generasia:Featured article for 2024 week 14
BABYMONSTER
BABYMONSTER is a Korean pop girl group created by YG Entertainment. The group's selection process was chronicled in Last Evaluation, a reality show filmed in the previous year prior to its airing, showcasing seven potential members. Label founder Yang Hyun Suk enlisted assistance by Lee Su Hyun of AKMU, and Kang Seung Yoon of WINNER, and Lee Seung Hoon, among others, to judge, rank, and determine its formation for the duration of the show. Yang revealed the number of members he first planned was five; however, a seven-piece ensemble was finalized with three South Koreans (Ahyeon, Rami, Rora), two Japanese (Ruka, Asa), and two Thai members (Pharita, Chiquita). Ahyeon, Ruka, Chiquita, Rami, and Pharita were selected by the label, while Rora and Asa were contemplated to be placed into two different projects before ultimately joining the final line-up as the "fans' choice".
BABYMONSTER released their pre-debut promotional single titled "Dream", released exclusively via YouTube on May 14, 2023, debuting atop the Billboard Hot Trending Songs chart. Their channel soon surpassed one million subscribers in 52 days since its creation on December 28, 2022, and two million subscribers in 129 days, becoming the fastest K-pop girl group to reach the milestone.
BABYMONSTER released two singles as a six-piece: "BATTER UP" on November 27, 2023 and "Stuck In The Middle" on February 1, 2024. "BATTER UP"'s music video amassed 22.59 million views within a day, became the most viewed debut music video in the first 24 hours in K-pop history and became the fastest debut music video to reach 100 million views on the platform eighteen days after its release. It found further success on Spotify, achieving 10 million streams in ten days, the fastest for a rookie K-pop girl group. Ahyeon, whom was absent from its releases due to health reasons, soon recovered and returned from her hiatus, joining the other members to promote their future activities as a seven-member group.
Their official debut mini-album, BABYMONS7ER, is released this week on April 1st.
