Music Library Thematic Displays: Women of K-Pop

2ne1

2NE1 was a South Korean girl group with YG Entertainment. Consisting of four members - Bom, CL, Dara, and Minzy, the group made their debut in 2009 on the single “Lollipop” with the boy band Big Bang, also on the YG label. Later that year they released their self-titled EP 2NE1, followed the next year by their first of three studio albums To Anyone in 2010. They would follow To Anyone with Collection in 2012 and Crush in 2014. The group has made cameo performances and appearances in the 2009 South Korean TV series Style, film Girlfriends, and in the 2014 seasons of America’s Next Top Model and The Bachelor.

In 2015 the group went into hiatus and each member began working on solo projects and 2NE1 was relatively silent until the announcement of Minzy’s departure from the group in April 2016, with YG announcing the group would continue as a trio. This trio would never be realized however, and 2NE1 would disband in November. The group has been heralded as an iconic girl group of that time of the Korean Wave, and each member has gone on to have a solo career of their own.

Red Velvet

Red Velvet is a girl group formed in 2014 with SM Entertainment. Originally debuting with four members - Irene, Selugi, Wendy, and Joy, the group added a fifth member, Yeri, the following year. Their musical style is representative of their group name, with some songs more ‘Red,’ fitting within genres like pop, electronic, and hip hop while the ‘Velvet’ side is made up of ballads and R&B. As of 2022 they have released three albums. 2015’s The Red and 2017’s Perfect Velvet are in Korean, and 2022’s Bloom is in Japanese. Red Velvet has also appeared on their own variety show Level Up Project! that ran from 2017-2020, in the 2015 biographical film SMTown: The Stage, and as the voices of The K-Pop Gang in Dreamworks’ 2020 film Trolls World Tour.

Red Velvet, as well as a few other girl groups, are known for subverting the norms of the K-Pop industry with the audiences they attract and their performance. Dazed Magazine has noted that while many girl groups have primarily male-dominated fanbases, Red Velvet and others like 2NE1 and Girls’ Generation are known for having mostly female fans, breaking away from traditional stereotypes for female pop artists to be sexy or innocent.

Twice

Twice, often capitalized as TWICE, are a South Korean girl group that formed on the reality competition show Sixteen . The show had sixteen performers compete for the nine spots in the group. The winners were Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Dahyun, Mina, Sana, Chaeyoung, and Jihyo with Tzuyu being added to the group by audience vote and Momo being added to the group at the decision of label founder J.Y. Park. The name for the group came from the idea that the group touches their audience’s heart twice, through the ears and the eyes. In 2017 TWICE became the first female K-pop group to have the number one album and number one digital song for Billboard’s World charts at the same time. The album and song were Twicetagram and “Likey” respectively.

Since their debut and breakthrough in South Korea, TWICE has gone on to make three Japanese albums and “The Feels” which was the groups first English language song released in October 2021. The group's fashion, music videos, and music are based on bright colors, cuteness, and bubblegum pop aesthetics. While other groups are also known for their dancing, TWICE has especially been known for the popularity of their choreography with the trends based around recreating the dances of “The Feels”, “Feel Special”, “What is Love?”, and “TT” all going viral on various social media websites.

Groups and performers signed to YG Entertainment

Sechs Kies

Blackpink

Treasure

Lead of Sechs Kies, Eun Ji-won

G-Dragon

GD & TOP

Bands and performers signed to JYP Entertainment

2PM

Twice

Singer and founder of JYP Entertainment, JY Park

Stray Kids

Red Velvet

Girl's Generation

EXO

BoA

Taemin

Yoona

Hyoyeon