
Woman group 2NE1 performs throughout SBS Gayo Daejeon held at Encourage Enviornment, Incheon, on Dec. 25. Courtesy of SBS
Ok-pop teams from first via third generations are making their return to the music scene, producing pleasure from followers welcoming their comebacks after a protracted hiatus and creating buzz throughout the business with these desirous to relive the golden years of Ok-pop.
The Nineteen Nineties woman group Child V.O.X unexpectedly took end-of-year music awards by storm final month, providing a style of early Ok-pop. The group, which was lively from the late Nineteen Nineties via early 2000s, and disbanded in 2006, reunited on the KBS Music Pageant late final month to current hit songs like “Get Up,” placing on its first efficiency in 14 years.
The efficiency gained vital consideration from previous and new Ok-pop followers, accumulating over 3 million views on YouTube.
Teams 2NE1 and BIGBANG , which swept the Ok-pop scene within the late 2000s, reunited for excursions and particular performances as properly.
In October, 2NE1 set off on its full-group world tour “Welcome Again,“ its first in over 10 years. The group’s fifteenth debut anniversary tour held reveals in several cities all through Asia, together with Jakarta, Manila, Tokyo and Hong Kong, promoting out a lot of the reveals. The group will quickly go to cities like Taipei, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh and Kuala Lumpur for the remainder of the tour.

Child V.O.X through the KBS Music Pageant held at KINTEX in Gyeonggi Province on Dec. 20. Captured from KBS
The group introduced earlier this month that it’ll maintain an encore live performance in Seoul on April 12 and 13 at a bigger venue, at KSPO Dome in Songpa District, Seoul.
“As there have been steady requests from followers, we expanded the viewers capability to greater than triple in comparison with the earlier Seoul live performance in October, which marked the start of the tour, with the intention to repay followers‘ assist,” the group’s company YG Leisure stated in a launch.
The four-piece group, whose final launch was the music “Good Bye” in 2017, proved its standing with a strong efficiency finally month’s end-of-year music pageant, SBS Gayo Daejeon, its first in 9 years. The efficiency hit over 6.4 million views on YouTube in simply over two weeks, proving their timeless reputation.
BIGBANG, one other iconic second-generation Ok-pop group, additionally stunned its followers with its member G-Dragon’s new launch “Dwelling Candy Dwelling,” that includes fellow members Taeyang and Daesung, their first collaboration in over two years. The group made a buzz-worthy efficiency of the observe on the 2024 MAMA Awards in November, showcasing their continued chemistry and stage presence that followers have been anticipating for years.

Boy group BIGBANG performs on the 2024 MAMA Awards held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, on Nov. 23. Courtesy of Mnet
Evolving fan tradition
Popular culture critic Kim Hern-sik famous that the reunions of early technology Ok-pop teams fulfill the will of older Ok-pop followers for music they’ll take pleasure in.
“At the moment, the difficulty with Ok-pop is that it primarily focuses on youngsters and people of their 20s. So individuals of their late 30s and 40s do not have a lot music to take pleasure in. They can not do trot they usually cannot simply take pleasure in solely ballads both,” he stated.
“This technology is used to being actively concerned in fan tradition they usually kind fandoms, however there aren’t many music genres accessible for them to take pleasure in. Moreover, now that there are a lot of long-running idol teams, idol music fandom tradition has change into a typical factor. Whereas idols previous their prime was once simply forgotten, now there are a lot of long-running idol teams they usually maintain nice significance.”
He added that as contactless fan tradition switched again to in-person occasions because the COVID-19 pandemic ended, fandom tradition has grown stronger than ever, which permits these reunions to be welcomed with such a robust fan base.
“As face-to-face tradition has change into extra lively after COVID-19 and with teams reuniting, fandom tradition is evolving in a approach that makes these fandoms even stronger,” he stated.

An idea picture of GFriend’s reunion launch “Season of Recollections“ / Courtesy of Supply Music
Third-generation teams, which disbanded after their seven-year company contract interval, are additionally making a return to the music scene.
Lovelyz dropped its first launch in 4 years with the brand new single „November,” providing a particular observe for followers to rejoice its tenth debut anniversary. Following the discharge, the group held live shows in Seoul, Macau and Taiwan.
The members of GFriend, whose group contracts resulted in 2021, additionally reunited for its tenth debut anniversary, releasing a particular album “Season of Recollections“ on Monday. The six-piece will decide up album promotions with an Asian tour, beginning with a Seoul live performance on Jan. 17. The group will journey to 4 cities, together with Yokohama and Hong Kong all through March.
Kim famous that Ok-pop lovers will be capable of see extra teams reuniting this 12 months.
“Related [comeback] circumstances are prone to proceed in 2025. Uniquely for feminine teams, there was excessive fan demand for his or her comeback. There have been many complaints that leisure firms disbanded them too early. So, as fan calls for align with firm pursuits, I anticipate to see extra comebacks in 2025,” he stated.
Kim additionally predicted that the so-called “seven-year curse” — wherein teams disband after their seven-year unique preliminary contracts expire — will change into much less prevalent within the Ok-pop scene.
“[Seven-year curse cases] are anticipated to lower. It’s because idol group members are not simply company-managed singers like earlier than, however reasonably have change into extra unbiased artists,” he stated.
“They will sing, write lyrics, compose music and have sturdy communication expertise with followers. There’s an rising tendency to stay as artists reasonably than leaving the business fully. Due to these components, we anticipate to see extra Ok-pop stars to return to or stay within the Ok-pop enviornment sooner or later.”