The original iteration of Brave Girls was a 5-member group formed by producer Brave Brothers under his label Brave Entertainment (Wow, that's a whole lotta bravery there 😜). They came out in 2011 alongside future perennial industry giant, Apink. Looking at the Wikipedia entry for groups that had their debut in 2011, it seemed like a pretty thin field, as the others have not made any substantial cultural impact apart from Apink, the SISTAR19 subunit composed of Hyolyn and Bora, and the short-lived (but very controversial) Troublemaker project duo by Cube Entertainment consisting of Hyunah and Jang Hyun Seung.
This was Brave Brothers' first foray into the idol management business, and to cut a long story short, the results were.. disappointing.. The group actually snagged rookie of the year honors with a run of somewhat successful comebacks. However, Brave Brothers opted to shelve a much anticipated first album for his own girls in favor of producing for powerhouse group AOA. (Yes, I'm a quite bitter about this 😝). The situation resulted in AOA finding much commercial success (before their eventual downfall due ChoA leaving and a messy bullying scandal that followed, but that's a story for another time), and the Brave Girls being relegated to the sidelines as they were put on hiatus for two years.
After the hiatus, Brave Girls were dusted off and returned to active status in 2016 with a considerable lineup change. They were now a 7 member group with only 2 retained original members and 5 new faces and came back with the track Deepened.
The High Heels promotion (see above GIF) that followed was pretty dope as well. I wonder why no one really picked up on it?.. 😕
After a pair of comebacks, the two remaining original members decided to leave the group as well. Thankfully, no further lineup additions were announced, and the 5 new-generation Brave Girls would have a comeback in 2017 with the lead single of their fourth mini album entitled Rollin'.
The Brave Girls recently said on an interview that they had a really good feeling about the song since it had all the makings of a potential hit. However, the concept that was forced on them seemed a little.. off? I mean a vampire concept? For Rollin'? Really?.. 😩
Other notable comebacks during the immediate time period included: BTOB, Vcton, BAP, GOT7, Loona, IU, and GFriend (Fingertip) to name a few. Needless to say, the song was panned by the Korean public, and possibly the K-Pop community at large as well, which is unfortunate because it really is a great song! I personally regret not having picked it up that early, but then I recall that this was during my K-Pop black hole period, so I wasn't really following anyone's music during that time.
They tried to pump new life into the song a year later by releasing an appropriately summer-themed remake that they dubbed Rollin' (New Version) complete with a fresh new video showing the girls doing summer things with nary a hint of the choreography modifications 😅. Alas, I think it was too little too late, and the song was still ignored by the public. Despite all these challenges, the girls were quietly "soldiering on" (sorry, couldn't resist 😅) as they accepted lower-paying gigs to appear at military bases to hold performances for the soldiers stationed there. Apparently, they had developed a cult following among the enlisted men, with their catchy songs being passed down the ranks to subsequent batches of soldiers. Another contribution to their current success was the sheer number of military gigs that they went to, which is said to number above a hundred. Little did they know that they were quietly planting the seeds of their future viral fame away from Seoul amidst the very spirited cheering of the Korean military men.
In late 2020 (3 years after the last promotion cycle), they had a retro-themed comeback with the track We Ride, which by itself was a really solid song as well. Unfortunately, inclement weather conditions, as well as the prevailing Covid pandemic, pretty much sank their chances at promoting the song properly..
All seemed lost for the 4 remaining Brave Girls (their 5th member had actually sat out the Rollin' remake and subsequently was removed from the lineup). Those that remained were Minyoung (leader, main vocal main dancer), Yujeong (visual, vocal), Eunji (Main rapper, vocal), and Yuna (maknae, lead vocal lead dancer, lead rapper). In February 2021, they were already seriously discussing disbandment, with a pair of the members already vacating their dormitory. Then, the unthinkable happened..
A video compilation of their performances at military bases containing the various comments from current and former soldiers was put together and uploaded on the YouTube channel of a certain "Viditor" who has been uploading various K-Pop compilation videos. The video immediately went viral, garnering millions of views in a few days. All of a sudden Rollin' was topping all the real time charts in Korea, achieving perfect all-kills. Nobody could believe it, especially the Brave Girls, who just days before were contemplating leaving the industry for good. I highly recommend watching the video, as its great fun seeing the soldiers singing along and cheering so enthusiastically like that. 😅
With their meteoric rise to the top, they were invited to perform on music shows again, and suddenly had gigs left and right. They were even invited to guest on Running Man and Weekly Idol!
And then came the music show wins..
Brave Girls got their very first-ever music show win on March 14, 2021 at SBS Inkigayo, beating out powerhouses Shinee and Ateez for first place despite having ZERO physical sales. Man, I honestly felt bad for anyone who would be having a comeback during this time period, because Brave Girls seemed poised to make a clean sweep of the music shows.. as so it happened..
6 wins.. Not bad for a 4 year-old song and a group at the brink of disbandment!
This feel-good story inevitably drew comparisons to the story of EXID, which owes the prolongation of their careers to an uploaded fancam of Hani which quickly went viral and caused their song Up and Down to skyrocket to the top of the charts, thereby breathing new life into their careers and boosting them up the K-Pop hierarchy.
Brave Girls have since wrapped up promotions of Rollin' as of this writing, and the chart slowly normalizes as we see the usual expected winners take their places (due to fandom size more than anything else to be honest), but at least for a brief period of time, we were able to witness a group earn a win organically through the general public (many of which have undoubtedly become Fearless (Brave Girls Fandom) already 😅, thereby upsetting the balance in the force once again . The girls have promised to come back stronger and better, and are apparently going after the title of Summer Queens that has since been vacated by SISTAR after they disbanded. Now that they have the might of the entire Korean armed forces behind them, another string of wins would no longer be unexpected in the near future.
I guess this scenario also presents a lesson to other K-Pop companies, especially the smaller ones. Investing time and effort to performing at military bases is not really a lost cause or a simple charitable effort. Given the right combination of a song's catchiness, a group's likability, a positive military response, and a little stroke of luck, a group's fortunes may be turned around overnight.
So there you have it, the feel-good story of the decade. Amidst all the gloom and doom brought about by the current situation in our world today, it's nice to see that good things can still happen to people who really deserve it.
- B. Oppa
