women in Hobgoblin. But then, until that time, CLC didn’t have an established concept and the company felt like there was space that their girl crush group 4Minute vacated after their disbandment that CLC could readily occupy. 

In the case of Weeekly, the concept change doesn’t add up for a number of reasons. One, the company hasn’t had prior successful experience in the girl crush realm – not that the queens of Apink cannot do girl crush, it’s just that they didn’t need to do it as girl crush just isn’t their stryle, AS IST WOULD KNOW). Two, Weeekly already had success with the colorful and uplifting After School, so why fix what clearly wasn’t broken? Three, IST is a company known to be quite conservative when it comes to implementing changes to their groups, so why start now and in such a drastic fashion?

Take note that the group has steadily sold more units with every new release, with Play Game: Awake (the single album that has the anomalous Ven Para on it) selling more than 83,000 units. This goes to show that the group has continued to rise in popularity at least in Korea. What that weird concept change did was to definitely alienate fans (mostly international) who fell in love with the group in their After School era, hoping to hear more of the same from them. Moreover, there is doubt that the concept change was successful in establishing the girls’ identity as a group because when you ask people what comes to mind when they hear “Weeekly”, they will likely sing to you the melody of After School’s chorus, the one that goes, “Urin seukeiteubodeu wiro” or that English line, “I’m so good with you”, not leather-clad girls dancing with literal fire behind them!

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Weeekly released the best song of 2021 = After School but people still decided to sleep on them on their future releases, especially Ven Para and question why they haven't had a comeback since#Weeekly #위클리 #AfterSchool #Daileee #데일리 @_Weeekly @by_Weeekly #Kpop pic.twitter.com/OMsOiGdMej

— 이영재 🦁 (@Youngjae_Lee295) January 24, 2023

Weeekly’s Ven Para comeback is one of the biggest conundrums of k-pop, and with the girls still not having a comeback after that fiasco, we sincerely hope that their next release won’t have everyone scratching their heads again because one more misstep for this group may inch them closer to the world of doomed k-pop girl groups (read CLC, Momoland, and Lovelyz).    

KARD: The Case of the Temporary Unnecessary Sound Change

The world of K-pop is not that kind to coed groups. If you’re not convinced, give me a name of a hugely successful K-pop coed group. Give up? That’s because there’s none. The only successful female-male collabs are in pairs, with AKMU and Troublemaker defying the odds – only that they’re actually just pairs, not groups. In recent memory, only Triple H managed to perform decently, and unfortunately, we all know what happened to them after only two releases. The rest like SM The Ballad and SSAK3 are only project groups and if you don’t know Roo’Ra, don’t blame yourself because they were active in the 1990s. And there was s#arp, which figured in the biggest bullying scandal in the K-pop industry and Coed School with the female subunit figuring in bullying incidences as well. With all those bullying events, it’s not hard to see why Koreans may have lost interest in coed groups.       

Thus, when DSP Media, a company that, if we’re being honest here, has a patchy history of managing their idol groups, debuted a new coed group in 2017, people were a bit excited but have somehow managed expectations. You see, DSP Media actually has a solid track record of creating idol groups. Fin.K.L, Sech Kies, April, Rainbow, Kara, and SS501 all started with DSP. You might wonder now, how can a company with such a stellar line-up not end up at the Big 3 (or 4) level or even with legit challengers like Cube and Starship?  It seems to be a combination of factors, with the main reason being the artists do not seem to have that much of an affinity with their agency. Not a lot of their talents choose to renew their contracts once they are about to expire, as evidenced by Jiyoung and Nicole of Kara. When the group Sech Kies reunited years after their disbandment, they did so under YG Entertainment, not DSP. Alas, when Kara reunited in 2022, DSP was already bought by RBW, so the Kara comeback was already handled by the buyers. 

Anyhow, KARD was off to a promising start in 2016 despite DSP not really having the best standing in the industry. The foursome caught the attention of some Korean music fans who were intrigued by the tropical sound of which the group was one of the earlier adapters. But more than their domestic success, the group acquired a bigger following in the international market, with fans liking their fresh sound, the idea of a group with boy and girl members together, and the undeniable physical attractiveness of all four members. I mean, who can ignore how hot J Seph, BM, Somin, and Jiwoo are? 

The group’s success continued with their next releases, particularly with their official debut single Hola Hola released in 2017, which charted in Korea and pushed the group into a “world tour” of Asian countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Manila, Melbourne, and Jakarta. They also performed in high-profile music festivals in Japan (Summer Sonic Festival) and even the US (SXSW). Finally, it was on August 19, 2018, when the group held their first solo concert in Seoul. Throughout these ballsy efforts by DSP to promote the group overseas, criticism of the group also started in their home country, as it was apparent that the company is pushing the group more internationally. Domestic K-pop observers have gone as far as saying that KARD is a “fictional group” along the lines of aespa’s virtual members who live in the virtual world of KWANGYA. 

But this is not actually where the weird events related to KARD started. Everything was (and actually, still is) swimmingly fine for the group until three years in, they decided to tweak their sound with the two successive releases in 2019, Bomb Bomb and Dumb Litty. The Latin-tinged moombahton sound which has become the group’s bread-and-butter signature sound since their first project single was adjusted to reflect a more commercial dubstep sound that for a time, was the trend in K-pop. 

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4 years ago today in kpop history, KARD debuted with Hola Hola. It would go on to peak at 2 on the Gaon 3 on the Billboard US World Albums charts. pic.twitter.com/eDvsN3EdM1

— i'm too old to be this into k-pop (@TooOld4Kpop) July 20, 2021

For us fans with basic music taste, here’s a simple explanation: In the “old” Kard releases, the Latin influences come in chill, reggaeton beats. With Bomb Bomb and Dumb Litty, the group shifted to singing songs that ceaselessly build up in the verses until that explosive “beat drop” that supposedly makes everyone including their mom lose their heads because… the beat has dropped! In a euphoric, almost orgasmic fashion at that! For further reference, go to the following: Hate by 4MINUTE, Miroh by Stray Kids, and I Don’t Wanna Cry by SEVENTEEN. But that’s not to say that moombahton-heavy songs don’t have beat drops. It’s just that the beats are being dropped in a rather… suave manner. With dubstep songs, it’s as if listeners are encouraged to hold their breaths until they turn blue before the beat finally drops and we can all breathe freely once again. 

Which was why when the 2019 KARD releases came out, fans scratched their heads in confusion. Why am I listening to something so familiar, though I swear to all supreme beings that this is not the KARD I am used to? What is going on? The two tracks continued the group’s popularity especially overseas, although many die-hard Hidden KARDs found the songs… strange Obviously, they love the songs because they’re by KARD, but it feels awkward to see the group surrender their signature sound to the all-consuming “beat drop” trend. 

