History of K-Pop: Late First Wins
The recent explosion of Brave Girls got us thinking about groups who needed a little more time to reach their goals of fame and mainstream success. Back in the ‘90s and 2000s, it was the absolute norm for one or two songs to dominate the Korean music charts, but with the development of the K-Pop industry and the sheer number of K-Pop artists and groups, that is no longer the case. It’s not that reaching success was any easier in the past, but the immense amount of music choices available has created an insanely high amount of competition.
In this article, we’ll be looking at five different K-Pop groups that didn’t reach immediate success. As each group’s journey to stardom is different, we’ll be using the concept of a “first win” as the main comparison between groups. The groups are arranged in chronological order of debut day. The acts chosen for this list reflect a variety of success post-first win and pre-first win circumstances.
The first music show win is a milestone for K-Pop idols and their fans. Though each music show has their own system to tally up votes for contending songs, the general idea is that things such as streaming, album sales, social media engagement, and online voting would determine an act’s total aggregate points. A sense of mainstream notoriety comes with a first show win, an acknowledgement that their fanbase has grown, or that their music is relevant enough for members of the public to enjoy, too.
U-KISS - 84 Months
U-KISS debuted in 2008 but didn’t receive their first music show win until 2015 with their song “Playground” on The Show. The group debuted from a relatively small company, NH Media, that today houses them and girl group LABOUM.
Prior to their first win, U-KISS had already gained quite a bit of recognition and had a strong fanbase, especially outside of Korea. They officially debuted in August 2008 with the song “Not Young'' on Mnet. U-KISS’s original line up was made up of six members: Alexander, Kibum, Kevin, Dongho, Eli, and Soohyun. Their second mini-album Bring It Back 2 Old Skool was released in early 2009 and the accompanying title track “I Like You” was a success in Thailand. It was also after this album that Kiseop was introduced as the seventh member of the group, debuting with their song “Man Man Ha Ni.” The song was produced by Brave Brothers and peaked at No. 6 on M!COUNTDOWN. It would go on to be re-released as a Japanese single. In 2010, the group released their first full length album Only One, which did very well in the Philippines.
2010 was a busy year for the group, as they had performances all over Asia in countries such as the Philippines, Mongolia, and Malaysia, and also had their first Japanese concerts in Tokyo and Osaka. Between 2011 and 2012, the group had more changes to their lineup and debuted in Japan. In 2013 and 2014, the group had their Latin America, U.S., and European tours and more lineup changes. Through all these years, they were also active on variety shows and radio hosting gigs. They also had endorsements, such as with the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Japan and Zoff contact lenses, also in Japan.
In January 2015, U-KISS, at that point a seven member group consisting of Kevin, Eli, Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, and Jun - while AJ was still on hiatus - earned their first music show win for their song “Playground” on The Show. This win occurred 2,364 days after their debut. After their first win, the group faced more lineup changes, with AJ leaving the company in 2016. Eli and Kiseop would follow in 2019 with the expiration of their contracts. In 2016, the group released more music, especially in Japan, and members had individual activities. Newest member Jun participated in and went on to win competition survival show The Unit, while Soohyun hosted various variety shows. Jun has also recently been on Omniscient Interfering View. Soohyun left the group in April 2021 with the expiration of his contract, now leaving just Jun and Hoon as a duo.
Unlike several other groups in this list, U-KISS’s first win didn’t really signal a rise in popularity or predict more success to come. U-KISS experienced most of their success early in their career and by the time 2015 rolled around, already had their established fanbase and were to some degree known to the public. If anything, their first win was followed by the slow dissolvement of the group.
Brave Girls - 119 Months
The most recent success story is that of Brave Girls. In the last month, Brave Girls has gone from a generally unknown girl group that frequently did performances for the Korean military to gaining mainstream public notoriety.
Brave Girls debuted in 2011 under Brave Entertainment with five members, Eunyoung, Seoah, Yejin, Yoojin, and Hyeran. The group seemed to be off to a great start, even receiving the “Rookie Of The Year” award at that year’s Korean Culture Entertainment Awards. The group released a mini-album, Re-issue, in 2012 to a great response. But in 2014, Brave Girls went on a two-and-a-half year hiatus that ended with three of their original group members leaving and five new members being brought on, bringing them to a total of seven members.
