Hyperfocus #5: A Good Day, but not a lucky one
Good Day's debut was one of my favorite songs of 2017. And then, there was nothing. In K-pop, a lot of what we know boils down to luck—and some are luckier than others.
On my old music blog, before I would go on my Christmas break, I would post a rundown of my ten favorite songs of the year—the closest I could get to a “best of the year” list.
My list for 2017 was different from the usual, I thought, because it was more pop-centric1. Unlike in previous years, for instance, I featured two K-pop tracks. One was EXID’s sublime “Night Rather Than Day”. The other was the debut release of a girl group that was sonically an outlier compared to what was coming out of South Korea at the time.
Perhaps it’s why I really liked Good Day’s “Rolly”. It was bombastic, and unabashedly so. It had a lot of things going on, and yet brought it all together in a nice little package. It felt like a throwback to the heavily orchestrated K-pop of a certain era—think IU’s “The Red Shoes” or Gain’s “Carnival (The Last Day)”.
But I wouldn’t have otherwise come across the song. I don’t remember how I did it exactly. Was it me chancing upon a Music Bank performance while flicking through the remote? I must have stayed and watched. What I remember is the end of the performance, when the center did this thing—a wink, but not just a wink—that just enamored me. Next thing I know, I was watching their other videos, and paying attention to that one member whose lines were really good. Is she becoming my bias?
Perhaps, but I didn’t really dive deep into the group. I tend to follow everyone—I was writing a music blog, after all—and I was still knee-deep in my devotion to Mamamoo at the time. I don’t think I had the space. But I remembered her name. Viva. She had this pre-debut teaser with the other main dancer in the group, Cherry; it was a really good performance of the theme song to Produce 101’s second season. She danced really well. She only had one line on “Rolly” but it didn’t matter, because she was clearly recruited to the group to dance, and when she’s front and center you can’t take your eyes off her.2 It can’t be just me, right?
I wanted more, so I waited for a comeback—but there won’t ever be one. I remember thinking it was weird for some of Good Day’s members to pop up on The Unit, the “idol rebooting project” where performers who were past their prime had another shot at a career, with the winners joining a temporary group much like the Produce 101 shows did. Viva was there, too. Great. But they’re just starting with their careers. The agency is already doing a Hail Mary pass to get them out there? It did result in this moment when another member, Jiwon, had the judges and the host, Rain, eating out of her hand. She’s the only one who would make it to the finale—but not the final groups.3
And then, nothing. Now, I don’t know if they did some fan content online—again, I didn’t dive deep. But two years later, Good Day would be no more, their members splitting up into essentially two groups. The idol rebooting project started again in earnest.
The nature of fandom in the 2020s means we tend to put a lot of our self-worth on the shoulders of the artists we choose to patronize and be devoted to. That leads to some interesting language in the comments I see on YouTube, for example—and I’m not thinking of the exaggerated “they are saving pop music” sort.
I’m thinking of the comments where the subtext is somewhere along the lines of “I have such impeccable taste”. Say, “I knew I chose the right group to stan”—and sure, you can read it as “I knew these people would deliver”, but I always end up thinking they actually meant “I knew other people would agree with my tastes”.
And along those lines, that other comment: “don’t sleep on this group!” Admittedly, my cynicism is showing through in believing that it’s as much an appeal to affirm one’s tastes as it is an appeal to appreciate a group more—but one can’t deny that a little more attention from the right people can go a long way. This is true across all music, but it’s more pronounced in K-pop, where release calendars can be crowded and many pursue their dream of becoming a popular idol (or being behind one), in some cases at all costs.
Stellar was another one of my more underrated K-pop favorites. I remember first giving them serious attention on a red-eye flight from Hong Kong.4 I was going through the in-flight entertainment options and chose an episode of M Countdown knowing that I’ll fall asleep to it, and they performed first. “Vibrato” is a good song, but I came to really love “Sting”, and as I write this I am obsessed (once again) with “Fool”. When the group finally split up in 2018, I eulogized them on the old music blog.
But then, I didn’t pay that much attention to the group’s controversial history. The group started innocuously enough, gaining attention because Shinhwa member Eric Mun produced their 2011 debut. But after three lackluster singles, one line-up change, and one move to a new agency, they released “Marionette”, which featured risque choreography and an even more risque music video. (I would show it to you, but it seems to have been taken down, alongside most of their music videos from that period.) It peaked at #34 on the Gaon Digital Charts.
“Mask” followed that vein, while “Fool” acknowledged the controversy by being a more tender ballad (but with some gratuitous shots thrown in anyway). And then came “Vibrato”. It’s a bop, but the music video just had to be more in-your-face with the sexual imagery.5 I mean, this:
It also turned out that Stellar’s new agency insisted on the sexy concept despite objections from its members. There’s a lot of videos on YouTube digging through that, so I won’t elaborate. I will confess, however, that part of my appreciation for the group was definitely down to the male gaze. I feel icky saying that out loud now, but there you go. It’s a shame that their singles during the era were overshadowed by the imagery: “Sting”, my absolute favorite, just toes the line on that front, but is a sublime pre-night out track.
They never quite got past their reputation, and they disbanded in 2019 after the Hail Mary pass of a new member, and a frankly limp final single.
