This week in K-pop, girl groups are dominating the scene especially Black Pink. The popular rookie girl group formed under YG Entertainment, or YG Family, made an impact with their first comeback of this year, a single titled "As If It's Your Last." Their song topped numerous charts domestically in South Korea and internationally on iTunes. To top off their success, they also broke the record for the fastest time a K-pop music video reached 10 million views in which they dethroned BTS and their song "Not Today."
However, they are just one of the acts contributing to why K-pop girl groups are dominating this week.
Mamamoo (often stylized as MAMAMOO) also made their comeback too with their fifth extended play (EP) or mini-album "Purple" featuring title track song "Yes I Am." Despite their fierce competition and controversies, they were able to top certain charts.
RBW Entertainment's girl group releases their 5th mini-album
Rainbow Bridge World or RBW Entertainment and Mamamoo made it known they would make their first comeback for 2017 earlier this month through a series of colorful group and individual teaser photos. Through them, K-pop fans learned the comeback would be the aforementioned fifth EP or mini-album "Purple." On June 9, 2017, their pre-release promotions took a unique turn with the release of a "comedic B-side" song titled "Dad Jokes." Both the song and music video (attached below) are very candid.
Eventually Mamamoo's featured title track "Yes I Am" for their comeback made its scheduled release. Within 24 hours, it made some waves on numerous music charts. Domestically in South Korea, "Yes I Am" (music video below) took the number one spots on Korean real time charts MelOn and Mnet. The former is very significant as it holds 50 percent of the market share.
Internationally, "Purple" ranked number 17 on the WorldWide iTunes Album Chart. This is the first time Mamamoo ranked in the top 20 for the chart showing their increasing popularity.
Many K-pop fans are surprised Mamamoo is so popular despite numerous controversies!
It is an amazing feat that Mamamoo is doing so well. Many K-pop fans who've seen them debut and stuck with them through the years can easily see why they are becoming so popular.
However, there are many K-pop fans who are surprised Mamamoo is more popular than ever before.
Just this year alone, Mamamoo was accused of both racism and appropriating culture. Back in March, they were under fire by K-pop fans for their rendition of "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars during a live performance. In it, they dressed up like Ronson and Mars but also painted their faces black. This is known as blackface and is seen as extremely racist in certain countries especially the United States. Though they apologized sincerely for their honest mistake, they were still criticized.
K-pop fans, mostly from the U.S. once again, attacked Mamamoo for wearing bindis (clothing worn in India main with women) and referencing Buddha and Tilaka in "Dad Jokes." They said they were appropriating Indian culture.
Fortunately for Mamamoo, many of those attacking K-pop fans were silenced when numerous Indian K-pop fans including those who are part of Mamamoo's fan club known as Moomoo came to the girl group's defense.
Right now, Mamamoo is initiating post-release promotions which includes interviews and music show competitions. It is also possible they will be making more variety show appearances too.
