It’s a refrain I’ve been beating nonstop, but girl groups are currently dominating the K-pop industry. Just to name a few, we’ve had monster hits in the last year from IVE, Lesserafim, NewJeans, and (G)I-DLE.
So is there space for the two new girl groups that debuted in the last few weeks? Can they carve out a unique space for themselves in the very crowded market? Or are they doomed to be perceived as unoriginal clones of existing girl groups?
Let’s talk first about Illit, a new girl group from HYBE, which recently debuted with Magnetic. It seems like this group came out of nowhere, but they were actually formed via a survival show last year called R U Next?. Survival show groups are always very popular in Korea, especially at the beginning of their career, as the public has had time to fall in love with them on the show! HYBE is currently promoting two other fourth gen/fifth gen girl groups: Lesserafim and NewJeans, but remember that HYBE is an umbrella organization with many smaller labels contained within. So the actual label Illit is signed to is Belift Lab, alongside boy group Enhypen (who were also formed via a survival show).
From the moment their promotional photos for debut were released, there have been concerns over the degree to which Illit is similar to NewJeans. Five beautiful members with long silky straight hair styled in a slighty retro way. It’s definitely giving NewJeans, and the members themselves were asked about the risk for overlap with NewJeans at their debut press conference. Their response was that the contents of their songs and performances are different than NewJeans, and of course that they have worked hard to create their own group and are excited to share their vision. Fair! And, I think if you take a close look at the styling and intended concept behind Illit you do see a distinction from NewJeans.
Where NewJeans is a fresh and cool 90s vibe concept, Illit seems to be leaning into the innocent concept favored by girl groups such as Gfriend or Oh My Girl. Some hallmarks of this that you will see in Illit are the frilly/girly styling choices, lots of aegyo, and a very sweet tone to the singing voices. This is all perfectly fine, but I think there is a lot of baggage associated with this concept for female singers around what it means to be presenting an image of “innocence.” And of course there are cultural differences between my Western perspective and Asian cultures, but I think we can still ask the same questions. When the innocent concept is used, are we infantilizing women, and/or are we setting an expectation of behavior and public image that is impossible to maintain in the long term? And in the case of Illit, this is compounded by the fact that the age range members is 15-20. I think it’s quite a choice, given what we are learning every week about the realities of children in the entertainment industry, to give this concept to multiple underage girls. There is a thin line between “age-appropriate” and fetishization. What do you think?
Let’s take a look at the actual music. Debut song Magnetic could definitely pass for a NewJeans song along the lines of ASAP, but when compared to the truly innovative and risky production choices that work so well in a NewJeans record, the four short songs on Illit’s debut feel disappointingly generic. Magnetic is going to be a huge hit for them, and they are stunningly beautiful young women, so we will see what they put out next. Imagine how cool it could be if they leaned into the creepiness of their doll-like concept and did a Red Velvet-esque pivot into a gothic Psycho era?
Next up, let’s talk about BabyMonster, the new girl group from YG Entertainment. They are only the third girl group to debut from YG, and they have a huge legacy to live up to. YG girl groups are among the most famous K-pop acts of all time: second gen girl group 2NE1 and third gen girl group Blackpink. With this pressure to live up to, BabyMonster have had a long and convoluted path to debut.
In early 2023, the seven potential members of BabyMonster were introduced to the public through a competition-like show which intended to select the final five members. The show was popular and each of the seven girls were charming and talented, so YG decided to debut all seven members as a group, announcing their planned debut in November 2023. However, one member was absent for health reasons, so debut Batter Up seemed to change from an official debut to a debut of just six members, or kind of like a pre-debut? Now, Ahyeon (the center of the group) is back and the group officially debuted as a seven member group on April 1 with Sheesh. Sheesh is a LOT stronger than the other two songs BabyMonster have put out to date, but is it too similar to a Blackpink song? And even if it is, is that a bad thing?
There are certain elements of the YG “girl crush” concept for girl groups that are consistent across generations. Compare 2NE1 with Blackpink and BabyMonster and you’ll see certain consistencies: bling, swag, production, visuals, and rap. Obviously, there was a huge sonic and style change across the Kpop industry between second generation and third generation artists, but since the third generation it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between generations sonically. So to a certain extent, a degree of similarity between BabyMonster and Blackpink is to be expected given their shared agencies and concepts. And perhaps it’s not as egregious as a similarity between Illit and NewJeans given that BabyMonster is a fifth gen girl group and Blackpink is a semi-retired third gen girl group. Is it any wonder that YG wants to keep the magic behind Blackpink going, especially as they lose Blackpink members to their own self-run agencies?
There are some important ways in which BabyMonster is different from any previous YG girl group. It’s bigger - 7 members compared to 4 for both 2NE1 and Blackpink. It’s more diverse, with 3 Korean members, 2 Japanese members and 2 Thai members. Unlike Blackpink, they have a designated group leader in Ruka, who at 22 is four years older than the next oldest member of the group. Given the youth of its members (similar to Illit they range in age from 15 - 22) BabyMonster’s take on the girl crush concept is meant to be the youngest feeling of YG’s girl groups. Does it accomplish that? What do you think?
There are definitely some incredibly strong singers, rappers, and performers in BabyMonster, but there are times in Sheesh when it full sounds like Blackpink is singing. There is a part in the first verse where Rami sings followed by Chiquita and it fully sounds like Jisoo singing followed by Rose. There are also some very Blackpink esque vocal effects like some Lisa-esque “brrrrr”s in Batter Up and not finishing spelling the word they are spelling in Sheesh (maybe this is just a very specific pet peeve of mine, but “S-A-V-A-G keep it pretty pretty savage” drives me CRAZY as a line).
That being said, it’s obvious these girls have talent and swag in spades. Let’s see if they can grow into their own unique sound more in their next comeback. I wasn’t particularly impressed by either of the pre-release singles, but I do enjoy Sheesh and I think the Charlie Puth song on their EP (Like That) is quite good and nice to listen to!
In conclusion, I do think there is a Blackpink sized hole in the current Kpop market, so I expect BabyMonster will have a good amount of success. I’m less sure that there is space in the market for Illit’s enduring success, but let’s see if I am eating my words in a year’s time!