As we come up on the tail end of generation four and move into the beginning of generation five, I’ve been feeling old and nostalgic for the time of K-Pop that was my introduction. With eight years in the industry, I’ve seen just about everything. In that time, groups with a lot of promise have fallen by the wayside as K-Pop expands even further globally and we get further away from previous generations. So for this month, let’s take a look back at some third generation groups that aren’t as widely known these days.

BOYFRIEND

A group formed in 2011 by Starship Entertainment, it can be argued that BOYFRIEND is at the cusp of the second and third generational shift. The six-member group was initially known for being one of the only groups to have a pair of twins in their mix. Much of their success came as they began to do more intricate and darker concepts, not unlike VIXX. Their 2012 release of “JANUS” currently sits at 31 million views on YouTube.

BOYFRIEND was one of the pioneer groups in the west, becoming the first K-Pop act to perform in Puerto Rico in 2014. They had shows in Chicago and Dallas around that time, and would also tour in South America. For me, “Witch” and “BOUNCE” were my introduction to BOYFRIEND. After Starship’s debut of MONSTA X later in 2015, BOYFRIEND would be put on the back burner until their eventual disbandment in 2019. In that time, four of the members participated in The Unit, with only Donghyun passing the audition.

Today, BOYFRIEND actually continues as a full group together under the new name BF, with their latest EP Adonis released last December.

HISTORY

HISTORY is a five-member boy group that debuted in 2013 and disbanded just four years later in 2017. They released a total of five mini-albums and one single album. Their story is rather sad, as they struggled to make sales their entire career until the very last mini-album, which finally did decent numbers. In their short four-year stint, they were most known among the community for their release “Might Just Die,” a provocative track reminiscent of 2PM’s “A.D.T.O.Y.” The performance version, specifically, has the most views. They were the first boy group to debut under LOEN Entertainment, a now defunct label which would later turn into Kakao M.

SPICA

SPICA was a five-member girl group that debuted in 2012 under B2M Entertainment and disbanded in 2017. They were most well-known for their stellar vocals showcased in their releases which, by all means, should have solidified a position in history, especially when you look at their digital download sales in comparison to other forgotten groups. The members had a hand in production for their songs and even released a full English single in 2014. In the more recent past, member Bohyung would participate in the JTBC singing competition Girl Spirit, which she would go on to win. Member Jiwon participated in The Unit and ended up passing into the final lineup to join UNI.T.

SPICA’s stellar vocals are showcased no better than in the single “You Don’t Love Me.” I first heard this song from a Bangtan Bomb of BTS backstage, where we see V, Jimin, SUGA, Jin, and j-hope dancing and lip syncing to the performance from the girls, and immediately fell in love with the melody.

UNIQ

UNIQ is such an interesting case for me because at one point, I was a huge stan for the group. The five-member group is also an interesting case study in that currently two of the members are unbelievably popular in their respective fields, and at this point are so far removed from their time in UNIQ that many people don’t even remember they were in an idol group.

UNIQ was a Korean-Chinese hybrid group that was initially supposed to be a joint venture between YG Entertainment and Yuehua Entertainment, but they ultimately debuted under the latter label. They debuted in 2014 and ultimately disbanded in 2018, but no release shot as high as their most popular track, “EOEO.” Interestingly enough, this track was a production made by DEAN, which explains why it was so good. Based on the charts, this track was super popular in the U.S. and not in Korea or China. 

As for the five members, the two most popular these days are Cho Seungyoun and Wang Yibo. The former is the beloved singer-songwriter WOODZ, and Yibo has a massive career as an actor in China. The other two Chinese members, Yixuan and Wenhan, now belong to other groups in China formed by two different survival shows. The final member Sungjoo focused more on acting after disbanding.

MYNAME

MYNAME is a five-member boy group that debuted in late 2011. It’s still up in the air whether or not they’ve officially disbanded, mostly due to the fact that the group still has activities in Japan at the time of the company announcement in 2019. In more recent years, they’re a group that shifted focus toward Japan and as a result, never really garnered much attention in the Korean music scene, at least compared to their peers. 

The members did participate in The Unit in 2017 and did decently well, all of them coming in above 40. Despite that, none of them made the final lineup, with Seyong getting the furthest to seventeenth place.

FIESTAR

My introduction to FIESTAR came from my love for YEZI’s solo activities. The six-member girl group debuted under LOEN Entertainment in 2012, and by all means they had a very lucky start. Before even debuting, they released a duet with then-labelmate IU as well as a collaboration with Tiger JK. Their first EP charted on the Billboard K-Pop Hot 100. Even so, they had member changes, which often causes a loss in popularity.

This is a group that showcases that even with a big start, lack of consistency in sales can cause a full downfall. If you look at their releases, even digital single sales numbers slowly fall until the time of their disbandment, which was announced after a year of no activities from the group.

Edited by Aleena Faisal