As the heat wave begins in earnest, the competition for the title of “Summer Queen” in the music industry this summer is fierce. Since last month, girl groups have been presenting music fans cute or fresh songs.
Kep1er released their second mini album “DOUBLAST” on various music sites on June 20th. With the title song “Up!”, they showed a high-quality performance along with the refreshing energy of 9 people 9 colors. In particular, energetic vocals piled up on funky sound that makes you feel good just by listening to it, led the refreshing atmosphere of summer and captivated fans. Thanks to this, “DOUBLAST” topped iTunes’ top albums chart in 22 countries shortly after its release, and set a record of about 287,000 copies in the first week. “Up!” won No.1 on terrestrial music shows, giving Kep1er the title of “Summer Queen”.
LOONA also released their new song “Flip That” at the end of last month. “Flip That”, a combination of addictive melody, members’ unique vocals and rap, maximized LOONA’s charm with its refreshing and dreamy beat. They won No.1 on SBS MTV’s “The Show” and MBC M’s “Show! Champion” with “Flip That”. In addition, they established themselves firmly in the music industry by topping the real-time chart on the domestic music site Bugs, topping iTunes’ albums chart in 31 countries and regions, including the U.S., Spain, Philippines, Thailand, and recording their own highest first-week sales with 117,300 copies.
TWICE Nayeon debuted as a solo artist and is on a roll. Nayeon took her first step as a solo artist by releasing her first mini album “IM NAYEON” and the title song “POP!” on June 24th. “POP!”, a song with a refreshing atmosphere, perfectly fits the sense of the season. Upon its release, it not only entered the Melon Top 100 chart, but also steadily gained good word of mouth and climbed to the 4th place on the daily chart on July 7th. It is in the top 5 real-time on other domestic music sites. Nayeon’s global popularity is also strong. “IM NAYEON” ranked 7th on Billboard’s main chart “Billboard 200” week of July 9th. It also took 5th place on “Artist 100” and was listed on a total of 18 Billboard charts, including “Top Albums Sales”, “Top Current Albums Sales” and “World Albums”.
fromis_9 also challenged the position of “Summer Queen”. They released their 5th mini album “from our Memento Box” on June 27th and are actively promoting the title song “Stay This Way”. “Stay This Way” tells the story of going on an impromptu trip at sunset. It is an attractive song with an exciting and addictive chorus that makes you want to go somewhere, and a bridge that gives you a danceable pop sensibility. In particular, it is gaining good word of mouth for performances that presented scenes where the members seemed to be sitting on the beach, as well as performances that depicted the summer sea and fireworks. “from our Memento Box” surpassed 130,000 copies, recording fromis_9’s highest first-week sales. Besides, fromis_9 is showing their potential as they won No.1 on SBS M·SBS FiL’s “The Show”, MBC M’s “Show! Champion” and Mnet’s “M Countdown”.
Sunmi is also being loved with her new song that aims at “Summer Song”. Sunmi released her new digital single “Heart Burn” on various music sites on June 29th. “Heart Burn” is an album that depicts a hot midsummer love story, and you can enjoy the languid yet mysterious music of Sunmi. The title song of the same name is a song with an addictive melody. It depicts the hot love fever on a summer day in an interesting way. The performance also attracts attention by using unusual items such as large fans and rubber bands to match the lyrics and melody. “Heart Burn” not only entered the top 100 on Melon’s daily chart, but also surpassed 40 million views, making it worth the name of Diva.
WJSN, who won the championship by showing amazing skills on Mnet’s “Queendom 2”, released their special single “Sequence” on July 5th. The title song “Last Sequence” is a pop-style dance song that inherits WJSN’s splendid performance and overflowing passion. Its wild bass line, drum and synth clearly expressed the sense of summer season through the melody as well as WJSN members’ delicate and cool vocals. WJSN is determined to show off their presence of “Summer Queen” by showing colorful and hip charms. “Sequence” sold over 90,000 copies within 3 days of its release, drawing attention to the new records they will write. WJSN will kick off their promotional activities in earnest by appearing on MBC’s “Show! Music Core” on July 9th and SBS’ “Inkigayo” on July 10th.
VIVIZ released their second mini album “Summer Vibe” on July 6th. The title song “LOVEADE” is a funk retro pop-based dance track with energetic beats. The lyrics compare a couple’s love to a refreshing ade beverage. The addictive hook creates a midsummer atmosphere. On July 7th, VIVIZ unveiled the stage of “LOVEADE” for the first time through “M Countdown”, signaling the appearance of a cool and bright “Summer Queen”.
Chungha is preparing for a comeback with the release of her second full-length album Part.1 ‘Bare & Rare’ on the 11th. The title song is ‘Sparkling’. ‘Bare & Rare’ is the first full-length album released by Chungha in about a year and five months since her first full-length album ‘Querencia’, which was released in February last year. Chungha, a reliable vocalist and a top artist with a unique presence, will present a different image through “Bear & Rare” to deliver an upgraded “Summer Queen”.
Hyorin, the original ‘Summer Queen‘, will also set out to regain the crown with the third mini-album ‘Ice’ (iCE), which will be released on the 18th. “Ice,” which heralded the return of “Queen,” included a total of six songs, including the title song “NOT THANKS,” “Over you,” “BODY TALK,” and “Ah yeah.” Hyo-rin participated in composing and writing lyrics for all the songs, raising expectations for new songs that will rock this summer. Hyo-rin, who will return with a series of songs that will make you feel good when you listen to them, is expected to make this summer more colorful and show her new sides as a producer.
STAYC is also set to make a comeback with its new single “WE NEED LOVE” on the 19th. “WE NEED LOVE” is a single that gives you an upgraded visual and musical feel of STAYC. After winning the hearts of global fans with the title of ‘All Center’, STAY C will show another leap in growth as the ‘All Main Vocal Group‘. As it is the first time STAYC makes a comeback aimed at summer, thus expectations are raising high for their “summer music.“
Meanwhile, ITZY, aespa, Apink Chobom, and BLACKPINK have predicted comebacks this summer, so the competition among girl groups aiming for the title of ‘Summer Queen’ is expected to intensify.
