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The Search for WJSN’s Signature Song is On!

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Just in case you haven’t seen it yet, the first challenge of the second season of Queendom 2 had the competing groups perform their “signature song”. Hyolyn selected SISTAR’s Touch My Body, Brave Girls opted to mix Chi Mat Ba Ram with (obviously) Rollin’, Kep1er didn’t seem to have a choice but to perform Wa Da Da, Viviz, aka GFriend Lite chose a remix of Time for the Moon Night and Rough, and Loona was supposed to have PTT as their entry, which they, unfortunately, missed because they all contracted COVID in the day of competition. 

But for WJSN, the task presented them with a bit of a challenge. The group seemed lost as to which song they will perform, as they felt that despite having really good songs, they don’t have that single breakout hit that exploded and made them household names. Even for casual viewers, it was a bit heartbreaking to see the Cosmic Girls facing their first “challenge” in the competition. But then, does the group not really have a signature song? Let’s review their lead releases and see if they indeed are challenged when it comes to picking the single song that represents them. 

“Mo Mo Mo” (모모모)

For a debut track, Mo Mo Mo suffices. But then, considering a number of factors, you can say it is a bit underwhelming. These factors include:

  • That WJSN is the dongsaeng group to SISTAR. As in THE SISTAR, the group that has only known single digits in the charts, from the debut track Push Push that peaked at #9 to the farewell song Lonely that topped the charts. As in the group of Hyorin, their competition in Queendom 2. In hindsight, that record was only established because it can’t be denied that Every. Single. SISTAR. Track. Rocks. That is an indisputable fact and Mo Mo Mo, unfortunately, doesn’t hold a candle against even a SISTAR b-side track. 
  • In relation to the first point, WJSN is produced by Starship Entertainment, which has a track record of producing S-tier groups. Until WJSN debuted, the other group Starship created aside from SISTAR was Monsta X, which debuted with Trespass, a song that a lot of boy group trainees still perform for evaluations up to this day. Well, there was Boyfriend, but every company is allowed one huge fail, right? 
  • The song itself is not outstanding. It is cloyingly sweet, even with the inclusion of Exy’s rap verses. The visuals were maximized in the music video, but the dancing skills of the Chinese line and the abilities of the vocal line were underutilized. Considering that the year also saw the debut of Blackpink, the girls really needed to pull out all the stops for them to get some attention. And this song didn’t do them factors. 
  • The creepy music video had the group holding a welcome party where they invited an astronaut who turned out to be Lee Kwangsoo.  As in Running Man Lee Kwangsoo. The girls, who were at most in their late teens or early 20s, had to gush over Kwangsoo when his identity was revealed. That was weird. But all 12 were super pretty though.

Finally, it has to be said that this rather cutesy concept is not something the group will likely hold on to or establish as their image for the rest of their career. So, as much as Mo Mo Mo indeed suffices as a debut track*, it’s not strong enough to be a signature song. 

*Sidenote: A lot of debut tracks have gone on to be important items in some groups’ discographies. Into the New World by Girls’ Generation, Push Push by SISTAR, Mollayo by Apink, Hot Issue by 4Minute, Fire by 2NE1, Boombayah by BlackPink, Latata by G-IDLE… need we say more? The point is, there are strong debut songs and there are those that aren’t.  Mo Mo Mo isn’t. 

“Catch Me” (캐치미)

After Mo Mo Mo comes Catch Me, which is practically a 180-degree turn from their saccharinely sweet image in their debut track. This time, the girls donned short black outfits that looked like they were going on an intense workout routine but ended up filming a sexy music video. It felt weird to see the girls performing choreography that can be described as “racy” so early in their careers, with a lot of booty popping and floorwork reminiscent of Hyoryn’s solo dance moves. 

Maybe we can change this to growing pains, but admittedly, the song didn’t do much to advance the group’s popularity. They may have shown their range in terms of pulling off totally different concepts, but upon first listen (and first viewing of the music video), many did hope for better songs and better fitting concepts for the group. 

“Secret” (비밀이야)

Finally! Without a doubt what should have been the group’s debut song had they wanted to present themselves with a bang! Released later in the same year as Mo Mo Mo and Catch Me, the song was the first of the group as 13, with the then-recent inclusion of Yeonjung who just finished her contract with Produce 101 project group I.O.I. People also noted that this was their first release that had a music video that more or less adhered to their supposed image of cosmic girls, as it features the girls in a somehow mystical wilderness with a falling star (or comet?) falling with the newest member inside. Well, unless you count Lee Kwangsoo in an astronaut costume as “cosmic”, the music video to Secret was really the most mystical and cosmic as the group can get in their careers that then has only spanned six months.

Many opined that it was rather unfortunate that it had to take Yeonjung’s inclusion to WJSN for Starship to get its act together and really push the group with both a solid song and concept. Why didn’t they do this from the start so that the group has an easier time building a fanbase, as it wasn’t really sure whether Mo Mo Mo and Catch Me did the group any favors. While it goes without saying that Yeonjung definitely did her part as a former I.O.I member to raise WJSN’s profile, many were also concerned that the group would be too dependent on the amount of fame the new member would bring to the group. 

Considering that WJSN already had a strong line-up even before the late entry of I.O.I’s former main vocal, people felt that the group got the chopped liver treatment during the recent sequence of events. Moreover, they also feared that Yeonjung’s recognized vocal talents may cause the other main vocalists to give way and make space for the new maknae. Which unfortunately did happen in the next few releases as many noted the obvious decrease in the number of lines for one of the group’s main vocalists,  Dawon.    

Otherwise, this song is everything you’d imagine a WJSN song to be. Definitely a great gateway song for those who want to join Ujung.         

“I Wish” (너에게 닿기를)

I Wish is light and fun, WJSN style.  This was one of those WJSN where it feels like Yeonjung was just in every verse. Which of course, works for fans of the I.O.I alum but a rather sad plight of things for fans of members like Change Xiao who only had to repeat the line “tell me why” and its variation “just tell me why” in every chorus and Dawon who went from the main vocalist to someone who only sang for 11 seconds the entire song. Still, it is a good song though, because the message of love and admiration isn’t as saccharine-ly worded as expected in most innocent girl group concept songs. 

Although not too intense in the cosmic treatment, the music video still employs a bit of the mystical and cosmic elements the group has started to own since they released the Secret music video. We have the girls finding their way through a maze and in some scenes, dancing in a field of pink grass under a rainbow. That still counts for something in the cosmic world, eh? 

“Happy” (해피)

Another light and fun track, many did appreciate Happy because it’s a song about… happiness, obviously. The song itself sounds quite refreshing as it’s super bright. But then, please do not be deceived by the overly bright rendition of the girls as the high energy does not hinder Yeonjung from doing the vocal runs that would be hard for other groups to copy. This reminds me of Queendom’s Episode 2 when Kep1er apparently set their sights on covering Happy, which made me wonder how they would arrange it in such a way that would omit Yeonjung’s vocal calisthenics. Because seriously, who in Kep1er can do it?  

The music video had the girls play cheerleaders in some scenes and highly competitive dodgeball players. Serious fun ensues. Both the song and the music video veer away from cosmic references, but it’s okay since they’ve established the strength of their concept inspired by their group’s name. So, this one’s a win as well.    

“Dreams Come True” (꿈꾸는 마음으로)

Disclaimer: This song is the author’s personal favorite, so expect inevitable bias ahead. 

Any song that starts with a drumroll and leads to a bass guitar that sounds like the opening credits of an anime will forever be a superior song. And that’s what Dreams Come True is. Since it conjures images of anime characters that are basically superheroes and or people whose concerns are very out of this world, then yes, the song is pretty much faithful to the group’s cosmic concept. The song’s lyrics are also big on things like dreams, trust, and destiny (that the singer and the subject of the song will realize their seemingly challenged love). The chorus goes:

Trust, trust me

Hold tight to this moment, give me more courage

With a dreaming heart

I’ll go into your embrace that I dreamed about

I make the impossible, possible

Trust in me Trust in you

Whatever it takes, we will meet

I’ll find you, I’ll run to you

I’m stronger because of you

And with the heavy drum accompaniment, it really sounds like a song only WJSN, with the group’s concept, can justify. 

As for the music video, the overly filtered footage with the planets or other celestial bodies shown, the girl’s faces shown in rapid succession at the start of the video (again, very anime-inspired), Bona in a bed floating in the clouds, Eunseo seeing a shooting star (or was that a comet?) flashing across the sky as she looks up from texting on her phone, Mei Qi holding and releasing balls of light, Dayoung (and later, Soobin) running as soon as she saw a cosmic alert message on her phone and tripping, as everyone fathered to a helipad amidst a lightning storm, then Bona falling off from her floating bed to unite the girls who have gathered in a field this time (maybe they teleported from the helipad to the field?), then everybody holding hands as they send the same cosmic image, which may represent their reunion, to the sky. Then, Bona wakes up, realizing it was just a dream, but no! Her phone shows that cosmic storm image again. So maybe everything did happen. But yes, the entire music video hammered the entire cosmic concept to its viewers, that is if we’re not yet convinced that they are the Cosmic Girls.  

P.S. This has been the last WJSN with the three Chinese members included. Chengxiao, Meiqi, and Xuanyi have been pursuing individual activities in China since. 

“Save Me, Save You” (부탁해)

https://twitter.com/ggcropps/status/1519764451054006273?s=20&t=tZNYjNRXeVyL_l86T82Y7A

Sexy-ish schoolgirl? A few songs after the anomalous release that was Catch Me, which had the then-rookies in rather risque outfits, the girls returned with another song that had a music video that can make any viewer wonder, “Why do I feel like the video is suggesting things to me?” 

Anyway, back to the song. By now, the group has practically cornered the market for singing songs about distant lovers who believe in destiny and wonder about the day when they will finally be reunited. Intersperse that with lines about dreams and the future, that is your template for a WJSN song. And there’s something about the song’s arrangement and instrumentation that can make any long-time follower of k-pop, in general, recognize this as a typical track from the girls.

The sexy vibes are mostly pushed by the music video that calls to mind Harry Potter in a not-so-innocent setting. You have the girls attend what looks like a school of magic where you can see them perform some magical things with flowers and butterflies. Nothing weird about that, right? Well, maybe there’s one where they transform from wearing their uniforms to black and white ensembles with fishnet socks (yes, socks, not stockings) while dancing in some antique study hall. 

So the storyline is not particularly risque, so what gives this music video some serious sexy vibes? Along with the live performances, it is the choreography that is the culprit! Lots of moves where the girls touch each other and clapping in weird areas just give the song this uniquely strange and sexy vibe. And when you have the girls in those black and white outfits doing the weird clapping move, it does make you think. 

Then, you have a section of the video where everything is burning, including a scene where everybody leaves an auditorium except Bona who stays while the chairs in the rows before her are burning. And Seola is also left by herself in a classroom while crying a single silver tear. Altogether a weird music video. But hey we can’t really be mad at the song, as this gave the girls their first music show win two years after their debut.  

“La La Love”

This was one confusing WJSN release that went by and did not really gain any traction or buzz for some reason. The song is okay, the music video is okay, and both didn’t really bring anything new to the table. The music video starts with Luda typing something, then the girls dancing and doing things in a carnival, like dancing in the carnival, watching a horse (I don’t know why they didn’t feature an elephant instead), Yeorum making cotton candy, Dawon reading a newspaper (beats me as to why she is doing that in a carnival), Eunseo, Bona, and Exy riding those huge circus loops, and some members inspecting light bulbs and empty birdcages. They also have a scene where they are all seated around a table, playing Uno (or some game with really colorful cards) and in some scenes, a member standing on top of the table, which may lead the viewer to believe these ladies had a bit too much to drink. 

But after a two-song absence (with Dreams Come True and Save Me Save You not charting which is just pure injustice), La La Love brought WJSN back to the Gaon Singles Charts. I guess the song has its charms, after all.    

“Boogie Up”

This is the Cosmic Girls doing an impression of SISTAR. By the time Boogie Up was released, it has been two years since the Queens of Summer surrendered their tiaras, so it may be that WJSN felt that the field is open for aspirants to the position. Boogie Up conjures sunny feelings that songs like Shake It, Touch My Body, and I Swear successfully accomplished with SISTAR, and so it makes sense that the new queens of Starship would also be on point in this. Besides, Boogie Up is the lead single of the group’s EP titled For the Summer, so if there’s still any doubt that the group wanted some of that summer music chart action, then those should have already been quashed. 

The music video is also pretty much SISTAR in 2019. Filmed in Okinawa, the girls were shown lounging in the pool, lounging on the beach, going to buildings with English signs; the only thing missing is for the group to leave their “jobs” and ride in a convertible with the top down and this would have been another SISTAR video. But of course, since there are ten people, they couldn’t possibly fit in a convertible, so they instead had a party in a club where they were the only ones in attendance, very reminiscent of the Girls Generation Party music video. But instead of drinks, the cosmic girls partied with glow sticks. Still pretty wholesome, eh?

“As You Wish” (이루리)

Finally, another song for WJSN to really stamp their trademark on. Both the song and the music video are quite earnest and are not as flashy as their other songs that adhere more to their cosmic concept. The lyrics are about wanting to be that person who makes the dreams and wishes of your loved ones come true. The music video is quite interesting too, as it has the girls working in some facility where they are operating phones and reading letters, which we may interpret as an office that receives people’s wishes, as we see a little girl sending one of those wishing sky lanterns at the start of the video. Of course, we also see the girls dance in the office and have coffee breaks in cable cars. Finally, towards the end of the video, the girls rush outside to watch a display of fireworks.  

As the song was released before 2019 ended, the song did give strong holiday vibes. True enough, when the new year of 2020 rang, Koreans listened to the song, making it chart at the top of Melon’s 5-minute realtime chart (it eventually settled at #4 and Bugs in January 2020. It also reached number 4 on Genie and number 2 on FLO on the same day. This has continued for the past two New Years, with the song topping the MelOn, Bugs, and Genie real-time charts in January 2021 and the MelOn, Bugs, and Genie real-time charts. It goes without saying that this is definitely WJSN’s signature song, so it is a bit worrying that the girls up to now still do not feel like they have a signature song.   

“Butterfly”

While most of the songs WJSN has released stick to the cosmic concept save for a few stray tracks like Happy, Chase Me, and Boogie Up, this one belongs to the latter. Butterfly, which is included in the group’s ninth (9th! You read that right!) EP, Neverland, has the group go the ethereal fairytale route. Lots of free-flowing fabric, lots of arm flailing movements, and obviously, lots of butterflies in the music video. The song is solid, and the music video is great, but definitely, not a contender for WJSN signature song for the simple reason that it doesn’t really support a concept the group has invested in / may have plans to invest in. Nevertheless, it is a solid item in the group’s discography. 

“Unnatural”

Here’s another strong contender for WJSN signature song. The latest WJSN release has the group entering their sophisticated and elegant era.  The song is in a key only extremely talented people can execute and it seems their stylists for the music video were given million-dollar budgets for the girls to look that polished. And yes, for anyone who still needs convincing that the group’s vocal line is one of the most talented in k-pop, please look for the video of the group performing the song with a live band. That they make it look so easy is just the icing on the cake. 

So, to answer the girls’ concern about what their signature song is, I shall offer my suggestions:

  1. As You Wish
  2. Secret 
  3. Dreams Come True
  4. Unnatural
  5. Save Me, Save You

As they did perform As You Wish for the challenge in Queendom, I am very pleased. And I hope the girls go easy on their insecurities and be kinder to themselves as it’s a sure thing that they will face more challenges in the course of the competition. 