I mean, KARD is supposed to be a group setting trends, not merely following them. They’re the lone coed act in a sea of exclusive-gender groups, they were more focused (read: stubborn) in maintaining their international appeal rather than gaining a foothold on the domestic music market, and they are among the pioneers of the moombahton sound in k-pop. BM has been quoted in interviews in saying that the group in 2019 was trying to diversify their sound, but doing so would mean being unfaithful to the sound they’ve attached themselves to a bit too early in their careers. And that can put off some fans who were on their way to completely joining the Hidden KARD fandom.

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Hola hola, @KARD_Official is in the building! 🔥

One of the few co-ed groups in K-pop, the quartet came as a "sexy skeleton, cat, pirate and vampire" ☠️🐱⚓ 🧛 for #HALLYUWEENPH2022 #KARD pic.twitter.com/tDm7TgjRSR

— SUPER (@inquirersuper) October 29, 2022

But then, 2020-2022 happened, the world went into a standstill because of the pandemic, J Seph served his mandatory military service for Korea, Somin had to deal with the undying rumors of her role in the APRIL bullying scandal, (yes, KARD main vocal Somin was also APRIL main vocal Somin for a time, and the two girls had to continue dealing with the other undying rumor of them not getting along with each other. Fortunately, on June 22 last year, the group came back with the EP Re: (complete with teasers asking the question, “Do you RE:member KARD?” after all that has happened in the world, including that weird sound change in 2019) and the title track Ring the Alarm gave us KARD pre-2019, so yes, we remember KARD, all right. More of these and less of the suffocating beat drops in the future, juseyo!   

The good news with both groups, as we’ve already mentioned in the case of KARD, is that they are still active groups and therefore can still do some “damage control”. KARD has already reverted to their old sound that is not too beat drop-reliant and Weeekly can still be pretty much considered a rookie group, being only in the business for two years. May the odds be in their favor the next time they (or their companies) plan on implementing such huge risks!

Featured Image: Weeekly Official Twitter

EXO’s discography is one of the largest and most diverse in K-pop today. In the last 10 years, the group has released seven studio albums (six Korean and one Japanese), five repackaged albums, seven extended plays (EPs), and four live albums. The group’s subunits, EXO-CBX and EXO-SC, have also released their own full albums and EPs. 

Adding to the group’s already rich collection of music are each of the members’ solos. All of the members have at least one solo single, and some have also sung in K-drama official soundtracks (OSTs). Fans and casual listeners will have hours upon hours’ worth of music to listen to from one of the top 3rd generation K-pop groups.   

While we all wait for EXO to make a full group comeback, here are some of the members’ amazing solo releases to keep in rotation. 

Hurdle – Suho

 

Hurdle is the second single off leader Suho’s sophomore album Grey Suit. Suho’s solo work so far has shown off his preference for the rock genre. While his album’s title track (also called Grey Suit) was more of a soft, rock ballad, Hurdle went off in a completely different direction. Suho has fully unleashed his inner rock star with Hurdle’s edgy, newtro-vibe style! 

In the song, Suho trills about feeling stuck and wanting to jump love’s hurdles, as he tries to navigate the uncertainties in a new (?) relationship. The verses build up to an anthemic chorus and an energetic climax that, overall, makes the song more fun and memorable. In contrast, the music video depicts Suho as trapped in a 9-to-5 office job. His “hurdles” here were trying to fit in at the workplace and dealing with a difficult boss. In the end, it seems Suho was able to leap over the obstacles he’s faced and was now able to join in on the office party. 

As you listen to the song, you can’t help but bob your head to the funky beat. Its upbeat tempo makes it a great addition to a road trip playlist. 

Peaches – Kai

Kai has got the mix of innocent and seductive down to an exact science. After giving fans hot and sexy Kai in Mmmh</u?, EXO’s main dancer did a complete 180 and served up sweet and mellow Kai in Peaches. 

The melody, which features a sampling of traditional Korean instruments, is soft, smooth and laid-back. Kai’s soft vocals in Peaches prove to be easy on the ears. His tone is light, airy, and “pretty.” It’s a nice song to listen to on a relaxed afternoon indoors. The track’s flavor changes, though, when you see the lyrics; it’s where you realize that the singer expertly treads the line between sweet and sensual. Kai opens the song crooning, Pretty girl you’re like peaches, and then singing Feels good to be the bad guy just seconds later. 

However, it is in the music video where Kai shines the most. Set against a fairy tale-like forest filled with peach trees, which later transition into what seems to be a palace, Kai entices viewers with his performance. He switches from endearing to flirtatious by alternating sharp and soft movements in choreography, and through his interactions with his back dancers. His outfits, which are modern interpretations of the hanbok, only add to the overall pretty aesthetic of this sophomore outing. 

Rose – D.O. 

 

D.O. is now a successful drama and movie actor, which sometimes makes it easy to forget his idol roots. But in his first mini-album Empathy (released in 2021), he reminds everyone that he’s also a really talented singer. 

His rich vocals on an acoustic guitar melody in Rose is a pleasure to listen to. In an interview on Soompi, D.O. admits that he liked the sound of the acoustic guitar. It’s the sound he felt “comfortable” listening to, and felt strongly enough to incorporate in his first solo mini-album. This type of music is a departure from the powerful runs and energetic adlibs he showcases on EXO’s tracks, but hearing his sweet, soft side in Rose proves to be refreshing. 

The song itself is simple, which allows listeners to immerse themselves fully in D.O.’s voice. The lyrics depict the pure joy that comes with feeling in love, and how the singer appreciates his lover—such as when he confesses, You’re prettier than a rose. The melody is light and feel-good; it gives off a cheerful vibe perfect for casual strolls in a park. It can also bring comfort to listeners who want to wind down and chill at the end of a long day.

In the music video, D.O. mirrors the lyrics as he sings about his lover while he rides his bike around town, oblivious to the disasters that he successfully—and miraculously—dodges. Throughout the music video, he portrays how being in love automatically puts him in a great mood, and even gives him good luck. 

Bambi – Baekhyun 

Baekhyun made sure to give EXO-Ls something to put on repeat while he’s fulfilling his mandatory military service as a public service officer. The genius idol dropped Bambi, which is the title track of his third mini-album of the same name, just before he enlisted back in 2021. 

The idol trades his cheeky and goofy persona for something smooth and sultry in this R&B song. Here, Baekhyun expresses his adoration for “Bambi,” and compares time spent with her as a fairytale that he doesn’t want to end.  

In the press conference for the mini album, the idol has mentioned that his latest release represented his transition from a boy to a young adult. With this, he hoped to portray his maturity in his music as he steps into his 30s. 

