Hello everyoneeeee! Happy New Year 2015!
It’s been a long time since I write on this
blog. I have been busy for these past several months with my student exchange
activities and my thesis preparation. Wish me luck for that J
Anyway, I already went back from my student
exchange period in Seoul, South Korea around early January. It was really
amazing and challenging experience for me. Seoul is such a great city! I wish I
could go back there, you guys should go there too!
Well, my experience in Seoul last year quite
influenced me in writing this post, which about 5 girl and boy groups that have
high potential to be the next generation of K-Pop. When I was in Seoul, I heard
many K-Pop songs everyday on the street and went to several K-Pop related
events. So it quite gave me a glimpse of certain idol popularity.
Beside that, the fact that many senior groups
started to become more inactive and have decreasing popularity in 2014 influenced
me in making this post too. It’s like we had to prepare for the next generation
of K-Pop groups. Although we knew nothing lasts forever, still it’s quite sad
to accept it. But hey, just remember all of the great achievements that the
senior groups gave us for the past several years J
Before starting the list, let me reminded you
that this post came from my personal opinion along with some research that I
made on the internet and based on my experience.
I will divide this post into two parts, girl
and boy groups edition. The first one is the girl group edition…
Honorable
Mentions: Mamamoo, Red Velvet
5.
EXID
EXID was one of the biggest surprises last year.
This group became popular through their song, Up and Down. The unique thing was that the song did not gain
success when it first released on August 2014. However, after the fancam of EXID Hani performed this song went
viral, the song popularity skyrocketed three months later. It made them topped
music show charts, Gaon charts, and
finally, got them Discovery of The Year
award in 4th Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards earlier this year.
What
They Got:
1. Trend
Song
It’s not easy to make a super popular song, a
trend song, which means that it played everywhere,
made people sing to it, and followed the dance. But somehow, EXID managed to do that. I still
remembered that I heard this song in every shop at the end of December until early January before I
left Seoul. After the fancam went viral, two things that made this song continued becoming popular were its catchy hook
and easy dance.
2. Talent
Trend song only lasted for a while, that’s
why you need talent to back up your position. Fortunately,
EXID has a strong back up. They have two good vocalists, Solji, a vocal trainer, and Hyerin, Superstar K3 alumni and rapper, LE, who is a former underground rapper.
Beware
of:
1. “One
Hit Wonder”
It’s hard to make a trend song, but it’s way
harder to keep up the success for the next release.
Many groups failed to keep up their momentum after the huge success of their previous release. People
expected too much on them, but they usually came with the repetitive formula like their
previous single. Take a look Crayon Pop who
unfortunately failed to maintain Bar Bar Bar popularity in 2014. Because
of this, EXID has to be extra careful
for their next release.
2. Individual
Recognition
Currently, Hani is everywhere from variety
show, radio show, music video to individual
photo shoot. This is actually a good strategy from the agency to maintain her current
popularity. However, they need to start promoting other members, so they will not overshadow by her.
4. AOA
(Ace of Angels)
Another last year’s surprise was AOA (Ace of Angels). The girls debuted
with band concept in 2012, but they started receive popularity when they
changed into sexy concept upon the release of Miniskirt in 2014. After Miniskirt,
they sticked to their sexy concept for their next singles, Short Hair and Like a Cat, which increased their popularity.
What
They Got:
1. Individual
Promotion
Among all of the groups on this list, FNC Entertainment, AOA’s agency, done the
best job for its individual promotion. Take
a look at one of their members, Seolhyun
who starred alongside Lee Min Ho in his newest movie, Gangnam Blues, participated in variety show, Brave Family, with Park
Myung Soo, and courted to act
with Yeo Jin Goo for drama, Orange Marmalade. While Seolhyun took
the mainstream way, Jimin, the rapper, tried more underground way. She joined
Unpretty Rapstar, the female rapper rap competition in hope to gain more
recognition for her skill.
2. Public
Awareness
AOA popularity continued to rise by winning Digital Bonsang award in Golden Disk Awards and Bonsang award
in Seoul Music Awards earlier this
year through Miniskirt. Beside
that, their songs such as Like A Cat and
Short Hair often can be heard on the shops and karaokes. Also, many people
followed the Miniskirt dance. This was
a good start for them to gain more
public recognition in the future.
Beware
of:
1. Concept
Confusion
AOA started with band concept and changed it
into sexy concept, which made them become success. However, they
mentioned that they would go back to their
band concept once it gained
popularity during Like A Cat showcase.
It’s a good thing that they didn’t
forget their root, but at the same time, it would create confusion for the audiences. Which one is their real identity
since band and sexy concept
are two different things;
they should work on adjusting it.
2. Attitude
Controversy
Fans of other groups had calling them out
several times due to attitude controversy such as doing inappropriate
behavior on Super Junior’s concert and
CN Blue Yonghwa’s house on his reality show.
Also, the controversy of Seolhyun hit by Park Myung Soo on their reality show, where netizens
more focused on Seolhyun’s whiny attitude. All of these were not good things for newly successful group, they
should be more careful.
3.
Girl’s Day
AOA was not the first group who gained
success after changing concept. Girl’s
Day has done it in 2013 where they completely turned from cute to sexy
concept and achieved huge popularity. The girls continued their popularity
streak with Something in 2014 where
they topped the chart and received various awards such as 4th Gaon
Chart K-Pop Awards, Golden Disk Awards, and Seoul Music Awards. Their
individual popularity started to rise in 2014, especially the youngest member, Hyeri, who became really popular
because of her aegyo in reality show, Real
Men.
