BabyMonster have been a pretty polarizing group since their pre-debut era, there were a ton of heated discussions about their concept, songs, promotion etc. And the overall sentiment, especially in Reddit, wasn’t a really positive one. The popupar opinion was that typical YGE girl crush sound wouldn’t work in a current landscape of K-pop or that their promotion style would be too outdated. But for what it’s worth there’s a reason the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” exists. It doesn’t mean the company shouldn’t implement any changes or refuse to adapt and evolve, but the success of 2NE1 and Blackpink is a proof that there are a lot of fans wanting a certain type of concept and sound.
Doubling down on that familiar trope especially makes sense when most of BabyMonster members initially auditioned for the company because they were huge fans of the senior YGE artists and liked that specific style. From the very first teaser there was no confusion about what Baemon represented: the next generation of YGE idols who were very skilled despite their young age (it’s even evident in their group name). And every piece of their content was just focusing on that. They were not going to be for everyone, but I think they immediately claimed a not so small niche and did a good job of slowly expanding their fanbase. The best example of that is their domestic charting: ‘Sheesh’ was initially out of top-100 and ‘Drip’ was out of top-50, but overtime the former peaked at #8 on Melon, and the latter at #11 (three months after the release date) with solid longevity. Both songs weren’t immediate hits, yet after people got to see BabyMonster sing and perform, there was a clear surge in interest and appreciation.
Which is sort of their entire branding – they are positioning themselves as the group you want to see live, even if you are not a huge fan of their music. And it’s working out great so far. They are only one year old, but already going on an arena tour including big venues in Korea, US, Japan, SEA, while constantly adding dates. Their tour attendance rivals a lot of established Gen 3 and Gen 4 girl groups.
And more importantly their strategy is very sustainable. They don’t need an innovative creative concept, they don’t need viral songs or immediate hits, they don’t really need to do a ton of promotion either. All they require is to have decent semi-frequent releases and be consistently great live to maintain that reputation and that edge they have over their peers. With every comeback their fanbase will keep growing and sooner or later they’ll get their first big hit. As their career progresses they’ll get more opportunities like festivals (maybe even Coachella next year), fashion brand ambassadorships etc.
This approach won’t make them immediately massive, but I do believe that it’s relatively low-risk and secures them a slow climb to the top. It combines their label’s experience with touring and recognizable sound, as well as the members’ skillsets and abilities. They can reliably come back, sell albums, do activities focused on showcasing their performances like singing variety shows, and then go on tour. Rinse and repeat. YGE to their credit have also given them time to take vacation before and after almost every tour leg, so they are not run into the ground. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them have an album selling more than 1 million copies (‘Drip’ sold 800K+ units) and do an encore show in a Japanese dome as soon as this year, which would be an amazing achievement for a group that debuted just a year ago.
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