Only 4 Third Generation K-Pop Girl Groups Are Still Active

The third generation of K-Pop, according to the majority of the fandom, consists of groups that debuted between 2012 and 2017. This was a legendary era for K-Pop as a whole, as it saw the music genre start to spread more rapidly around the world with artists like BTS, BLACKPINK, TWICE, EXO, and others become more mainstream in the music industry as a whole. With such a huge impact made on the K-Pop industry, therefore, it’s hard to believe that so few girl groups from the era remain still active.

In fact, under the criteria of not being officially disbanded and having a comeback at some point as a whole group within the last 18 months, there are only four third generation K-Pop girl groups that are still active: TWICE, Red Velvet, Dreamcatcher, and OH MY GIRL.

TWICE is one of the most active of the four, with their latest comeback being With YOU-th which was released in February this year. They originally debuted on October 20, 2015, meaning this year will be their ninth anniversary — well surpassing the “seven-year curse”. They remain one of the most popular K-Pop girl groups to this day, and with all of the members renewing their contracts with JYP Entertainment, they don’t seem to be going anywhere.

Red Velvet doesn’t release music as often as TWICE, but they remain steady as a group. Their last comeback with Chill Kill was in November last year, and they’re just about to release their new album, Cosmic, on June 24. Though many fans have been frustrated with how they’ve been treated by their label, they’ll be celebrating their ten-year anniversary this August.

Dreamcatcher fought against the odds to remain an active K-Pop group despite being from a small label and releasing music that is more niche than the others on this list. Their most recent comeback was with the single album Luck Inside 7 Doors, released in March this year. They originally debuted as MINX back in 2014, but rebranded themselves as Dreamcatcher and re-debuted in January 2017 with much more success.

Finally, OH MY GIRL may be from a more mid-sized label than TWICE and Red Velvet, but they continue to release music that tends to be popular with the general public as well as their fans. Their last comeback was with the album Golden Hourglass in July 2023, so they haven’t released new music as a group in nearly a year, but they also don’t show signs of disbanding either. They originally debuted in April 2015, so they celebrated their nine-year anniversary this year.

There are a couple of other girl groups — BLACKPINK and MAMAMOO — who could be argued to still be active despite not releasing any new music in over 18 months. Both of them have had successful worldwide concerts since their last comeback, but with both groups no longer having all of their members under the same label, a full group comeback would be more difficult. There’s also Cosmic Girls/WJSN, who haven’t had a full group comeback since July 2022 but have a lot of individual activities.

Cosmic Girls/WJSN | *Starship Entertainment*

In comparison, there are many more boy groups from the third generation that remain active to this day — over 20, based on the same criteria. They include artists like BTS (who released “Take Two” even while the members were enlisted), EXO, MONSTA X, NCT, SEVENTEEN, PENTAGON, ASTRO, and more.