What
They Got:
1. Trend
Song
Something
was a hit last year. It became an
all-kill within two hours of its release on nine
music charts and ranked number 1 on monthly Gaon Digital Chart in January. The dance became a trend too where many people,
even boy groups, danced to it.
2. Individual
Recognition
Girl’s Day is one of the groups on this list
where each member has their own individual
recognition. All of the members had various individual activities in 2014 with Minah
starred in a sitcom and variety show, Sojin
in drama and song collaboration,
Yura in
virtual marriage variety show, We Got Married,
and lastly, Hyeri in Real Men and drama.
These helped increasing their own along with the group popularity.
Beware of:
1. “Hit or Miss” Release
The girls could maintain their success streak
from Expectation, Female President to Something.
But their summer track, Darling, and
ballad track, I Miss You, only received mediocre
success eventhough it was being released after Something. This meant that they
needed to keep releasing solid title tracks since Darling and I Miss You was
a mediocre release. Their popularity still depends on public’s taste. They need to gain more fans because their current fan base is
still not enough to back up their position.
2. Controversies
Another thing that made Girl’s Day often
became a hot topic was because of controversies
surrounding them. From their sexy dance, Minah’s insensitive comment about Asiana
Airlines plane crash, Hyeri’s rude behavior
towards BEAST Dongwoon to their dating news (confirmed
or rumored), all of them always gained people’s attention. The peak of this issue was when
they cursed by boy group’s fans during 4th Gaon K-Pop Awards Red Carpet. All of
these were such unfortunate things and it would be better if they behaved more careful in the
future eventhough the whole issue was not completely
their fault.
2.
SISTAR
SISTAR has made a huge improvement from their debut
until now. This group started to attract a lot of attention when they released Alone in 2012, which also marked the
beginning of sexy concept for girl group. Their popularity kept increasing with
the success of each song release. Their sub-unit, solo, and collaboration songs
became success too, especially member, Soyu,
and solo singer, Junggigo,
collaboration song, Some, which was a
huge hit in 2014.
What
They Got:
1. High
Public Recognition
The girls are famous for topping digital
charts; meaning that general public like to stream
their song. The peak would be Soyu & Junggigo’s song, Some, which was an unexpected
hit last year. This song became the
longest chart-topper song in 2014. SISTAR
songs were everywhere too in the shop, university
and café. I remembered I always
heard Touch My Body at least once a
day during my first month in Seoul last year.
Their dance became a trend too; many people often covered and parodied it.
2. All
Around Image
All around image makes it easier to promote the
girls everywhere. They can be put on various
programs. For example, variety show for Bora
and Soyu, drama for Dasom and Bora, music show for Bora, and singing
competition for Hyorin. The girls
even have their own reality
show called SISTAR Showtime.
All of these are beneficial to increase their public
recognition. Beside, the fact that all of the members are not too
image-conscious and have
strong personality made people like them more.
Beware
of:
1. No
Strong Fan Base
SISTAR may have good public recognition, but
this does not back up by strong fan base. Their
Daum Fan Café rank for girl group in 2014 is on 12th position, which
was quite low for a group whose each
release had a success since 2012. Just like Girl’s Day, the girls relied a lot to public’s taste.
Fortunately, they kept releasing strong and public-friendly song, so people still listen to their
songs. But still, they need more fans to establish their position as top group.
2. Overused
Sexy Concept
When SISTAR first released Alone, not many groups used sexy
concept. This made SISTAR stood out among others. But
now, too many girl groups use sexy
concept with repetitive formula. That is
why it is important for SISTAR to find a way that makes them different among others without have
to leave their signature style.
1. A
Pink
A
Pink stands out among the other girl groups nowadays with their youthful concept. Catching a lot of attention through
No No No in 2013, the girls popularity kept increasing with Mr. Chu and LUV in 2014. A Pink became the third best selling girl group in 2014 according to Gaon’s
year-end ranking.
What
They Got:
1. Strong
Fan Base
What excelled A Pink compared to other girl
groups on this list is their strong fan base.
They were on the 2nd position for Daum Fan Café Girl Group rank in
2014. Also, their concert sold
7200 tickets within two minutes after going
on sale. This showed how big
their fan base is for the newly succeed girl group.
2. Public
Recognition
Just like SISTAR, A Pink often topped digital
charts, especially with Mr. Chu and LUV. With
LUV, they scored all-kill hours after
its release and swept all music show trophies on
December. Mr. Chu itself became
number eight best selling digital song in 2014. The easy dance for Mr.
Chu often covered by other groups too.
Beware
Of:
1. Repetitive
Concept
A Pink has consistently showed their youthful
image along with its old-school K-Pop signature
sound since their debut in 2011. It’s a good thing that A Pink already found their own style. But at the same time,
it could make people bored with them. Also, the fact that members star to get older make youthful
concept no longer suitable for them on
the next several years. The girls actually showed more mature image in LUV and hopefully,
they could maintain it in the future.
2. Lack
of Individual Recognition
If you mention A Pink member, most of general
people would only recognize Eunji and Naeun to the extent; all thanks to their drama and variety show appearances. The other members still remain unknown in
general public. Last year, their agency, A
Cube Entertainment, already
tried to promote other members such as Bomi
in variety show and Chorong in drama. However, it was still not
enough due to their shows were in cable
channel. They tried it again this year with Bomi in Real Men, but
unfortunately, it did not work since netizens
criticized her behavior. Regarding this, A Cube needs to find other shows that suitable
with certain member image and personality.
So, these are my list for five girl groups
that have high potential to be the next generation of K-Pop. How is it? Is it
the same with your preferences? Which other groups that you think have
potential to make it big?
I will post the boy group version later, so
stay tuned!
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