The entertainment industry is expected to witness a girl-group battle in the second half of this year.
The big agencies are recruiting trainees and are about to take turns to introduce their new girl groups.
The most anticipated group is the group that HYBE, BTS’s company, will launch. 9 years after the debut of “Glam” in 2012, this is the first time that Big Hit Entertainment has introduced another new girl group project.
The expectations for the new group are different from ‘Glam’. It is because this group would be the first girl group that HYBE produced since they became a global music label. CBO of Big Hit, Min Hee Jin, will team up with Source Music, the company that discovered GFRIEND, in launching the new girl group.
CBO Min used to work at SM, and she was the person who creates the concepts of SM’s girl groups, such as Girls’ Generation and f(x). This was an exceptional case when a KPOP staff became famous. For the new girl group project, CEO of Big Hit, Bang Shi Hyuk, will be in charge of the production, especially music production. Meanwhile, CBO Min will be the creative director who takes responsibility for branding campaigns related to the group’s concepts, videos, and images.
According to rumors, Miyawaki Sakura and Kim Chaewon, former members of the Korea-Japan project girl group IZ*ONE, will join this new group. However, HYBE has not announced any details about the issue.
Miyawaki Sakura was rumored to have signed an exclusive contract with Big Hit Music, a subsidiary of HYBE, in March. In addition, it was reported that Kim Chae Won recently signed with HYBE’s label, Source Music.
Seventeen and NU’EST’s company, Pledis Entertainment, another label from HYBE, has just obtained the girl group “fromis 9” from another company. In fact, after the disbandment of “Pristin”, Pledis has been out of girl groups.
Fromis_9 is a 9-member group formed through an audition program, “Idol School”, by Mnet in 2017. The group debuted in January 2018 with a bright and energetic concept. Therefore, they gradually formed a firm fanbase.
Pledis had produced famous girl groups before. After School and the group’s unit, Orange Caramel, used to be on the list of the most famous girl groups. After moving to Pledis, “fromis_9” is expected to show more dynamic concepts in their performances.
YG Entertainment, the company of KPOP’s top girl group – BLACKPINK, has also planned to introduce their new girl group in the second half of this year. After 5 years since BLACKPINK debuted, it is the first time they have launched another girl group project. Due to YG’s policy, they stuck to their old “veil strategy” in which they would not give any information about the project until the group is debuted. However, people in the entertainment industry have predicted that this group will hold a bright and fresh concept.
Not being out of trend, JYP Entertainment has scheduled to debut a new girl group in February next year. Although no information about the members has been announced, yet the group has sold more than 60,000 copies of their debut album. This is the result of the trust in JYP and Park Jin Young’s reputation from fans. Earlier this month, Jinny, Jiwoo, and Gyu Jin were the first members of the new girl group to be released.
HYBE, Pledis, YG, and JYP are the companies that have produced the top boy groups. What are the reasons that make them pour so much effort into the girl groups?
First of all, it is to balance the gender of their groups. If they only focus on boy groups, the color of the companies’ music products will lean on only one side.
Moreover, girl groups could attract various kinds of fans, including people of all ages and even male fans. If boy groups are known to form strong fanbases easily, girl groups could have their fanbases composed of different types of fans. As a result, this would help to promote the company to a wider consumer market.
According to a staff from the idol industry, “HYBE and Pledis are known to have top influential boy groups. Therefore, if girl groups are to be added to their companies, they will gain not only strong fandoms but also the public attention.”
