It’s quite jarring to see their standing domestically right now. Babymonster’s newest digital single title track, Sugar Honey Ice Tea (S.H.I.T.), just debuted at #510 on Melon, which is by far their worst performance since debut.
I feel like the hype around BM among casual kpop fans in Korea has been dwindling, and my friend who’s a Korean Monstiez echoed similar sentiment. She really likes S.H.I.T. and thinks part of the reason they’re not getting as much attention is because the group’s music has received a fairly mixed reception domestically in recent years. According to her, most kpop fans in Korea acknowledge Babymonster as a talented group of strong performers, but their music tends to be seen as hit or miss.
In her view, CHOOM really needed to perform well because their 2025 didn’t do as well as planned domestically with Hot Sauce and We Go Up. But when CHOOM came out, it ended up being met with a wave of negative viral reactions. People made negative videos about the lyrics, the choreo, the sound, pretty much every aspect of it and they all went viral for the wrong reasons. And all that negative reaction ended up being reflected in the song’s chart performance. She thinks that the consecutive “misses” have left a poor impression on casual listeners, and as a result, people just aren’t as excited for their new releases anymore.
To that point, I kind of agree. I do think that when a group goes an extended period without generating much positive buzz, it becomes increasingly difficult to get the general public excited about them again. Both 2NE1 and Blackpink were massively successful with Korean audiences right from debut. What do you think Babymonster is missing that’s making that level of success so difficult to replicate?
Btw, I know they’re super popular in the SEA region. In case if it wasn’t clear enough, this is about their domestic reception.
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