Baby Monster debuted last year, but they’re debuting officially in April? YG under fire

YG’s girl group Baby Monster debuted in the music industry with their digital single “Batter Up” released on November 27, 2023.

However, CEO Yang Hyun-suk stated in a teaser video introducing the tracklist of Baby Monster’s first mini-album, which was released on the 18th, “We consider Baby Monster’s official debut to be with the mini-album,” and he said, “We plan to start broadcasting activities by releasing the album on April 1st.” According to CEO Yang’s words, the release date of their first mini-album ‘BABYMONS7ER’ on April 1st marks Baby Monster’s official debut.

This part is somewhat difficult to understand. It’s because last November, considering it as a pre-debut is questionable since they had already released their pre-debut song ‘Dream’ in May last year, which reached number one on the Billboard ‘Hot Trend Songs’ chart, and YG Entertainment had stated in an official press release distributed to the media ahead of the release of ‘Batter Up’ that “the official debut is just a week away.” Furthermore, Baby Monster could win the Rookie Award at the ‘Circle Chart Music Awards 2023’ held in January because they had already debuted.

However, due to health reasons, Ahyeon, who couldn’t start with Baby Monster, joins them for their first mini-album, and they will be active as a seven-member group from April 1st.

In response, some fans criticized CEO Yang’s statement of ‘official debut,’ saying, “Does that mean they don’t acknowledge Baby Monster without Ahyeon?” “Then why did they announce the debut back then if they were going to wait until Ahyeon joined?” “If you consider it a debut when all seven members come out, then it would have been better to debut later,” “What about the six members? That’s disrespectful,” “Is this like a trial debut?” “It’s the first time I’ve seen them changing the debut date because of additional members,” “Then they shouldn’t have received the Rookie Award.” On the other hand, some expressed reactions like, “Isn’t it inevitable to consider it as an official debut if they want to celebrate the debut together?” “Since it’s the first comeback as a seven-member complete group, it feels like an official debut,” “They didn’t do music show activities last year, so it seems like they’re considering it as an official debut because they’ll be actively promoting from April.”

Meanwhile, Baby Monster will release their first mini-album ‘BABYMONS7ER’ at midnight on April 1st.