TWICE, EXID, A-PINK and others return this month

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

Tue, September 26, 2023 | 09:19

TWICE, EXID, A-PINK and others return this month

Posted : 2018-04-05 17:33

Updated : 2018-04-07 10:24

Top girl band TWICE will return April 9. / Courtesy of JYP Entertainment

By Kim Ji-soo

Spring is here, and K-pop music will be one of the pursuits to relish in the newly warmed weather. If March saw top boy bands such as Wanna One and TVXQ as well as rising stars Monsta X and Stray Kids making their mark on charts, the top girl bands have been putting or will soon put forth new albums and singles.

EXID perform their new single "Lady" on April 2 in Seoul. / Yonhap

A four-membered EXID returns as its leader Solji is recovering from thyroid surgery. For its new digital single "Naeilhae," or "Lady," the four members of Junghwa, Hyelin, LE and Hani have adopted the music, style and choreography of the 1990s. The song, of the new jack swing genre that swept the United States in the 1990s, harkens back memories from the era, inviting the listeners to jive to the music.

The digital single is a departure from EXID's former sexy concept as evidenced in the music and the choreography of the song "Up and Down."

The hit-making music writer Shinsadong Tiger has returned to work with EXID again on "Lady." The single is the girl band's first song released since it put forth its fourth mini-album "Full Moon" in November.

The diva K-pop girl band TWICE will return for fans next week, releasing its fifth mini-album titled "What is Love?" Park Jin-young, head of JYP Entertainment wrote and composed the lead song for the album.
The song "What is Love?" is expected to be about the love girls would dream about or imagine after learning about it through books, movies or dramas. In terms of genre, the song will feature cheery melody, up-tempo dance beat and trap music. That it is a song by Park raises expectations from fans. A snippet of the teaser about the song is gaining clicks already.

The nine members of TWICE _ Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu _ have been busy, particularly in Japan. They debuted in Japan last year with the first compilation album "#Twice." Soon after, the band also released the Japanese single "One More Time," to earn platinum status in Japan.

A poster announces APink's April 21 fan meeting. / Courtesy of Plan A Entertainment

The six-member group Apink will start domestic activities in April as well. It will be the band's first move in 10 months, since having released the mini-album "Pink Up" last June. The date of the music release hasn't been confirmed for Apink yet.

The band, comprising Park Cho-rong, Yoon Bo-mi, Jung Eun-ji, Son Na-eun, Kim Nam-joo and Oh Ha-young, debuted in 2011 with the mini-album "Seven Springs of Apink." It has several hit songs including "NoNoNo."
Then on April 21, the girl band will host a meeting with fans at Sejong University.

The girl group Lovelyz is expected to come out with a new album or song. The band released its fifth album last November.

Oh My Girl has put forth a subunit, with three members forming Oh My Girl Banhana. The subunit trio released a special album titled "Banana Allergy Monkey." The album has four songs and largely evokes images and influences from bananas and 1980s video games such as Super Mario Bros.

janee@ktimes.com