Out of 27 girl groups who made debuts in 2011, two shine the brightest @ 3:50 AM
Idols in the Korean pop industry are still hanging on strong in the latter half of 2011, including the strong force of rookie girl groups. In all, there were a total of 27 girl groups that made their debuts this year.
Even though girl groups are currently the “hot” topic in kpop, it surely doesn’t mean every single group receives the love from fans they are looking for. The number of new girl groups definitely grew, however the percentage of teams actually succeeding decreased.
The girl groups that debuted are: Dal Shabet, A-Pink, Rania, Brave Girls, Chi-Chi, Bella, Chocolat, April Kiss, Piggy Dolls, 5Dolls, INY, Leader’S, SpinEl, Blady, Ei-yo, Swan.B, Swincle, Carcaro Girl, Eye to Eye, Ocean Girls, Wine Hold Venus, Coin Jackson, Black Eye, Elizabeth, Swing Girls, Stellar, and Mascot. Dal Shabet and A-Pink were the two rookie girl groups that received successful critiques out of the 27 groups.
The success behind six member girl group Dal Shabet is that their songs receive a lot of love from fans. Also through a time frame of eight months, they continued to come out with new material, releasing 3 different mini-albums. Starting with “Supa Dupa Diva“, “Pink Rocket“, and their most recent song “Bling Bling“, the group grows more mature with each new song they release. Perhaps it is due to the fact they were produced by E-tribe, a renowned hit song maker.
The other girl group A-Pink is under Cube Entertainment’s independent label A-Cube Agency, which plays with the other top 3 entertainment agencies SM, JYP and YG. The seven member girl group has received a lot of interest due to their mirror image replica of the 90’s pure and fairy-like concept. Their debut song “I Don’t Know” definitely paved the way to their success.
In addition, to those two, special mention should go to some of the other girl groups. Teddy Riley who composed Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous“, produced girl group Rania. One of the top Korean hit producers Brave Brothers unleashed his girl group, Brave Girls. Music Entertainment company Yedang also released their own girl group, Chi-Chi. Bella also known as ‘sexy Big Mama’ also received interest from fans.
There is even a mixed race girl group receiving popularity named Chocolat. Girl group April Kiss is being called ‘the girl version of 2PM’. Also, Kim Ga Young, a member of Stellar, was a special guest on KBS‘s ‘1 Night and 2 Days’ her appearance on the show receiving much enthusiasm for her group’s debut album. Stellar also received attention as they are signed with Top Class Entertainment, the entertainment agency Shinhwa‘s Eric Mun.
Kim Tae Won of GP Entertainment commented, “It is a fact that there is a high demand for girl groups however the supply is also high. Although girl groups are the thing right now, getting a chance to be on a music program isn’t easy.” ”If a girl group wants to survive the competitive fight amongst girl groups, every detail and planning has to be carefully researched and delivered.”
