When Blackpink ended its almost year-long Born Pink World Tour in Seoul in September, uncertainty surrounded the favored Okay-pop lady group’s future after its contract with YG Leisure was assumed to have expired. It has but to be introduced whether or not the group, which consists of members Jisoo, Rosé, Lisa and Jennie, has renewed contracts with the company. Amid the silence, rumors have swirled concerning the Blackpink’s destiny as its singers, all of whom have huge worldwide followings, put extra concentrate on solo endeavors.
On the finish of September, Lisa held a three-day cabaret residency on the Crazy Horse in Paris. Jennie performed a key supporting position in The Weeknd and Lily Rose-Depp’s controversial HBO series The Idol and formally launched a “particular single,” referred to as “You & Me,” in October. Jisoo, who gained an appearing award for her lead position within the Okay-drama Snowdrop is claimed to be starring in an upcoming movie. Rosé, who reportedly renewed her contract and is releasing new solo merch, attended the star-studded LACMA Artwork+Movie Gala in Los Angeles on Nov. 4.
Broadly thought of the most important Okay-pop lady group on the planet, Blackpink was the first Korean act to headline Coachella in April, after first making its U.S. music competition debut in 2019. The group topped the Billboard 200 chart with their second studio album, 2022’s Born Pink, and its newest 34-city, 66-date world tour was the highest-grossing effort by an Asian act.
Amid the hypothesis, Jennie appeared to supply hope for followers wanting ahead to extra Blackpink sooner or later on the group’s finale live performance. “Thanks Blinks for all of your love and assist,” the 27-year-old artist instructed followers, who’re formally known as Blinks, based on the Korea Herald. “We are going to proceed to point out the most effective of us as Blackpink.”
With Blackpink actions seemingly on the backburner as contract negotiations remain “ongoing,” based on YG, there’s been a swath of rising Okay-pop lady teams in the previous couple of years, together with NewJeans, ITZY, LE SSERAFIM, STAYC, aespa, Dreamcatcher, NMIXX and XG, to call just a few. (The nine-member powerhouse lady group Twice — eight-year Okay-pop veterans who debuted in 2015 — exist in their very own stratosphere, together with fellow mainstays like Purple Velvet and Mamamoo.)
“We’re positively residing in a second the place lady teams are doing very well within the Okay-pop area. Woman teams are positively thriving,” Tamar Herman, Okay-pop knowledgeable and creator of BTS: Blood, Sweat & Tears, tells Yahoo Leisure. “Teams like NewJeans, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, (G)I-DLE, all of them have had superb years and so have so many others.”
Herman explains that “there’s this notion within the media, by and enormous, that Blackpink dominates commonly and with out Blackpink, the Okay-pop trade goes to die, which is true to a point. However Blackpink would not usually have comebacks they usually do not commonly promote in Okay-pop areas. They’re extra related to the style world or appearing.
“There’s positively this sense of, ‘They have been these ladies for therefore lengthy, what is going on to occur to them now?'” Herman says. “However I do not suppose lots of people are like, ‘Oh no, we’re by no means going to have a high lady group once more,’ as a result of there are such a lot of different lady teams which can be thriving.”
Meet a few of Okay-pop’s rising lady teams.
LE SSERAFIM
An anagram of “I am Fearless,” LE SSERAFIM debuted in Might 2022 on Supply Music, a document label beneath the Hybe Corporation umbrella, which incorporates Massive Hit (BTS, Tomorrow x Collectively), Pledis (Seventeen) and BeLift Lab (Enhypen). The quintet’s full-length alt-pop album, 2023’s Unforgiven, charted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 (the title monitor options legendary guitarist Niles Rodgers). The group just lately partnered with Blizzard for a brand new music, the intense lady power-themed “Excellent Evening,” pegged to the online game Overwatch 2.
NewJeans
With members ranging in age from 15 to 19, NewJeans — a five-member group from ADOR, a label additionally within the Hybe household — exceeded expectations when it surprise-dropped its Y2K-inspired debut R&B-pop monitor “Consideration” in July 2022. The music has amassed greater than 300 million streams on Spotify alone. Representing the Gen Z, Tik-Tok-savvy technology, NewJeans’s success was instantaneous.
The group adopted up with a number of catchy chart-topping hits, together with “Hybe Boy,” “Ditto,” “OMG” and “Tremendous Shy,” lots of which have made it onto “better of” lists at NME, Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone. And regardless of their youth, the members are already credited songwriters, contributing lyrics to the aforementioned hits. The five-piece, who was contemporary off a No. 1 album with their Get Up EP this previous July, carried out at Lollapalooza weeks later, making historical past because the first K-pop girl group to take the stage on the Chicago competition.
STAYC
An acronym for Star to a Younger Tradition, the six-member STAYC debuted in November 2020 beneath Excessive-Up Leisure, a smaller unbiased Okay-pop label. Members Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon and J achieved success after they peaked at No. 1 twice on the Korean charts for 2021’s Younger-Luv.com and 2023’s Teddy Bear. Followers have been ready for STAYC’s first full album, however within the meantime, they will have the Japanese single, “Lit!,” out Dec. 6, to sit up for.
The sextet, who just lately completed the American leg of their first solo world tour in October, expressed gratitude to abroad followers, who they name SWITH, proving Okay-pop transcends borders. “I actually really feel that folks can grow to be one by means of music and the followers are so cute,” Sumin tells Yahoo Leisure.
Provides her groupmate, Yoon, “Each time I come overseas, I am so grateful that we’ve got music to speak with each other, even when the language and tradition between every nation could also be completely different. Even when they don’t perceive, they sing alongside.”
IVE
IVE’s most profitable music to this point, 2022’s “Love Dive,” was South Korea’s best-performing single of 2022 and led to the group’s first entry in the top 10 on the Billboard International (excluding the U.S.) chart. The music additionally gained IVE its first main awards for Music of the 12 months on the Asia Artist Awards, Golden Disc Awards, MAMA Awards and Melon Music Awards. The six-member group, whose music usually embraces positivity and self-love, has but to formally tour the U.S. by itself, however IVE was one in every of final 12 months’s most buzzed about Okay-pop acts, and issues are solely wanting up.
Kep1er
Like many Okay-pop teams, Kep1er was shaped by means of a actuality survival competitors present, Mnet’s Ladies Planet 999. The group formally debuted in January 2022 with “WA DA DA.” The music’s accompanying music video garnered greater than 163 million views on YouTube. The 9 members hail from South Korea, Japan and China and Kep1er’s first album, First Impression, crushed sales records for lady group debuts with 200,000 copies bought worldwide. Kep1er’s future, nevertheless, is unclear as its contract is said to be over in July 2024.
Fifty Fifty
Rookie sensation Fifty Fifty debuted in November 2022 with its viral hit, “Cupid,” launched in February. That led the foursome to collaborate with American rapper Kaliii on “Barbie Goals,” an unique music on the Barbie soundtrack. Fifty Fifty’s fast ascension was quickly met with authorized drama, with the group submitting injunctions towards its label over contractual considerations. Within the aftermath, three of four members’s contracts were terminated. Keena is the only remaining member. The plan is to proceed Fifty Fifty, with three further new members.