The accompanying music video is very film noir-like, which adds to the sensual appeal of the song. Clad in a smart black suit and a fedora hat, a mysterious Baekhyun takes viewers on a train journey in the middle of the night in pouring rain. The image clearly illustrated the other meaning of “Bambi” in the song, one that used Korean wordplay—밤 (bam) means “night,” while 비(bi) means “rain.” 

Baekhyun was discharged from service on February 5, 2023. So we can expect more music from him (and EXO) soon! 

Last Scene – Chen 

 

Chen has released tons of heart-rending ballads, such as Beautiful Goodbye and Hello. After an almost three-year hiatus following his enlistment, marriage to a non-celebrity, and fatherhood, the singer resumes his solo promotions.   

For the lead single in his third mini album Last Scene, EXO’s main vocalist sings about the dying days of a relationship. In this track, Chen’s voice sounds fuller, and his tone deeper and more mature. Chen effectively voices out the longing and despair of someone who’s having a hard time letting go after a breakup. The lyrics only make the feeling of heartbreak more tangible, especially in the following lines: I used to believe in forever / All fade away / Only longing remains. 

This song—and the accompanying K-drama-like music video—serves up all the feels. Chen isn’t actually in the music video; the story between former lovers takes center stage instead. The music video opens with actor Park Hae Soo (Squid Game, Money Heist: Korea) sitting in a car, looking despondent. Between shots of the actor driving are scenes of a woman walking at a beach, looking just as sad. Soon, Park Hae Soo arrives at the same place—perhaps hoping to see the woman once more?—but all he sees is an empty stretch of beach.  

Tomorrow – Chanyeol 

 

Just before Chanyeol enlisted back in 2021, he gifted fans with the SM Station single Tomorrow. In a refreshing departure from his main rapper role, Chanyeol showcases his warm and deep vocals as he sings about his honest feelings from anxiousness to hope. 

There is something about pre-enlistment singles that makes an idol’s music release all the more beautiful. The song is pretty calming; it’s a great track to listen to while winding down after a long day. The production is simple and raw; only an electric guitar accompanies Chanyeol’s soft vocals for this song. 

The music video is equally minimalistic. Chanyeol, in a simple gray hoodie, goes around an empty city on foot in the middle of the night. He seems to be looking for something, and at the end of the video, he looks off into the distance, perhaps finally finding what he was searching for. 

Chanyeol was officially discharged from active service in September 2022.  

Jiu – Lay

 

EXO’s only Chinese member, Lay, has carved a successful career for himself in his home country. As a solo artist, Lay brilliantly incorporates Chinese culture in his music and music videos. He has mixed the traditional and contemporary, as well as history and folklore, in his epic MV for Lit. He also perfectly incorporated elements of East and West in his MV for Veil, his most recent release. 

In the sweet and sentimental Jiu, however, Lay reminds us that EXO is nine—that he is, and will always be, a part of the group. Lay released this special track on April 8, 2022, which is EXO’s 10th debut anniversary. The song starts off with snippets of random conversations Lay has had with each of his bandmates, which show off their affection for one another. 

In the first verse, Lay has written in each of the members’ superpowers in the group’s concept/storyline. As the song progresses, Lay continues to sing about being thankful to his members, who he’s been with for the last decade. He has also expressed his faith that EXO will stay together for a long time. 

This song clearly shows that Lay maintains a strong bond with his brothers, despite not being able to join every comeback since 2017. With this song release (and Lay’s more recent trips to South Korea), all of EXO-L‘s hearts are filled with hope for a full OT9 comeback soon. 

On Me – Sehun 

EXO’s maknae lives it up in his solo song On Me, from EXO-SC’s 1 Billion Views album. 

On Me is Sehun’s first official solo track. It leans heavily on hip-hop, which, when partnered with Sehun’s husky low tone, gives off a depth, energy, and intensity that makes it even more appealing. Sehun also co-wrote the lyrics, which talk about working hard and living your best life. It’s the perfect song to hype you up, and would be a great addition to your workout playlist. 

The music video is heavy on choreography—very fitting, as the maknae is part of EXO’s dance line—and showcases Sehun’s sharp lines and flawless dance moves. There’s even a cameo of his adorable pup, Vivi! 

The only bad thing about the music video version is that it’s too short—it didn’t even hit the 2-minute mark. The full audio version clocks in at almost three minutes. This song gives fans a taste of Sehun as a solo artist, and it just raises anticipation for more solo work in the future! 

Brand New – Xiumin 

EXO’s oldest hyung is the latest member to go solo. Brand New is the lead single off his debut album of the same name. Here, Xiumin shows everyone his “new self.” With lyrics that go, Feelin’ reborn into these brand new days / Start a fresh take without any cliché / A new me feeling different even to myself, the song describes how every day is a new start. It is also just like opening a gift to find a nice surprise. 

The song is a catchy and energetic dance track with a dash of the ‘90s sound. As one of EXO’s lead vocals, Xiumin’s voice shines in this song. But what might come as a surprise to many is the idol’s vocal range. Xiumin is EXO’s hidden high note belter, and he shows off his perfect high notes especially in the bridge. 

In the press conference for his album release, Xiumin described his solo debut as a “gift” he wanted to give to the fans who have waited for him while he served his country. The concept is clearly shown in the bright and colorful music video, where the idol is both the person who delivers the gift and is the gift himself. 

It is impressive that all the EXO members have added their own songs to the group’s rich discography, and listening to their solo work further drives up anticipation for the next group comeback—which looks to be happening soon! On new year’s day, leader Suho revealed on an Instagram post that EXO will be making their much-anticipated comeback this year. 

Which one among the members’ solo songs is your favorite? Also, are you excited for EXO’s comeback this year? 

Featured Image: Still of Chen from “Last Scene” from EXO Official Twitter.

In the world of 3rd generation K-pop acts, there’s not a lot that can compare to the confusion brought about by the question, “Why did Lovelyz fail?” By the time Lovelyz debuted, there was so much hype about them being INFINITE’s sister group from Woollim Entertainment, balanced with a lot of backlash brought about by member Jisoo’s sex scandal. But all in all, exciting times!

The promising start

Suffice it to say the group benefited from all the publicity, as their debut single Candy Jelly Love, despite being (subjectively speaking) one of the cringy-est debut songs in K-pop history, peaked at #48 in the Gaon singles chart. The girls continued their journey to a breakthrough with Hi and it didn’t even take long for them to finally get that breakthrough hit with Ah-choo, which sold more than 1.1 million units and pushed the group into the country’s collective consciousness.

