Both High-Up label’s ILLIT and YG Entertainment’s Baby Monster are gearing up to debut

Will the rookie girl groups debuting this spring bring a new wave to the K-pop scene? Both High-Up label’s ILLIT and YG Entertainment’s Baby Monster are gearing up to debut around the same time.

First, ILLIT, debuting on March 25th, is the first girl group to be introduced by High-Up. They were formed through the JTBC survival program “R U NEXT?” aired last year. The group consists of five members: Yuna (20), Minju (19), Wonhee (16) from Korea, and Moka (19) and Loha (16) from Japan. With an average age of 18, they gained attention as the “group with all visual centers.”

The team name, created by combining the independent and progressive will (I WILL) with the pronoun meaning something special (IT), depending on the verb between the two words, means “a group with the potential to be anything and is anticipated to be whatever it becomes.”

As expected from a survival show, all the members of ILLIT are ‘all-rounders’ with vocal, dance, and rap skills. Despite most members being teenagers, they demonstrated their boundless potential on stage with delicate expressions and genre versatility through various competition songs.

Even amidst fierce competition, all members of ILLIT maintained their innocence and liveliness characteristic of teenagers. Through encouraging and supporting each other, they attracted attention for their “healthy competition.” The spotlight is now on how they will portray the potential and charm they showed in the survival show in their upcoming mini-album ‘SUPER REAL ME,’ produced by High-Up’s Bang Si-hyuk.

On April 1st, YG Entertainment’s BABYMONSTER will make their debut. They are YG’s first girl group in about seven years since BLACKPINK, debuting in November last year. The group consists of Korean members Ahn (16) and Rami (16), Rora (15), Japanese members Ruka (21) and Asa (17), and Thai members Pharita (18) and Chiquita (14). Their official YouTube channel has a subscriber count of 4.48 million.

Like their name, which means possessing monstrous skills despite being young, they were selected through YG’s own survival content, known for its tough trainee evaluations. Expectations from global fans are rising with member Ahn’s return to the debut lineup due to health reasons.

It’s worth noting that BABYMONSTER is one of the girl groups debuting from YG, led entirely by YG’s chief producer Yang Hyun-suk. BABYMONSTER added to the comeback fervor with their debut song “BATTER UP” and the pre-release track “Stuck In The Middle” from their mini-album. Instead of easy listening, they showcased YG’s distinctive music style.

With their full lineup returning, their activities for the new mini-album “BABYMONS7ER” deserve attention. After the addictive hook and dynamic song development of their debut song “BATTER UP,” and the warm atmosphere created by the minimal instrument arrangement and lyrical piano melody of the pop ballad genre “Stuck In The Middle,” fans are eager to see what new music BABYMONSTER will bring to the table.

Listen to BABYMONSTER’s “BATTER UP” here!

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