YG revives thanks to “content power”: BLACKPINK’s steady activities, BABYMONSTER’s debut, TREASURE’s continuous growth
Recovering after the controversies at the end of 2018, YG is gaining back momentum.
This fact can be easily recognized by looking at the stock price trend. YG’s stock price, which had fallen to 18,950 won in March 2020 due to a series of controversies, has soared to 92,000 won according to the figure recorded on May 26th. Its market capitalization is expected to be 1.7174 trillion won and may reach 2 trillion won in the near future.
YG’s growth is surprising. Despite the fact that the trial of executive producer Yang Hyun Suk is still underway, YG’s stock price continues to rise. Many people predicted that YG’s image has been terribly damaged and it would be difficult for Yang Hyun Suk to make a comeback, YG has fully regained its energy as a global content company.
In the first quarter of 2023, YG Entertainment recorded astonishing growth with 157.3 billion won in sales and an operating profit of 36.5 billion won, witnessing remarkable increases of 108.3% and 204.7%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.
It is thanks to the power of content that YG was able to revive amidst unfavorable public opinions. There are various reasons, such as BLACKPINK’s steady activities and the success of its strategy in raising the netizens’ curiosity about its new girl group BABYMONSTER, which will debut in the second half of this year.
BLACKPINK is still coloring the world with their representative ‘pink’ color in 2023. Starting with the Seoul concert in October last year, the girls brought their grand world tour “BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR [BORN PINK]” to many cities around the world and attracted around 1.5 million audiences. They are continuing the [BORN PINK] tour with encore concerts in 16 cities. In particular, BLACKPINK shook the global music industry with their performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival as the first-ever K-pop headliner. The girl group is also scheduled to be the ‘headliner’ performer at the Hyde Park British Summer Time Festival in July.
Along with the world tour, member Jisoo proved her strong presence by making a successful solo debut. Releasing her first solo album [ME] on March 31st, Jisoo gained the ‘million seller’ title and broke new records for K-pop female solo artists. Her title song “FLOWER” earned various impressive achievements on the global charts, such as Spotify, Billboard, etc.
Many people are also looking forward to the debut of YG’s new girl group BABYMONSTER. As the official lineup of 7 members, including Koreans (Ahyeon, Haram, Rora), Thais (Pharita & Chiquita) and Japanese (Ruka & Asa), pre-debut teasers and contents are released one after another. In particular, BABYMONSTER’s official Youtube channel exceeded 400 million viewers and 2 million subscribers within 129 days, which is the shortest record among K-pop girl groups. In addition, their pre-debut song “DREAM” even topped Billboard’s ‘Hot Trending Songs’ chart, showcasing the group’s unusual popularity even before their official debut. Examining the comments section, it can be easily seen that this rookie girl group is seeing its popularity rise in not only North and South America but also the U.K., Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Turkey as well as Asian countries, such as Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, etc. Billboard even selected BABYMONSTER as “K-pop artists to look forward to” and predicted that they will create a new wave in the K-pop scene as a ‘monster rookie’.
TREASURE has not risen to the top rank among K-pop boy groups but they are recognized as talented and promising idols. After releasing their first mini album “THE SECOND STEP: CHAPTER ONE” in 2022, the boy group held their first solo concert “TRACE” in Seoul and started a world tour starting with the Seoul show in November 2022. Since then, TREASURE has traveled across Asia, from Taiwan to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc., and attracted a total of 420 audiences through 40 concerts.
Proving their presence as a “performing master” group, TREASURE is expected to expand their global impact by attending the Waterbomb Nagoya 2023 in July and decorating the main stage of Japan’s representative music festival ‘SUMMER SONIC’ 2023 in August.
In addition, BIG BANG G-Dragon is also raising the public’s expectations by personally announcing his activities, including releasing a new album, on January 1st. Through “G-DRAGON – GUERRILLA DESK: G_Division” video, he said, “Taking this opportunity, I will promise to work hard next year and greet you guys through various activities. I’m also preparing an album. I’ll meet you with good news”.
Will YG be able to continue this rapid growth? There is one big variable that will determine the situation. It is whether BLACKPINK will renew their contracts with YG at the end of August or not. Since YG has contributed greatly to promoting global content with BLACKPINK names and world tours, they are expected to make all-out efforts to continue their contractual relationship with BLACKPINK.
Of course, BLACKPINK has become so famous that many content companies definitely want to recruit them. In particular, not only domestic but also global agencies are showing interest in BLACKPINK. However, it is never easy to recruit four super-large artists who have maintained such strong teamwork and created a unique musical color that matches YG’s hip-hop vibe so well.
Source: Herald Corp