Featured Image: WSJN Official Twitter

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A Closer Look at Why Hyuna, Sunmi, and Suzy Left JYP Entertainment

When K-pop idols leave their agencies, fans usually assume that there’s something about the way the idol concerned was treated by the agency that eventually led to the decision to part ways. Such is the case with all members of GOT7 and JYP Entertainment, when it became blatant that the members were discouraged in terms of growing and developing artistically by the agency itself.  But is this the case with everyone who has left JYPE? Not really, if we are to examine three cases. 

What Remains a Mystery Up to This Day: HyunA

If you know HyunA as the sexy rapper who is in a relationship with E’Dawn and is currently promoting with him as a duo under Psy’s PNation label, then you must be a 4th Gen stan. If you know HyunA as the most popular member of the Cube Entertainment girl group 4Minute, then you are a late 2nd Gen stan. But if you are one of those who is not wondering what HyunA is doing in an article about female idols leaving JYP Entertainment and knows exactly why she is first to be named, then you are quite the early adapter! That’s because our Bubble Pop girl is actually one of the earliest female idols that Park Jinyoung’s company debuted in a girl group – yes, HyunA was one of the original members of the Wonder Girls!

In 2006, JYP announced that HyunA will be the main rapper of Wonder Girls. She participated in the group’s debut mini-album The Wonder Begins, which was released in February 2007, and was also part of the group’s television show MTV Wonder Girls for two seasons. If you’re not convinced, have a look at the music video for Irony, the group’s first single: 

 

See the girl in yellow with the shoulder-length bowl-cut hair who was first to play with the voodoo doll that manipulated the cheating guy? Yes, that’s HyunA. Aside from participating in the group’s initial promotions, she also co-hosted Show! Music Core with her groupmate Sohee and Fly to the Sky singer Brian Joo from May to June of 2007. Then, unfortunately, it was her parents who pulled out the then-15-year old from the group in July, as they were getting more concerned about her health when she experienced chronic gastroenteritis and fainting spells during her time training and promoting with the group.

But then, the next year, it was revealed that HyunA had joined another company, Cube Entertainment. In May 2009, it was announced that she would debut as part of the girl group 4Minute and only two months later, the group debuted with the single Hot Issue. Well, considering the record label changes that went rather quickly, people can’t help but wonder whether the group’s song can also refer to HyunA being a center of this “hot issue” of leaving JYP Entertainment because of health reasons only to return to the biz, but in a different company. 

As there weren’t too many idols in 2007, any news about K-pop singers, particularly idol group members which was then still a novel concept was a big deal. Thus, when HyunA left the Wonder Girls, people were shocked and the press has a field day. Also because there weren’t a lot of female idols that rapped, fans were quite invested in her. When it was known that she joined another entertainment agency after leaving JYP, people were suspicious of her reasons for leaving JYP in the first place. Did she really suffer from health problems? If she did, then why would she return to the music industry and join a different company? 

To make matters more interesting, it was also revealed that Cube Entertainment, which at that time was a very new company, was formed by Hong Seung-sung (aka Simon Hong), who was JYP Entertainment’s former president. So, was it a matter of talent piracy, where CEO Hong asked HyunA to feign health issues so she can leave WG and JYPE, only to resurface a bit later when the issue of her departure cools down, with his company? Or was there a conflict with HyunA (which at that time may have been represented by her parents since she was still very much a minor) and JYPE, with the former favoring leaving the company and joining Hong’s company rather than staying?  All parties, JYPE, HyunA, and Cube have stuck to the health issue narrative all these years. 

And we may never know if the “absolute truth” behind this because well, HyunA’s relationship with Cube has practically died, bridges burned and all following the company’s dismissal of her and then-Pentagon member E’Dawn when the two admitted to their romantic relationship. I’m not sure if Korea has a memoir culture where celebrities commit to “tell-alls” about their public life once they shun the limelight and settle into a more private existence, but something tells me there will be no HyunA, JYP, or CEO Hong biography in the future that will dish everything on what really went on during the early days of Wonder Girls and 4Minute. But we can always dream, eh?     

Differences in Artistic Expression: Sunmi

One thing’s for sure: HyunA didn’t leave her first girl group and the company because of squabbling or conflict among the members of the Wonder Girls. Since becoming a part of 4Minute and launching her solo career, she has been seen interacting with her former groupmates in music shows and industry events. One of these events was when Sunmi, who was about to promote her first single after leaving JYP, Gashina, coincided with HyunA’s promotion of her 6th EP, Following, with the single Babe. Both were seen on music shows being cozy with each other, like long-lost friends who are catching up with each other’s lives. So, fans were pretty much assured that HyunA and the Wonder Girls have never gotten into conflicts. Which leads us to Sunmi, one of the OG WGs who has had an inconsistent relationship with JYPE. 

Sunmi has stayed loyal to the company despite having had to take breaks from promoting with the Wonder Girls. From 2006 to 2009, even with their controversial promotional activities in the US, where she changed her name to Mimi, she was a dependable part of the group. However, in 2010, the company announced that Sunmi would be taking an academic break to focus on her studies and on developing her talents. However, they were quick to clarify that Sunmi would still be a talent of JYP Entertainment and that there were no concrete plans on when Sunmi will return to the Wonder Girls, if at all.

Sunmi did go to university during her academic break, studying in Dongguk University while receiving additional training with JYP. She claimed that she was only a trainee for more or less one year when she was included in the Wonder Girls line-up, so the whole time, she felt that she was pretty much lacking in a lot of skills. But while studying in university and getting additional training, Sunmi actually returned to her music career in 2013, but not to the Wonder Girls, as JYPE promoted her as a solo artist. Her solo career took off amazingly, as her debut single 24 Hours achieved an all-kill on music charts. She released an EP not long after, with Full Moon equaling her debut single’s achievements. 

The following year, JYP Entertainment announced that Sunmi would be back as a WG after five years, which also coincided with the group’s return after a two-year hiatus. The group returned as a band, with Sunmi as bassist. The group’s comebacks were received warmly by the fans, who had no trouble appreciating the group’s band concept. Though the EP Reboot did not sell as well as their group’s previous albums and EPs, the singles I Feel You and Why So Lonely peaked at #3 and 1, respectively, with sales of over 800,000 copies for both singles. 

Alas, at the start of 2017, it was announced that the group was disbanding after negotiations with Sunmi and Yeeun for their contract renewals broke down. The girls released a final single on their tenth anniversary in February before going their separate ways. The next month, Sunmi signed with Makeus Entertainment, which at that time only had guitarist Park Won and the R&B trio Urban Zakapa on their portfolio. As an old adage goes, the rest is Gashina history. 

The transfer of Sunmi to MakeUs (which has since then been acquired by ABYSS Company and has welcomed another former JYP talent GOT7‘s Bambam and former 2NE1 member Dara into their fold) is a bit weird, considering that JYP has already launched her as a soloist in 2013, successfully at that. So, why did she leave JYP? The thing is, she may have just disagreed to continuing with the Wonder Girls and still be under JYP as a soloist, as she already had experience on that since 2013. She didn’t have to leave the company, right? 

An interview in the popular talk show Radio Star may hold some answers to the questions regarding Sunmi’s decision to part ways with the agency. For one, she had objections to the signature vocal technique JYP evangelizes (well, to some, more of “force,” actually) to all his idols: the half-voice, half-air technique. It is known in the Korean music industry that this technique is something JYP himself applies and he prefers to listen to with the idols under his wing, as he feels that technique produces a sound that people can’t help but be fond of. Alas, Sunmi, as with a lot of former and even current JYP idols does not really agree with her boss’ preference. She thought she wanted to experiment with producing an airier sound or a more solid sound, depending on which fits a song. This dissent, of course, is not really allowed in JYPE, where Park Jinyoung ultimately has the final say in a lot of creative decisions. 

Speaking of creative decisions, she also narrated her experience during the time she promoted 24 Hours, her second single as a soloist in JYP. Park Jinyoung instructed her to have a plain, expressionless face on both the music video and her live stage performances as he thought a no-makeup look fit the song best. Sumni was not comfortable with the concept, as she does not feel confident without makeup and false eyelashes that leaves her with a pale look. She expressed her disapproval of JYP’s instruction, but in the end, she obviously had to give way to him. 

Finally, when the hosts pointed out that those where idols cannot object to JYP’s instructions are known throughout the industry as a reason why artists who have already worked with JYP are not planning on working with him ever again. Sunmi agreed and when asked if this issue also applies to her, she demurely agreed as well. Suffice to say that even if there was no animosity between her and her former company, particularly JYP himself, we may never see a time when Sunmi will ever record a JYP song ever again. 

Differences in Career Direction: Suzy

Suzy’s involvement with K-pop can be tracked back to the year 2009, when she auditioned for Mnet’s Superstar K. Though she qualified through the preliminary round, she was ultimately eliminated in the succeeding rounds. However, a talent scout from JYP Entertainment noticed and invited her to audition for then company. She agreed and soon enough, she became a JYP Entertainment trainee. Things went fast for her as the next year, she was chosen as a member of the company’s second ever girl group, Miss A. 

Suzy’s fast rise to fame cannot only be owed to her activities as a member of Miss A, and soon enough, she was constantly selected as an emcee or host of special events such as award ceremonies and concerts. In  October of 2010, Suzy became a fixed host for MBC Show! Music Core with T-ara‘s Jiyeon and SHINee‘s Minho and Onew. After that, she was selected to host other events such as the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and Mnet 20’s Choice Awards, where she also took home an award for “Hot New Star of 2011”. Apart from her hosting gigs, she also started a career in acting, debuting in the musical teen drama Dream High, which she co-starred with labelmates Wooyoung and Taecyeon of 2PM, T-ara‘s Eunjung, IU, and Kim Soohyun.

Suzy slowly and surely earned recognition as a visual, not particularly as an acting rookie with strong thespian skills.  At the KBS Drama Awards, Suzy won the Best New Actress award as well as Best Couple award with co-star Kim Soo-hyun. She continued appearing on TV as a cast member in KBS TV reality show Invincible Youth 2. Soon enough, she made her film debut with Architecture 101. But even if her acting skills were up for debate, there was no question that Suzy was a certified star. After all, nobody in Korean showbiz has ever won a singer rookie award, drama rookie award, film rookie award, and variety rookie award in his or her first two years in the entertainment industry. Her popularity outside of Korea was also confirmed when in September 2016, Suzy’s became the first Korean female celebrity to receive a wax likeness of herself at Madame Tussauds.

Alas, with Suzy’s established popularity, fans pointed out that the group Miss A had become more of a “Suzy and Friends Group,” a distinction that is given to groups with a member that is grossly more popular than the other members or in some cases a member who is given preferential treatment by the company over the other members who as a result, appear disregarded or overlooked. Thus, you have groups like “HyunA and Friends” (4Minute), “Hyolyn and Friends” (SISTAR), and lately, “Solbin and Friends” (LABOUM), and “Sejeong and Friends” (Gugudan). But at that time, it appeared that JYPE was impervious to these opinions, although they sort of dispelled them by making Chinese member Fei the first solo artist from the group. 

However, it wasn’t too long before Suzy also had her solo debut with the album Yes? No? as its title. She achieved an all-kill on music charts with a pre-release single, Pretend. The title track, Yes, No, Maybe was released a week after. Besides, the public already had a taste of Suzy doing her own thing outside the group when she sang a duet with EXO‘s Baehyun entitled Dream, which peaked at #1 in the Gaon Digital Charts. 

On December 27, following the announcement of Min’s departure, JYP Entertainment announced that Miss A had disbanded, although Suzy renewed her contract with the company.  She had a comeback the next month with Faces of Love, whose pre-release track entitled In Love with Someone Else gave Suzy a real-time all kill. The next year, Suzy left JYP Entertainment following the expiration of her contract and quickly joined  acting agency Management SOOP.She has since then starred in numerous K-dramas, the latest being the 2020 show Start-Up. 

With Suzy, it appears fair to assume that the two parties have diverging goals. Suzy has made it clear that she has shifted to an acting career, while JYP is still pretty much a record label and an agency of singer-idols who may have side gigs in acting. Thus, you have Taecyeon, who has also left JYP but still part of 2PM because he is now more active as an actor than a singer/rapper. Compare that to Wooyoung, Nickhun, and Junho, who although have numerous acting jobs are still very active in promoting their music as solo artists. Suzy, like Taecyeon, have not focused on their music careers since leaving JYPE, proving that they really want to establish their careers in television and film. Unfortunately, JYP may not be the best company to support their career goals. 

There are more artists who have left JYPE in mysterious circumstances, such as Produce 101 winner Somi, who was reported to be a part of ITZY before her departure (rumor has it that she wanted to debut as a solo artist, something JYPE didn’t allow); another Wonder Girls member Sohee who left JYPE before the group disbanded, supposedly to focus on growing her acting career; former 15& member Jimin (who is now signed with Warner Music Korea as a solo artist), to name a few. 

It is also interesting to note that as mentioned earlier, JYPE has really recalibrated its focus towards supporting musical artists, which coincidentally has taken place after all the company’s actors (e.g., Choi Wooshik of Parasite  fame and Park Gyuyoung, who we can watch currently in Dali and Cocky Prince) have left the company altogether from 2018 to 2019. So, if you look at JYPE’s current roster of artists, there’s not a single actor or actress left, only idols with acting gigs, like Wooyoung and Junho as mentioned earlier. Although the company has received a lot of backlash last year with GOT7’s mass exodus, Day6 Jae’s online meltdowns, and TWICE’s spotty performance, we can still hope that the company gets its act together and protect its current artists such as ITZY and Stray Kids.

Featured Image: Youtube Screengrab from Sunmi- Gashina MV

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The Saga of Apink Act Three: A Departure, Delayed Celebrations, and the Future

By 2020, Apink has established itself as one of the most enduring acts of K-pop. A year short of celebrating a decade in the Korean music industry, Apink has amassed feats not a lot of pop groups, especially girl groups, have achieved. They have survived the 7-year curse and still continue to release music with resounding success while their contemporaries even struggle to keep their lineup intact. They took the chance of changing their image quite late in their careers at the risk of alienating their core fanbase who may never accept the idea that their innocent girls are now singing more sophisticated music. The risk paid off and they have been reintroduced to a younger generation of fans while still keeping most of their original fanbase. 

Throughout the nine years that the group has been together, they have had only one member quit their lineup and the circumstances apparently didn’t involve animosity, with Yookyung even appearing in a couple of Instagram posts of the members since her departure from the group. The scandals that involved Apink were the type that actually gave the group added sympathy from the public instead of negatively affecting their reputations, such as ARMY using the availability of their concert tickets as their “dry run” to see how fast they can sell out theirs. There was also that saesang who has threatened Naeun for years, which caused the group to cancel some appearances. Finally, there was the KBS Song Festival of 2019 when their performance was abruptly cut to give more time to younger groups.  Free from scandal throughout their careers, with every comeback successful for the past nine years, a couple of members also venturing into successful acting careers (Eunji and Naeun), and three members also releasing solo material (Eunji, Hayoung, and Namjoo), Apink was on their way to achieving what very few girl groups have before them – celebrating their 10th year in the business while still quite active in releasing music. 

Then, things went bad. 