The group made their next comeback in 2016 with the song “Deepend,” but in January 2017, it was announced that the two remaining original group members, Yoojin and Hyeran, would be departing from the group. Later in the year, the company announced that Hayun, another member of the group, would be taking a leave of absence, one that she has yet to return from.
Between 2017 and 2019, the group did not make any official comebacks, only re-releasing a remix version of their song “Rollin’,” which they released in 2016. In 2020, the group released the single “We Ride” and were in the midst of planning their dissolvement when a compilation video of the group performing “Rollin’” for Korean soldiers went viral. On March 14, 2021, Brave Girls received their first music show win after ten years - 3,629 days after the debut of the original line-up.
In the time following their viral hit, the group have appeared on many popular variety shows such as Weekly Idol, Ask Me Anything, I Live Alone, and Omniscient Interfering View. The act also nabbed their first endorsement deal with mobile gaming app FOWGAMES. Other endorsements have followed including that for SPAO, GS25, as well as individual deals for member Yujeong with Bring Green and Kkobuk Chips. Once on the brink of disbandment, this newfound fame has allowed the group to continue working together with the belief that more prosperous days are to come.
EXID - 35 Months
EXID debuted in February of 2012 from a small company named, at the time, Yedang Entertainment, with the song “Whoz That Girl”. Yuji, Hani, Haeryeong, Jeonghwa, LE, and Dami made up the six member group. The song only peaked at No. 36 on the Gaon Singles Chart. That following April, Yuji, Dami, and Haeryeong made the decision to leave the group and were replaced with Solji and Hyelin.
The first two years after the group’s debut were relatively lackluster. Even though they continued to release original music, charting positions were not astounding and it seemed like they had a long way to go. That was until they made their comeback for the song “Up & Down” in June 2014. The song initially did very poorly, peaking at No. 94 on Gaon’s domestic chart. However, in October 2014, a fancam of member Hani performing the song went viral on South Korean social media sites. This led to the song climbing the charts and placing within the top 10. After this happened, the group were invited back to music shows to perform the song even though they had finished their promotional period. They were subsequently nominated for first place on several music shows and took home their first win in January of 2015.
After their first win, the group released the song “Ah Yeah,” and achieved a first music show win for that song within the first ten days of promotion. The group also began to have overseas activities, performing for the first time in the U.S. at Korea Times Music Festival in Los Angeles, and began to receive endorsements. The group had a CF deal with Lotte Foods and Hani had individual endorsement deals with Kiss Me, the Japanese cosmetics brand, as well as popular instant noodle brand Wang Ddoo Kkong.
In 2016, the group made their debut in China as their company entered into a partnership with Chinese company Banana Project, with Yedang Entertainment going on to rebrand as Banana Culture. At the end of 2016, member Solji began a leave of absence for health reasons. In 2017, the group had their Asia tour and returned with the song “DDD.” In 2018, Solji resumed her activities and the group made their Japanese debut. Through the years, the group members were also active on variety shows such as Law of The Jungle and Weekly Idol. Solji made her comeback by going on the show King of Masked Singer.
In 2019, the group announced a hiatus to their Korean activities, with members choosing to leave Banana Culture. By 2020, all members except for LE had chosen to leave the company. However, it was made clear that rather than a disbandment, this was a hiatus to allow the members to fulfill their personal goals as solo artists.
As evident by the stark before-and-after of the group, EXID’s first music show win was an important turning point in their group’s traction. Their first music show win followed closely on the heels of Hani’s famed fancam, and that exposure brought with them many more opportunities for success. Compared to several other groups in this list, EXID shows us an example of what good things could come from going viral and earning success unexpectedly.
NU’EST - 55 Months
Debuting in 2012 from Pledis Entertainment off the heels of the success of girl groups such as After School and Orange Caramel, NU’EST were almost poised to find success immediately. However, it wasn’t until a stint on a reality show and 2,044 days that the group received their first win.
Prior to their 2012 debut, the five members of the group, JR, Aron, Baekho, Minhyun, and Ren, had in one way or another already been introduced to the public. They had all been backup dancers for After School Blue’s “Wonder Boy” and featured in a variety of their senior artists’ music videos. JR, Aron, Minhyun, and Ren were featured in a New Balance ad with After School member Lizzie, and JR and Baekho went on the variety show Hello Counsellor with Kahi. It would be accurate to say that the group received a lot of attention and were anticipated to continue that in their career.