As for Jisoo’s scandal, things turned out okay for everyone, especially Jisoo in the end. It started in a rather scandalous fashion, with an issue even Hollywood A-listers may have a difficult time surviving, more thriving. Right after Lovelyz’s debut, an SNS account posted pictures of her and Jisoo, claiming that Jisoo is bisexual and she was her girlfriend. This account went further by stating that Jisoo sexually and physically abused her. Things went wild as after days later, a number of other anonymous accounts made their presences felt, claiming that they (all of them are supposedly women) too were once romantically involved with the soon-to-debut girl group member. Woollim vehemently denied these claims and stood by their talent’s moral uprightness, issuing the standard Korean entertainment company statement that they will look into the matter further and pursue legal action when it is found out that there is malice behind these issues affecting their artist.

Jisoo was rather well-loved in the company and at the height of the scandal, Jisoo tried to resign from the group and the company altogether not once, not twice, but three times, all of which were rejected by Woollim, which continued to push the group while pretty much ignoring that ginormous elephant in the room. Poor girl had to be hospitalized with the emotional stress from the issue taking a toll on her mental and physical well-being.   It wasn’t until the following year, nine months after the initial stages of the scandal broke out and more than a year after the group debuted that it was found out that the “girl” behind the SNS that pioneered it all was not a girl, but a middle-aged man who concocted stories and doctored pictures he nicked from porn sites to besmirch Jisoo.

So, all’s well that ends well, right? It only took three releases for the group to break through the tough K-music market. But somehow, after Ah-Choo, things slowly went awry people wondered if Ah-choo was already Lovelyz’s peak and if that peak happened too soon in the group’s career. 

A sudden but inevitable rivalry

Then, for some reason, a series of unfortunate events unfolded for Woollim’s first girl group. After scoring another hit with Destiny, the group kept releasing songs that are above average at best and bland and boring at worst. WoW!, R U Ready?, Now, We, Twinkle, That Day, Wag-Zak, Lost N Found, Beautiful Days – all released one after another just did not do the group any favors. These songs may be on every Lovelinus’ playlist, but for casual k-pop listeners, any of these songs would not ring any bells. 

Around this time period, Oh My Girl, a group that debuted only five months behind Lovelyz, has also been building their discography with songs like Coloring Book, Secret Garden, Banana Allergy Monkey (featuring the group’s first sub-unit, Oh My Girl Banhana), Remember Me, The Fifth Season (SSFWL), and Bungee (Fall in Love).  The dynamic between these two groups is based on friendly competition, the way Fin.KL and SES, 2NE1 vs Wonder Girls vs SNSD, Beast vs Infinite vs B1A4, and Apink vs GFriend at the height of their “rivalry”. Both adapting the bright, girl-next-door concepts to perfection, check. Both supported by mid-sized entertainment agencies with some degree of success, check. However, what distinguishes the two groups from each other is while both stuck to their core concepts, girly for Lovelyz and dream-like fantasy for OMG, the latter took measures to tweak the songs such that they are distinguishable from each other. 

Coloring Book is, fast-paced as a song and, as expected, has a very colorful music video featuring the girls splashing paint on each other in a room floating in the sky (watch the music video if you don’t believe this description). Secret Garden is a wistful ballad with the trademark OMG music video featuring fantastic animals suspended in mid-air. Banana Allergy Monkey is the group’s attempt at the Orange Caramel market, so you get the picture of how silly the song and music video are.   Remember Me caught the attention of music reactors for its unusual format as it doesn’t seem to have a chorus. SSFWL harkens to the wistfulness of Secret Garden, while Bungee is as playful as the group’s previous releases like Coloring Book, Liar Liar, and their debut song Cupid. Meanwhile, all Lovelyz releases were the same mid-tempo songs about young love with music videos that utilize a pastel blush haze filter. When all of a group’s videos feature everything in sky blue, cyan, peach, seafoam green, and baby pink, things get pretty boring quickly. 

When the golden crown turned out to be plastic? 

And then, Queendom happened, which furthered the weird relationship between Lovelyz and Oh My Girl. Queendom was that show that fans saw will elevate the profiles of all participating groups, not just the winner and both OMG and Lovelyz joined the fun. Hosted by Mnet, check. Groups to receive the notorious Mnet evil edit, check, lots of special performances and stages, check. And when a challenge was given to the groups to interpret each other’s songs, the two groups happened to get assigned to each other. 

But while Oh My Girl bravely faced the assignment and promised to perform Lovelyz’s Destiny, Lovelyz backed out, citing that OMG’s girl next door concept is too close to theirs, so it would not present them with a real challenge as they wish to display other sides of themselves in the competition. Since they won a previous challenge that allowed them to choose another song from any group (even those performed by groups outside the competition), they respectfully declined the chance to interpret an OMG song and instead opted to do their version of Brown Eyed Girls’ Sixth Sense. 

This did not sit well with people. AT ALL. 

1. The arrogance! How rude it was for Lovelyz to ride a high horse and claim their superiority over a group they are basically on the same level with by refusing to sing that other group’s song. Who do they think they are? Isn’t that the group that debuted with a bisexual member? 
2. Why are they biting the hand that feeds them? The group basically relied on the bright and girly concept throughout their careers so far, so what makes them think that they’re already way above that concept? That’s some ungrateful behavior, thinking the sweet and innocent concept of Oh My Girl is so beneath them.
3. Brown Eyes Girls? Sixth Sense? Are they typing their hand on career suicide? Do these girls think they can successfully embody the fierceness of Narsha and Gain? Is Lovelyz’s rapper as good as Miryo? Can their vocalists even be half as good as JeA? How are they supposed to be that representative fierce unapologetic girls of K-pop when Woollim has imprisoned them in a world of pastels, rainbows, and unicorns? 

Lovelyz’s defenders were quick to point out that:

1. They are not arrogant. On the contrary, they opt to not sing Oh My Girl’s song because they know precisely that when it comes to executing the bright and sweet image, their “rival” group is way better and that they will pale in comparison. Besides, this is a contest and if there’s an option that presents them with a better chance of surviving, then who are they to refuse?
2. Queendom can be a vehicle for the group to present itself in a different light. That the girls have gotten stuck in their perfect girly dreamworld throughout their careers so far has also earned them a fair share of haters and people who find them just plain boring, so why shouldn’t they use Queendom as a platform to showcase their versatility and ability to execute concepts that may allow them to flourish as confident artists?
3. They are not trying to copy BEG. They should be presenting a stronger image for Lovelyz but still infuse their performance with that distinct Lovelyz brand of girl-next-door dreaminess. 

