FEATURE: Spotlight: Brave Girls — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Brave Girls

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ONCE was the time…

when I was not aware of the music coming from South Korea. I think now, more than at any other time, there is this explosion of interesting Pop music from the nation. Different in sound and scope to that of the Pop music we hear in the U.K. and U.S., one needs to keep an eye out for what is happening in South Korea. One of the most interesting girl groups coming from there is Brave Girls. They are not a brand-new band – there have been line-up changes through the years. I feel a lot of people outside of South Korea might not know about them. As this year marked a decade since they released their debut single, I wanted to spend some time spotlighting Brave Girls’ music. There are a few pieces that I want to bring in. Before then, Wikipedia provide some background about the group:

“Brave Girls (Korean: 브레이브걸스; RR: Beureibeu Geolseu; also known as BG) is a South Korean girl group formed by producer Brave Brothers in 2011 and managed by Brave Entertainment. After making their debut with the single album The Difference on 7 April 2011, the group has since released four mini-albums, including Back to da Future (2011), Re-Issue (2012), High Heels (2016), and Rollin' (2017). Initially a five-member group, Brave Girls has undergone multiple lineup changes and currently consists of Minyoung, Yujeong, Eunji, and Yuna, with no original members remaining. In 2021, the group gained a sudden surge in popularity after their song "Rollin'" unexpectedly went viral”.

If you do not know Brave Girls now, that will change in the months to come. One of their best-known songs is Rollin’. As this NME news feature explains, the group have been bowled over by their success:

“When the group first released ‘Rollin’’ four years ago, they had promoted it with a concept based on vampires. However, the K-pop idols recently revealed that they thought there was a mismatch between the concept and the “very light clean, pastel tone feel” of the song.

“After hearing the concept change to ‘Vampires’, we were like, ‘Oh no, what do we do? We’re doomed’,” member Eunji told News1 Korea. “It was truly shocking. [This is my] first time saying this, but that was our reaction to the concept change.”

In spite of the concept, the group said that they felt that ‘Rollin’’ still had the makings of a hit. “We when first heard ‘Rollin’’, I felt like [the song] was an automatic number one. Definitely,” Yuna said. “When we went back to the practice room, even though we just heard the [demo] version, we dance and played with the song thinking this was a number one hit.”

“What kind of concert and dance would fit, these things would come in our thoughts – [although] they didn’t turn out that way in the end,” Eunji added. “But since the song was so good, we thought this had a chance of getting first place”.

Earlier this month, the group described their newfound success as “bewildering” while expressing their thankfulness towards listeners. “I feel both dumbfounded and overjoyed. It was our dream to chart on Melon, and I’m so emotional by this that I can only say that I’m grateful,” said member Yujeong”.

I’ll end with a review of their new E.P., Summer Queen. Before working me way to that, the South Korean group celebrated a music show win with the song, Rollin’. For a group that has come a long way and gone through various iterations, the win was a huge honour to them. This article explains more:

“On March 14, Brave Girls took their first-ever music show win since their debut on SBS’s “Inkigayo” with their resurgent hit song “Rollin'”.

In an interview with Hankyung, Brave Girls shared their thoughts and feelings about the emotional first win, as well as the reaction of their CEO and producer, Brave Brothers.

“Eunji said, “I thought about everything that had happened to us until now and I cried a lot. I was so shocked. It wasn’t until we got off the stage that I felt like it was real. In all my time as a singer, I never thought that I would get No. 1 and receive a trophy. I was so happy yesterday.”

Minyoung said, “We’d never been nominated for first place before, so we’d never even had the chance to stand next to the MCs. I had no idea where we were supposed to stand. The other nominees for first place were kind enough to guide us. To be honest, we thought that the end of the ‘We Ride’ promotions would be our last time standing on stage, so this felt even more unbelievable.”

Brave Brothers is the agency CEO for Brave Girls and produced and wrote the song “Rollin'” for them. Minyoung said, “He told us yesterday that he almost cried. He was watching TV with his mother, so he was embarrassed and held it in, but he told us, ‘I really felt like I was going to cry. I’m so happy for you girls.’ After hearing that, we cried again too. He suffered a lot for our sake as well.”

In their speech, Brave Girls thanked their fans, but also thanked the officers and soldiers of the armed forces, new military recruits, and members of the civil defence forces. Brave Girls has often performed for military audiences and is known to be a popular girl group among them.

The members said, “The reason that we could get No. 1 on music charts and on music shows was because of them. If they hadn’t been cheering us on, we would never have gotten first place. That’s why it was natural for us to thank them in our speech”.

Among the exciting and varied groups coming out of South Korea, I think that Brave Girls’ longevity and recent success shows that they are ones to watch closely. I really love their sound and how they have evolved through the years. They are such an exciting and fresh group. Their humbleness also stands them out.