The five-piece group debuted with the song “Face” on M!COUNTDOWN. The group had their own reality show and even began overseas promotions, participating in KCON and having an endorsement deal with McDonald’s. In 2013, JR and Baekho were featured in After School member Uee’s drama. They also released two mini-albums and celebrated their first anniversary with a concert in Japan. In 2015 and 2016, the group continued to release music and promote in Japan. They only received their first music show nomination in 2016, four years after their debut.
At the same time, their junior artist group SEVENTEEN debuted in 2015. Within a year of their debut, SEVENTEEN had earned their first music show win and had reached a breakthrough, charting on Billboard and Oricon and holding many overseas concerts. Compared to the success of the other artists on their label and the support that their company was able to provide them, NU’EST were not able to make a breakthrough.
It was not until the group members made the decision to go on the competition show Produce 101 Season 2 that things began to change. The mainstream attention they were able to receive from the show catapulted them to a new level of fame, with the four members who participated often in the top rankings and with Minhyun even going on to debut with WANNA ONE. During Minhyun’s time in WANNA ONE, the remaining four members of the group promoted as NU’EST W and received their first music show win in 2017 with the song “Where You At,” 2,044 days after they debuted. Their first win as NU’EST came in 2019 with the song “Bet Bet” from their mini-album Happily Ever After.
Prior to their first win, NU’EST began to gain traction while the members were participating on Produce 101 Season 2, with their previously released music rising on music charts. Right after the completion of the show, JR and Ren became models for the cosmetics brand Labiotte and JR became a fixed member of the JTBC variety show Learning The Hard Way. Since 2017, the group has been releasing music regularly and have multiple endorsement deals as a group and individually. Minhyun is even the face of the luxury brand Moncler.
In NU’EST’s case, their first win may not have changed much for them because they were already experiencing more recognition after their time on Produce 101 Season 2, but it was an important indicator of their growing fanbase and overdue success.
PENTAGON - 48 Months
PENTAGON made their official debut in 2016 as a ten member boy group under Cube Entertainment, home to groups such as 4Minute, BEAST, and BTOB. The group members participated in a reality show called Pentagon Maker that followed their selection and debut. Less than a month after their Korean debut, the group made their Japanese debut. This was probably a result of the success of their debut EP, which peaked at No. 7 on the Gaon chart and remained in the top ten for two weeks on Japan’s Tower Record Weekly K-Pop Chart. The group held their first concert that following December, selling out tickets in eight minutes. A few days after their Korean concert, they also held their first concert in Japan.
2017 saw the group gain more traction in Japan. They released their first Japanese album Gorilla, peaking at third place on the Oricon charts and taking first place on Japan’s Tower Record Monthly Chart. The group held several in-person performances in Japan, all of which were very successful, and they also found time to complete Korean activities, releasing their third Korean EP that June. Ceremony became PENTAGON’s first entry in the U.S. Billboard charts. They also released another Korean EP that November. 2018 was more of the same, with the group releasing more music in Japan and Korea, as well as finding more success with their sleeper hit “Shine.” In 2018, the group was able to have a pretty successful year despite the departure of their group member E’Dawn. They also were the models for D’Live OTT set-top box between 2017-2019.
The group seemed to be doing very well and reaching all the milestones for a K-Pop group’s success, but a first music show win eluded them until 2020 with their song “Daisy.” PENTAGON is an interesting case because they are the first group on this list that debuted in the era of “self-produced idols.” Much of their music is produced by members of the group and thus it does bring a deeper meaning to their first win. On top of that, one of their members had already left for military service, and the win occurred during this COVID-19 pandemic, which meant they did not have fans watching them in person. Following their first win, leader Hui also went on to begin his military service, and it remains to be seen what will follow for the group.
This is of course not a comprehensive list of groups who earned their first win late. There are a plethora of other artists who had to wait extremely patiently for their talents to be acknowledged. However, these five groups are a good representation of the variety that exists within the spectrum of groups who took a while to earn their first music show win. A first music show win does not necessarily mean that more success will follow, but it can be a good indicator of it. I think it is also important to mention that groups who found success after their first win did so not because of the first win, but because of the accumulation of work that came before it. The wins were just a signifier that the efforts they had been putting into their work were in the right direction all along. With the development of the digital world, it is also important to note that there are other ways for groups to gain mainstream notice or build a fandom. Things like social media have created more avenues for artists to cultivate success. Nevertheless, the coveted “first win” is and will continue to be an important milestone of K-Pop culture, even if it is just symbolic.