Good music brings miracles for K-pop groups from small and medium-sized agencies, as proven through FIFTY FIFTY.
Rookie girl group FIFTY FIFTY‘s momentum on global charts is formidable. Their song “Cupid”, which was released in February, has been making waves as it has settled on both the US Billboard chart and the UK Official Chart.
In particular, on April 7th (local time), “Cupid” rose to 61st place on the UK Official Singles Chart “Top 100”. The song, which entered the chart at 96th last week, jumped 35 places in just one week and remained on the chart for two consecutive weeks.
K-pop singers who made it to this week’s Official Singles Chart “Top 100” are BTS Jimin and BLACKPINK Jisoo, who each made solo comebacks, leaving FIFTY FIFTY as a rare newcomer. A total of three artists made the chart, with Jimin at 16th and Jisoo at 38th.
FIFTY FIFTY also achieved the feat of entering Billboard’s “Hot 100” within just four months after their debut, the fastest record among K-pop groups. In particular, on March 27th, the girl group was announced to have placed 100th on Billboard’s main single chart “Hot 100”. They continued their rise for two consecutive weeks, and ranked 94th on the chart released on April 4th.
Meanwhile, “Cupid” is a retro-style track with a minimal disco beat and funky bassline. It is a song featuring sweet vocals by Sio and Aran, as well as punchy raps by Keena and Saena. The lyrics tell the story of girls who change autonomously as they break away from Cupid, an unconscious dependency.
The song initially didn’t receive much attention but eventually won over listeners through short-form platforms like TikTok. As the sped-up version of “Cupid” was used as the background music in TikTok and YouTube shorts videos, word of mouth spread, and the easy-to-listen-to music began to gain popularity.
It wasn’t an intentional challenge aimed at promoting or going viral, but it was a success story of fitting into the short-form platform era and proving their existence through the power of music.
Thanks to this, “Cupid” English version has been at the top of Spotify’s Daily Global Viral Chart (a ranking chart of songs popular on SNS) since entering 1st place on March 20th. As it has already begun its rise on global charts, a “long-run” success is expected.
Although FIFTY FIFTY are relatively struggling in Korea, placing outside of the top 100 in domestic charts, the group’s hype is not bad. The song ranked 132nd on the Melon Daily Chart, which is South Korea’s largest music chart, on April 6th, and is breaking its own record every day.
In addition, FIFTY FIFTY’s debut album title song “Higher” and the B-side song “Tell Me”, which were released before “Cupid”, are also receiving positive responses from listeners.
FIFTY FIFTY, which debuted in November last year, has been named an early “K-pop group to watch in 2023” by various foreign media, including the United States’ Grammy and IT media “Mashable”, India’s leading newspaper “India Today”, and Indonesia’s major media “DETIK”.
Source: Daum
