Meet K-Pop Girl Groups Originally Consisting of Seven Members!
Increasingly popular, the development of K-Pop every year is getting better, even now it is worldwide. Every year, there are always new boy groups and girl groups that debut with various concepts. Various agencies in South Korea are competing to name their superior trainees, and are working hard to make their boy/girl groups more popular.
The success of boy groups or girl groups that have debuted first and become very popular often becomes the standard for their agency to debut a group, including the number of members in a group. In this article, we will discuss girl groups from various agencies that originally consisted of 7 members.
APINK
Apink is a girl group that debuted in 2011, under CUBE Entertainment or now known as Play M Entertainment. Apink debuted with 7 members, Park Cho-rong, Yoon Bo-mi, Jung Eun-ji, Son Na-eun, Hong Yoo-kyung, Kim Nam-joo, and Oh Ha-young, they debuted on April 19th, 2011, with the release of their first extended play (EP), Seven Springs of Apink and the music video for its lead single, “Mollayo” (몰라요; “I Don’t Know”).
Since their debut, Apink has won awards at shows such as the Golden Disc Awards, the Seoul Music Awards and the Mnet Asian Music Awards. Their first music show appearance was on M Countdown on January 5th, 2012, for “My My” from their second EP Snow Pink. But unfortunately, in April 2013, Hong Yoo-kyung decided to leave the group to focus on her studies.
Apink’s image and music style are often compared to first-generation idol girl groups S.E.S. and Fin.K.L. Apink has an innocent and girlish image, unusual among girl groups’ sexy concepts. In 2012, member Oh Ha-young said, “Other girl groups these days tend to highlight their dancing skills and sexy looks, but our concept was an innocent and pure image. I think that’s why the audience feels comfortable with us.” Apink’s music generally fits within the bubblegum pop genre, with signature cheery lyrics.
With the release of their 2018 “I’m So Sick,” Apink showed a shift in their style of music, moving towards a more mature and sophisticated sound. The track, with its use of autotune, synth and house beats, and its lyrical content of having ‘not even one’ bit of feeling left for an ex, makes “I’m So Sick” a much bolder track than what Apink is known to put out. Their 2019 “%% (Eung Eung)” does much of the same. Its use of ‘Izzy synths, snapping beats and slapping percussion as the members sing about the type of person one should love’ make “%% (Eung Eung)” another song that is a departure from much of Apink’s earlier work. To date, Apink has released eight Korean mini-albums, three Korean studio albums, and three Japanese studio albums.
Last February, Apink finished their concert PINK WORLD 2020, which is their sixth concert. On January 9th, Apink’s agency, Play M Entertainment, officially announced, “Just five minutes after tickets went on sale for Apink’s solo concert Welcome to PINK WORLD, which will be held on February 1st and 2nd at Olympic Hall in Seoul’s Olympic Park, all seats for both concerts completely sold out.”
Notably, the upcoming concert marks the sixth consecutive time that Apink has managed to sell out a solo concert; the girl-group currently holds a perfect record starting from 2015, when they held their very first solo concert, Pink Paradise. Titled Welcome to PINK WORLD, Apink’s upcoming concert will feature a fun “festival” theme. According to Play M Entertainment, the members have personally contributed ideas and participated in the planning of the show. It is known that there are many celebrities who attend their concerts, including MAMAMOO’s Moonbyul, BTOB’s Ilhoon, actress Moon Ga-young, Park So-dam, and there’s also support from MAMAMOO’s Solar for Chorong.
RAINBOW
Rainbow is a girl group that debuted on November 12th, 2009, under DSP Media. DSP Media is a South Korean entertainment company established in 1991 by Lee Ho-yeon. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house. The label is home to prominent artists such as Oh Jong-hyuk, APRIL, Heo Young-ji, KARD and formerly to pioneering groups SoBangCha, ZAM, COCO, Fin.K.L and Sechskies as well as SS501, KARA, and A-JAX. It also manages actors such as Lee Hyun-joo and Cho Shi-yoon. It is also home to former X1 member, Son Dong-pyo.