Oh, if only it were that easy. Alas, the stars may have permanently misaligned when it comes to the group in their participation in Queendom. Lovelyz’s performance of Sixth Sense was watered down to ensure its airing on Mnet. It was said that there were some portions of their original stage that was too risque to be even aired on the Korean cable TV. So, it was Mnet that actually tweaked some portions of the performance, which in turn resulted in what looks like Lovelyz not really getting into the concept and presenting a half-hearted performance instead. 

Thus, it seemed that because of factor(s) beyond their control (Mnet “sabotaging” their performance), haters claimed that their points 2 and 3 became justified. Lovelyz just couldn’t hack a fierce concept and would have been better had they just stuck to their girly concept. People concluded that they got a bit too ambitious in executing a fierce concept, they were in way over their heads when they thought they could wing a BEG stage just like that (NOBODY, not even legendary groups like SNSD, 2NE1, or Wonder Girls can execute a BEG concept properly), and that they bit more they could chew.

To hammer the final nail to Lovelyz’s coffin, Oh My Girl performed one of their signature songs,  Destiny, to resounding success, eventually becoming one of Queendom Season 1’s most watched and iconic stages. What Oh My Girl did was turn the cosmic but still girly Destiny ala Lovelyz into a cosmic but eerie, historical, etheral, and full on dramatic Destiny ala Oh My Girl. Lovelyz’s song was, in real estate terminology, “flipped” in such a drastic manner that if you are just a casual music fan who has never heard of the original Lovelyz version, you’d think that the song is really some traditional folk song performed by women in hanboks in the 19th century. It even prompted AOA’s Seolhyun to react while watching the performance with, “Is that song really sad,” alluding to Lovelyz’s rather bright approach to an actual sad song, if we’re just talking about the lyrics. 

And in all their barefoot glory, Oh My Girl has upset Lovelyz again. But to be fair to Lovelyz, they loved OMG’s version of their song, threw tons of praise to the performance, and said they felt “honored” and “appreciated” OMG’s version a lot.  But then, the haters brought up the earlier point again, saying that actually, both groups can “flip” each other’s songs successfully, so it raises the question of why Lovelyz had to be so rude to OMG by refusing to remake their song and opted to do an overly ambitious Brown Eyed Girls remake, which ended up with the group falling flat on their faces. Had they been humbler, they might have given Remember Me or Closer the Lovelyz treatment, just like Oh My Girl giving Destiny the Windy Day treatment. 

The challenge ended up with Oh My Girl getting first place and Lovelyz getting 4th place, only a few points ahead of Park Bom and last place (G)-IDLE. Bu that didn’t end there. The amount of Lovelyz hater went on full throttle as “fans” of the show demanded that the arrogant group be given 6th place. The hate Lovelyz got became shocking when a petition was sent to the Blue House demanding for their disbandment. You might think, “What? Over a concept mistake? Isn’t this an overreaction?”” Well, you’re not alone in thinking that.

The petition did not fall through as there were less than 200,000 people who signed the petition, but suffice it to say the group’s disbandment may not really have been the primary objective of the original petitioners. Obviously, the seed of the idea that the group was hated was already planted in the public’s consciousness, so much so that when something bad does happen to the group afterwards, people would instantly react that they’re not really surprised. It’s pretty much the origin story of every public figure that’s hated/cancelled for the flimsiest of reasons.

The “what were they thinking” comeback and Mijoo’s popularity explosion

 With the unexplained hate the group somehow collected during and immediately after the airing of Queendom (the group ended up 4th overall, but it’s not like the contestants that ranked after them, namely AOA and Park Bom, had Blue House petitions demanding for their banishment from the Korean music industry), the company may have deemed that the group should lie low for a bit andf let the public “hate” subsude befire they stage a comeback. Thus, the group was not able to capitalize on the hype the show provided, which in hindsight they should have, because despite that Sixth Sense enable and the suceeding events, they still ended up 4th, which was higher than two other acts and may mean that there were still more people rooting for them than those wanting them to disband or disappear from the music biz altogether. 

As the winner of the show, MAMAMOO hit the ground running by staging a comeback days after the show’s last episode. Runners-up Oh My Girl staged a Japanese comeback in January the next year and waited only for close to five months to stage their comeback, and what a comeback indeed as they finally got their breakthrough hit with Nonstop. Lovelyz sat out most of 2020 maybe because of the increased hate and the pandemic and only came back on September with Obliviate from the EP Unforgettable. 

While any Lovelyz comeback was welcome to Lovelinus and even to casual K-pop fans by this time, what confused the fandom was a concept change for the group. The music video and of Obliviate and the concept photos of the Unforgettable EP showing a more sophisticated, darker,  and mature image reminiscent of latter CLC and Cosmic Girls. Before you say, “Isn’t it time for the group to mature in their concept,” here’s my reply to you “Wasn’t the group severely criticized because of their overly ambitious transition to a darker concept in Queendom?” 

Seriously, why would you go ahead with a move that was a leading cause of people hating on you the last time? Moreover, there was no transition from the last comeback to this current dark visual concept. Beautiful Days, the last song they released prior to their Queendom participation did introduce us to a more mature spound and less cutesy lyrics and rhythms, but it was still given the pastel Lovelyz treatment – from the art direction of the Once Upon a Time EP to the Beautiful Days treatment. Were we meant to understand that the Sixth Sense stage was the transition Woollim provided for everyone to accept the impending graduation of Lovelyz to a mature concept? Why did it feel like Woollim got selective amnesia with what that “attempt” at a concept change result in? Truly, a headscratch moment in K-pop history. 

From Kei and Friends to Mijoo and Friends?  

From the moment Lovelyz debuted, that member who just somehow was effortlessly popular and set herself a bit separate from the other members was Kei. In the now-infamous MLBPARK annual poll of 2016, Kei found herself ranked 2nd for the Bullpen Goddess (Bulldess), beaten only by Olympic skating goddess Kim Yuna. The annual poll is a poll that asks the most basic question for men: Who is the ideal woman for you. Apparently, only after a year since the group debuted, Kei already got the attention of Korean men since she is basically the living ideal girl for them. Kei is small, thin, is an aegyo machine, cute, possess a milky white complexion, has an adorable eye smile, obedient, young, innocent, virginal, neotenic and unquestionably of pure Northeast Asian ancestry. Her amazing vocal talents and entertainment personality charms should also work for her. 

