History of K-Pop: Brave Girls
Earlier this month, Brave Entertainment released the news that the quartet Brave Girls would be disbanding after the release of their final digital single “Goodbye” on February 16. While it’s not necessarily a huge surprise, as this tends to happen for a lot of groups at contract expiration, it still took some by surprise given that they had finally gotten some mainstream recognition after years of struggle. Looking back on their full history, this group is a very interesting case indeed.
The history of the group dates all the way back to 2011. Brave Brothers released the plans for the group to debut in late 2010. The original five member lineup was Eunyoung, Hyeran, Yejin, Yoojin, and Seoah. They released their debut single album The Difference on April 7, 2011 and promoted two songs with different concepts for that debut. Their first mini-album Back to da Future followed shortly after in July. It wouldn’t be until the second mini-album Re-Issue that the group would get some press, with the title song “NowadaysYou” ranking high on the charts and becoming a hot topic on Korean sites.
There’s not much to say about the early years, as the girls would release a single in 2013 before becoming inactive in 2014 for two years. In situations like this, we don’t often see a group return, considering that two and a half years off total tends to be a death sentence in the K-Pop industry. So it’s no surprise when their announced return came along with member changes: two would leave (Eunyoung and Seoah) and were replaced with five new members: Minyoung, Yujeong, Eunji, Yuna, and Hayun. As seven, they would release two digital singles “Deepend” and “Yoo-hoo,” along with the third mini-album High Heels and title track of the same name. The highest this album peaked was No. 22 on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart, but entered two more times later that year after release.
As 2017 came about, the final two original members Yoojin and Hyeran would end up leaving the group, though initially Hyeran was only on hiatus for health reasons. The fourth mini-album Rollin’ was released on March 7, and though it only peaked at No. 30 on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart at the time, the title track of the same name would end up being extremely significant to the group in the future. Without much growth and yet another change in the lineup, members Yujeong, Eunji, and Yuna would audition for The Unit, an idol reboot show. None of them would make it to the final, with Eunji placing at 45 and Yujeong placing at 37.
In 2018, the group would release what was effectively a rearrangement of “Rollin’.” Hayun would take a break for health reasons, and then once again they would go silent for two years. With dead silence from August 2018 to August 2020, it was extremely unexpected to get news of a digital single release from the now-quartet. Remaining members Minyoung, Yujeong, Eunji, and Yuna released “We Ride” at that time, and it was a treat for fans of the group no doubt, especially those that had been through all of the crazy changes thus far in their tumultuous history.
Ten years after their debut, the group suddenly went viral via a compilation video of them performing “Rollin’.” The track became a smash hit overnight, causing them to have a second promotional period for the track four years after its release. The group had been on the verge of disbandment just before the sudden breakthrough. The track would receive a perfect all-kill on March 12, an almost unheard of overnight success that shocked the K-Pop world. They would go on to get their first music show win over 1,800 days after debut, which at the time was the longest time period between debut and first music show win for any girl group. As a result of this unprecedented success, “We Ride” also climbed back up on the charts.
June 2021 would mark the release of fifth mini-album Summer Queen and title track “Chi Mat Ba Ram.” This time success was immediate, with the title track peaking at No. 3 on the Gaon Digital Chart, with the album hitting the same position on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart. A repackage of this album After ‘We Ride’ would drop in August, culminating in total sales of over 75,000.
In 2022, the girl group had a tour in the U.S. as well as released their sixth mini-album Thank You and a single that was effectively a cover of Brown Eyed Girls’s 2008 track “How Come.” Minyoung would also halt activities for her health, but other than that it was fairly quiet until earlier this month. Nine months after their last release, it was announced that Brave Girls would be disbanding after the members chose not to resign with Brave Entertainment. Their final song “Goodbye” was released February 15. Minyoung has expressed that this disbandment is only temporary and that they will return together at some point in the future.
Compared to other groups, the history of Brave Girls is rather abbreviated, yet surprisingly chaotic. Twelve years in the making, with nearly five years of that time inactive and a complete revamp of the lineup, was saved by an overnight viral sensation. It’s a perfect showcase of how unpredictable the K-Pop industry is, and that sometimes the only thing holding back a group is a lack of attention, not talent. We’re interested to see if Minyoung’s words will turn out to be true.