For the past couple of years, the Korean entertainment industry has been flooded with bullying allegations. While entertainers from Hollywood got canceled mostly from claims of people getting sexually harassed by some of the industry’s biggest names, everyone in Korean entertainment, from up and coming actors to comedians and idols keep getting accused of being bullies in school and engaging in harmful practices like drug, alcohol, and sexual abuse. A lot of careers have been stalled because of allegations coming from nowhere and unfortunately, days before their 10th anniversary, the name of Apink’s leader Chorong suddenly came up. 

Reports of Chorong engaging in underage drinking and bullying sprang up on April 5, 14 days short of Apink’s 10th anniversary. To keep the rather long story short, Person A, a female schoolmate of Chorong, posted pictures of her drinking in 2008, back when she was only 17-years-old.  The person claimed that Chorong would go out drinking with friends every week and would figure in acts of physical violence targeting unpopular classmates. Days later, Chorong made a statement apologizing for the pictures of her drinking alcohol, which meant that she admitted to the underage alcohol consumption while denying the bullying claims. Play M Entertainment supported their talent and filed legal cases against the person. Months later, a classmate who knew both Chorong and A claimed that the two were actually bosom buddies during their high school years and had a falling out later, although she did not realize that the person would dig up the issue 13 years later. In November, police investigations concluded that the allegations against Chorong were false. 

Unfortunately, the damage has been done as the comeback to mark Apink’s 10th anniversary kept  getting pushed back. To commemorate their anniversary, the group only released Thank You, their annual song for their fans. Moreover, Play M announced ten days after the group’s anniversary that Naeun has decided to not re-sign her contract with them. Days later, Naeun revealed that she has signed with YG Entertainment as an actress and will still remain as a member of Apink. 

Wait, what? Naeun, the most reserved member of Apink has signed with the entertainment agency known for their swag and talents who are more known for their big personalities? Before contemplating on how Naeun’s move to YG was just plain weird, consider these:

  1. Naeun signed to YG as an actress and SPOILER: up to now, has not shown any indication of transferring her singing career to her new agency;
  2. Naeun’s sister, Son Saeun, a professional golfer, has been a YG Sports talent since 2017. 

Considering those two things, it does make sense for Apink’s visual to choose YG as her new agency after A Cube Plan A Play M IST Entertainment. But then, considering that Naeun was already accepting acting gigs even when she was still with A Cube Plan A Play M IST, was the transfer really necessary? Did Chorong’s scandal have anything to do with Naeun opting to sign with a different agency? When you look at the events, we can conclude that the leader’s bullying scandal may be a factor, albeit a minor one.

A few years ago, in their first contract renewal with A Cube Plan A Play M IST, it was revealed by the members that all of them re-signed with the agency without delays or hesitation because of Chorong. In interviews, when Apink members were asked how they were able to successfully overcome the 7-year curse that affects k-pop idol groups, they would usually narrate how Chorong, as a leader, assured them to leave things to her and trust her as re-signing with their agency would be the best move for all six of them. With the bullying scandal at its peak in April 2021, precisely during the time when the members were working out and negotiating the terms of their contracts, Chorong may have lost a lot of her bargaining leverage, prompting Naeun to heavily consider transferring agencies. But then, it wouldn’t be totally a reach if Naeun just decided that she was tired of having to share her income with five other people, which is the common practice among idol groups. With a new agency, she gets to have all the proceeds of her income to herself instead of always having to split in six-ways. 

Fast forward to  December 2021, when A Cube Plan A Play M IST Entertainment announced the return of Apink! The group will have a comeback scheduled for February 2022 with the participation of all six members. Pandas rejoice! 

With the Chorong controversy finally meeting its end in November, you would think A Cube Plan A Play M IST would schedule the Apink’s comeback / 10th year anniversary celebration ASAP. In an ideal scenario, then comeback schedules can be implemented easily and the  Apink anniversary comeback could have happened in December. Capitalize on the Chorong redemption arc – support a wrongly accused idol on her comeback that will celebrate her 10th year in the music industry, why not? But then, when A Cube Plan A Play M IST has to deal with YG, things can get complicated. YG can always say Naeun has drama 1, drama 2, and drama 3 on her plate, so participating in the making and promotion of the comeback album may not be a priority. True, Naeun was (going to be) busy with Ghost Doctor and Apink anniversary events (i.e. fan meets and concerts like Pink Eve: 10 Years, which did happen on December 31 and may have already been repeatedly rescheduled), but then Eunji was also busy with Work Later, Drink Now, so… yep, it is really difficult to coordinate schedules when another company is involved. 

Which brings us to Horn, Apink’s latest comeback released on Valentine’s Day 2022. All six members are part of the album and the music video. Unfortunately, YG put its foot down and did not allow Naeun to join the promotions of the lead track, Dilemma.  The five remaining members did the usual round of music, radio, and variety show promotions. Naeun has posted on Instagram of her support for her bandmates, but alas, when you have the five posting pictures of their music show guest stints and Naeun posting pictures of a Winter Olympics event she is watching on TV, people can (and have) start questioning her sincerity. 

Naeun has been vilified, YG has been painted as the antagonist, with reports surfacing that the company actually encouraged Naeun to leave Apink once they successfully signed her.  Naeun shut down the possibility as she reportedly said something along the lines of her not ever considering leaving the group that was responsible for establishing her name in the entertainment industry.  We cannot really blame Chorong for the series of unfortunate events she had to undergo as the cause of the delays in the comeback and maybe being a factor in Naeun leaving A Cube Plan A Play M IST. I think it makes the most sense to just blame YG for anything and everything; they’re used to being vilified, anyway. 

Featured Image: Apink Official Twitter

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The Saga of Apink Act One: The Rise of the Nation’s Icons of Innocence

If you are a K-pop fan, no matter which generation, chances are you have at the very least heard of Apink. Second-generation Kpop fans have witnessed the group’s steady rise to stardom and their longevity that has allowed them to get past the much-dreaded “7-year curse” that unfortunately, a lot of their contemporaries fell victim to. For the more recent generation of Kpop followers, Apink is synonymous with a group successfully accomplishing an image overhaul because these fans swear they could remember hearing Apink popularizing teenybopper songs only to see them mount once a year comebacks with rather sophisticated hits like Eung Eung, I’m So Sick, and Dumhdurum. 

One of the only few remaining 2nd gen groups that continue to be active up to now, they have survived the 7-year curse, line-up changes, contract renewals, their entertainment company’s several name changes (yes, their company have changed their business name thrice in a span of eleven years), and concept changes. Dubbed as the “fairy idols of k-pop”, the group has stuck with a sweet and innocent image for most of their careers, only implementing major changes in recent years. 

So, how is it that this relatively scandal-free, durable, and long-lasting girl group is suddenly sending tongues a-wagging after releasing a special album of their 10th year as a group in 2022 when they’re only two months shy from celebrating their 11th year? Here is a breakdown of Apink‘s 10-to-11 year saga in three acts.

Act One: The Age of Innocence

The year was 2011. The second generation of K-pop idols dominated the airwaves, with intense rivalries, defections, and contracts getting violated left and right. It was during this time when the Big 3 entertainment companies introduced idols that became iconic and built the foundation of what was to be at the time the biggest attack of the Hallyu wave not just in Korea but in Asian countries and even America. SM had TVXQ!, SHINee, Super Junior, f(x), and Girls’ Generation, while YG countered with BIGBANG and 2NE1, and not to be outdone, JYP promoted 2AM and 2PM, Wonder Girls, and had just also introduced Miss A.

There were groups that stood their ground and built huge followings as well — INFINITE, B2st, MBLAQ, Teen TopKara, SISTAR, Jewelry, T-ARA, After School, 4Minute, and Secret, to name a few. Considering that these groups didn’t have as secure a support machinery as the ones mentioned earlier, that means that their success was really a big deal. To survive the industry and rise into household name despite not having a giant entertainment label to back them and the intense competition with hundreds of new groups debuting with them, all hoping to avoid being “nugus“, is no easy feat at all. The groups mentioned earlier proved that it can be done. However, by this time, the k-pop scene was already starting to get saturated, so it would take a number of factors such as a great mix of members, a concept that would click with the masses, and songs that the public would enjoy to survive and eventually thrive at that time. 

So, when Cube Entertainment toyed with the idea of producing a new girl group even with the ongoing success of B2st and 2Minute on their table, it could be said that they pulled a considerable number of stops to ensure the success of the group they will be introducing to the public. In February 2011, Cube Entertainment announced the first trainee for this new girl group, Son Naeun, who the public was already familiar due to B2st‘s Soom, Beautiful,  and Niga Jeil Joha music videos in late 2010, followed by Park Chorong, who appeared at the end of B2st‘s Shock Japanese music video. She was immediately announced as the group’s leader. By this time, the company also announced that a special and autonomous subsidiary named A Cube has been established to focus on the development of this new group, to be known as Apink. They also announced the third member, Oh Hayoung, a rather tall and mature-looking trainee who apparently was going to debut as Apink‘s maknae while still in middle school. 

Eunji, the main vocalist was later revealed to have been offered a vocal coach job with Cube before being considered as a member of Apink, which was why she had only been training for close to two months before the revelation. She was introduced as the fourth member on A Cube’s Twitter account through a video of her singing a rendition of Jennifer Hudson’s Love You I Do before Yookyung was similarly announced through an online video where she was playing the piano. The last two members, Bomi and Namjoo, were introduced through the group’s reality show, Apink News.

Apink News, a documentary detailing a lot of behind-the-scenes footage of the group’s creation and various training activities leading to their debut proved to be a stroke of genius. One, although the show was aired on a cable channel, the viewing public was very familiar with the celebrities who acted as hosts and MCs introducing the various videos and portions of the show — G.NA, Mario, MBLAQ‘s Seung Ho, and G.O, Beast, 4Minute, 2AM‘s Jinwoon, Secret’s Sunhwa and Hyosung. The viewers were also given a look at the intense preparations of the members before the group was launched, which made the members very relatable and familiar as even before they debuted. The viewers were already familiar with the strengths, weaknesses, and personality quirks of all seven members. Finally, a week before the group’s official debut, their first TV commercial for Ceylon Tea was released, so with all these pre-debut activities, the public was at the very least, vaguely familiar with Apink. 

Alas, when Apink‘s debut EP, Seven Springs of Apink, and the music video for its lead single, Mollayo was released on April 19, 2011, there was not a lot of awkwardness associated with a new group being pushed to the public in a cold and direct manner. The Mollayo music video also definitely caught the attention of the B2st fandom as it featured Lee Gikwang. It Girl, their second single was promoted after a few months and an OST for the SBS drama Protect the Boss was also released in September. 

The year ended with two big items: One, appearing on another reality show called Birth of a Family, where they shared top billing with Infinite, which at that time, was already getting more attention, and the other being the release of their second EP, Snow Pink, on November 22, which featured the Shinsandong Tiger-composed lead single My My. After seven months, the girls won a music show, a clear indication that a group has established a pretty sizable fanbase. After all, if a group doesn’t have fans who will stream the music video or vote for their song on the music show’s SMS platforms, getting a win will be that difficult, considering that a rookie group isn’t really expected to have sizeable sales figures or high chart positions, which are also included in the criteria of music shows. 

With four rookie of the year awards in their belt, Apink did prove that they are a group to be reckoned with. And considering that the group debuted with a sweet and teenybopper image with their first two EPs, their successful debut year is quite a feat and upon closer inspection, very well-thought of. The innocent music which was their introduction to the public is a bit too reminiscent of the music of 1st generation of girl groups like Baby V.O.X, Fin. KL and SES. Also considering that the groups at that time were going more for the range of girl-next-door with a notch of sophistication (SNSD) to downright sexy and adult (Secret and Nine Muses) to cater to changing public preferences, Apink‘s sweet and innocent concept may be a blessing in disguise. 

While it is true that what the public liked at that time may be a bit distant from the lollipops and rainbows concept the group is offering, they practically cornered the market. None of their contemporaries offered childlike innocence the way Apink did. SNSD at that time was already moving closer to sophistication with releases like Run Devil Run, Hoot, and The Boys. Consider this: the music video of Mollayo had the girls nursing a guy who passed out in front of their front door into their house. But no, instead of shouting “STRANGER DANGER” at the top of their lungs, the girls get giddy and shy when the said guy (Gikwang in a baby blue suit) does even the smallest of things like passing a glance. How’s that for cringy but endearing because the girls just sold the concept so hard and so effectively, you can’t help but think of what gift they should give Mr. Stranger once he recovers his strength. Spoiler: Naeun gave him flowers she herself picked, Hayoung gave him a cookie, and Eunji gave him a bookmark. 

And that may hold a couple of the major keys to Apink‘s success years after debuting. The girls continued with tracks like Bubibu, Hush, and NoNoNo, which have wholesomeness written all over them. The songs cover rather simple topics of what you would like to do with someone you like and the dilemma of whether to confess what you feel to the person. Very grade school stuff, which until this point is trademark Apink. You just cannot picture f(x)‘s Amber, 2NE1‘s Dara, or even SNSD‘s maknae Seohyun saying, “Dear boy, I fell in love with you on a snowy day” (Yookyung’s lyrics in My My) or the queens of retro T-Ara singing, “I wanna be that girl who can be with you forever, so tell me, will you be my boyfriend?” (again, spoken by Yookyung — I swear, Yookyung has some of the most cringe-inducing lyrics in the entire history of k-pop). 

This brings us to the second point: which was mentioned already earlier: All seven, and later, six, members of the group are masters, legends, and icons, in selling to us the sweet and pure concept of the group. Imagine these scenarios: 

  1. Being a singer in her early 20’s like Chorong and having to sing the syllables BU-BI-BU. What on earth does that even mean? But of course, it’s baby talk and the seven in all their aegyo prowess, has us believing in what they are singing. 
  2. Poor Yookyung having to say those cringe-y lyrics, reminiscent of grade school students daring each other to give the other their first kiss. 
  3. The entire group wearing white skintight pants and baby tees – an attire that just does not adhere to anyone’s standards of innocence, for the Hush music video, and still having to act cutesy and perky in scenes where they are playing with the camera. 

If you are a singer in your late teens, the last thing you want to be is to appear like a grade school student, singing lyrics like “I’m always trembling, I think of you every day, You don’t know my feelings for you is getting larger.” Granted that this stanza was sung by Hayoung, who was indeed a middle school student the time Mollayo was released, but for someone who at that time, already looks like a graduating university senior, it’s not supposed to work. But Apink‘s giant maknae has a whole deck of tricks up her sleeve and used it for most of the group’s career, we all fell for it. So you could imagine how Hayoung may have reacted when she first heard I’m So Sick, which references insincere lovers and drunk episodes. But I’m fast-forwarding.      

There’s also Eunji’s voice, which by now, we know is not her natural timbre. Seriously, can you hear her singing Mollayo in the same voice she uses for her latest solo single, AWay? But then, that’s just a testament to her mad vocal skills and technique – that she knows how to adjust the color and “weight” of her voice to suit the entire Apink discography. 

In short, these girls worked their derrieres off in selling the group’s pure and innocent concept to the entire k-pop listening public, and the said public ate it all up, no morsel left behind. I mean, we’ve heard of several stories involving idols complaining about the concepts their companies may require them to do. Some idols do not agree with the image they have to embody, while some put their feet down and speak up about inappropriate wardrobe choices. When you think about it, by their second year, Apink could have already forwarded concerns regarding their concept. But it’s either nothing was heard from them or A Cube (or the members themselves) was just very good in hiding any dissent. The point is, that pure and innocent concept stuck and stayed there until 2019. 