All was well and status quo in the Lovelyz world until circa 2018, when Mijoo broke free from her own shadow and somehow came undone. For their Sanctuary comeback in late 2018, Mijoo would catch the attention of photographers and fans stationed in TV station entrances and parking lots, as the arriving groups would usually form their lines, greet the public and pose for “firing squad” photos of them in a single file, bowing and waving at the shutterbugs. Then, out of the blue, after the prerequisite single file photo, Mijoo, usually wearing some attention-grabbing wide-brimmed hat and eyeglasses would break out of the line and strike poses like she’s in a magazine photoshoot. At the starter, you can see the members having a laugh at it, but then, even casual onlookers can sense that maybe there’s a tinge of “oh, here she goes again” when Mijoo suddenly breaks into her fashion model persona. Alas, soon enough, you can see in the viral videos and YouTube compilations that the fotogs and the fans were already anticipating her arrival and her ensuing antics such much that they wait for her to be alone or come in last so that they can take pictures of her and her alone. 

Mijoo used this newfound attention to her benefit, allowing her to get numerous variety show appearances. As with what has happened to Momoland’s Joo-E and Seventeen’s Seungkwan, Mijoo carved for herself a very lucrative career on TV as one of the most sought-after a variety show personalities. Alas, casual fans who knew her post-2018 would be surprised to know that she is an idol, much more a member of an actively promoting girl group. Her individual popularity may have caused a noticeable increase in Lovelyz’s profile, but it would be foolish to say that this popularity surge did not affect the other members at all, especially when the group started to be known as “Mijoo and friends.”

Alas, the proverbial excrement hit the fan when all except one member of the group opted to not renew their contracts with Woollim Entertainment. All seven members who have since signed with other entertainment companies have stated that they are still amenable to working with Woollim in the future as members of Lovelyz, but with Mijoo’s often-packed calendar and the fact that only Sujeong (FKA Baby Soul) is still with Woollim, realistically speaking, it would take tremendous effort for Lovelyz to stage activities as a group. To think that it took five years for Girls’ Generation to return as a complete group when you are only dealing with 13 entities (8 individuals + SM Entertainment + Tiffany’s Korean agency + Tiffany’s international agency + Sooyoung’s agency + Seohyun’s agency)! The efforts it would take to get a consensus out of sixteen entities (eight individuals plus eight agencies that represent them individually) can only be described as collosal. But there’s comfort in knowing that there isn’t a lot of bad blood among the girls. Here’s hoping it won’t take so long for Lovelinus’ wishes of a full group comeback to come true.     

Featured Image: Lovelyz Official Twitter

Don’t you get frustrated when you see some idols being wildly popular but not the same can be said about the groups they are part of? If you don’t understand what I mean, here are three examples: 

Rowoon, Chani and SF9

Kim Seokwoo, more popularly known as Rowoon, has been on a roll as far as his acting career is concerned. While he started his TV appearances just like anybody else, that is by doing bit roles and cameos, he finally got his big break as a lead in the webtoon-turned-drama series Extraordinary You. Since then, Rowoon has furthered his popularity on TV with plum roles in successful series such as She Would Never Know, The King’s Affection, and Tomorrow, with the latter two earning him household name recall and it seems there’s no stopping his momentum. The same cannot be said of his group’s trajectory, though.

Rowoon is a part of SF9, FNC Entertainment’s first legit boy group (as opposed to bands such as CNBlue, N.Flying, and FT Island which the company has successfully launched), a group, which despite having a couple of very popular members, having very interesting concepts and releases, and having the adequate amount of push and support from its company, just couldn’t seem to catch a break. Their songs do appear on the national charts, but they are usually outside the top 100. It wasn’t until four years after debuting that they won their first music show trophy, and their albums have only sold roughly around 100,000 – 300,000 copies. This is okay for most boy groups, but for a group that has been in the business for more than six years already, not to mention that two of their members are regularly seen on TV (Rowoon and SKY Castle’s Chani), the figures should be at least around 300,000 up, not 300,000 down. 

Consider this: Seventeen, a group that only has a year’s worth of headstart from SF9 and has zero members who act (the only visible member of the group outside of idol activities is Seungkwan who does regular variety show appearances), averages a million units sold for their releases since 2019. Their latest album, Face the Sun, has sold more than 2 million units. And they have to work under one of the most incompetent companies in the business, Pledis while playing second fiddle to BTS, whose parent company HYBE absorbed Pledis in 2020. With CNBlue and FT Island being legacy groups and Cherry Bullet being a girl group (AOA was given sufficient support while being successful at the same time as CNBlue), SF9 shouldn’t, and in fact, doesn’t have problems related to company support. So, it is a conundrum as to why the public (both Korean and international) has not majorly caught on to such a talented group. 

And to get your head scratching more:  Rowoon was not included in SF9‘s promotions for their eleventh EP, The Wave OF9, which was released on July 13 last year. This was allegedly due to scheduling conflicts, where Rowoon was too busy filming that he didn’t have time to practice his with the group. As FNC knows the schedule of their talents, it is mind-boggling how they wouldn’t know how to work around those schedules and make Rowoon available for the group’s comeback. Like come on, he is your company’s moneymaker and the most popular member of the group. Is there no such thing as workforce planning in Korea?

Cha Eunwoo and Moonbin of ASTRO

Here’s another idol who cannot seem to pull up the profile of his group. Cha Eunwoo, legendary face genius, and owner of Korea’s most perfectly symmetrical face is someone practically everyone knows. Even if you don’t listen to K-pop, there’s Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung, Gangnam Beauty, and True Beauty which featured Mr. Cha’s beautiful mug. Thousands of words have been dedicated to how otherworldly ideal Cha Eunwoo’s appearance is, so let’s not add any more, yes? 

Like Rowoon, the thing about Eunwoo is that despite him being overly popular, his group, Astro, doesn’t seem to have reaped its positive effects. I mean, for someone to be that popular to the point that both men and women are astounded by your beauty, it wouldn’t be that far-fetched for similar amounts of popularity to be present in your group as well, right? But just like Rowoon, Eunwoo’s popularity hasn’t translated into the group. It just seems that people have adapted separate mindsets towards Eunwoo and Astro and don’t really see a direct relation between them. They may like Eunwoo and his perfect face and his improving acting skills, but they just don’t automatically remember him as an idol who releases songs with his group.  

Even with another member emerging in popularity, Moonbin, the group is still somewhat underperforming. The album sales are still averaging 300,000 units per release, which, as also mentioned earlier with SF9, isn’t that bad. But then, considering that THE face genius Cha Eunwoo is a member of Astro, one would expect album sales to be at least half a million on average. 

What a lot of people feel about Astro is that Eunwoo is not really pushed as a member of the group and instead zealously promoted as an actor. Many speculate that the company is caught in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation wherein people will be up in arms against Fantagio no matter the situation, as they will be ridiculed for not promoting Eunwoo enough as an Astro member and at the same time, will also be ridiculed for unfair treatment, favoritism, or overly relying on their “cash cow” should they push Eunwoo too much. 

