KISS OF LIFE: The Group Said To Be The Better Little BLACKPINK Than BABYMONSTER
This girl group attracts attention with their attractive lineup similar to BLACKPINK.
As a rookie group from a small company, KISS OF LIFE escaped their “nugu” status thanks to their quality comeback with “Midas Touch.”
Quality members who are evenly talented
KISS OF LIFE, also known as KIOF, is a South Korean girl group founded and managed by S2 Entertainment. The group officially debuted in July 2023 with their first mini album “Kiss of Life.” It consists of 4 talented and extremely beautiful members, Julie, Natty, Belle, Haneul. KISS OF LIFE attracted attention after being introduced as a combination of former trainees from BIG4 companies, HYBE, SM, YG and JYP.
Among the members, Natty is most familiar to international fans. She used to be a famous trainee of JYP, widely known through two survival shows “SIXTEEN” and “Idol School.” Natty attracted attention with her visual, which is said to resemble Lisa (BLACKPINK) and Minnie ((G)I-DLE). Natty almost debuted as a member of TWICE and fromis_9 but in the end, she became a solo artist.
In 2020, Natty released 2 albums, “NINETEEN” and “Teddy Bear,” showing off her all-rounder qualities with singing, rapping skills and stable performance. After 3 years, Natty returned to the idol world once again as a member of KISS OF LIFE, taking on the role of the main dancer.
Born in 2004 in Seattle, USA, Belle is the second member of KISS OF LIFE to be revealed. She was introduced to have top-notch singing ability and can compose her own songs. Belle became the main vocalist of KISS OF LIFE. Before debut, Belle featured in NCT Mark’s solo song “Child” and also composed many songs for Miyeon ((G)I-DLE), Purple KISS. Especially, she took part in writing LE SSERAFIM’s hit “Unforgiven.”
Julie Han, the third member of KISS OF LIFE, is also a Korean American. She was a trainee under The Black Label, Teddy’s record label, for 5 years, from 2017 to 2022. She is known to many music fans as an excellent rapper with skillful bilingual rap skills. Julie is the leader and main rapper of KISS OF LIFE.
Born in 2005, Haneul is the 4th member to be revealed and the youngest member of KISS OF LIFE. Haneul has a visual that matches SM’s style, and was a trainee under SM for a short time. The lead vocalist is multilingual, speaking English, Korean and Japanese. She is expected to be the “fan-attracting maknae” thanks to her sociability and charm.
The group’s music and image are as attractive as BLACKPINK
In July 2023, KISS OF LIFE released their debut E.P with the title song “Shhh” and 4 solo songs for each member. With the strong and feminist image, KISS OF LIFE reminds people of BLACKPINK. Talking about their similarities with their seniors, the rookie girl group once shared, “We are also fans of BLACKPINK seniors, and we want to develop into ‘Little BLACKPINK’ in a cool way like our seniors.”
Being under a small company, KISS OF LIFE’s debut mini album quickly accumulated more than 10 million streams on Spotify after 2 months of release, a quite positive number for a little-known girl group. KISS OF LIFE’s music does not follow the majority of Kpop, combining trendy RnB with Western styles. Therefore, at first, KISS OF LIFE was quite obscure in Korea.
The lineup resembles BLACKPINK’s
On stage, KISS OF LIFE demonstrates superior performance ability, with no “gaps” among each member’s skills. The clear division of main dancer, main rapper, main vocalist is almost the same as BLACKPINK.
On April 3, KISS OF LIFE officially returned with the MV “Midas Touch.” Despite being from a small company, the quality of the MV with its high aesthetics and majestic scenes makes people overwhelmed.
Inspired by the legend of King Midas’s golden hand in Greek nythology, “Midas Touch” is heavily invested in visuals. The four members, Julie, Natty, Belle and Haneul, were praised for their confident and strong performance style. KISS OF LIFE received countless compliments with this MV.
Besides, the song also reminds listeners of the typical colors of Kpop in the 2000s, vibrant and attractive. KISS OF LIFE’s music is said to closely follow the direction Teddy set for BLACKPINK.
Compared to BABYMONSTER, KISS OF LIFE is viewed as the most perfect version inheriting the girlcrush concept of BLACKPINK but does not copy or borrow. As such, KISS OF LIFE is called “BLACKPINK’s little sister” in terms of product quality and career orientation.
