✨ An Incomplete Guide to Nugu Girl Groups (Part 2) ✨

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

{ ✨ Part 1 ✨ }

In this edition, we have a spate of brand-new nugu groups making their debuts (when will they stop?! Probably never) and significantly fewer cute concepts, for those who prefer their girl groups on the more mature side.

Group Name: Six Bomb
Debut Date: January 2012
Label: Pacemaker Entertainment
Members: Soa (formerly of Duoflo), Dain (formerly of ZZBest), I Sol (formerly of I-Ren)

Is it just me, or is this a bop...? Trashy dance-pop is usually the easiest genre for nugu groups to pull off, and trashy is basically Six Bomb's whole concept. They've gained attention by courting controversy throughout their career - they had a pretty typical debut in 2012 with "Chiki Chiki Bomb" and a vaguely tough/sexy image, then they didn't do anything for a few years, then they came back in 2016 with a new lineup and skintight baby-pink bodysuits. That stunt was actually fairly successful, but they went on to stir up further controversy with "Getting Prettier," a two-part MV series showing the "before and after" of each member getting plastic surgery.
Their latest MV is apparently a parody of JAV tropes, with all the hotel room sets, cleavage, and random pixelation to go with it. I sincerely hope the members are into this sort of thing and not forced into it by their company. The group has lasted much, much longer than most nugu groups (if you don't count the long hiatuses and member changes) so I guess their controversy-based strategy is working okay.
They appeared on Pops in Seoul (1, 2) during the "Wait 10 Years Baby" era, and you can follow them on Facebook and Instagram, or you can check out some of their recent live performances.

Group Name: Berry Good
Debut Date: May 2014
Label: JTG Entertainment
Members: Taeha, Johyun, Seoyul, Daye, Sehyung, Gowoon

Oh, Berry Good... we could have had it all. Maybe we can still have it all, but it's going to take a lot for this group to realize the potential they've shown throughout the years. They debuted in 2014 with "Love Letter", peaked in 2016 with "Don't Believe", and their subunit HeartHeart even took a super-catchy stab at a sexy concept with "Crazy, Gone Crazy" earlier this year. Sadly, most of their more recent releases have been desperately lacking a budget.

They do have a nice variety of English-subbed content out there, including VLives, reality show episodes, and of course, Pops in Seoul. Johyun, Seoyul, and Daye all appeared on Mixnine, although we all know how that show turned out. (Badly.) Their old lineup even appeared on Weekly Idol alongside GFriend. If only they could reach the heights that their hoobaes ultimately did.

Maybe Seoyul can join AOA, her older sister Yuna's group; or maybe Berry Good just needs a good viral fancam to propel them to fame. How about this 600K+ video of Johyun?

Group Name: Tweety
Debut Date: May 2015
Label: Time & It’s Good Entertainment
Members: Ain, Haerin, Boreum, Chaea

Tweety ("Trend & Sweety") are back with their second remake of "Badaya", a song which they first released in 2015 and remade in 2016. I guess they're really banking on this song? The three versions sound pretty much the same, so the only real difference seems to be the lineup. They've released quite a few singles, but the only other one to get an MV is the rock-esque "Bad Boy". They're pretty cute and dance-iful in their dance practice for "Ajussi Fighting".

Follow them on Facebook and check out their YouTube channel, which contains content such as a rap version of "Bad Boy" accompanied by a live band and various dance practices. Oh, and here's the obligatory Pops in Seoul self-intro, although it's from one lineup ago. Thank you for saving all the nugus, Arirang K-Pop.

Group Name: Nature
Debut Date: August 2018
Label: N.CH World
Members: Saebom, Aurora, Lu, Chaebin (PD101 S1), Gaga, Haru, Uchae, Sunshine

Nature is one of those groups that has a pretty significant potential to escape nugu-dom. Their debut MV has almost 2.5 million views as of this posting, the song has a unique, catchy piano-driven song and they actually have a decent budget. They have an ongoing "Pop Cover Project" where they sing and dance to songs like Prince's "Kiss" (with unchanged pronouns!) and Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation", with MV-quality video production to boot. Really, the amount of content they put out puts many better-known groups to shame.

They've had an episode of After School Club and they have a self-introduction on Pops in Seoul, where you can learn all about the members and the different moles they have on their faces. You might be seeing them on mainstream shows like Idol Room before long.

Group Name: ALiKE
Debut Date: August 2018
Label: Base4 Entertainment
Members: Sunga, Gahyeon, Wookjin

ALiKE seem to have established themselves as a summery group right off the bat by debuting with "Summer Love", a tropical-house-adjacent and fairly pleasant tune. Their vocals and dancing are both rather impressive. It's rare to see choreo of that quality from a nugu group, and it's too bad the MV doesn't show it off more.