After NoNoNo came more success, which some consider as Apink’s first “golden streak.” By 2014, Apink was down to six, with Yookyung deciding to pursue her studies than staying with the group. After the success of NoNoNo, which became their biggest hit up until that time, they released their fourth EP, Pink Blossom, and the music video for its title track, Mr. Chu, were released on March 31. The song peaked at number 2 on Billboard’s K-Pop Hot 100 and gave Apink six music show trophies. By the end of 2014, Mr. Chu was the eighth best-selling digital song of the year, according to Gaon’s year-end chart. 2014 also saw Bomi and Namjoo forming a sub-unit called Apink BnN, which released the single My Darling for Brave Brothers’ 10th Anniversary Project. 

The year also saw the group debuting in Japan with the Japanese version of NoNoNo, which peaked at number 4 on Oricon’s weekly singles chart. Before the year ended, the group released their fifth EP, Pink Luv with its title song, Luv, which was another Shinsadong Tiger track. Luv dislodged NoNoNo as Apink‘s highest-ranking song as it became their first number 1 on Gaon’s weekly and monthly digital charts, while Pink Luv also topped Gaon’s weekly album chart in its first week of release. The group won first place on all three major Korean music shows two weeks in a row, the only girl group to do so in 2014. The song ended up giving Apink 17 music show wins, which up to this day holds the record for the song with the most wins for a girl group. Only Psy, BTS, and EXO have surpassed this feat, and with GFriend already disbanded and Girls’ Generation not promoting as much anymore, this record is not seen to be broken in the near future. 

The group’s success continued with the release of Remember in 2015 and somewhat a lukewarm (by Apink’s standards) of their 2016 comeback Pink Revolution with the lead track Only One. After the  successes of NoNoNo, Mr. Chu, and LUV, the performance of Only One in the charts, where it peaked at number 5 and sold over 449,000 copies is underwhelming, though still quite commendable in girl group standards. After the record-breaking 17 music show wins for LUV and a respectable three trophies for Remember, Only One won zilch. 

Some blame the timing of the release as it coincided with more hyped releases like GOT7. Moreover, Pink Revolution was released more than a year (14 months to be exact) after Pink Memory, and even during that time, when the this behavior of long hiatuses between releases is only expected of groups that have already established themselves in the industry like Shinhwa, it felt like Apink was already resting on their laurels and not working as hard as groups of their stature should be. Even with The Wave being released to commemorate their fifth anniversary on April 19 to supposedly tide Pink Pandas over until Pink Revolution’s release (plus the fact that The Wave up to now continues to be one the best fan service songs in the history of K-pop, without question), the long gap between those two releases did not sit well with the fandom. 

Finally, it has to be said that the song was not really something that should have silenced those who waited for the group to break their hiatus. I mean, if you have to wait for more than a year for your favorite group to stage a comeback, you somehow expect them to drop a banger, a showstopper to silence the doubters and announce their return to the entire K-pop world, in the same vein when people go crazy when they heard whispers of “Shinee’s back” or “JYP” after a long stretch. Only One did not create this tidal wave people expected; instead, it made a tiny splash with its mellow sounds and its music video filled with dreamy and hazy pastel filters. While the girls claimed in their comeback interviews that the Pink Revolution album and Only One, in particular, signaled a shift in the musical direction of the group from bubblegum pop to a more elegant and sophisticated sound, it was just not an exciting song to represent this change. After all, change should be exciting, right? So, if you’re telling people that you will be implementing changes, at the level of Apink’s popularity, they may have expected something more remarkable, fancier, pronounced – something splashier, perhaps? What they got with the Only One comeback, was, unfortunately, something closer to a whimper. 

With this less-than-stellar comeback – again, by Apink standards, considering that at this point in their careers, they were already up there in the top tier with SNSD, 2NE1, Wonder Girls,  Miss A, SISTAR, 4Minute, Apink figured for their next move to remind people of their heyday by bringing back the chirpy, cutesy sounds reminiscent of 1st gen girl groups (which served as their bread and butter before the boring half-baked image change of the Pink Revolution era). And Five delivered on that, and how. Pink Up the EP and Five the song gave us vintage Apink, old school Apink, the Apink that won 17 music show awards, the Apink with a song that once you’ve heard it, will stay with you for weeks. Song with a catchy earworm chorus, check. A music video drenched in bright pink and the six engaged in cute and fun activities such as gardening and anything to do with pastries (very reminiscent of the NoNoNo, My My and Remember music videos), check. Bomi looking like a children’s anime character with the short blonde hair, check. Apink’s back, Pink Up the EP peaked at #1 in the Gaon charts, Five won six music show trophies, and all that is good and wholesome in the world has ben restored. 

With Apink back to top tier level after the Pink Revolution debauchery, the talk was all about one thing: survival. Apink has successfully gotten past the seven-year curse that has unfortunately sent their contemporaries on the road to disbandment or hiatus. By 2017, SISTAR  and 2NE1 have officially disbanded, while Girl’s Day, After School and f(x) have left their fans out in the cold, constantly assuring them that they have not disbanded but not releasing new material. For Apink, the concerns were more about how they could bring their glory days back than keeping their group intact. 

For some reason, there wasn’t really much speculation about a member wanting to leave the group. While it is true that some groups can pull surprises (e.g., Hoya and his sudden exit from Infinite when everybody was quite sure that if anyone would depart from Infinite, it was going to be rising actor L), the case of Apink members leaving wasn’t really thoroughly considered. True, Naeun, may at times stick out as a sore thumb because of her rather reserved nature which doesn’t at all times mesh well with the chaotic energy levels of Bomi and Namjoo, but then we tend to forget that Chorong is also introverted.  People also believed that with her versatility as a vocalist and success in acting, it was Eunji who may be considering a solo career, but the group’s main vocal has never given any indication that she was going to be the one to succumb to the 7-year curse and leave Apink. So, when news came out that all members re-signed to their company (which at that time was already renamed Plan A, I think) and they all revealed that they have put their trust in their leader Chorong and continued with the group, everyone rejoiced. And to commemorate their re-signing, they released  Five and brought us back to 2011.

And this also ends the first act of Apink’s saga.

Featured Image: Apink Official Twitter

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The Saga of Apink Act Two: The Concept Shift and the Staying Power

After the release of Five and despite its success, everybody knew that Apink is ripe for a concept change. By 2018, all members were already in their mid-20s, which makes the group’s pure and innocent concept a stretch and unsustainable. Five was a bit of a fluke, as the group had to remind the public of their strength, but the same public can only have so much of watching a 6-year group continue to sing songs about first love and hesitating to make the first move. Five served its purpose well, but it was time for a change. 

When reports of how drastic Apink’s 2018 comeback concept will be, there apparently was substantial resistance from the fandom. A good number of fans backed their conservative preferences, especially with the success of Five. To make long story short, they were okay with Apink continuing to sing teenybopper bops as they stay active in the music industry and any changes to the group’s image will be met with a withdrawal of support. 

Alas, when teasers for the group’s comeback emerged on July 1, people were scared. Bomi throwing paper at the camera? Namjoo stabbing a mountain of fries that she covered with ketchup? Eunji crying outside a bathtub while unrolling film negatives? Naeun throwing a show? This is definitely not the same group that sang about daydreams of walking side by side with Mr. Chu while wearing couple rings. 

And just when you think the individual teasers are scary, the rolling music teaser is more alarming. The first song I’m So Sick has lyrics such as “Not a single bit of the feelings from before, Not a single bit of those emotions are left.” And they have a song titled I Like That Kiss. How can the nation’s Fairy Idols be this… brazen? People were shocked, fans were scared, and industry observers excitedly speculated on how this image change will affect the group. Will this be accepted or will this be the beginning of the end?

Alas, the pessimistic speculations were laid to rest as Apink did not turn into pillars of salt, broadcast stations did not implement bans, and no petitions to the Blue House for indecency and immorality were submitted. The song I’m So Sick is definitely the most mature track the group has ever released, but it retained the distinct Apink sound that the group has imbibed since their debut. The catchy chorus is still there, the killing parts in English – now spoken by Naeun – are still there, the distinct choreography is still there. All in all, I’m So Sick is very much an Apink song, and what’s great about it is that the group is now singing songs that match their age. Remembering the times they spent together ala LUV is still good, singing about taking 5-second breaks is still good and considering the era when they sang those songs, they were pretty much appropriate for Apink at that time. But now, singing about getting sick of lying and getting drunk calls from your ex is also age-appropriate. Nothing wrong with that. 

The Taste of Success

And the public agreed. 1 & Six debuted at number 1 on South Korea’s Gaon Album Chart, becoming Apink‘s third chart-topping album in the country. The single I’m So Sick entered the Gaon Digital Chart at #7 and peaked at #3. The song gave the group five music show wins, including one from Inkigayo, their first in four years since LUV. The international music publication Dazed named I’m So Sick one of the best K-pop songs of 2018. I’m So Sick‘s music video is the group’s most-watched, amassing more than 86 million views on 1theK and close to 5 million views on the group’s official YouTube channel. As for the album, 1 & Six has outsold the group’s previous EP Pink Up (the one with Five as its title track).  

So, wait. What happened to that boycott by conservative fans? What was the difference between this concept change and the previous one, the less-successful Pink Revolution and Only One? On the matter of the fans who weren’t on board with the concept change, a new generation of fans got to replace them, and these new fans, having been exposed to strong girl crush concepts, are more accepting of more sophisticated concepts for the groups they stan. So, the conservative fan fallout did not prove successful. 

As for the discrepancy between the success of Only One and I’m Sick / Pink Revolution vs. 1 & Six, a number of factors may be considered. For one, people may not have warmed up to the subtleness Only One presented, while the shift in the group’s image was more distinct, which is more appreciated by the fans.  It is also interesting to note that both Only One and I’m So Sick were both produced by Black Eyed Pilsung. In other words, it can be argued that overall, I’m So Sick is just more dynamic, and thus more interesting a song than Only One, which sounded too mellow and chill and thus, was not exciting at all. Fans were anticipating a wave for Apink‘s concept change, and they got that with I’m So Sick, not with Only One. 

One popular question asked by industry analysts regarding Apink‘s second wind is, if I’m So Sick was the song released in 2016 instead of Only One to signal the band’s change in musical direction, would it have been as successful as it became in 2018? We cannot really conclude this to be the case, because we also need to consider the competition Only One had in 2016 and the degree of preparation Pandas had in 2016. Were the Pandas emotionally prepared and accepting of I’m So Sick in 2016 as they were in 2018? That’s a very interesting scenario to think about, but unfortunately, we cannot answer with finality unless A Cube / Plan A / IST Entertainment builds a time machine that we can use to change particular events in 2016. 

A New Direction

After the group’s successful concept change via I’m So Sick, Pandas were ready for a comeback with Apink sticking to this more sophisticated and elegant sound and image. On January 7, seven months after the group reintroduced themselves to the public with a mature image, Apink released their eighth mini-album Percent, along with the single %% (Eung Eung). For those who thought that the group will pull off something similar to what they did with Five after Only One, they were gladly mistaken as the single continued the new direction taken by the group with I’m So Sick. Their new collaboration with Black Eyed Pilseung and Jeon Goon topped several music charts in South Korea after its release. It peaked at No. 17 on the Gaon Digital Chart, while the album reached No. 3 on the Korean chart and No. 14 on the Billboard World Albums Chart. Finally, Eung Eung won three music shows – in Show Champion, M Countdown, and Inkigayo. 

Both the song and the music video found a following with anime fans and those who dig retro sounds. In the music video, we see the women of Apink appear on a dark and stormy night at a “Pink Factory” as they assemble a variety of what appears like representations of body parts –  such as lips made of vinyl and a glittery heart (not the cutesy shaped but a giant bean-shaped one). They dunk all this into a bright pink brew, raising to life a guy’s suit. Now, if that reminds you of Fullmetal Alchemist and the transmutation circle, then you will definitely appreciate the music video. 

As for the song, the ‘80s influence dance track with snapping beats, fizzy synths, and percussion that slaps extra hard is simply an auditory treat. In their end-of-the-year lists, Billboard joined Dazed in acknowledging the strength of the songs of the “new” Apink, including Eung Eung as one of the best K-Pop Songs of the year. 

After Eung Eung, Apink took a break for a year and three months – the longest of their careers before releasing Look, their ninth EP, which contains the lead single Dumhdurum. The last time the group had a comparable long “sabbatical”, the comeback ended up being a flop by their standards. The fear was real that the Look comeback was going to fare worse, also considering that the entire world was at the early months of what was the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting your music when people should be at home and getting paranoid with everything that’s going on in the world is definitely one huge risk. 

The risk paid off – maybe because everyone needed all the comfort they can get, and if buying music assures them of some normality in the crazy times they are living in, then so be it. Besides, music these days is one of those things anyone can enjoy without leaving the comforts of their home, so why not? The album debuted at number two on the Gaon Album Chart, while the lead track Dumhdurum topped the Gaon Download Chart. The song entered the Gaon Digital Chart at number four and peaked at number two in its second week. Two months after its release, Look has sold close to 48,000 physical copies.

The song proved to be a hit with the fans, as it won eight music show wins, with the group having an all-kill by winning in all six music shows and twice in Inkigayo and Show! Music Core, the latter they last won three years ago with Five. Both Look and Dumhdurum also received international critical acclaim, having been included by Billboard, Buzzfeed, Dazed, Paper, and Time Magazine in their year-end lists of best K-pop songs of 2020.   

With the group a year away from celebrating the 10th anniversary since their debut, what could go wrong? Stay tuned for the third act of Apink.

Featured Image: Apink Official Twitter

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K-pop Actors: 5 Kpop Idols Who Now Own the Camera

Kpop idol turned Kpop actor Park Hyung Sik with Wooga Squad

We’ve seen them own the stage as idols, but now it seems they’re focusing on honing their thespian skills. Here are five K-pop celebrities who we now know more as Kpop actors:  

1. Baro

Who can ever forget the super adorable Binggrae in the second installment of the Reply Series, Reply 1994? Whether it was because we all somewhat related to his struggles of keeping a positive, cheerful appearance despite his inner struggles or because he’s just adorable, or because the character feels so far from the tough, fast-rapping image of the actor who played him when he is in his idol group, Baro’s debut as an actor was quite a success. Considering that the Reply series also successfully launched the acting careers of Apink’s Eunji and Hoya, who was then with INFINITE, it was inevitable that Baro would also fare well in his first foray into acting. 

But then, aside from having the right project, people did notice Baro’s exceptional abilities in acting, which at that time was considered special as people have been quick to classify idols who get acting jobs as undeserving. They were usually believed to be hired so that the dramas can bank on their built-in popularity to also raise the public’s awareness of the show. Moreover, there were (and actually, there are still) critics who claim that idols only serve visuals and don’t really have the skills to act. 

But with Reply 1994 under his belt, a film debut in the short film Misaeng: Prequel (that also featured an idol-actor we will talk about later) the same year, and another critically-acclaimed drama God’s Gift: 14 Days with Cho Seungwoo, Baro proved himself as a very capable actor. For God’s Gift: 14 Days, he was nominated in various award-giving bodies for the Best New Actor award. 

Aside from lending his voice to an animated movie and appearing in another short film in 2015, Baro finally appeared in a  full-length feature, the teenage horror-thriller Close Your Eyes in 2017 with Seol Inah. As for his TV roles, he booked regular acting jobs with Angry Mom, Loss: Time: Life, and The Master of Revenge before leaving WM Entertainment in 2018. Though he declined to re-sign a new contract with the agency of his idol group B1A4, he claimed that he wasn’t leaving the group and would be open to working with them in the future. 

