Brave Girls have not escaped the “One Hit Wonder” trap.
Brave Girls caused a syndrome last year with “Rollin” but have not been able to continue its success this year. The group’s new mini-album “Thank you” was not found on the music charts and it was ranked last in the first round of the survival program “Queendom.”
The results of the first round were announced on the latest episode of Mnet’s entertainment show “Queendom 2,” which aired on April 7th. The first round’s challenge was for the groups to sing their own representative songs. Brave Girls tried to choose another song, saying, “We think we’re only remembered after the reversed popularity of ‘Rollin’, but they seemed to be agonizing because there was no song as representative as ‘Rollin’.
They eventually staged the power version of “Rollin‘” and “Chi Mat Ba Ram,” but ranked fifth in the global vote. The group was also ranked last in the final ranking, which combined the on-site voting scores.
The shock was even greater because “Rollin” and “Chi Mat Ba Ram” were songs that helped Brave Girls escape their “no-name” days. Last year, a video called “Brave Girls Rollin Comments Collection” on YouTube was recommended to many people by YouTube algorithms. Since then, “Rollin,” which was released in 2017, has been in the top ranks on various music sites, making it a hit. Brave Girls also ranked first on the music charts at the time yet released “Chi Mat Ba Ram” in June 2021.
But their golden days soon ended. The title track of their 5th repackage mini-album released in August of that year, “After We Ride” entered the Melon chart ranked 26th and ranked 83rd on the Top 100 chart. In just two months, the song’s performance plummeted. In terms of initial album sales, the previous album sold 60,900 copies, while this album sold 11,300 copies.
It’s not just “After We Ride.” The group released “Thank You” on April 14, but the response from the public was cold. The title song “Thank You” expressed gratitude to the fans who endured hardships with the group. At the time of its release, it remained in the top 90 of Melon’s real-time chart, but later immediately disappeared from the chart.
Brave Girls‘ album was usually pointed out as “old.” Most say that Brave Girls, a second generation idol group, is still in the second generation KPOP era with their music, choreography, and costumes. The concept of “Thank You” was also retro “Newtro,” but “New” expressed only their outdated concept.
In “Queendom 2,” member Yoo-jung said, “I still hear people talk about our reversed success.” When people think of Brave Girls, they only think of “Reversed (popularity on charts)” and “Rollin”. Of course, ‘Queendom 2‘ has only just begun. There will be many opportunities for Brave Girls to show their new selves. However, if the mountain is high, the valley is deep. In order to remove the image of the “reversed success” group, it is time to overcome the wall called “outdatedness”, which holds Brave Girls back.