The only English-subbed content I could find on YouTube was a brief appearance on Sound K, but you can check out their showcase performance and their Blackpink song/dance covers ("Forever Young"/"As If It's Your Last") in the meantime.

The group is very active on social media, including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (all with posts in English and Korean). They've posted videos from the recording booth, so we can look forward to new music soon! Let's see what this summer girl group brings us in the winter.

Group Name: Camila
Debut Date: August 2018
Label: Independent
Members: Choim (formerly of Laysha), Yubeen (formerly of 1NB/Laysha), Yuna

An independent K-pop group? Yes, apparently. After graduating from the sextastically sexual sexy-dance group Laysha, 2 members struck out on their own, added a third and formed their own group with a more mature image (still lots of sexy dancing, though.) The song is actually quite nice.
Although they don't have a lot of content out yet, you can follow them on YouTube and Instagram and check out their live performances on various music shows (here's a stage mix).

Group Name: GWSN / Gong Won So Nyeo (Park Girls)
Debut Date: September 2018
Label: Kiwi Pop
Members: Seoryoung, Seokyoung (PD101 S1), Anne, Minju, SoSo, Miya, Lena

Another group that I can't see staying nugu much longer, unless they hit a bump in the rocky road of K-pop. GWSN have a gorgeous MV, a catchy song reminiscent of f(x)'s "4 Walls", surprising chart success in Korea and buzz among i-fans. They even have an androgynous member in Miya, which is pretty rare in girl groups outside of the hip-hop genre.

There's tons of content on their YouTube channel, they have their own Mnet reality show called Got Ya! GWSN (which is available online with English subs), and they've even been on Weekly Idol. So they might not be a household name just yet, but they're getting there!

Group Name: Kitten Girls
Debut Date: September 2018
Label: Wannabe Academy
Members: Hongrang, Yea, Yesol, Gabin

Although their single was released relatively recently, Kitten Girls have been performing it since at least May. This ambitious group has already released "U Me Us" in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English. (The MVs are all lip-synced to the Korean version, though.)  Apparently they also released a Chinese single "Love Pops"  in 2017, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Maybe someone who's better at Googling in Chinese will have more luck.

The group name is based on a "naughty baby cats" concept, since all the members are under 160cm tall.   Their company is known for training dancers from other companies; member Yea is an experienced choreographer herself who worked with the company CEO to choreograph their debut single.

Check out their self-introduction on Pops in Seoul (Hongrang is so pretty?) and here's a live performance if you want to check out their homemade choreo.

Group Name: Blue Fox
Debut Date: October 2018
Label: Blue Fox Entertainment
Members: Song Iyagi, Aria, Daya, Haena
This brand-new group is starting out with a single that sounds rather like 9Muses' Wild, and you really can't go wrong there, because Wild is an amazing song. Their floor choreo isn't bad either. Unfortunately there isn't a lot out there about the group just yet, but you can check out their Instagram for some behind-the-scenes shots from their MV filming, or on YouTube in the hopes that they'll one day post a second video.

Group Name: S#aFLA
Debut Date: October 2018
Label: VINE Entertainment
Members: Suhyeon, Seulgi, Yujin, Jisun
The group name is pronounced "Shafla" (like Sharp and Flat) so that's what I'm going to call them, okay? Okay. Nugu companies are so bad at naming groups, but making a name that's literally impossible to hashtag seems like especially poor planning.
Shafla's claim to fame is that member Jisun is a former member of Girl's Day (she was in the debut lineup and left after two months.) Their song "DDu-Ru-DDu-PPa-Ra-Ppa" (can I shorten that to DRDPRP? or just DRD?) is of the Spica/early Ladies' Code/early Mamamoo-esque genre, showing off the members' vocals with a smoky and mature concept. It's actually very nice, and hopefully it'll get the attention it deserves.

The B-side, "Rainy Night", is also quality. Other than that and some live performances, there doesn't seem to be a lot of content about them. But give them time; they just debuted. Follow them on YouTube and wait for something to happen!

[Poll #2086322]

Sources:
YouTube: Danal Entertainment, Stone Music Entertainment, 트위티 TWEETY TV Official, 1theK (1, 2), ALiKE_official, 오감엔터(OGAM Ent.), kitten girls official, 블루폭스, SUPER SOUND Bugs!

KProfiles: 1, 2, 3
Kpopinfo114: 1, 2, 3

Kpopmap: 1
HallyuMusic: 1

Reddit: r/kpop
Blue Fox Entertainment
GIF: Tumblr: femaleidols

Comments

[frequency.livejournal.com]

i need berrygood to rise! they have really good songs. ppl need to stop sleeping on them.

i liked nature's debut tbh. their dance covers have been really cool, too!

i also really enjoyed gwsn's mini-album, but uhhh did anyone else notice the 17 million views the mv has on their official channel? when did that happen?

i wish s#afla's name was different cause the song isn't that bad, and their vocals are pleasant to listen to.