Since leaving WM Entertainment, Baro has mostly focused on his acting career, bagging more roles in dramas like Less Than Evil in 2018 and Two Hearts, Level Up, and Melting Me Softly in 2019, which was also the year he started his conscription in the military. He only finished his mandatory service in February, and he has since then been busy with new acting projects. 

Last Kpop idol activity: 2017’s Rollin’ with B1A4

Latest Kpop acting activities: Fearsome, a horror thriller movie based on the true story of a band getting lost, and Disney+’s Grid, a mystery thriller with Seo Kangjoon to be released in 2022.  

2. Jung Jin-young

Speaking of B1A4, the group did not only “lose” Baro in 2018 as all of the members’ contracts were up for negotiation. Sandeul, CNU, and Gongchan re-signed with WM Entertainment, while Baro didn’t. But leader Jinyoung didn’t as well, although it was said that the two were open to working with the group for a reunion project in the future. Thus, B1A4 is still supposed to be five members, although the group has had two comebacks that only had the three remaining WM members. But we digress.

Jinyoung, like Baro, also started his acting career in 2013, with the tvN drama, She is Wow, where he played the troubled son of an actress who has also been struggling because she was losing roles to younger actresses. The following year, he made a splash with his movie debut in Miss Granny, where he shared the screen with industry veterans Na Moonhee, Sung Dongil, and Shim Eunkyung. He continued appearing in more TV dramas like Persevere, Goo Hae-ra (where Baro also made a cameo appearance), Warm and Cozy, and Love Detective Sherlock K. In 2016, he appeared in what has been his biggest TV drama so far, Love in the Moonlight, where he worked with Park Bogum and Kim Yoojung and won numerous awards. 

Jinyoung also started his mandatory military service in 2019 and was discharged in April 2021. He immediately went back to work, starring in Police University with Krystal Jung and Cha Taehyun. The drama ran from August to October and was considered very successful for KBS, as the drama peaked at an 8.5% audience share, whereas its predecessors were only averaging 2% audience share weekly. 

Last Kpop idol activity: Jinyoung has not been holding promotional activities as an idol since his departure from B1A4 apart from the occasional OST contributions, including a song he recorded for the webtoon Morning Kiss at Tiffany’s OST. However, he is still very active in the music industry as a songwriter and producer, having started with producing songs for B1A4. He has penned numerous songs for his former group and for other artists as well. 

Latest Kpop acting activities: No news yet of any drama or movie Jinyoung has signed up for after Police University. 

3. Seo Inguk

Here is one actor who not a lot of people know actually started out as a legit singer. Seo Inguk did not only compete in the inaugural season of Mnet’s singing competition Superstar K in 2019 – he actually won the whole thing. His subsequent albums and singles sold well and charted high, although rumors and criticism followed him as he steadily rose in popularity, including claims that he had too much plastic surgery done on his face and getting cold shoulder treatment from SBS, KBS, and MBC because he was a product of a cable TV reality competition. The rumors were downplayed though as he started his acting career with a supporting role in the KBS drama Love Rain, which has Girl’s Generation YoonA and Jang Geunseuk. 

His first starring role though was in the first Reply installment, Reply 1997, in 2012, which also had other idols – Eunji, Hoya, and Sech Kies’ Eun Jiwon. He has since appeared in dramas for the three free public channels – 2012’s The Sons and 2016’s Shopahlic King Louis for MBC, 2014’s The King’s Face and 2015’s Hello, Monster with KBS, and 2013’s Master’s Sun for SBS.  However, he is still quite known for appearing in a lot of dramas shown on tvN, such as High School King of Savvy, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, and Doom at Your Service (with Park Boyoung).

Seo Inguk was supposed to start his mandatory military service in 2017. But as he was diagnosed with Osteochondritis dissecans, a bone and cartilage condition, he was exempted from military duty. 

Last Kpop idol activity: Seo Inguk’s last album was released in 2014, after which he has released a single every year until 2017. The song Distant Fate for the Doom at Your Service OST was his first music-related activity in three years. 

Latest Kpop acting activities: After his latest series Doom at Your Service premiered on May 10, his latest movie Pipeline also opened in theaters on May 26 up in June. His next movie is Wolf Hunting with School 2017 star Jang Dong Yoon, which has yet to have a release date. Rumors in June claimed that has also been offered a role in a TV adaptation of the webtoon ‘Minamdang: Case Note’ (literal title), but nothing has been confirmed yet.  

4. Im Siwan

Siwan’s road to acting was quite long, as he had to train for three years after getting recruited by a talent scout of entertainment company Star Empire. After those three long years as a trainee, he finally debited with eight fellow members that would make up his group, ZE:A in 2010. After debuting with his group, it took another four years before he would be tapped as an actor. For those two years, he had a number of cameo appearances in a couple of dramas before finally appearing in a more substantial role. But his debut television role happened to be the young Master Ho Yeom in the historical drama Moon Embracing the Sun (which also starred Kin Soohyun, Han Gain, Kim Minseo, and Yeo Jingoo)  that up to now still holds records for audience share, ratings, and viewership, making it one of the country’s most popular dramas in history. Thus, while ZE:A may not have become one of the country’s most popular groups, but Siwan’s participation in Moon Embracing the Sun did propel his celebrity to household name status almost overnight. 

Siwan’s impressive TV debut was followed up with another career highlight in Man from the Equator, which premiered the week after Moon Embracing the Sun’s final episode. Siwan’s second drama was also his second appearance as the teenage version of one of the show’s main character, as this time, he played the teenage version of the eventual antagonist of the drama. Unlike Moon Embracing the Sun, though, Man from the Equator started out a bit weak in the ratings and generated less buzz compared to its competitors Rooftop Prince and The King 2 Hearts (which replaced Moon Embracing the Sun on its Wednesday – Thursday 9:55 timeslot), although through good word of mouth, it eventually beat the competition in some weeks throughout its run.

Siwan’s film debut was also as impressive the following year. He first movie was The Attorney, a contemporary historical drama inspired by the Burm Case of the 1980s starring Song Kangho and Oh Dalsu. This high-profile debut actually won Siwan a number of New Actor awards, cementing him as an actor so effectively that a lot of people tended to forget that he was still actually promoting with ZE:A. 

Siwan has not looked back on his successful acting career, even if his activities as an idol have altogether stopped since 2015. He still continues to sing by contributing songs on his dramas’ OSTs once in a while. 

Last Kpop idol activity: Singing I and You, a song part of the Run On OST, while his last activity with ZE:A was in 2016 with the compilation album Continue.

Latest Kpop acting activities: Siwan’s latest movie project, Emergency Declaration, which stars Song Kangho, Jeon Doyeon, and Lee Byunghun, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival last July. TV-wise, his last drama was Run On with Girl’s Generations Sooyoung, which ran from December 2020 to February this year, and the soon-to-be-released Tracer with Ko Ahsung. 

5. Park Hyungsik

Another ZE:A member who has also been bitten by the acting bug is the group’s other visual, Hyungsik.  Actually, like the rest of ZE:A (something which we failed to mention earlier with Siwan, the entire group had their film “debut” with the movie Ronin Pop, a Korean and Japanese collaboration project which revolves around the power struggle between youths in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Well, I bet most, if not all members of ZE:A, are not particularly proud of this movie, as most of them would attribute their acting debuts with other projects. In the case of Hyungsik, the SBS drama special I Remember You in 2012 is commonly referred to as his acting debut. This was followed months later by a supporting role in another SBS drama, Dummy Mommy, which starred Ha Heera and Kim Hyunjoo. Many more acting roles followed for Hyunsik, such as tvN’s Nine, SBS’ The Heirs, and KBS’ What’s With This Family. 

There has been no stopping Hyungsik with his TV career then, as he has bagged leading roles in dramas such as High Society (which also starred idol-actress Uee), the idol-filled Hwarang with Shinee’s Minho, and his fellow Wooga Squad members BTS’ V plus Park Seojun,  Strong Girl Bong-soon with Jisoo and Park Boyoung, and the Korean adaptation of the US drama Suits with Jang Donggun. 

As for movies, aside from the very forgettable ROnin Pop, Hyungsik has done voice roles for animated features like Justin and the Knights of Valor and Trolls before starring in the short film Two Lights: Relumino and finally, his first major film role in 2019’s Juror 8. 

As for his idol career, he has also contributed to OSTs of some of the shows he has starred in, but he hasn’t debuted as a solo artist like his bandmate Siwan. Come to think of it, the only ZE:A member who has had an active career as a soloist is Dongjun, who also happens to be the third member who has also established an acting career. 

Last Kpop idol activity: Two Lights, part of the OST to his short film Two Light: Relumino and Because of You, a song he sang for the OST of Strong Girl Bong-soon and charted in the Gaon Download Charts. 

Latest Kpop acting activities: Happiness, an apocalyptic thriller on tvN that marks Hyungsik’s return to TV since his military discharge on January 4 and premiered on November 5. In support of his bandmate, Siwan brought a coffee cart to the drama’s filming location.  

Of course, there are still idols who are successfully balancing their singing and acting careers. But for these five, here’s hoping we can see them on stage again in the near future. 

Featured image: Kpop idol turned Kpop actor Park Hyung Sik with fellow Wooga Squad members V and Park Seo Joon. Photo: 씩꾸릿Kharictye/YouTube.
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13 Apink Songs to Celebrate Their 11th Debut Anniversary

Listen to these Apink songs to celebrate the wildly successful Kpop girl group's 11th anniversary!

In just a few days, Apink will be ushering in their 11th year as a Kpop girl group. One of the most successful idol groups to do so.

It has been a decade since the sweet and innocent fairies of Acube Entertainment (which later became Plan A, and now, Play M Entertainment) debuted and made their own unique niche in the rather competitive world of K-pop. With girl groups surviving for ten years being a rare feat, Apink deserves all the recognition they can get. 

So here it is, a rundown of Apink songs and title tracks, plus a trivia for each song about its music video:

2011: I Don’t Know

So we start off with the song that started it all: the song that made guys’ hearts flutter and girls want to be sweet innocent fairies. Mollayo was quite unique at that time because most girl groups at that time have already established themselves in different images and concepts that were far from the sweet and innocent image Apink manifested in their debut song. 2NE1 was girl crush, Girls’ Generation was getting more glammed up with The Boys, the Wonder Girls‘ sound became Americanized after staying in the US for an extended period, Kara was still sophisticated, After School had their gimmicks, and T-Ara was going full retro. 

It came as no surprise that Apink quickly captured their market because there wasn’t really a reigning group that owned a very wholesome image. It can be argued that Rainbow tried, but still not as cutesy as Apink. Thus, with no direct competition, Apink was THE quintessential innocent fairies of K-pop. For a debuting girls group that’s not from the Big 3, I Don’t Know and Seven Springs of Apink, the EP where the single is from, both fared well in the charts, with the song selling more than a million copies (quite a rare feat for a debit single) and more than 25,000 copies for the EP. 

And the music video! Definitely, something that brings us back to a different time, when we allow strangers who pass out (in the case of the music video, it was BEAST‘s Gikwang) in our front porch into our house to recuperate. Before you scream stranger danger, the girls actually nursed him back to health, with the music video ending with the guy leaving a thank you note as he exited the house. 

Question: 

Who gave Gikwang a cookie?

  1. Yookyung
  2. Hayoung
  3. Naeun
  4. No cookies were given. It was Eunji who gave him a bookmark. 

2011: My My

My My was one memorable song for both the Pink Pandas and the group. After all, it is the song that gave them their first-ever music show trophy. The group started 2012 great when they won their first music show award on Mnet’s M Countdown for this particular show. Suffice to say,  the announcement was met with a mix of disbelief and tears by the group. As it didn’t take the group a year since their debut in April of 2011 before they got their first music show win was telling – it showed that they indeed have a solid fanbase and they were not some nugu group. The next month, the group received the Rookie of the Year award at the first Gaon Chart Awards, which cemented their position as a promising K-pop girl group.

My My was also memorable for fans because it was the first time they saw the members’ parents through Apink News. On the episode that showed the group filming for the music video of the song, all their family members came to watch them behind the scenes. In season one of Apink News, only Namjoo’s mom made an appearance, but for this episode, all family members came, with Hayoung’s grandma crying upon seeing her in front of the camera, Eunji’s mom and brother Minki (who everyone will get to know more in a later Apink News episode) calling her by her birthname Hyerim, and Yookyung crying because she won’t be able to celebrate her mom’s birthday with her at home. My My continues to be one of the group’s well-loved title tracks. 

Question: 

Who wore the Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey in the My My music video?

  1. Bomi
  2. Yukyung
  3. Chorong
  4. Naeun

2012: Hush

For those who were still unconvinced that Apink is more than just a cutesy, innocent girl group that they perfectly showed in their debut single, Hush should have been a more successful effort. My My was still very wholesome, and although Hush still maintains this level of wholesomeness in the group, it also showed a different side of Apink. The song is faster, beat-wise, and the lyrics are a tad more mature than the first few songs of the group. Yes, it still talks about a girl’s hesitation to reveal or voice out her true feelings to the person she likes, but there’s something about the song that tells the listener that the group has definitely graduated from just singing cutesy, teenybopper tracks.

Even their outfits in the music video were a shift from the expected fairy-like attires they have worn on their previous videos. Half of the video had the girls wearing skintight baby tees and white jeans. Definitely not your “typical” wholesome Apink music video. 

Question:

What was the letter printed on the girl’s baby tees that they wore on most of the music video?

  1. Trick question: The baby tees were plain white with no print. 
  2. A for Apink
  3. P for pink
  4. H for the song’s title

2013: NoNoNo

NoNoNo is pretty iconic. If you are going to ask any Korean which song they can relate to the group the most, they will most probably answer NoNoNo, for a number of factors. Some will say the unforgettable choreography where the members form a straight line then appear one by one, while some just love the unrelenting positive message of the song that has several idols choosing to cover it when they are assigned to sing an Apink song, including some people you won’t expect to cover a song from the innocent fairy group like Heize. 

NoNoNo is also the first song the group released after the withdrawal of Yukyung from the group. Although there wasn’t much of a controversy regarding Yukyung’s decision, as she opted to focus on finishing her studies rather than continue on her career as an idol, people were a bit anxious if her departure would result in a bit of the backlash for the group. 

Alas, this didn’t happen for a number of reasons. One, after My My which won them their first music show, the group was already on a steady rise to stardom. This was validated with the second reason when Eunji launched a career in acting with a lead role in the series Reply 1997, which eventually became a certified hit. Moreover, the group’s center, Naeun went on to new heights of popularity in 2013, when she appeared with SHINee’s maknae Taemin in the wildly popular reality show We Got Married, where they pretended to be a couple. 

So, despite apprehensions, the group’s popularity went on to skyrocket with this song. NoNoNo became the group’s highest-charting single until then, peaking at number 2 on Billboard’s K-Pop Hot 100. In November 2013, at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards, Apink received the Next Generation Global Star award. 

There was really no holding Apink back since the release of NoNoNo. Even leader Chorong said in interviews that it was during the release of NoNoNo that she felt that she was really serious in her career as an idol. While she felt in the past that they were still room for fun and games, the NoNoNo era was really the time for them to get serious at work.   

