The year 2014 was a year in K-pop with mass debuts and performances of girl groups with sexy concepts. However, as the year ended and a new year has come, 2015 is expected to be the year for girl groups with innocent styles.
The start of 2014 was heavily influenced by Girl’s Day and they trended the majority of the market until EXID’s forceful comeback with “Up & Down.” Groups tried to differentiate themselves with their unique identities while staying close to the sexy concept. The groups that were successful were the ones that were able to stand out among many groups with their unique sexiness.
Despite the domination of these sexy concepts, the 2015 market has seen a steady flow of girl groups that portray the opposite concept: innocence. Groups such as SONAMOO and Lovelyz who debuted end of year 2014 presented the audience with their lovely and naive attractions, usually characteristics of newly formed groups.
In the case of Lovelyz, the members present themselves in a concept in which “naive and innocence is there, however, their unique aura of mysteriousness is also present.” In fact, “this is the major reason why they have a lot to show to the audience. It is also to their advantage that they are welcoming and approachable. This will allow the fans to approach them easier as if they were a group of girls in the town.”
Stating their role models as Girls’ Generation, Lovelyz showed off their popping sweet and sour concept with their title track “Candy Jelly Love.”
TS Entertainment’s group SONAMOO tried to capture the image of innocence and power with their debut. The title song “Deja Vu” and the song “The Giving Tree” are the two main tracks performed on live stage from their debut. While the title song brings a powerful sound of hip hop, “The Giving Tree” gives the audience a vague and saddening mood.
The girls of SONAMOO “are looked upon as pure on the outside. But, they also have a stunning image at the same time.” Meanwhile, the group’s name was sure to grab the attention of many as it is interesting that they were named after a tree. To this SONAMOO replied, “Our group’s name SONAMOO means that like a tree that will stay green for a very long time, we hope to continue and prosper in our singing careers. We will become SONAMOO who will always brighten up and sing.”
The group named G-Friend will be debuting on January 15th and again, they portray a pure innocent theme. The teaser of the six members, Eunha, Yuju, Umji, Sowon, SinB, and Yerin, was more than enough to excite the public with hopes for a new beginning of the group.
Their teaser showed the members with clean facial features that were very light on make up, better capturing of their natural images. As they ran with faces smiling, they surely reinforced their appearance as teenage girls. Pure white skirts and t-shirts also magnified their brilliant attractiveness.
This is a Korean Op-Ed written by Kim Ye Na at TV Report and translated by Koreaboo.
