Will BABYMONSTER follow BLACKPINK's footsteps? In an article, pop culture critics and media highlighted the similarities and differences between the two YG girl groups.
Similarities Between BABYMONSTER & BLACKPINK
As the debut of YG Entertainment's new girl group BABYMONSTER is fast approaching, K-pop fans, media, and music critics are focused on how the rookie group will create their own name without being labeled as "BLACKPINK's baby sister."
Since the announcement of their debut in 2023, attention has been focused on whether BABYMONSTER will be able to be reborn as a global star, just like YG's flagship like BLACKPINK, who wrote the new history of K-pop.
Similar to their seniors, the rookies were also introduced seven years after the debut of a preceding girl group.
In their case, BABYMONSTER will be launched this year following BLACKPINK's debut in 2016 as YG's first girl group after 2NE1 (2009).
Both groups then shared the same concept of having multinational members. Jisoo and Jennie are both Koreans, Rosé is a Korean-Australian while Lisa is Thai.
BABYMONSTER was introduced as a seven-member group with members from Korea, Thailand and Japan.
Just like the current "biggest girl group in the world," BABYMONSTER also adopted the concept "skilled group" that emphasizes each member's individuality.
Since BLACKPINK's debut, YG has always emphasized "skill" at the forefront. the quartet all had four to six years of practice. Despite being originally planned to debut with nine people, only four members succeeded in debuting since the others failed to meet the standards of producer Yang Hyun Suk.
This is similar to BABYMONSTER, who was unveiled as a septet with top skills after years of training.
Differences Between BABYMONSTER & BLACKPINK
However, contrary to BLACKPINK who were exposed prior to their debut through concept photos, MV cameo and song featuring, BABYMONSTER were hidden from the public until YG released members' respective live performance videos.
This is interpreted as YG's literal strategy, saying:
"We decided that being evaluated as a singer is the most important thing. We wanted to show their skills first with a raw feeling without filtering for them to be recognized as singers without any prejudice."
This shows YG's confidence to win only with BABYMONSTER's talent and skills, not as BLACKPINK's sister group or a team that came from a big K-pop agency.
Also, they were being exposed to the music scene without any prior information about them.
"BABYMONSTER is actively promoting itself."
This is in contrast to BLACKPINK, which has already become famous for its past history of featuring in YG songs or appearing in music videos, BABYMONSYER rather refrained from exposure before its debut. At that time, YG minimized concept photos of BLACKPINK members and worked hard on choreography videos.
Jung Deok Hyun, a pop culture critic, said:
"In the process of idol groups' recent debut, the promotion method has changed a lot from the past. Now there are many ways to show individual personality or mystery and raise expectations before debuting, and BABYMONSTER seems to have chosen that way.
It would be an interesting approach to make a comparison between BABYMONSTER and BLACKPINK. If you create a story about whether to surpass BLACKPINK or start in a similar way to then, the presence of BABYMONSTER will rise together."
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Written by Eunice Dawson.