Question:    

The candles on the cake that the members blew before the last repetition of the chorus spells:

  1. A P I N K
  2. I ❤ Y O U
  3. P I N K P A N D A
  4. H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y

2014: Mr. Chu

Who doesn’t know this song? Who doesn’t remember the dance to this song? Mr. Chu was simply Apink at the top of their game. During that era that started from Luv to Remember, everything that the group touched turned into gold. Apink won six music show trophies for this song, and the song went on to become the eighth bestselling digital song of the year 2014, selling close to 1.6 million copies. 

Pink Blossom, which was the EP Mr. Chu was part of, went on to sell more than 76,000 copies. If you’re a fan of Korean variety shows that have idols as special guests, Mr. Chu continues to be one of the most covered and danced to songs by any K-pop group. Who wouldn’t be addicted to this song anyway? It is the perfect representation of what an Apink song should be – sweetness and innocence mixed with a wholesome view of young love. 

The music video doesn’t disappoint either as it is more or less a great representation of the song. The girls all decked in tennis player outfits trying to outshine each other by stuffing gifts in the locker of the boy they all apparently like. If you are not familiar with the song, or the video, your K-pop fan card will be indefinitely revoked until you watch it (or know the answer to the question below).

Question: 

Which statement about the song and the video is correct?

  1. The girls give Mr. Chu gifts in boxes colored purple and white. 
  2. The member responsible for the high note on the song’s bridge is Eunji.
  3. The D-Day in the calendar on the video is March 31, the release date of the song and EP.  
  4. It was Chorong who stuffed the locker with a big white teddy bear.

2014: Luv

One of Apink’s most iconic songs, Luv was released when the group was at the peak of their popularity. After the wildly popular Mr. Chu, the group’s next comeback featured them in a mid-tempo song that is actually more sad than upbeat, as it narrates the singer’s longing for the days when their love was new. Though it is definitely not the usual uplifting and bright song Apink is known for, K-pop fans fell in love with the song, and the girls looked good singing it while adapting to this slight change in concept.

Maybe it was the lack of competition, or it may be because people just loved the song, but Luv holds the record of being the girl group song with the most music show wins at 17. The entire December 2014 had Apink win almost all music shows. It won twice in M Countdown, thrice in Inkigayo and The Show, four times in Music Bank, and a whopping five times in MBC’s Show! Music Core. Even up to now, only two male groups, EXO and BTS have surpassed this record. 

Sales-wise, Pink LUV, the EP where Luv is from, has sold over 79,000 copies, while LUV has accumulated more than 1,490,000+ in digital sales. 

Question:

In the video, Namjoo wrote which initials in a tree:

  1. NJ and HS
  2. NJ and AP
  3. NJ and PP
  4. NJ and EJ

2015: Remember

After the successive chart-toppers Mr. Chu and Luv, Apink staged their 2015 comeback via Remember, which completed the group’s triumvirate of hits in only their 4th year as a group. Pink Pandas were a bit scared after Mr. Chu and Luv both blew up, as those two were tough acts to follow. But as an old adage goes, the third time’s a charm, and Remember did not disappoint. 

Remember is actually the title track of the group’s second full-length album entitled Pink Memory. Pink Memory is to date Apink‘s most successful multi-track release, selling over 90,000 copies and peaking at number 2 in Gaon’s album charts. The song also sold more than 1.1 million copies and also peaked at number 2 in the national digital charts. 

As for the video, it is considered Apink‘s most experimental in an unexpected way – in terms of their hair! All members had orange hair, Hayoung sported short shoulder-length hair, and Bomi not only became wheat blonde but also pink in some parts! It was the peak of Apink hair supremacy, I dare say. 

Question:

Spreaking of pink-haired Bomi, in some scenes, she is seen wearing with _______________ printed in front. 

  1. I ❤ COLD BEER
  2. APINK ❤ PANDA 
  3. DO YOU REMEMBER?
  4. HAYOUNG HAS SHORT ACHILLES TENDONS 

2016: Cause You’re My Star

The first special album of the group, Dear, had Cause You’re My Star as its title track. Play M (Plan A during that time) stated that the album “would commend the unwavering love and invaluable support from their fans since their debut.” 

Although it’s not said, the move may have been brought about by the underperformance of the full-length album that Dear preceded, Pink Revolution, which had Only One as its title track. It was tragic that Only One did not perform well that the company felt like it had to erase that sad episode from everybody’s memory by releasing a “special album.” 

The song is sweet and okay and the music video may have continued the hazy filter the group first used in Only One, but that’s pretty much all that can be said about the song. Not particularly one of the most outstanding Apink tracks, but for us Pink Panda, we can’t really complain when we’re given any new music by the group. Full stop. 

Question: 

While Namjoo was carrying a pile of pancakes in the Only One video, what food was in front of her this time?  

  1. Two cakes
  2. A samgyeopsal
  3. Jokbal (pig’s trotters), Apink’s favorite food
  4. French fries, which she again encounters on a different video

2016: Only One

Alas, we have come to the song that cast doubts on Apink‘s longevity. The song that didn’t win a single music show trophy. The song that Pink Pandas waited for more than a year to be released (a year and two months, to be exact). The song that made the members cry because of how beautiful the song was, supposedly (or so they claimed in their Yu Huiyeol’s Sketchbook interview – or maybe they were just relieved of having a comeback at last). The same song that made Chorong cry because they felt they let their fans down because it didn’t win anything and had a lukewarm reception in the charts. 

So, what went wrong with this era of Apink? A number of things, actually. For one, the song was pretty, I’ll give them that, but it doesn’t have the catchiness all Apink songs are known for. The song is standard Apink, all right, with the group’s trademark mix of sweetness, femininity, and innocence, but quite frankly, Only One sounds like a B track. Well, Apink is one group known for having excellent B tracks, and Only One unfortunately sounds like one. Moreover, when Only One was released, other big hitters like Got7, Infinite, BTS, Monsta X, and Shinee released new music only days before and after Apink had their comeback. With the fandoms of these groups obsessed with giving their groups music show wins, it was not that feasible for Apink to squeeze in a win, especially since the song was not that strong in K-pop standards. 

All of that said, the music video had the girls at their prettiest. And yes, die-hard Pink Pandas will argue that Only One is the most underrated song in Apink‘s career. 

Question:    

The Gothic-style rooftop featured in the video, which was also featured in 2PM’s I’ll Be music video released only weeks earlier, is located in 

  1. Kyung Hee University
  2. COEX Convention and Exhibition Center
  3. Myeongdong Cathedral
  4. Seoul City Hall 

2017: Five

Five was the song that brought back Apink to public consciousness after the two 2016 comebacks after Remember, namely Only One from the Pink Revolution album and You’re My Star from the “special” album Dear performed below expectations. The song has Apink written all over it – the sweetness, innocence, and catchy chorus that harkens back to old school K-pop popularized by first-generation groups like Fin.K.L and S.E.S.   

Fans who may have probably been alienated by the lack of catchy hook in Only One and the lack of promotions for the Dear album were too eager to embrace the distinct Apink sound that they felt went missing in 2016. Pink Up, the EP that had Five as its lead track, sold more than 50,000 units. After the dismal performances of both Only One and Cause You’re My Star that only sold 449,000+ and 121,000+ copies, Five peaked at number 4 in the Gaon Download Charts with more than 800,000 copies sold. 

Question:

What was the color of the cake that Chorong was decorating and putting the icing on?

  1. Blue
  2. Pink
  3. White
  4. ROYGBIV

2018: I’m So Sick

After the success of Five, which brought the group back to its default sweet and innocent concept, Apink staged their 2018 comeback in a rather surprising fashion. Goodbye, cutesy wholesome concept, hello more daring (with an unavoidable Apink twist) image with I’m So Sick. Casual observers pointed out that the slight tweak of the group’s image in 2016 during the Only One era was unsuccessful, so it was recommended for the group to return to their most popular concept for a couple more comebacks before risking alienating fans again with even the slightest of concept changes. 

Even a number of full-fledged Pandas (it was around this time that the fandom dropped “pink” from their fandom monicker and just go with Panda instead) threatened to leave the fandom if the group would go with even just a slight image revamp. Luckily, the disappointment of some fans did not cause a mass exodus, and the image change was well-received by everyone, from the majority of the Panda fandom to critics and even casual K-pop listeners. 

From singing about wishing to walk with a boy while wearing couple rings to receiving insincere phone calls from a drunk lover is a huge shift, but there wasn’t a huge disdain for the song. In fact, it was well-received and reintroduced Apink to a new generation of fans who prefer their girl groups with more spunk and who tone down on having saccharinely sweet public images. 

Question:

What did Eunji do to the negatives of the pictures from her camera? 

  1. She submerged them in water.
  2. She burned them.
  3. She cut them into small pieces.
  4. She gave them to the members.

2019: %% (Eung Eung)

After the wildly successful I’m So Sick, the pressure was on again for Apink to follow up their success with more success. Actually, the group was in their 8th year already and pretty much had nothing to prove already after surviving both the seven-year curse and the “drastic” concept and image change. But then, Apink is one of those groups that have always somehow felt that it had to prove something. After all, they are not from a Big 3 company, their innocent fairy concept has always been seen as a rather weak and easy way to maintain a fandom, and their songs do not actually require intense choreography like GFriend or intricate harmonization ala Mamamoo. 

But then, trust Apink to deliver. When fans expected them to go further with a more adult image, the group opted to continue with their sublime elegant concepts with a distinctly Apink flavor. That may be one of the secrets to the group’s steady popularity. Whether they sing of nostalgia in Luv, daydreaming of an ideal man in Mr. Chu, or an earnest declaration of love and encouragement with NoNoNo, there’s always something they always put their trademark Apink flair that other groups cannot copy. 

The song was a bop and underperformed in the charts, peaking only at number 17, but it was universally and critically acclaimed and loved. None other than Billboard Magazine ranked %% second in their annual list of the 25 Best K-pop Songs of 2019.  As for the song, the high level of production from I’m So Sick was maintained. It is a retro throwback track with very sublime beat drops and a pinch of trap and a dash of house. Very satisfying to the ears.

Anime fans will definitely appreciate the music video because its entirety is a reference, making it a tribute to Fullmetal Alchemist. The video has each of the members put a body part or an item like a watch, some honey, and a heart locket to a sort of altar and Chorong (in pink hair) and Eunji putting all of these in a clear container filled with pink liquid. Transmutation device alert. Finally, the members, housed in the “Pink Factory” produce a man. Based on the song’s lyrics, it may seem to be a man who possesses qualities of their own liking. Sounds like these six are just reminding everyone of how empowered they are. That’s the power of an 8-year group!

And yet, they were still disrespected. In a year-end TV station concert, the group’s performance of Eung Eung was cut short because the concert’s floor director allegedly thought the performance was running a tad long. So much disrespect for a senior group. Korean and even international Twitterverse expressed disappointment and even fandoms of other groups could not believe what the group experienced. The TV station public apologized the next day.  

Question: 

Who was responsible for bringing the heart of the man they were making?

  1. Eunji
  2. Bomi
  3. Chorong
  4. Namjoo  

2020: Dumhdurum

What is there to say about Apink‘s latest release? Suffice to say that the group has done it again – releasing bops thrice in a row, just like what they did in 2014 to 2015, when they released Mr. Chu, Luv, and Remember one after another. To paraphrase a popular YouTube K-pop commenter, it is indeed a feat for a nine-year-old group like Apink to seemingly have caught lightning in a bottle not once, not twice, but three times. But then again, for Apink, good things come in three’s, so it’s not really a mystery why the group maintained their success after releasing I’m So Sick and Eung Eung.

What was so special about Dumhdurum, anyway? The song for one is catchy as hell. Moreover, it’s something that will grow on you, making you want to keep on tapping the replay button countless times. Alas, the peculiar sound effects sprinkled throughout the song are so interesting that it makes you want to keep on replaying the song to know what those sounds are. Right from the start,  there’s this instrumentation that starts off sounding almost like background noise until it grows louder and louder until the beat drops. Then, there’s this unique sound when the song transitions between verses that sounds like an alarm mixed with an ambulance siren.

Then, there’s the music video where so many colors were used that almost look like they took inspiration from some Wes Anderson film. The ladies start off the dance segment by power catwalking! The yellow eyeliner and eye shadow used on Chorong! Naeun in cornrows! A blonde Namjoo wearing a black Gucci tee! Hayoung wearing Gucci literally from head to toe (a Gucci hair clip to Gucci stockings) when the song hasn’t even started! Eunji is in a room full of lamps with her Chanel earrings and a corset dress in the dance sequence! Too much luxury. Too much sophistication. 

Everyone’s make up is definitely on point in this video. Also, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I felt the extra sound effects from the train on the music video (bell clanging, the sound of trains running on the tracks, to name a few) added more charm to the song that I sort of wished the sounds would be featured in a remix version.     

The song was well-received and charted high as well. The girls repeated their 2019 feat by ranking at number 2 in Billboard’s top 25 K-pop songs for 2020 with Dumhdurum. And the choreography, particularly the twisted arms of Bomi and Naeun, went viral on Tiktok.

Question:

Where did Bomi perform her dance break?

  1. In a dark room with exploding light bulbs
  2. In a room full of flickering lampshades
  3. In a train car that has gone underwater
  4. In a warm-lighted room with shallow water

So after the fan service song Thank You, released last April to commemorate Apink’s tenth anniversary, the group hasn’t had a proper comeback. It may be because of Naeun’s transfer to YG Entertainment as she pursues more acting opportunities, maybe it’s because of Chorong’s involvement in a bullying scandal. But since Naeun is still active with some Apink activities and the police has released a statement claiming there is insufficient evidence to implicate the group’s leader to the incidents, here’s hoping that comeback will happen soon. 

Answer key:

2011: I Don’t Know

Who gave Gikwang a cookie?

Hayoung. Eunji did give him a bookmark, but Hayoung also gave a cookie.. 

2011: My My

In the dance break for the music video of My My, the girls wore basketball jerseys. Who wore the Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey?

Naeun. Bomi also wore a yellow jersey, but it was an Apink jersey. Yukyung wore a dark blue jersey and Chorong wore a NY Knicks Carmelo Anthony jersey. 

2012: Hush

What was the letter printed on the girl’s baby tees that they wore on most of the music video?

A for Apink

2013: NoNoNo

The candles on the cake that the members blew before the last repetition of the chorus spells

I ❤ Y O U

2014: Mr. Chu

Which statement about the song and the video is correct?

The D-Day in the calendar on the video is March 31, the release date of the song and EP. The girls give Mr. Chu gifts in boxes colored purple and yellow, not purple and white. The member responsible for the high note on the song’s bridge is Namjoo. Finally, it was Eunji who stuffed the locker with a big white teddy bear. 

2014: Luv

In the video, Namjoo wrote which initials in a tree:

NJ and EJ. Not sure if it was Eunji. 

2015: Remember

Spreaking of pink-haired Bomi, in some scenes, she is seen wearing with _______________ printed in front. 

I ❤ COLD BEER. Who doesn’t?

2016: Cause You’re My Star

While Namjoo was carrying a pile of pancakes in the Only One video, what food was in front of her this time?  

Two cakes, which our Healthy Girl would have probably finished.

2016: Only One

The Gothic-style rooftop featured in the video, which was also featured in 2PM’s I’ll Be music video released only weeks earlier, is located in

Kyung Hee University, whose Cyber University has been attended by some EXO and Super Junior members. The university is also the alma mater of two Korean presidents, including the current one, Pres. Moon Jaein. 

2017: Five

What was the color of the cake that Chorong was decorating and putting the icing on?

Blue. Namjoo had a rainbow cake in the You’re My Star music video, though. 

2018: I’m So Sick

What did Eunji do to the negatives of the pictures from her camera? 