The thing is, things are the way they are. The sad reality is that Eunwoo is crazy popular and Astro is lagging behind. And if this continues, Astro will be immortalized in K-pop history as being one of those groups with very popular members in an underachieving group, in the company of groups like ZE:A, pre-PD101 NU’EST, and girl groups like Dal Shabet and LABOUM who did not capitalize on their popular members for the group’s cumulative gains. 

Byungchan and Seungwoo of Victon 

Victon, a group under IST Entertainment (formerly A Cube, Plan A, Play M Entertainment, yes, they’ve changed their company’s name four times already), which has Apink and Weekly in their talent stable, is also one of those groups that have been underperforming despite having popular members. IST, with their competence in making Apink one of the industry’s top girl groups, however, seems to be on its way to being another Pledis (of NU’EST and After School fame, not of SEVENTEEN, who are basically self-producing idols and are now reaping the benefits of getting absorbed by HYBE). First, it has lost Son Naeun as one of Apink’s members.  Then, Apink’s 10th-year celebrations became rocky as the company couldn’t seem to put a fitting conclusion to Park Chorong’s bullying issues. Then, Weekly, which experienced viral success with their song After School, has been undergoing a rough patch with a member leaving and a weird concept change. Alas, Victon has also been on a rather prolonged popularity plateau and the company seems to be clueless about how to deal with it. 

Victon, just like NU’EST post-PD101 Season 2 era, seemed to have gotten a new lease on life after a number of the group’s members participated in Produce 101. While everyone in NU’EST except one (Aron) joined the second season of the show; two members of Victon, Seungwoo, and Byungchan, participated in the show’s fourth season, which unfortunately was also the last. As the contest went on, Seungwoo, who was struggling a bit at the start despite being the brother of an ex-idol (Secret’s Sunhwa who also happens to be in the hit drama Work Later, Drink Now with Seungwoo’s company-mate Apink’s Jeong Eunji), caught up with Byungchan’s popularity, and on the episode before the final line-up of the show’s project group would be revealed, Byungchan pulled out, claiming to be injured. 

Seungwoo eventually became one of the members of the show’s project group X1, which despite its tremendous promise, disbanded after only six months after it was revealed that the group’s composition was subject to the manipulation of a couple of the program’s producers who apparently accepted bribes from the companies of the trainee contestants. The public was mostly convinced that Seungwoo was not among the ones that got into X1 because of vote padding, so when he got back to Victon while also debuting as a solo artist, the group’s popularity was elevated, exactly as what happened with NU’EST W and NU’EST after Minhyun’s return after his time with Wanna One. 

But then, just like NU’EST, it seems that VICTON’s breakthrough was short-lived as they haven’t sustained the momentum they’ve gotten courtesy of the raised profiles of Seungwoo and Byungchan. The former’s solo efforts have gotten encouraging results, with his first two EPs selling more than 70,000 copies each and his two singles charting in Gaon. On the other hand, Byunghan’s acting career has taken off with the three high-profile shows that he has been part of – Live On (with Minhyun of NU’EST), The King’s Affection (with Rowoon, someone we talked about earlier), and Business Proposal (with fellow PD101 alumna Sejeong) all receiving considerable success.  

Alas, observers have also noted that another member, Chan has the looks and charisma to make it big on TV. But alas, bad luck struck the group again when Chan left the group after figuring in drunk driving incidences. So, now, if only time speeds up so that Seungwoo can rejoin his group and have Byungchan do more TV work while both still being clearly identified as members of Victon, then maybe the group can really solidify its presence, eh? 

Here’s to SF9, Astro, and Victon getting more recognition like their most popular members in the coming years! 

Featured Image: Victon Official Twitter

A concept change can prove to be a huge risk for a lot of groups, not to mention their companies. But as with anything else, huge risks, if executed properly and with a huge dose of luck, can yield huge pay-offs as well. Not convinced? Here are three groups that prove this point. 

Apink

The eternal fairies of the K-pop world, they’re one (if not the only) of the few K-pop girl groups that maintained a fairly sweet and innocent girl-next-door image that harkens first generation K-pop groups like Fin.K.L and SES. Actually during the second generation of k-pop groups, the girls actually all start off adapting the sweet and innocent image, as we talked about earlier with Girl’s Day. And as we also mentioned earlier, most girl groups “graduate” into something more relatable to audiences – in other words, trendy. And in this generation, groups like EXID, AOA, and Girl’s Day hopped on to what was then the fad among girl groups, the sexy bandwagon. 

Apink proved different. They clung to the innocent concept throughout much of their careers and were rewarded for it. Actually, there were a few breaks in their adherence to their bread-and-butter concept – their 5th single, Hush, was definitely not the same saccharine image their girls have presented so far from Mollayo to April 19th, their first anniversary single. There was also LUV, which up to this day has maintained the record for being the girl group song with the most music show wins at 17, a song about a girl longing for her gone love. Now, what’s so sweet and innocent about that? 

But even with the subtle changes concept-wise of these songs, it cannot be denied that there’s still that wholesomeness that is distinctively Apink. That the group’s forte is really with the sweet and innocent was fortified when they released the mellow and in American radio terminology, the adult-contemporary sounding Only One, which severely underperformed, only for the group to return to form in the Korean music charts with the overly catchy Five, which can also be described as, you guessed it right, sweet and innocent, complete with cakes, ribbons, and filters in pastel colors on the song’s music video.  

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#Apink Dilemma's first anniversary is coming up, I'm not ready. pic.twitter.com/2BEXvkMxPL

— Legendary Apink (@LegendaryApink) January 16, 2023

Thus, Apink was faced with the dilemma (a bit of a pun) after their seventh anniversary whether they should forge on with their teenybopper image even when the members are already in their mid-20s and critics are already dismissing them as monotone. The girls took a gamble with 2018’s I’m So Sick, which ushered in a new era of still catchy but more sophisticated concepts for the group. While this reportedly had a lot of k-Pandas leave the fandom, this concept change was also how the group was introduced to a new generation of fans that were already more accustomed to more “aggressive” concepts being pushed by groups like Red Velvet, ITZY, and Blackpink.   

I guess you win some, you lose some, right? In the case of Apink, it was you lose some, you win a lot, as their succeeding releases, Eung Eung (%%) and Dumhdurum, which had the group fully transitioned to the mature/elegant concept trajectory, continued the group’s success, with the latter topping the Melon charts, a feat Apink last achieved in 2015 with Remember.   

