Music Favorites: KPop Rookies Edition!

Dear, guys – welcome back to Letters from Liz!

So, two weeks ago, I published part one of this KPop music favorites thing showing you some of my favorite “veteran” KPop girl groups. Since KPop as a genre is practically exploding, many new groups are debuting, and some of them I instantly fell in love with!

So, since we all know how long the other letter was, let’s get straight to it!

IZ*ONE:

Like I mentioned in my last post, I was highly invested in the popular survival competition show, Produce 48. In a nutshell, this season of the show introduced Japanese girls under AKB48, a wildly popular Japanese with dozens of girls, with Korean trainees in hopes to form and debut a global girl group. With nationwide voting, the top 12 trainees formed IZ*ONE, a temporary girl group that debuted in October 2018 with their first mini-album, Color*IZ, and will be promoting for 2 and a half years. The 12 members (in rank order from the show), are Wonyoung, Sakura, Yuri, Yena, Yujin, Nako, Eunbi, Hyewon, Hitomi, Chaewon, Minju, and Chaeyeon. I really do hate that after their contract is over, they all go their separate ways. These 12 girls work so well as a group and really have the potential to be as big as other veteran girl groups.

Personal Favorites:

• Bias: While watching the show, it was really hard to decide who I liked the most. There was another trainee who I wished had the opportunity to debut because she had such an AMAZING voice, but when she didn’t, Yuri and Yena were easily my favorites. Yuri (which as also on “Idol School”; the show that formed fromis_9) has crazy vocals. I’m actually glad she didn’t debut until now under IZ*ONE because she’s now main fuckin’ vocalist Yuri, and she’s honestly my favorite main vocalist in any girl group I like. Yena also has some amazing vocals, but her rapping? Lit. Plus, she was so funny on Produce 48, so I’m really glad that she got the opportunity to debut. Both of them actually!
• Bias Wrecker: I don’t really know! If I had to pick a third favorite, I think I’d have to pick Chaewon. She’s such an underdog in the group, but she has some of the best vocals in the group as well. On the show, she wasn’t showcased as much as the other groups who debuted in IZ*ONE, but she quickly won the hearts of viewers, and I believe her vocals for “Into The New World” proved her spot. Also Nako.
• Favorite Comeback/Album: Since they are more of a rookie group, they don’t have a wide range of discography. With that being said, their recent comeback title track has been in my head every day since it came out. The concept for this comeback, “Violeta“, fits them so well as a group!

Cherry Bullet:

Cherry Bullet is a rookie girl group that debuted in January 2019 under FNC Entertainment. I first heard news of their debut when YouTube recommended me their cover of Girls’ Generation’s “Into The New World”. It was sung live, as they danced, which impressed a lot of viewers for their abilities to do both. Also, I quickly realized that Haeyoon, a contestant on Produce 48, was now set to debut in this group, which I was happy for! She was best known for her vocals on the show, and ultimately ranked #19 at the end, which isn’t bad! I’m just glad that her company saw her potential for debut and decided to do so. Cherry Bullet consists of 10 members; in age order, they are Haeyoon, Yuju, Mirae, Bora, Jiwon, Kokoro, Remi, Chaerin, Linlin, and May.

Personal Favorites:

• Bias: I haven’t seen much of the group since their debut, meaning I haven’t seen them on variety shows or anything since they debuted, so I don’t really have one. The only member I know is Haeyoon due to Produce 48. Once they have more comebacks as a group and promote more maybe then it will change!
• Bias Wrecker: Out of all of them, I really am starting to like Chaerin a lot more because she has some amazing stage presence. Plus, I think she’s so pretty! Again, I hope when they have another comeback, I’m able to get to know them as a group more!
• Thoughts on their Debut: Their video game concept for the group is so cute and fitting to their image and group, so I hope they can incorporate that into most of their comebacks! The song at first wasn’t that catchy to me, but the chorus was what made me listen to it more. The more I played it, the more I liked it! Their debut title track is called “Q&A“.