She submerged them in water, making them unusable. Or maybe they were blackmail pictures. 

2019: %% (Eung Eung)

Who was responsible for bringing the heart of the man they were making?

Eunji brought the heart from the container with the pink liquid (where she dropped a heart-shaped locket which apparently turned into a glittered heart) to the table where a suit was laid. 

2020: Dumhdurum

Where did Bomi perform her dance break?

In a warm-lighted room with shallow water. The darkroom with exploding light bulbs was where she got stuck in the end, the room full of flickering lampshades is Eunji’s, and the train car that has gone underwater was where Hayoung was and had no choice but to look at fishes passing by like she was inside an aquarium.

Featured image: Listen to these Apink songs to celebrate the wildly successful Kpop girl group’s 11th anniversary! Photo:@Apink_2011/Apink Official Twitter
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When Will It Be Loona’s Turn?

Perhaps one of the most creative launches of a girl group in the history of K-pop, LOONA excited fans and even casual K-pop listeners. Maybe you’ve heard the name, or maybe for the thousandth time, you saw a tweet or YouTube comment that said the words “STAN LOONA” –  it is somewhat inevitable that you would have already encountered the group that have been regarded as one of the most exciting and “up-and-coming” K-pop groups.

And that’s where the problem with LOONA is. The group has been around since 2016, which means they are already in their sixth year. So, for them to already have completed close to six years in the Korean music scene and still be regarded as an “up-and-coming” group like eternal rookies is alarming. Moreover, despite the enormous hype and cult following among international fans, they’re almost an unknown group in Korea. Ask any normal Korean on the street and chances are, they don’t know who LOONA is.

Introduction to Loonaverse

All the way back to March of 2016, a company was formed by the name of BlockBerry Creative with the objective of creating “the most unique girl group.” How are they exactly going to do that? By revealing a girl as part of the group every single month through a solo debut. This pattern would then continue until all 12 girls are introduced and would then debut as a full group. 

In October of 2016, HeeJin, the first girl was revealed along with a solo single and solo album. From October to February 2017, HyunJin, HaSeul, YeoJin, and ViVi all debuted in a similar manner. A sub-unit was formed, called “1/3”. From May to July, JinSoul, KimLip, and Choerry all had solo debuts and formed a subunit called “Odd Eye Circle”. From November to March of 2018, Yves, Chuu, GoWon, and finally, the last girl of the puzzle, Olivia Hye (who holds the record of being a trainee for one day before debuting) had solo debuts, and we’re in the final subunit, “yyxy” (pronounced y y ‘by’ y). In the span of 2.5 years, LOONA has produced 62 songs, 32 of which have music videos. 

As for the amount of money spent, BlockBerry Creative gambled an insane USD 8,900,000. This is not really that shocking as the Ilkwang Group, the umbrella organization where BlockBerry Creative is included, has deep pockets. How deep, you ask? The company provides and manufactures arms and steel for different militaries. As in, they are players in the international military-armed forces game. So, budgets aren’t really a huge concern for the group. 

Even the concept of LOONA is unique and one of the most exciting things to have ever come out of K-pop. You see, LOONA is not just a girl group, but they’re all protagonists in a sci-fi universe known as the LOONAVERSE, which has been revealed in all of the girls’ music videos.

With each MV, we follow a central plot or story that is advanced through each sequential music video. Much like the way each Avenger had his or her own movie but also appears together in those extravaganza MCU blockbusters. To understand the LOONAVERSE easily, think of its similarities with the Bible. There’s the creation, their exile from paradise, and finally their union as twelve with their debut single, Hi High. 

So, what went wrong? 

Asking because the members are obviously talented and hardworking, the concepts are exciting and attention-grabbing, and there are definitely no problems when it comes to funding. So, why has mainstream popularity continued to evade LOONA through their five years as an active group? 

A couple of factors emerge. For one, after all the excitement that the twelve songs and twelve music videos brought from 2016 to 2018 brought us, we got Hi High. Now here’s some real talk: Hi High was so underwhelming. This was supposed to be the first song that has all twelve members in a song, a culmination of the exciting concepts in each of the girl’s solo releases. And we were given a music video with the twelve girls in bright sceneries, running together. That’s it. The song and video just weren’t the highly-anticipated spectacle everybody was hoping for.

If we’re looking for a music video that went all-out in both the song and concept, look no further than WJSN’s Secret, the first song and MV the group had with then-fresh-out-of-IOI Yeonjung in tow. From the amazing mystical concepts that truly embody the Cosmic Girls to the vocal ad-libs the new member provides, fans were just excited. Unfortunately, the LOONAVERSE concept, with all its mystery and sci-fi elements, was not reflected in the way it deserves in the Hi High music video.  

Another factor that continues to plague LOONA to this day is the lack of a fitting marketing campaign for the group. Alas, as mentioned earlier, budget is not a problem at all for BlockBerry Creative. But then, this is really where the breadth of experience among the Big 3 companies comes in. They just know how to market their groups well, giving them substantial opportunities so that they can really get into public consciousness and become household names. So, even if money is out of the question, the marketing arms of these entertainment agencies need to point out which opportunities, whether through reality shows, variety show appearances, or even viral videos,  can maximize the group’s popularity. 

So then, since 2018, LOONA has amassed a very loyal international following while still keeping a low (at almost nugu levels) profile in their native Korea. By 2020, the group has attained steady sales figures with their albums, although their singles have not charted high locally.

In 2020, they released two EPs, [#] and [12:00], with album sales of 83,000+ and 113,000+, respectively. That’s a load of albums considering they only released their first EP as a full 12-member group a couple of years prior to 2020. This also shows that they do have a large fanbase that is ready to buy their albums anytime. But since those albums can be bought even from overseas, their lack of presence in the singles charts does show that they have an unstable Korean fanbase who can stream their songs on Korean music websites like crazy. 

Financial woes

The group finally won its first music show trophy in 2020.  So, I guess that LOONA is already far from being a nugu group, but at the same time is also still far from being a household name in the level of Girl’s Generation, Apink, TWICE, or even (G)-IDLE. Thus, it was quite a surprise when talks of LOONA’s disbandment started surfacing all across social media and the Internet. Manic and obsessive Orbits, most of whom are overseas fans, rang alarms as news items of financial woes being experienced by BlockBerry Creative caught everyone off-guard. 

BlockBerry Creative, a subsidiary of Polaris Group, suddenly in financial turmoil? (A little background: Polaris Group was formerly a subsidiary of arms-trade company Ilgwang Group; They are now a subsidiary of Levite United, which was founded by Lee Jong-myung, whose father is Ilgwang Group’s founder.) Where did these rumors of financial woes begin? Is there even truth to this? Apparently, the company had some issues with their payroll and leave it to employees not getting their salary on time to complain on social media in no time. Those who were affected by it weren’t exactly those directly hired by the company, but ”external” employees like choreographers, consultants, and other companies they have contracts with. These parties have not gotten paid for months, culminating in some of them to finally voicing their complaints on social media in late September of 2021.

With the company’s other payables such as taxes, IOUs, and insurances, the company had to come up with KRW 900 million (equivalent to USD 760,000) fast. It came to a point where these companies were asked by BlockBerry Creative to halt all work. The company eventually released a statement saying they are trying their best to honor all their obligations, while fans were terrified of how this challenge faced by the company would affect LOONA’s future comebacks. 

Alas, speculations subsided when the group released Not Friends, a song featuring them but is actually included from Ryan Jhun’s “Maxis By Ryan Jhun” project. This means that the song, although it had Kim Lip listed as one of its composers, was not released by BlockBerry Creative. The song, which actually only featured JinSoul, HeeJin, KimLip, and Yves, may have been a contributing factor to the album’s success, as it did chart both in the Gaon Album Chart and the Billboard US World Digital Songs Chart (as with all LOONA singles).  And although it may not have proven that BlockBerry Creative is indeed out of the woods when it comes to their financial woes, the release may have been effective in placating the Orbit fandom, at the very least assuring them that the group has not disbanded yet, given the sorry state of their record label.

What is happening now?

This brings us to the group’s current situation. Most members have been quite active in most of their activities (except Chuu who had to beg off from their Loonaverse concert in February due to health concerns) and on social media, posting frequently on VLive for updates. To the delight of the Orbits, LOONA was also announced as part of the official lineup for the second season of Mnet’s highly successful Queendom. The show has proven to be part blessing, part curse to its participants as a few groups really reaped the rewards of their participation with heightened profiles (OH MY GIRL, Mamamoo, and (G)-IDLE), while some practically had Queendom as their sort of swan song before disintegrating or fading off into the sunset (AOA and Lovelyz), while some groups really just used to show the fans that they were still active despite lineup changes (as in the cases of iKON and BtoB in their participation in Kingdom, the male group equivalent). 

As for LOONA’s chances of winning the entire thing, I would say they are quite high. The group undoubtedly has the largest fandom out of all the participating acts and ultimately, fanbase size plays a big role in voting the winner of the competition. But then again, if the voting public would be objective (this is a very unlikely scenario since we’re talking about an Mnet competition) and base their votes on the performance levels and discography of the participants, it is most likely that the Cosmic Girls, VIVIZ (should they be allowed to use the GFriend catalog), and even Hyolyn (who may pull a surprise if she relies heavily on the SISTAR catalog) will trump the competition. But if LOONA plays its cards right, then maybe Queendom will usher in the real era of LOONA. 

Featured Image: Official Loona Twitter

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A New Era for the OG Hallyu Kings, Super Junior

Super Junior has come a long way since they first burst into the K-pop scene in 2005 and went “viral” with 2009’s Sorry Sorry. Now, they’re well into their 17th year as a group! 

Picture credit: Paula Abiog

Their 10th studio album, The Renaissance, is another great addition to their already extensive discography with tons of memorable hits. The album was supposed to be released in December 2020—their 15th anniversary year—but the release date was pushed back to March 2021. 

“Renaissance” means revival or rebirth, and this concept aims to tell everyone that a new chapter for the group has begun. Since their debut, all of the group members have branched out into hosting radio and award shows, guesting in variety programs, acting in dramas and musicals, and more. So, this album, I think, was a great way to remind people that the members are singers first. 

Unboxing the album 

I’ve been listening to Super Junior for a long time, but I never really bought albums or merch—until now. And I think I picked the perfect SJ album to buy. 

I’ll admit I’m most probably biased, but I honestly think the album looked beautiful. I opted to buy just one version—I got the Renaissance version—rather than the whole set (the other versions are Beautiful, Versatile, and Passionate). As a multi fan, I have to budget wisely so I can support all the groups and soloists I like equally! 

Picture credit: Paula Abiog

But I digress. So, back to the “unboxing” Super Junior’s 10th album.

The title itself—The Renaissance—evokes images of a newer, brighter, more refined image, which fits perfectly into their concept. It came in what looked like a slim coffee table book that I may or may not have displayed in my living room alongside random art picture books. 

The photos are, well, beautiful! They almost had a regal feel to it—I could almost see the invisible crowns on their heads. And while I did appreciate the aesthetics (like every E.L.F. did, for sure), I was also half-expecting an adorably goofy mess of a group photo that the group is known for as I flipped through the pages.  

Unpacking the music 

I listened to the whole album while gushing over the photos. The album started off with the high-energy Super, a hype song that fits well with the group’s image and personalities. Next up was the title track, House Party, is a disco-pop track with a surprising trap break in the middle. This sudden change of pace in the middle of the song was a bit jarring (and please, let go of the skrrt skrrt already!), and it took me a couple more listens to fully appreciate the song and its message. SJ sang about observing social distancing and following health protocols, and its message was so on point that it got the attention of the World Health Organization’s Director General.

Burn the Floor was a pre-album release single that I felt could’ve been the title track, mostly because sound-wise, it seemed to match the photo book’s elegant concept. The dramatic intro immediately caught my attention—mostly because it didn’t sound like a Super Junior song! But after listening to it, I felt it was a song only the group could pull off. It’s my personal favorite on the album. On the flip side, the song that didn’t sound like a Super Junior song was Closer. It’s a nice song to jam to, but for some reason I kept on thinking that the track seemed like something EXO would sing. 

The Melody sounded almost nostalgic—fitting, as the lyrics talk about the group’s journey through the years, and how they will continue to walk together with E.L.F in the years to come. The sweet harmonies and fresh vocals throughout the song remind listeners that the men of Super Junior are great singers—something that I feel most people forget.

Picture credit: Paula Abiog

Nostalgia was real with the remake version of Raining Spell for Love. The remake’s tempo was slower than the original, and it showcased everyone’s voices well. Yes, the group has the holy trinity of vocals that is Super Junior – K.R.Y., but this song further drives home the point that all the members can sing beautifully.

Mystery was a surprise. I don’t think I’ve heard Super Junior try this kind of song before. The whistles and the beats were addicting. The same goes with Paradox. 

More Days With You was a sentimental ballad featuring a more delicate take on SJ’s vocals. Finally, the album closed with Tell Me Baby, an upbeat, cutesy, holiday-themed song that reminds me of the equally cutesy No Other. 

I like how, even after more than a decade churning out hit songs, Super Junior continues to experiment with their sound. They must’ve tried every genre in K-pop by now, and it doesn’t seem they’ll be stopping anytime soon! 

2022 update: The group is releasing new music! The Road: Winter for Spring single album and the single Callin’ dropped on February 28. 

Watch Super Junior be their usual goofy selves in this interview video during the MV shoot for Callin’:

Featured Image Credit: Paula Abiog

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Kpop Groups, Kpop Idols.. Ever Heard of Kpop Bands?

Are you one of those people who get frustrated when you’re told that you’ll listen to music from a “boy band” and what you get is a bunch of pretty boys with flawless skin and jaw-dropping dance skills? Where are the guitar riffs and the noisy percussion, you ask? Well, wonder no more as we present to you four Korean bands with members who actually play musical instruments.

Warning: No dance breaks and dance version MVs for these acts, though.

F.T. Island

During the time when K-pop was all about boy groups (TVXQ! Super Junior! SHINHWA! H.O.T! Sech.Kies!) and a smattering of girl groups (Fin.KL! S.E.S! Baby Vox!), bands – not “boy bands”, but bands with members playing musical instruments were mostly relegated into the Korean music indie scene. That was until FNC Entertainment released F.T. Island, a band that made its mark in the country’s music landscape. Suddenly, being in a band that just rocks — no elaborate choreography, no members who may just bank on their looks — became accepted and prompted even the rise of more rock bands into mainstream Korean music.  

The band has undergone three changes in its member lineup – the first being guitarist Oh Wonbin leaving the group two years after their debut to try his luck with a solo career and play other genres of music. He eventually became a soloist and actor and just in January, announced his marriage plans and his impending fatherhood. The second change introduced Seunghyuin as Wonbin’s replacement as the band’s guitarist, a position he held for more than 10 years, after which he left FNC and subsequently the group so he could focus on his acting career. The band’s leader and one of its founding members, Junghoon, had to quit the band and his career in the entertainment industry after it was revealed that he was involved in the Burning Sun scandal, where he was part of a group chat that had members exchange videos of sexual activities without the consent of the other party.

This brings the current band lineup down to three, with the remaining members enlisting and getting discharged more or less at the same time.  Drummer Minhwan was discharged in September 2021, main vocalist Hongki was discharged in April 2021, and bassist Jaejin was discharged on August 1, 2021. In December 2021, the band released Unthinkable, their first song as a trio. 