BTS

You read that right. On the road to being the most famous musicians in the world and the 21st-century version of The Beatles, BTS was on the brink of nugu-dom. Some attributed this to a number of factors such as not having a viral hit in Korea, not coming from the big 3 (JYP, YG, SM), not having a famous member before their debut, being pitted against SME’s EXO which definitely put all other groups including BTS in the dust, not having big TV or variety show personalities, and not coming from an audition show, which for a time, was the most popular way to introduce the Korean public to a group (from Twice to Winner, iKon, and Wanna One, even Momoland, remember?).  But then, related to the first reason and perhaps the most popular theory of BTS’ lack of a breakthrough in the Korean market are those depressingly angry songs. 

The boys since their debut adhered to this angry, anti-establishment, angsty, bordering on emo image that obviously was not a hit with the Korean public. No More Dream, We are Bulletproof pt.2, N.O, Boy in Luv, Just One Day, Danger, War of Hormone – the first two years of the group showed their enormous talents as composers and performers, but seriously, who wanted to be bombarded with the issues and disappointments of youth when you have the boys from SM Entertainment declaring they want to growl to protect their girl at one moment and asking their girls to Call Me Baby the next?  

Two songs released one after the other changed BTS‘ image and fate for eternity. I Need U and Dope, from The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1 turned the boys from angry young men to dreamy guys the world (and soon, Korea) would readily embrace. In I Need U, the feeling was more longing for a girl and less about anger at societal norms. In the music video, the boys use less black and were even filmed with a dreamy (read: hazy) filter and not in stark black with boys in man-liner. More of the boys hanging out in abandoned rail carts and gas stations. Obviously, the MV still showed the boys setting things on fire, crying, and stabbing each other, but everything was somehow lighter, as even these starkly violet were interspersed with shots of the boys enjoying a joyride, throwing french fries at each other, and laughing. The Korean public started taking notice, with the song peaking at number 5 in the Gaon (now Circle) singles chart. 

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Yes, 2013 was 10 years ago.

No, we’re still not over these iconic songs from that year:

‘I GOT A BOY’ – Girls’ Generation
‘Growl’ – EXO
‘What’s your name?’ – 4Minute
‘No More Dream’ – BTS
‘첫 사랑니 (Rum Pum Pum Pum)’ – f(x)

— Spotify ❤️ K-Pop (@SpotifyKpop) January 13, 2023

On the other hand, the boys finally got their viral hit, not in Korea, but internationally, though the music video for Dope. While the song still had the trademark youth angst, international audiences who didn’t understand a word of Korean (apart from the lines “I don’t wanna say yes,” “I gotta make it,” and “higher higher,” among others) were smitten with the choreography of the MV, particularly in the chorus where the boys, dressed up in different uniforms, danced in perfect sync, which at that time was an alien concept among international music fans. Soon, content creators (read: “video reactors”) were caught in the hype of these Korean boys dancing so sharply it can cut you from your phone screen, and slowly but surely, we witnessed the birth of international sensations.  

Suffice it to say that the change from the all-black, eyeliner era to a less angry and more relatable image for the Bangtan boys did them tremendous favors. Just like Apink, even with this image/concept change, BTS has somehow been successful in carrying a distinct flavor in their music through the years. If it’s a continued sense of wholesomeness for Apink even with their elevated sophistication, it’s the exuberance of youth for BTS (always alluded to their songs and album concepts), although nowadays, they’ve expanded their range to include loss and freedom as well, not just societal pressures as mirrored in their early years. When the group decides to reconvene for a complete group release maybe five years from now, shall we anticipate another concept change, this time to adulthood and their experience in transitioning from a group with members in their 20s to a group with members in their 30s? We cannot wait!

Dreamcatcher

Now, this is a tricky one. That’s because Happyface Entertainment (a company not a stranger to concept changes with their former group Dal Shabet) not only changed the concept and sound with Dreamcatcher, they actually re-debuted an entire group. Like starting all over again, tabula rasa, clean slate. So, you may say, is that a bit of a cheat since the company “created” an entirely new group? Not at all, since the old group had the same members, so what they did was change the name, changed the group’s image/concept, and sound. Thus, in relation to the group, it is really a concept change, and then some. 

So, for new K-pop fans that know Dreamcatcher from the start as a group that has released rock tracks and now questioning when the group actually had a concept change, here’s a quick fact: They did not actually debut as Dreamcatcher. In September 2014, Happyface debuted a new group named Minx on M Countdown with the song Why Did You Come to My Home. The following year, they released their first EP Love Shake, with a lead single of the same name. Even in the group’s promotions, the single (and therefore the group) was marketed as a “joyous song” that “goes well with summer”. Truth be told, it seemed that the company was just doing a bit of cost-cutting as Love Shake is only a remake of the song Love Shake from labelmate Dal Shabet‘s Bang Bang album. 

So yes, that was a blatant money-saving move from Happyface, which didn’t really do any favors for Minx as the song didn’t chart even with its bright and cheery concept. This was during the time Apink dominated the charts with their successive NoNoNo, Mr. Chu, and LUV releases, which goes to show that the Korean public still had a taste for bright and innocent girl group concepts. It just came down to the group executing them and if they were executed properly, I guess.    

So, with Minx‘s lackluster debut, Happyface deemed a massive reboot was in tow. After all, the company was not used to flopping this badly. Dal Shabet in 2011 sold close to 1.3 million units of their debut single Supa Dupa Diva. But then, what were they thinking, debuting a group by giving them a b-side of their established group? But then, I digress. 

In November 2016, the company revealed that Minx would re-debut under the name Dreamcatcher with two additional members, Handong and Gahyeon joining Minx members JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, and Dami. The group re-debuted with the release of their single album Nightmare and its lead single Chase Me the following year. Suffice it to say the overhaul to a rock-based, anime opening/closing theme for the girls paid off, big time! 

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8 years ago, MINX debuted with "Why Did You Come To My Home?"#MINX #밍스 pic.twitter.com/bYtUjoKNdm

— that day in K-Pop (@thatdayinkrpop) September 17, 2022

Want proof? Dreamcatcher sold more than 142,000 units of their Apocalypse: Save Us album in the first half of 2022, close to 120,000 of their EP Apocalyse: Follow Us in the same year. Their latest MV for Vision released in October last year has raked in more than 21 million views on YouTube. The group still kills the post-apocalyptic RPG end-of-the-world concept on both the sound of the song and the music video and no other group (except maybe soloist AleXa) has ventured into this concept. This means Dreamcatcher has a monopoly on this niche image. And those record sales! More than 100,000+ copies sold by a girl group, not from the Big 4. A successful concept overhaul is an understatement, indeed!

See? Concept changes may be seen as risks, but when properly executed, can return big dividends to a group, not to mention the company that handled these changes. Stay tuned for concept changes gone horribly wrong, including one done by IST, which handled Apink’s chef’s kiss concept revamp. 

Featured Image Credit:  BTS Official Twitter