The group is composed of seven members: Woori, Seungah, Jaekyung, Noeul, Yoonhye, Jisook, and Hyunyoung. They released their debut mini-album Gossip Girl on November 12th, 2009. On September 14th, 2011, Rainbow released their debut single in the Japanese market, “A,” and reached No. 3 on Oricon’s daily single chart, selling 10,141 copies. The single release included a Japanese remake of their debut single “Gossip Girl,” as well as an exclusive DVD. Rainbow made their Japanese TV debut on the show Sukkiri, performing “A.”
On January 3rd, 2012, DSP Media announced that a section of the group will be formed as a trio. On the same day, a teaser image was revealed on DSP Media’s website, revealing “Rainbow Pixie” as the trio’s name. On January 4th, 2012, another image revealed the members of the group as SeungAh, Jisook, and Hyunyoung. A second subunit, named Rainbow Blaxx, was formed in January 2014 consisting of Jaekyung, Woori, Seungah, and Hyunyoung.
Unfortunately, on October 27th, 2016, it was confirmed that the members of the group chose not to renew their contracts with DSP Media and that Rainbow would be disbanded as their contracts were set to end on November 12th, 2016. But in November 2019, Rainbow was re-formed for their tenth anniversary.
DIA
DIA (shortened from DIAMOND and an acronym for Do It Amazing) is a girl group that debuted on September 17th, 2015, under MBK Entertainment. MBK Entertainment is a South Korean entertainment company established in 2007 by Kim Kwang-soo. MBK is an abbreviation for “Music Beyond Korea” and also home to artists like HIGHBROW, DIA, and formerly home to artists like T-ara, SG Wannabe, Seeya, Davichi, and Shannon.
The group debuted with 7 members namely, Sunghee, Eunjin, Huihyeon, Eunice, Yebin, Chaeyeon, Jenny. DIA debuted with the release of their debut album Do It Amazing, with their lead single “Somehow.” In March 2016, Eunchae joined DIA as the new member, and in April 2016, Suenghee was confirmed to have left the group.
In April 2017, DSP Media announced that Jooeun and Somyi will join DIA as new members and continue their activities with 9 members. But on May 7th, 2018, Eunjin announced her departure from the group, citing health problems and on July 6th, 2019, MBK Entertainment confirmed that Jenny left the group due to health problems with her knee.
WA$$UP
Wassup is a girl group that debuted in 2013, under Sony Music Korea, consisting of 7 members, namely Dain, Woojoo, Nari, Jinju, Nada, Sujin, and Jiae. On August 3rd, 2013, Sony Music announced a girl group that had been practicing for three years, with the genre of dancehall music and dance twerking. Sony Music said, “Wassup will be different from other girl groups. They aim to spread hip-hop music through their various activities.”
On August 7th, 2013, Wassup released their debut music video “Wassup.” They then held their debut appearance on Show Champion. One month later, on September 4th, 2013, the group released a music video for “Hotter Than A Summer,” a reggae song composed by Red Roc and written by YE YO.
On June 9th, 2014, Wassup released the music video for the single “Fire.” The video was made to celebrate the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil. This video shows the band playing soccer in Brazil and South Korea jerseys.
Unfortunately, on February 1st, 2017, it was announced that Nada had officially left the group after a dispute with the company after her income from participating in Unpretty Rapstar was actually taken by the company and applied to her pre-debut debt. After Nada asked the company to terminate the contract, they refused, so Nada filed a lawsuit to forcibly terminate the contract. The company announced that the group would return as a quartet consisting of Nari, Jiae, Woojoo, and Sujin, but made no statement about Dain and Jinju, which led to speculation that they had left as well. On February 2nd, 2017, it was announced that Dain and Jinju had also filed lawsuits to terminate their contracts, where the company revealed that the group as a whole was still 500 million won in pre-debut debt and on February 10th, 2019, it was announced by Mafia Records that Wassup has been dissolved after termination of the contract.
MOMOLAND
Momoland is a girl group that debuted in 2016 under MLD Entertainment (formerly known as Double Kick Company). Through their variety show program Mnet’s Finding Momoland, the group was formed by 7 members namely, Hyebin, Yeonwoo, Jane, Nayun, JooE, Ahin, and Nancy.