All throughout their now close to 15-year career, the band has had chart-topping albums, EPs, and singles not only in Korea, but also in Japan. With the emergence of actual bands like Day6 and Wonder Girls (later in their careers) of JYP Entertainment and CNBlue and N.Flying also from FNC, we can safely say that it was F. T. Island that pioneered the concept and made bands trendy.   

Top 3 F.T. Island Songs

The thing about F.T. Island is that they are actually more known as a band that plays power ballads, not the dark and hard rock songs bands are usually known for. Think Meatloaf or Journey versus Metallica. So, a trademark F.T. Island song is more centered towards Hongki’s soaring vocals that only a few K-pop male vocalists can challenge – only the late Jonghyun of SHINee, Yeoseob of Highlight, Woohyun of INFINITE, and lately, Hwesung of N.FLying come to mind. For a mind-blowing extravaganza that will leave you speechless, look for the track Still Love You with the two power vocalists of FNC’s two bands. 

But I digress. The power ballad Severely is definitely the first song that comes to mind when we’re talking about F.T. Island. The 10-year-old song (yes, the song was released on January 30, 2012) also has an iconic music video featuring AOA’s Seolhyun. So you can see two of FNC’s talents that have also ventured into acting – Hongki and Seolhyun. Otherwise, you will experience Hongki’s heart wrenching vocals in this track that feels like a decades-old Korean standard ballad. 

If you’re looking for something a bit hard-hitting in the thread of hard rocks, Take Me Now is the song for you. The heavy guitar riffs alone will really convince you that F.T. Island can rock it with the best of them. 2009’s Bad Woman features a balance of haunting melodies and Hongki’s vocal range, making it a perfect gateway F.T. Island song.  

CNBLUE

Following the massive success of F.T. Island, FNC Entertainment may have felt the need to corner this niche market they have created with groups that have members that actually play musical instruments. Thus, two years after debuting F.T. Island, the company introduced another band to the public, CNBLUE. True enough, the company was rewarded with success anew as Yonghwa, Minhyuk, Jungshin, and Jonghyun experienced success in both Japan and Korea from the get-go. 

As with a number of acts in this period in K-pop that were exposed to the Japanese market first before debuting in Korea, CNBLUE also had their debut stage in Tokyo. After finally charting decently in Japan with their second EP (their first release was completely in English and did not chart in Oricon) and with original bassist Kwangjin replaced by Jungshin before the year ended, the band finally made their Korean debut in January 2010 with the EP Bluetory and the single I’m a Loner. The rest, as the old adage goes, is history. 

All of the band’s title tracks until 2017 have charted high and all their EPs and albums until 2017 have sold over 50,000 copies, a rare feat for a band. Even F.T. Island only averages 40,000 copies sold with their releases. All members also started to venture into acting only a year after their debut and were nominated and won accolades for their television work. Not only were they successful in their home country and Japan (having been the first band since 1971 to top the Oricon charts), but also charted well in Taiwan. While it took F.T. Island 53 days from debut to win in a music program, CNBLUE for a time held the record for winning in a music show in the shortest time since debut, with I’m a Loner winning in Music Bank 15 days after their debut. 

With the band’s massive success came controversies and intrigue, with the first being their awkward rivalry with their labelmates F.T. Island. Since they were the only two bands that dominated the “mainstream” K-pop scene in the late 2000s to early 2010s, it was a bit inevitable that the two groups were always pitted against each other. Primadonnas (F.T. Island’s fandom name) assert the superiority of Hongki’s vocal skills and the fact that F.T. Island is the more senior group that blazed the trail for acts like CNBLUE to follow. Through the years, news about competition between the two groups have not died down. From the alleged preference of FNC towards the more junior group, Hongki claiming he earns more than Yonghwa and again, Hongki accidentally spilling that Jonghyun has had plastic surgery to make his ears prettier, BOICE (CNBLUE’s fandom) had to endure quite a lot. 

As for their music, CNBLUE’s music sounds more pop, which makes it more radio-friendly, and thus, more successful commercially. It also doesn’t hurt that all members took on acting jobs way early in their careers, making the group popular to more people, not just to followers of K-pop. But then, the group has also gone through a lot in terms of controversies involving the members, particularly Yonghwa and Jonghyun. And no, these doesn’t involve Hongki, although Jonghyun and F.T. Island’s Junghoon suffered the same fate later. 

In 2016, both Jonghyun and Yonghwa were accused of obstruction of business / insider trading, aka the illegal act of buying a company’s stocks after being given beneficial information by people inside the company. In this case, the two were supposedly tipped to buy stocks of their own company, FNC Entertainment, when the price is low before they dramatically increase in value as they will be welcoming a high-profile celebrity in their talent stable. It was revealed later that it was Yonghwa’s mom who bought the stocks on his behalf, as she has been managing his son’s finances for years already. On the other hand, Jonghyun held on to his stocks even though he was advised that having them would result in legal issues for him. He was fined for this offense and the public’s perception of CNBLUE unfortunately took a bit of a hit. 

A couple of years later, Yonghwa was involved in another scandal, this time regarding his admission to Kyunghee University’s PhD program. It appears that during the time he was applying to the program, he invited his professor to his studio to catch up with him and show him his work. In hindsight, that was a wrong move considering that one of the requirements to the PhD program is an interview with a faculty member. Thus, it looked like Yonghwa was trying to influence his professor into admitting him to the program. Alas, some speculated that Yonghwa was trying to get in the PhD program so that he could avoid his military enlistment schedule. Yonghwa explained in a handwritten letter that the entire professor-PhD affair was a miscommunication and he was not aware that part of the PhD application process was an interview with one of the faculty members and that he has not plans of ever avoiding his conscription. 

Finally, the Burning Sun scandal dealt a huge blow to the careers of everyone involved, including F.T. Island’s Junghoon and CNBLUE’s Jonghyun. Jonghyun immediately left CNBLUE after he was named as one of the parties in that controversial chatroom, although he did not release a statement about his status in the entertainment industry. He has not appeared on TV since then, though. Since his departure, the band has had two Korean comebacks and one Japanese comeback.

Top 3 CNBLUE Songs

Not considering their banging debut track I’m a Loner, which the group and FNC had to pay fines when it was proven that it was plagiarized from an indie band’s song, CNBLUE’s singles discography features one catchy tune after another. Intuition, Hey You, and Can’t Stop are stand-outs and if you haven’t heard any of these, it’s high time you do. 

N.Flying

After immersing ourselves in the world of K-pop’s first two mainstream bands, let’s talk about the maknaes of FNC Entertainment, the company of the two aforementioned “pioneers”. N. Flying is the product of FC feeling they have caught lightning in a bottle with the success of F.T. Island and CNBLUE, so why not tempt fate by producing a third band, because after all, third time’s the charm? Like their senior CNBLUE, N. Flying also started their careers in Japan where they first performed and released an indie single album in 2013. They also served as F.T. Island’s front act in their 2013 Japan tour. And just like their predecessors, N. Flying’s Japanese activities were met with success.  

In May 2015, N. Flying finally debuted in Korea, which was postponed for a bit as the band’s leader, Seunghyub, got injured in July 2014. The music video for their Korean debut single, Awesome, also featured FNC labelmate Seolhyun of AOA. But alas, unlike F.T. Island and CNBLUE’s high-profile Korean debuts, this did not do as well. True, the EP peaked at #4, but it only eventually sold close to 4,000 copies. Considering Cheerful Sensibility, F’T. Island’s debut album, sold over 83,000 copies in 2007 and CBBLUE’s Bluetory sold a whopping 219,000 copies, the 4,000 copies N. Flying’s debut EP sold significantly pales in comparison.

The band entered 2017 with promise as they welcomed a new member in Yoo Hweseung, who despite looking like a formidable contestant/trainee in the second season of Produce 101, got axed quite early in the show’s second elimination round. In his limited exposure in the show, Hweseung was shown to be a very competent trainee, knowing the full choreography to INFINITE’s Be Mine while doing vocal runs. It, unfortunately, did not do his team a lot of favors as the opposing team had Kenta (who eventually debuted under the project group JBJ) who snatched a whole lot of popularity votes. Eventually, he was eliminated in the 35-conterstant cut-off (aka Episode 8) where it was revealed he was ranked 39th, four places short of continuing with the show. It was later revealed that FNC did not really plan on having Hweseung go all the way to the finals and only wanted him in the show for a bit of exposure. 

Thus, close to a month after his last PD101 episode was released, Hweseung was announced as N. Flying’s newest member and would be the band’s other main vocal on their second EP, The Real. This was followed by two other EPs in 2018, The Hottest in January and How Are You? in May. The sales of the three EPs with Hweseung did not experience major increases with only 6,000 units sold for The Hottest and 7,900 units for How Are You? 

The Real, Hot Potato, and How R U Today, the band’s three singles did not really make a splash commercially, with the music video for The Real generating some buzz as it featured a cameo of Jang Moonbok, a popular PD101 S2 contestant. People continued recognizing Hweseung’s superior singing skills but unfortunately, the band struggled in amassing a solid fanbase. An EP that sells less than 10,000 units is something both F.T. Island and CNBLUE have not experienced in their entire careers! Those are sales figures only nugu (that term for obscure groups from new entertainment labels) groups would be familiar with. N. Flying needed a breakthrough. 

If the lack of significant success wasn’t enough, later in 2018, bassist Kwangjin (before you scratch your head, yes, he is the same Kwangjin that Jungshin replaced in CNBLUE) was embroiled in a scandal where people accused him of acting inappropriately towards fans. Initially, he said he would be taking a break from group activities before officially leaving the group a day after Christmas, 2018.

Almost three years to the day he officially left N. Flying, Kwangjin announced that he has been freed of all harassment allegations against him. He explained that it was true that he dated a fan who later became her girlfriend, causing N. Flying fans to request his removal from the group. To protect his band and then-girlfriend, he did quit the group, but rumors persisted that he sexually harassed fans. So, he spent three years taking legal action to clear his name. Days before posting this announcement, he also posted pictures of his marriage.    

Anyway, back to the breakthrough. Probably derailed by the Kwangjin drama, the band had to wait until the New Year of 2019 before releasing Rooftop which they promoted on music programs, and by holding a concert series starting January 19. The song charted in the lower 100s before going viral on social media when the group was already in the final days of promoting it in the last week of February. The song then shot up to the top of most Korean music charts, including the Gaon Digital Charts where it took the top spot for two consecutive weeks. The band also took their first music show win on March 5, close to four years since their Korean debut. 

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Rooftop became that single break the band needed to sustain their career. They haven’t had a massive song to match Rooftop’s popularity since then, but their songs have continued to chart and more importantly, their albums (one full-length studio album, one reissue album, and two EPs from 2019 to 2021) boast of five-figure sales, a far cry from the anemic average 5,000 units average their previous releases sold. 

Top 3 N. Flying Songs

N. Flying’s discography is filled with bops, but if we have to choose three standouts, we shall go for three that were released in the different stages of the band’s career: Obviously, Rooftop, during the time when the band was reduced to four members and they didn’t have a bassist (although Dongsung was already present as the band’s bassist during the song’s recording, he was still not an official member); Oh, Really? with the current line-up; and The Real with the original line-up (this one is really catchy).

Day6

Finally, let’s talk about a band that’s not from FNC! Day6 actually started off as 5LIVE in 2014 with Sungjin (main vocals and guitar), Jae (guitar), Young K (bass and vocals), Junhyeok (keyboard), and Wonpil (synthesizer), performing in the Mnet reality show Who is Next Win (aka the show that produced Winner and iKon) before drummer Dowoon joined the line-up in mid-2015. The band was then renamed Day6 and debuted in September with the single Congratulations from the EP The Day. Both the song and the EP met considerable success, with the EP selling more than 10,000 copies and the single peaking at #48. Internationally, the EP peaked at the second spot on Billboard’s World Album Chart. The band spent the rest of 2015 promoting overseas in Singapore and Taiwan while also holding their first live concert in Seoul in November.

The band was about to make their first comeback in March 2016 when JYP announced that Junhyeok has left the group in February “for personal reasons”. However, rumors revealed that Junhyeok had decided to date a fan, which is in violation of JYP Entertainment’s rule that their artists are banned from dating in the first three years of their career. Whether it was Junhyeok’s decision to leave the company or JYPE’s decision to let go of him once they found out of the violation is unclear, but the band was left without a keyboardist when Letting Go was released on March 30. This comeback was the band’s music show stage debut on M Countdown, as they only relied on live performances and their music video to promote their debut single. 

2017 was a very productive year for Day6 as they kicked off the Every Day6 project, where the band would be releasing a couple of songs every month with concerts and music videos. In the middle of the year, they also released their first full-length studio album, Sunrise which contained the first five releases they had for the year plus versions of their singles Congratulations and Letting Go and two new tracks.  They concluded the year with another full-length album Moonrise, which contains their releases from June to December, three new songs, and final versions of their B-sides from their debut EP. The year-round project raised the profile of the band, with the two albums faring better in terms of sales, reaching more than 48,000 copies for both releases. 

The band spent 2018 launching their career in Japan while releasing two EPs in Korea: Shoot Me: Youth Part 1 in June and Remember Us: Youth Part 2 in December.  July 2019 had the group release The Book of Us: Gravity, their first (and so far still their only) EP that peaked at number 1 in the Gaon Album Chart. The band also had its first music show win while promoting Time of Our Life, four years after debuting. In May 2020, the band released The Book of Us: The Demon that contained the lead single Zombie, which peaked at No. 4 on Melon’s real-time chart and went up to the No. 1 spot in Bugs. Zombie continues to be the band’s most successful single to date, as it peaked at number 18 on the Gaon Digital Chart. In August of 2020, the band’s first sub-unit, Even of Day composed of Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon, debuted. 

In 2021, Sunjin and Young K have enlisted in the Korean military. In the absence of the two, the remaining members launched their solo releases one after the other. However, on December 31, 2021, Jae announced via Twitter that he will be taking a hiatus from his promotions as a member of the band. However, JYPE announced on the same day that he has already been released from his exclusive contract with JYP Entertainment and therefore, from the group. 

Jae complaining about JYP is nothing new. Through the years, he has been vocal about the company’s lack of support when it comes to his solo efforts, including his personal YouTube channel where he has also posted his rants. But then, a lot of artists (all GOT7 members come to mind) have been direct about their dissatisfaction with the way JYPE runs things. But this, along with Jae’s seemingly personal problems, has caught the attention of fans and casual observers alike. In one of his live broadcasts this year, Jae used a derogatory term against Jamie, one of her closest female friends, and his former co-hosts in the Arirang music show, After School Club. This has made people think that Jae has more issues than just his dissatisfaction over JYPE’s poor treatment of him. 

But back to the group – not a lot of activity these days as three members are already in the middle of serving their military enlistment. Wonpil has dropped his solo release, Pilmography in February.      

Top 3 Day6 Songs

Day6 doesn’t come short when it comes to releasing high-quality material. In terms of commercial success, the band’s highest-charting songs are Zombie (peaked at #18 in Gaon), their debut track Congratulations (peaked at #58 in Gaon), and their latest single as a complete band, 2011’s You Make Me (peaked at #73 in Gaon). 

If you’re into music videos with a continuing storyline, check out the MVs of Congratulations and You Were Beautiful, which features Choi Wooshik of Parasite and Our Beloved Summer fame. 

Here’s hoping we’ve given you your fill of Korean boys who rock with this list. And we’re also hoping more bands with members who actually play instruments will join mainstream K-pop in the years to come.  

Featured Image: CNBLUE official Japan Twitter

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