GIRLBOSS (2024)

Girlboss (commonly stylized as GIRLBOSS or GIRLBO$$) is a South Korean girl group under BOOM Entertainment, consisting of 6 members: Jiyoo, Eunkyung, Sunjung, Yunhee, Qinyang and Hanami. The group debuted on May 3, 2016 with the single “That Girl”.

Career[]

2010-2014: Formation[]

On December 5, 2015, BOOM Entertainment opened auditions for South Korean teenage girls, where more than 13000 South Korean girls applied for. After accepting 120 trainees to get in the company, BOOM Entertainment selected 20 possible candidates for a girl group. BOOM Entertainment revealed BOMB GIRLS to be the group’s pre-debut name. On March 16, 2012 BOOM Entertainment revealed the 4 selected trainees for BOMB GIRLS, which were Kim Jiyoo, Lee Eunkyung, Park Sunjung and Jung Yunhee. After the South Korean members were revealed, BOOM Entertainment opened auditions for Chinese and Japanese teenage girls. BOOM Entertainment revealed that they would add 2 more members, 1 from China and 1 from Japan. It was revealed that more than 23000 girls (Chinese and Japanese together) applied for it, and 240 (120 from China and 120 from Japan) were accepted. The subsidiaries BOOM China and BOOM Japan were created because of so many Chinese and Japanese trainees. After the acceptance of the new trainees, 20 Chinese trainees and 20 Japanese trainees were selected as possible candidates for BOMB GIRLS. On July 22, 2014, the Chinese member Wang Qinyang and the Japanese member Sato Hanami were revealed, completing the final line-up.

2014-2016: Pre-debut activities[]

On January 28, 2015, BOOM Entertainment posted profiles and pictures of the members of BOMB GIRLS on their website. Their profiles were written in Korean, Chinese and Japanese. On August 17, 2015, BOMB GIRLS released their pre-debut single “No Time For You”. On November 30, 2015, BOMB GIRLS had a collaboration stage with GIRLS 96’s top 12 members, covering VENUS’ debut “Meet: VENUS”. The next day, BOOM Entertainment revealed that the group’s name was changed to GIRLBOSS.

2016-2018: Debut and international activities[]

On May 3, 2016, GIRLBOSS released their debut single “That Girl”, which ranked 7th at KCJ Music Awards. Their 2016 singles “Next Day” and “Gunshot” were nominated for KCJ Music Awards 2018, but ranked 11th and 16th. Their EP released in 2017, called “Fire And Flames” ranked 6th on South Korea’s Top Music List. On November 6, 2017, they released their Chinese debut “Magical”. On December 28, 2017, their full album “Snake” ranked #3th on South Korea’s Top Music List. On February 20, 2018, their Japanese debut “Endless Fairytale” was released. The group’s popularity was considered average till their full album “BOMB” was released, which ranked #1 on South Korea’s Top Music List, which was GIRLBOSS’ first time to be ranked first. On October 28, 2018, GIRLBOSS had their first KCJ Tour, which is their annual tour through South Korea, China and Japan.

2018-2020: Rising popularity, losing popularity and 12/120 Girls[]

GIRLBOSS’ popularity was average until 2018, after their full album “BOMB” ranked first on South Korea’s Top Music List. 5 of their singles were in the whole top 5. Their single “Strong Woman” won KCJ Music Awards in 2019. In 2020 they collaborated with CONSTELLATION, covering CONSTELLATION’s debut “Miles Away”. In 2021, their first multilingual single “Time To Dance” was released, which included Korean, Chinese and Japanese. This was the first single to include all languages in one song. However, their popularity didn't last long. Their single "Starry Skies" was not selling well. Their following singles "Good Day, Good Night", "Glass Break" and "Wonderland" failed to chart, with a low number of sells. Their following EP "Bamboo" and album "Red Panda" didn't reach high sells. They were almost disbanding, so the members made the decision to participate in the survival show "12/120 Girls". Jiyoo, Eunkyung, Sunjung and Yunhee performed as a group being part of Team K (South Korea), while Wang Qinyang performed with other contestants Li Mingyue, Zhang Meili and Liu Pangfua as part of Team C (China) and Sato Hanami performend with Suzuki Aneko, Takahashi Bashira and Tanaka Etsudo as part of Team J (Japan). Eunkyung was ranked #37 in Team K and Sunjung was ranked #38 in Team K, both eliminated in the first elimination round. Hanami (rank #25 in Team J) and Yunhee (rank #22 in Team K), both eliminated in the second elimination round. In the third elimination round, no GIRLBOSS members were eliminated, but in the final, Wang Qinyang (rank #10 in Team C) and Kim Jiyoo (rank #8 in Team K) were both eliminated and none of the GIRLBOSS members made it into the final line-up, BLOSSOM.

2021-present: Gaining popularity back[]

After all members were eliminated, they returned to BOOM Entertainment. Due to the show, they became popular again. Their first 3 singles after being participants on 12/100 Girls, "Love Heart", "Great Memories" and "Third Wish" were not very popular, but their EP "Broken Wings" was selling very well. The title track of their album "Not Enough", "Hi! It's Me" was ranked first in KCJ Music Awards.

Members[]