Momoland debuted on November 10th, 2016, with the Extended Play (EP) Welcome to Momoland and on March 28th, 2017, Daisy and Taeha joined the group, increasing the group to nine members. Momoland gained popularity after their song “Bboom Bboom” on their third EP, Great! became a hit. Momoland was also signed with King Records and debuted in Japan on June 13th, 2018, with a Japanese version of their single “Bboom Bboom.” On August 9th, 2018, Momoland became the first girl group – and the second act – to earn a Platinum certification by the Gaon Music Chart, for over 100 million streams for the song “Bboom Bboom.” Unfortunately, in 2019, Taeha and Yeonwoo left the group, when Daisy is still on hiatus, and for a while, Momoland will be active with 6 members. Momoland released their first single album Thumbs Up on December 30th, 2019.
Dreamcatcher
Dreamcatcher is a girl group that debuted in 2017 under Happy Face Entertainment. Happy Face Entertainment is known to be a South Korean entertainment company established in 2008 by E-Tribe’s producers Ahn Myung-won and Kim Young-deuk. The agency debuted their first artist, Nassun, through Lee Hyo-ri’s 2008 smash hit “U-Go-Girl,” which was produced by E-Tribe. This single launched E-Tribe, Nassun, and the agency into mainstream popularity.
On January 5th, 2009, Girls’ Generation released the single “Gee,” which was produced by E-Tribe. The single experienced enormous success, charting at number one on South Korea’s Gaon Chart for two straight months and claiming over ten year-end awards. A Japanese version of the song was released in 2010 with composition credits still belonging to E-Tribe. Following the success of E-Tribe’s productions, the label made the decision to debut their first idol girl group, Dal Shabet and also the label of Dreamcatcher, and D1CE.
Before debuting as Dreamcatcher, Dreamcatcher was originally formed under the name MINX, consisting of five members: Jiu, Sua, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, Dami. They released their debut single “Why Did You Come to My Home?” on September 18th, 2014. In November 2016, Happy Face Entertainment revealed that Minx would re-debut under the name Dreamcatcher with Minx members JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, and Dami, along with two new members Handong and Gahyeon in 2017. The group re-debuted with the release of their first single album Nightmare and its title track “Chase Me,” on January 13th, 2017.
Dreamcatcher released their first EP under their new name titled Prequel on July 27th, 2017. The album contained six tracks, including the lead single “Fly High.” The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard World Albums Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the US iTunes K-Pop Top 100 Chart. Happy Face Entertainment also announced that Dreamcatcher will hold their first world tour after wrapping up their promotions for Prequel and in the same year Happy Face Entertainment announced that in collaboration with MyMusicTaste, Dreamcatcher will be touring 7 countries in Europe in February 2018 as part of their “Fly High” World Tour. Dreamcatcher became the first K-Pop girl group to complete a tour of major European cities to perform their music and interact with international fans. Cities visited on the ‘Fly High’ World Tour were London (February 14th), Lisbon (February 16th), Madrid (February 18th), Amsterdam (February 21st), Berlin (February 22nd), Warsaw (February 23rd), and Paris (February 25th).
In 2019, Dreamcatcher embarked on their second European Tour, specifically in the cities of London (October 24th), Milan (October 27th), Berlin (October 30th), Warsaw (November 1st), Paris (November 3rd), Amsterdam (November 5th), and lastly Helsinki (November 7th). Thereafter, the group also successfully completed their first-ever tour in the United States of America, where they performed in the cities: Los Angeles (December 6th), Chicago (December 8th), Dallas (December 11th), Orlando (December 13th), and Jersey City (December 15th).
On February 3rd, 2020, Dreamcatcher revealed their teaser schedule for their first Korean studio album. This first studio album — Dystopia: The Tree of Language — was released on February 18th, together with the music video for “Scream,” an uptempo EDM song. Although this was the first promotion since the debut where the group performed as six members (Handong was not present due to an ongoing overseas commitment), the dance for “Scream” was nevertheless choreographed for seven members in order to enable full-member participation in the future. In total, the album features eight new original songs, packaged with Dreamcatcher’s previous two fan songs “Full Moon” and “Over The Sky,” as well as Siyeon’s solo debut song “Paradise.”
Although there is a change of members or the addition of members in a group is quite common, but this is not a benchmark that they are a group that fails or is not popular, only sometimes there are some members who prefer their own way, or with various health problems. And even though it might be difficult to accept at first, not a few groups can still get up and go through it all.
Let’s support and look forward to the activities of each group that still exists, in the future, and continue to give love to each member and hope they remain happy and healthy in the future as well!
