K-pop saw a resurgence of rookie group popularity in 2015. Though the one rookie group which received the most attention last year was Red Velvet, for their smash track “Dumb Dumb,” they did not shadow the presence of other rookie groups to come on the scene. One particular group worth mentioning is GFriend. Officially debuting in January of 2015, the six member group consisting of Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, Yuju, SinB, and Umji made a splash with “Glass Bead.” It was kind of a surprise among the K-pop community because GFriend is technically signed to a small talent agency, one that has very little pull in the industry.
However, their comeback was what made GFriend a sensation. Their comeback song “Me Gustas Tu” was doing fairly well on the charts, but a viral video of them performing the song live on a wet stage made them into Korea’s sweethearts. In it, Yuju and SinB slipped a total of nine times . Still, GFriend would still perform showing their determination and professionalism. Of course the viral video also made GFriend internationally popular as they followed up with television appearances, including a special performance on Running Man , and their third comeback album, Snowflake , with its title song “ Rough ” dominating the charts.
GFriend has become one of the most popular rookie groups in K-pop today, yet their concept thus far has only been high school. It is known that Snowflake will be the last time GFriend uses the high school concept, leaving much to the imagination of what their next concept will be. Sadly for those who want a sexy concept, it will never happen because So Sung Jin, the CEO of Source Music, has said so.
So Sung Jin made his intentions known during a recent interview with IZE Magazine, as reported by Korean news outlet Naver.During it, Sung Jin was asked a multitude of questions pertaining to GFriend. As for the “sexy concept,” it was a response to GFriend’s future.
“Many people believe that when girl groups create too much music too quickly, they run out of things to do and end up doing a sexy concept. However, I don’t feel that way at all. GFriend will mostly likely never do a sexy concept.
“If we continue on the path we are currently on, I believe that the group can go far. That’s the best way to repay our fans.”
It should be noted that So Sung Jin is not bashing the sexy concept whatsoever. He is simply stating that GFriend is popular and well-known for not doing the sexy concept, therefore future concepts will not go in that direction. And to be fair, GFriend might have done a sexy concept if that was the only way they could become competitive. That is what EXID and STELLAR had to do to make it. Thankfully for GFriend and Sung Jin, a “blessing in disguise” came in the form of the viral video. Sung Jin credits that video for being a major factor in establishing GFriend , as reported by KpopStarz .
Ultimately, the only time Buddies (devoted fans of GFriend) will probably ever see their K-pop idol group of preference is during a special performance on Inkigayo . Just recently, GFriend teamed up with TWICE, another rookie K-pop group who made a splash in 2015, to perform “Gee,” Girls’ Generation’s breakout track. To truly get the feel of “Gee,” both GFriend and TWICE members participating practiced the famous dance, which included the infamous crab strut, and wore similar outfits which included tight T-shirts, bared midriffs, and colorful skinny jeans, some of them being shorts.
[Image via Wikipedia Commons/ http://mfdicekone.tistory.com/200 ]