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Yea it’s a little weird that the video has that many views. I do believe they’re an interesting enough group with a pretty good budget compared to other nugus so I can see them attracting more attention, but this seems suspicious. Unless they attracted way more attention in Korea than I’m aware of

[frequency.livejournal.com]

i keep waiting for CSI: k-netz to investigate lol

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Berry Good has a special place in my heart. Angel is one of my all time favorite kpop songs followed by Don’t Believe which is a great track. The recent subunit did a great job, their song is great for fall. on their recent album, Can I Dream Again is right up there with Angel. Such a beautiful song. And Johyun is one of the hottest idols in kpop, she needs to be nominated this year for our sexiest awards

I can easily see GSWN breaking out of nugudom and getting into at least Oh My Girl territory type of success, I think they have a lot of potential! Their aesthetics so far are perfect to me

Finally Shafla reminds me of Brown Eyed Girls back in the day so I’ll keep an eye on them. I hateeeee their name though. Oh and I hate the singles name too. Who was picking these names

i love this post!

[uledy.livejournal.com]

yessss gwsn. we're getting really spoiled with them as their promotions have been really solid. their mv is gorgeous and i love love love the choreography. i spend my time these days watching fancams of miya. she's sooooo cute. i love minju as well, she reminds me so much of seulgi.

i wanted to like nature and was kind of excited about their pop cover project, but.....hm. the covers are pretty terrible and choreography is very uninspired. but i will keep checking them out- maybe there will be something i like.

throwing my girls neonpunch into the mix. they're a bunch of weirdos but i think they have a lot of potential. one of my fave songs this year tbh....

edit: oops just saw part I and my girls are there. sorry!

Re: i love this post!

[boxcuttergirl.livejournal.com]

ia about nature, i was really excited when i saw that they covered walk like an egyptian, but the choreo was just really.... not great. :( their debut song was catchy though

[pamankpop.livejournal.com]

How do you define nugu anyway? Cos I'd like to add Fromis_9 and Busters to the list. How about Dreamcatcher and Playback?

I think GWSN will gain enough popularity and recognition on their next comeback, they have great concept and marketed well, while BerryGood is sinking lower since they lost their previous songwriter.

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

nugu is indeed hard to define. I wasn't going to include Berry Good because I thought of them as more of a struggle group than nugu group, but I ultimately changed my mind
imo fromis_9 and dreamcatcher are fairly well known, but busters or playback will definitely be on the list if they make a comeback! I'm trying to focus on groups that have been active recently, because a group that hasn't released anything in over half a year could very well be dead in the water

[giriboy.livejournal.com]

playback are definitely nugu status, imo—no matter how upsetting it is to me—but it doesn't help that they're on coridel now & are blocked on programs... :( i don't even know if they're even officially around anymore. their official twitter hasn't been updated since, like, february

fromis_9 charts better than any of the other groups you named, tho, and their newest single 24k copies on hanteo. i'd qualify them as just rookies

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Angel (https://youtu.be/b6tfeK4NLuU) is my favourite song by Berry Good. It's amazing, gives me chills everytime. I wish they were bigger because they regularly have amazing songs.

GWSN have so many youtube views, I can see them getting to a comfortable mid-tier position easily! who knows, maybe even better. But the potential is definitively there.

I like Nature too. I need to check the others :)

[yxerin.livejournal.com]

i have literally teared up several times while listening to angel, the lyrics get me feeling some type of way

[horichansenpai.livejournal.com]

Nature covering Allegro Cantabile aka one of my favourite anime OP songs from one of my favourite anime still boggles my mind hahaha

Rooting for Berry Good and GWSN (Miya is so dreamy)

[volume1995.livejournal.com]

Wow blue fox their song is really good? I love the loud and catchy chorus! Too bad the song is nowhere to be found :(

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

I love the format of this post, nice job op !

So far I do like Berry Good. Blue Fox sounds and look amazing btw.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

I sincerely hope the members are into this sort of thing and not forced into it by their company.

#everybodyknowsit

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's a lot of shady stuff behind the scenes with almost every group probably but some of these companies make it really obvious :/

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

GWSN!!! Can't wait to see what they do next!

[yxerin.livejournal.com]

while berrygood's company seems to be pandering to the lowest common determinator lately with their aegyo-sexy concept, their music's still banging. it was a mistake choosing green apple as the title track of their latest cb imo, give it away or mellow mellow should've been promoted