Of course there are stories with a happy ending, too. I mentioned EXID at the top: despite being backed by superstar producer Shinsadong Tiger they didn’t capture the imagination until a fancam of member Hani went viral. A more recent example is Brave Girls, who released some really good tracks6 but didn’t get much attention until a compilation of Korean soldiers’ frenzied reactions to their performances of “Rollin’” went viral just as the contract of the four remaining members expired. The end result: their first music show win, for a then four-year-old single, 1,854 days after their debut; five more singles; and after finally leaving their agency, regrouping just a few weeks ago as BB Girls, with the aptly-named re-debut “One More Time”.7
You don’t really have to look far. There were many groups that were hailed as the “saviors” of the fourth generation of K-pop—and I’m not counting groups like aespa or NewJeans, because they’re from the Big Four agencies and would have success almost guaranteed. I’m thinking of the hype built by groups like bugAboo (backed by producer Ryan S. Jhun, they only lasted two singles) and Lightsum (flying under the radar despite Cube Entertainment not being a non-entity)8. Of course, it’s not all failed potential: STAYC and Billlie9 are both doing well, thankfully.
And of course, there are the groups that don’t even debut.10
So, yes, a lot of it is really down to luck—and, after my experience with Good Day, I’ve always wondered how other fans navigate around this. Failures—well, non-phenomenal successes—happen more often. Do you hold tight to your favorites and expend your energies on convincing other people that they should give them a chance? Do you quietly slink away and find a new favorite because of the perceived lack of pay-off? Is this really all because I can be very cynical about the motivations of fandom? Could there be more to it than just wanting to look cool in front of your peers? Surely, yes, but forgive me for feeling that way—the nature of being a fan these days tends to be more about defending your favorites’ honor as if your life is at stake.
But then, what do I really know? I don’t think I was ever comfortable with being an out-and-out-and-out fan. Yes, I consider myself a MooMoo, but even then I acknowledge the fluctuating nature of my love for Mamamoo. Maybe it’s just one of those things I’ll never understand. Like, how can fans say they made the right choice in stanning whoever when they most likely do not have a time machine, or an ability to see the future?
But then, picking your favorites and devoting a little bit more of your energy to them is in itself a leap of faith. One easily exploited by music labels, corporate entities and media outlets desperate for clicks, sure—but unexplained all the same. I suppose when you’re in that situation, you devote a bit more to hoping for the best. Maybe I will truly never understand.
Good Day pretty much split into two groups after it disbanded. Four members—Cherry, Genie, Nayoon and Bomin—joined a new agency and, alongside a fifth member who previously worked as a soloist, redebuted as Redsquare. (A fifth member, Heejin, was supposed to join them, but left before the debut; she is now a producer and composer, apparently having co-written Cosmic Girls’ “Unnatural”.) They only had one single before disbanding; the first three debuted yet again as Irris. I have heard none of their songs, I must confess.
The other five members—Jiwon, Chaesol, Lucky, Viva and Haeun—stayed with C9 and redebuted under the name Cignature. Their songs were all right, but forgettable, since it blends into what most of K-pop is doing these days… except for “Boyfriend”.
Incidentally, I timed this entry to mark six years to the week “Rolly” came out—and tomorrow, Cignature’s dropping a new EP. But that group is different from the one that debuted. Viva and Haeun left the agency after their redebut, and joined another group. Sadly, it seems they have disbanded before even getting anything out there.
I must point out that Phoebe Bridgers’ “Motion Sickness” was on that year’s list as well. It’s been six years since she had her breakthrough? Time sure does fly.
Watch the official performance video for “Rolly”… if you can keep up. There’s a lot going on.
In the end, the battle was between a male group and a female group. Of course the boys won, but I think the best song to ever come out of The Unit was from the girls. UNI.T’s “I Mean” was produced by the Brave Brothers and is, like, a bop. By the way, that’s another Jiwon who made it to that group: Yang Ji-won almost debuted with T-ARA before joining Spica—that group is responsible for yet another bop, and their farewell song at that—and is now active as an actress.
My work trip to Hong Kong coincided with the 2015 APEC Leaders’ Summit in Manila, which saw our air space close at random times of the day to accommodate the arrival of foreign leaders. My return flight, originally scheduled for eight in the evening, was moved to two in the morning—and, in any case, we ended up arriving in Manila at five in the morning. It’s not a three-hour flight. But then, this is the only time I fell asleep on a plane.
On the flipside, there’s Brown Eyed Girls’ “Warm Hole”. The imagery in the music video isn’t as in-your-face, but the song is clearly about… well, the difference, of course, is agency.
I’m a sassy girl. I’m a tough girl. I’m a pretty girl. I’m a foxy girl. I am, always and forever, a “High Heels” girl—guy, I mean guy.
I know I focus too much on girl groups in this essay. You have to forgive me on that one—that’s where I am more exposed. But I should mention NU’EST, whose commercial performance stalled after debuting in 2012. The Hail Mary pass came, again, with Produce 101, where four of the five members joined. That saw new heights in popularity that continued as Minhyun finished in the top 11 and joined Wanna One, the rest of the group performed as NU’EST W, and then a reunion that saw their sixth EP, Happily Ever After, top the Gaon Album Chart.
Ive is definitely an exception. They may come from a big-ish outfit—Starship Entertainment previously housed Sistar—but, as evidenced by the slow build of Cosmic Girls, success isn’t automatic. I’m pretty sure the group’s reputation initially rested on Produce 48 winners Jang Won-young and Ahn Yu-jin—but the rest of the members turned out to be pretty strong, too.
Yes, I know Mystic Story is majority owned by SM Entertainment. Also, yes, I know Billlie’s popularity now is partly down to Tsuki’s excellent camera work as captured by a fancam.
I will once again refer you to Sister’s Slam Dunk 2. In this clip Hong Jin-young recounts her many failed attempts to debut as an idol before finding success as a trot singer. And then that would lose steam too, thanks to an academic dishonesty controversy.