ITZY:

I was excited to hear that JYP Entertainment was debuting their first girl group since debuting TWICE because, let’s be honest: TWICE is so widely popular, we all wondered how the new girl group would live to those expectations. When their reveal video came out, we were all shocked when it revealed that ITZY was a girl-crush concept group, which TWICE isn’t. This even further the excitement to see what this girl group would be like, and man: I wasn’t disappointed! In age order, ITZY consists of 5 members: Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna. Many people were happy to see Chaeryeong in the lineup for this girl group; she (as well as her sister, IZ*ONE’s Chaeyeon) was on the show that created and formed TWICE as a group in 2015. I’m very happy that both of them finally got to debut because they are both crazy talented: Chaeyeon’s vocals, Chaeryeong’s rapping, and both of their dance skills.

Personal Favorites:

• Bias: Choosing one for this group is extremely hard, mainly because they are all so unique in their own way, and honestly I never had a girl group where I liked all of them just as much as the next. If I had to pick, though, I think it would be Ryujin. She’s such a badass looking girl, and she totally fits ITZY’s concept the best (I mean, she’s the center for a reason!) Although her talents weren’t showcased as much as I would’ve liked in their debut, her aura, and stage presence is just out of this world. I hope to hear her rapping skills more in their next comeback!
• Bias Wrecker: I think if your bias isn’t Yeji from the start, then she’s going to be your wrecker. Yeji is so fucking talented; she really was JYP’s secret weapon. She’s a great dancer, great vocals, and could rap. She also makes a great leader for the group! Many people were blown away by her in their debut since she had most of the lines in their debut song, “DALLA DALLA“.
• Thoughts on their Debut: Many people didn’t like the debut song (or expected something completely different), but the song was instantly catchy to me! The concepts and visuals were nice, and I believe all the girls fit the concept well! Their B-side track, “WANT IT?” is something so different than anything I heard considered KPop.

EVERGLOW:

Everglow is a 6-member girl group that debuted in March 2019 under Yuehua Entertainment. This is the same company that IZ*ONE’s Yena was a trainee under, and represented them during her season of Produce 48. Along with Yena, two other trainees also participated in the show, Sihyeon and Yiren. Both trainers made it quite far until their eliminations within the final rounds before debuting IZ*ONE. Because I knew these two trainees during Produce 48, I was interested to see just how they were in this new group, Everglow. At first listen, the song doesn’t sound that great, but it gets addictive quite easily! After watching some of their music show performances, I started to really enjoy their song, concept, and style!

Personal Favorites:

• Bias: Although they are a fairly new group without any variety show appearances just yet, I could tell that my bias is definitely E:U. She’s the member that sticks out the most to me; with her platinum blonde hair and her more foreign features, she’s not that hard to miss. She’s considered the main rapper of the group even though she didn’t rap that much in this debut, so I hope she gets her time to shine when they decide to comeback in a couple of months!
• Bias Wrecker: Although I don’t think this member will ever “wreck” my bias, I do really like Mia a lot as well. She’s the main vocalist in the group, so she sang for most of the time in their debut track. But! When you watch her performances, she definitely has undeniable stage presence, and it’s definitely something that I believe many of her fans enjoy. Also, her pastel purple hair was everything in this debut.
• Thoughts on their Debut: One thing I’m starting to see within the Kpop industry is that a lot of these newer girl groups are starting out having the same concept, which is “girl crush”. Maybe that’s the trendy concept nowadays, but Everglow’s debut was another girl crush concept in 2019. Maybe Yuehua Entertainment has a reputation of being more girl crush-like, but the concept overall suited the girls well. I wonder if this is going to be their signature concept, or they wanted to start off with a bang, but either way, I like them & I hope they do comeback in a few months!

And that’s pretty much in! I hope all you Kpop lovers give these girls a chance as they are just beginning their journeys as idols and are finally living their dream of debuting!