New Jeans Biography: Who Won the 4th Generation Girl Group Battle?
To tell a girl group story, you have to go back to when I was in the military. That winter, 1998, was the heyday of the living fairy S.E.S. On the day of the music broadcast, all the troops cleaned and organized early, and they all lined up on their beds and eagerly awaited the arrival of the S.E.S. Around that time, planned idols, the so-called first generation of girl groups such as Finkle and Baby Vox, appeared, and the war of girl groups began in earnest. After the first generation descended from the top position, the second generation of large girl groups, led by Girls' Generation, Kara, and Wonder Girls, emerged and gained a lot of popularity. The competition for third-generation girl groups was more intense. Girls' Day, A Pink, Miss A, EXID, Mamamoo, Red Velvet, Girlfriend, Twice, Lovelyz, Oh My Girl, Space Girl, and BLACKPINK competed incredibly fiercely. Among them, BLACKPINK, part of YG Entertainment, has gained a storm of popularity globally and is firmly maintaining its position as the top 3rd generation girl group.
New Jeans Biography
Of course, I haven't had a girl group since S.E.S. that has had such fandom. In the case of the S.E.S., he was actually in the army, so he became interested in half of the person, nothing more, nothing less. I enjoy watching variety shows so much that I know a lot of the names of girl groups and some of the idols that appear in the variety shows, but they were just a by-product of being a variety show enthusiast rather than a fan. However, looking at the fourth-generation girl groups that have been performing tremendously recently since Corona, it has reached the point where it is tempting to analyze the phenomenon beyond mere interest.
Currently, the girl group market is fiercely competitive, with BLACKPINK, which has been passed down from the third generation, and the representative girl groups of the fourth generation, ITZY, Espa, I've Le Seraphim, and New Jeans. The biggest characteristic of the fourth generation of girl groups is that each has its own distinct personality, concept, and worldview. It's not that the previous generation of girl groups aren't, but that they're becoming more pronounced in the fourth generation. Since performances and broadcasts have been somewhat stunted due to Corona for a long time, it can be seen that they are much clearer than before and set various concepts to clearly differentiate themselves from other teams.
Of those fourth-generation girl groups, the one that caught my huge attention was the New Jeans, mentioned in the title. It debuted in August 2022, so now that it is a new team that has only been debuting for one month, the impact is truly enormous. As soon as he debuted, he topped all music charts and is an ultra-super-rookie who is at the center of various issues. Some people joke that the New Jeans are not a fourth-generation girl group, but a sixth- and seventh-generation girl group, and that they are time travelers from the future. Right now, most fourth-generation girl groups are betting their lives on concepts, but New Jeans doesn't have a concept. As such, there are many differences from the fourth-generation girl groups, and it can be seen that they are simply grouped into the fourth generation by the time of their debut.
1. Concept Without Concept
As mentioned earlier, if New Jeans has no concept is concept, then it is a concept. There is no worldview commonly encountered in idols these days, or a coherent concept of choreography and costumes that fit it. This is the point that most clearly differentiates them from other fourth-generation girl groups. Min Hee-jin, the head of New Jeans' agency 'Adore', has worked at SM Entertainment for a long time and has made a name for himself as the art director of many singers. When she moved to Hive, she founded a completely independent label, Adore, and as it was her first girl group, many people were curious about the concept of her new girl group, which was pure & fresh.
As the famous saying goes, the end of car tuning is chastity, and in the flood of various concepts, it unexpectedly has a great resonance with a strategy that maximizes the innocence of teenagers without any concept. In fact, it may seem like nothing was done, but such a bold change of direction would not have been a difficult decision. When you watch the songs and dances of the New Jeans, it can be very easy, but if you watch the reviews of the New Jeans dances by professional dancers, you can see that they are full of admiration. One professional dancer watched the video and repeatedly used the phrase, "The basics are solid, but it's very refreshing."
2. All Members are in the Center
Most idol groups will build their teams around a specific person. It's often referred to as "yes and kids," but the New Jeans are leveled up as a whole so that it wouldn't be awkward for all five of them to be the center. One of the biggest features is that not only the visuals, but also the singing, dancing, and performances, not just one or two people driving the popularity, but all the members have even popularity and skill.
If we look at the cases of Girls' Generation, Wonder Girls, BTS, and BLACKPINK, which are the idols that have been so far numerous, we can see that the team that has been evenly popular with all the members has been loved for a long time. To some extent, it proved that teams with exceptional abilities are long runs, to the point that even a middle-aged uncle like me can memorize the full names of the members. In that sense, I think the New Jins are a team in that all five of them are evenly loved and have a very good chance of being loved for a long time to come.
3. Team And Everything is Done
It may be a subjective judgment, but after watching various videos of Newsinth, I felt that the team members seemed to have a very high level of intimacy. More than just laughing and talking, it was a personal feeling to see the scenes of small care and consideration. Maybe it's because it's still early in his debut, but the practice period was long, and as soon as he debuts, when he gains popularity, he sees something like an invisible discomfort, and I didn't get that feeling in this team. Seeing the real teammates sneaking each other together without anyone else made me smile without realizing it. (Even though I don't have a daughter...)
In particular, the nationalities of the team members are 3 Korean, 1 Australian, and 1 Vietnamese, so all the members are fluent in Korean and English and are ready to grow into global artists. In particular, one of the strengths of the team is that there are no Chinese members among the existing idol groups who often leave the team and return to their home countries after gaining sparkling popularity. It is interesting to see if New Jins, who has perfect breathing, skills, and language skills among team members, can become popular in the global market after BTS and BLACKPINK.
4. Growth Idol
As mentioned above, New Jeans is a girl group of 14~18 years old, and it is loved for its very sophisticated expression of songs that are like pure diaries of teenagers. It also means that as Nujins gets older, it represents its age group even into its 20s and 30s, and has the potential for various changes that set the trend of the era. Once a concept is made strong and gets a response, it naturally gets stronger and stronger the next time. However, in the case of New Jeans, as mentioned earlier, it debuted with a minimal device with the concept of pure teenagers, so if it transforms into a figure that is not excessive for each age group, it will be loved for a long time. I'm more excited about the growing Nujins at some point in the future than I am about the current form.
New Jeans' Debut Song: Attention
I started writing this article 1 month ago, so a lot has changed in the music industry in that short time. When I started writing, I thought that the 2022 Rookie of the Year award would be unconditionally won by Newjins, but just recently, 'Ives' After Like released their third mini album became a big hit, and the 2022 Rookie of the Year award seems to be a fait accompli with 'I've'. In fact, "I've" was almost a girl group of Jang Won-young's one-top. However, in the second song Love Dive, Ahn Yu-jin began to stand out, and the variety show. Boom! Ahn Yu-jin performed in the Earth Arcade and Jang Won-young and Ahn Yu-jin went to the two-top system, and in the third song, After Like all the members began to gain popularity evenly. Personally, After Like is full of retro sensibilities that kids like me will love. It is being preached that it is a masterpiece that is completely unfamiliar even if people in their 30s and 40s listening to it. I hope you'll hear it. This song samples the classic song I Will Survive from the 70s, and just listening to it will be a miracle that makes your heart grow. Personally, the song "Tai Lion" by the handsome idol group Degree, also flashes through my mind.
I've New Comedy: After Like
Following the first-generation "S.E.S" and "Finkle" of the girl groups, it would be great if the big newcomers "I've" and "New Jeans" like the second-generation "Girls' Generation" and "Wonder Girls" compete in good faith and raise the status of the Korean K-POP market. In the global market, we sincerely hope that a large K-pop artist will be born after 'BLACKPINK' and 'BTS'.