I think groups like Brave Girls are what the world needs right now. Medium agreed. They ran a feature where they talked about the current line-up and how the group came back from the brink of disbandment:

“The current lineup of Brave Girls (Minyoung, Yujeong, Eunji, and Yuna) debuted in 2016, and the past 5 years have not always been kind to them. Sales were lackluster, as were results when the group participated in survival show The Unit. Brave Girls also took an extensive hiatus before the release of their digital single “We Ride” in late 2020, after which it was quietly assumed they would disband.

But the universe had other plans. On February 23, the very day that Brave Girls privately decided to call it quits, Viditor’s video was posted. According to Yujeong, the group’s initial reaction when it went viral was not excitement but to tell each other, “Don’t get your hopes up, you’ll end up feeling hurt.”

Reality, however, has gone beyond even their wildest hopes. As I write this, Brave Girls have scored 4 more music show trophies since that first win on Inkigayo and recorded over 100 hourly Perfect All-Kills (or PAKs, a term referring to holding the #1 spot on every major Korean music chart simultaneously). I’m sure these numbers will be wildly outdated before the week is out — they seem to break another record every time I blink.

The past few weeks have been the busiest of their career, and the members constantly reiterate how grateful they are to be working. In one interview, Minyoung even said, “I’m so happy and excited that I can’t fall asleep.” There’s a simple delight in watching people who are so clearly thrilled to be doing what they’re doing. Brave Girls’ current success may have been catalyzed by a viral video, but it’s been sustained by the world’s overwhelming compulsion to root for them.

Whether you mean for the Kpop industry or the world as a whole, it’s safe to say that things are rough. In the midst of all the doomscrolling and discourse, the “Rollin’” renaissance has been a much-needed breath of fresh air on my Twitter timeline. Here are 4 talented women who spent years struggling and receiving limited recognition, whose salvation arrived with absurdly perfect timing and catapulted them to stardom. It’s enough to make you believe in miracles again.

Not only that, but the members of Brave Girls are also all in their late 20s or early 30s, making their tale especially poignant in an industry where idols often debut as teenagers and flare out by the time they’re 25. In Yujeong’s own words: “Our group is not young. I am the second oldest and I am 31 [in Korean age] … I have hit rock bottom after debut, but I eventually ended up where I wanted to be. You never know what life has in store for you”.

The Summer Queen E.P. is one that everyone should listen to. It is perfect for the hot days. Rather than it being merely shallow Pop with a veneer of promise, there is substance and depth to the music. You come back to the tracks because of their compelling energy and brightness. This is what NME wrote in their review:

“We want to establish ourselves as the group people think about during the summer,” leader Minyoung said during their media showcase last week (June 17). ‘Summer Queen’ won’t harm that ambition – it’s a record that feels ready-made for listening to at the beach, by the pool and on sticky nights when the day’s heat is replaced with an electric energy. It’s also a record of variety, refusing to settle into any one summery groove.

The title track ‘Chi Mat Ba Ram’ takes the form of an exuberant tropical house song whose energy is impossible to not get swept along by. Its sound isn’t exactly “on trend” for 2021, but somehow that makes it work all the more – Brave Girls aren’t playing up to what’s cool to keep their momentum going, just pulling big, euphoric bangers out of the bag that could land in any era. It only falters on the English version, whose lyrics feel more stilted than the Korean original.

‘Pool Party’ – which features a great cameo from Brave Entertainment labelmate and DKB rapper E-Chan – dials things back to ’80s-inspired synth-pop and wouldn’t sound out of place on Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Emotion’ album, while ‘Summer By Myself’ brings together city pop and new jack swing, and ‘Fever’ delves into balmy disco. There are elements of second-generation K-pop throughout, but instead of feeling dated and old, Brave Girls make everything sound as fresh as hearing it for the first time.

Lyrically, though, there’s less range. All of the songs detail some version of a moment of love under the sun – on ‘Chi Mat Ba Ram’, Minyoung sings: “Love comes to me too / The hot sun shines / It’s a beautiful summer night.” Later, on ‘Summer By Myself’, Eunji tells us: “Under the dazzling sunlight, I will confess my love / This feeling of walking on the cloud.”

In many ways, ‘Fever’ is the record’s most adventurous track – in its lyrics, its sound and in Yujeong’s ultra cool rap verse. Here, Brave Girls conspire to beckon you away from a life of predictability, even if just for one night, and into a world of rule-breaking and running wild. “So dangerous, somebody call 911 / I thought I got burned,” Yujeong drawls as things heat up. “Make way for the ambulance / The atmosphere is lit, so fabulous.”

Although there is the occasional moment of misfire across its five tracks, ‘Summer Queen’ is more than strong enough to keep the hype around K-pop’s biggest resurgence. Brave Girls should start polishing their crowns – their ascendance to the queens of summer is almost complete”.

Go and follow Brave Girls. They are an incredible force and a group that I feel are going to be around for a lot longer yet. Although they have been together (in some form) a long time, many people are discovering them now. In a tough 2021, their music is a tonic and much-needed soundtrack of positivity. The group most certainly have…