Happy Christmas Eve or Happy Holidays, everyone!
With news that Dae-joon and Hyung-don will be producing a girl group made up of G.NA, After School’s Lizzy, 4minute’s So-hyun, and Kara’s Young-ji after the original, male Big Byung, it seemed fitting to return to a roundtable topic from earlier this year: Create Your Own Idol Group. 2014 has seen the rise of several groups and the debut of many more, so as the year winds down, let’s regroup to figure out our favorites and how we’d like to hear them.
In this round, we ask writers, old and new: which members would you include in your fantasy idol group, and why? Would you stick to current idols, or are there any older ones you’d like to include as well? And older writers who participated in the first round, are there any changes you would make to your ideal group?
Lo: Secret’s Jieun, Sistar’s Soyou, and Mamamoo’s Hwasa. They all have gorgeous voices and can harmonize well, and cover the full scale of female vocal ranges and tones, plus Hwasa can rap pretty well. Their concept: full on sexy. None of that “I want boys to find me hot” crap either. These ladies would be take charge, confident, classy women with a debut song similar to the bangin’ “Bang Bang”. The men will want them and the women will want them. Want to be them, I mean.
Cjontai: This is so difficult because I’m actually happy with the assemblage of most of my favorite groups. However, if I was to concoct a fantasy girl group, it would contain Nada and Nari from Wa$$up, Minzy from 2ne1, Narsha from Brown Eyed Girls, and Bohyung from Spica. The group name would be U-Wish, which stands for “Ultimate Women Instantly Slaying Haters.” I don’t care that it sounds crazy; it’s my fantasy so judge me if U-Wish.
As for the males, it would be Jonghyun from Shinee, Jungkook from BTS, Crush, Dongwoo from Infinite, and Niel from Teen Top. They would become my ideal R&B idol group, and I’d put out an album akin to SM the Ballad, the first incarnation–not that travesty of an OST soundtrack team SM cooked up the second time. I want nothing but baby-making music from this group. You know what? Let’s continue the crazy train and call this group Babymakers. It is what it is.
Actually, let me amend the group name from Babymakers to SATIN, which stands for “Soulful Artists Tempting Instigation of Naughtiness.” I can just see the choreography for their music now. Something involving chairs and a lot of body rolls.
Hania: I’d like to see a co-ed group that takes a more mellow R&B approach to things. I can see Exo’s Chanyeol working it with his deep voice and skills at many different instruments, with BTS’s Jungkook adding a softer voice to the mix. For the female representation, Mamamoo’s Moonbyul would balance out Chanyeol really well, with her solid rapping skills and decent singing. Miss A’s Min would complete the vocal line, bringing a strong voice to the mix.
Andrea: I honestly wouldn’t know who to put in a group together. Part of the charm of group members comes from their interactions with each other and how they are positioned within the group. Would I love to see various idols get together, such as T.O.P, P.O, Mino, and Bang Yongguk in some sort of mega hip-hop group with deep voices? Absolutely. But, I don’t think I could handle that and the greatness would be too much.
I do think a Min-Minzy duet would simply slay. The bombastic divaness would be outstanding.
Camiele: Oh man… this IS a difficult topic. Probably why there haven’t been many responses. As with Cjontai, I’m pretty pleased with most of the groups. But if there were a sort of project (like SM the Ballad or S). I’m a sucker for big voices, especially if they can blend well with others. For the ladies, I want fierce, intense, and powerful. For the men, I want it smooth, sexy, and strong.
For the ladies:
Lina from CSJH for the R&B power, Kahi for the dance, Gilme for rap, and JeA from Brown Eyed girls for the Soul. I’d call the group “Seoul Sisters.” Corny as hell, I know. But that’s what I think of when I think of powerful singers, dancers, and rappers: Soul and strength.
For the fellas:
Jihwan from 2Bic for the chocolaty soul, Shon Yong-jae from 4Men for the range, Kwon Soon-il for the more pop power vocal. So obviously this is a “big voices doing an R&B/Soul” type of thing. So this group could be called something equally corny as “Seoul Sisters”: I’m thinking “Silk.”
I wouldn’t want this to be anything long-term, like an actual group. But, like I said, if it was sort of a side project/collaboration type of thing for a special occasion, I could definitely get behind that!
You know what? I wanna add Joo Young to my list of guys. Yeah… that should round out the sound nicely.
Mark: I’m still waiting for a female vocal group to compete with Davichi and I think the answer lies in a mashup of up-and-coming idol vocalists. How about a group consisting of Boa of Spica, Uji of Bestie, Solji of Exid, and Sojung of Ladies Code? We can call this group Ton-a-Moo.
How about a mashup of the best up-and-coming female rappers? It’ll consist of LE of Exid, Jimin of AOA, Moonbyul of Mamamoo, and one of the rappers that’s being hyped on Sonamoo. We can call this group Ton-a-Swag.
Irteqa: This is so exciting! My fantasy idol group would consist of IU, Yeo-eun from Melody Day, Baby Soul from Lovelyz, and Jieun from Secret.
They all have versatile and extremely unique vocal ranges; IU’s stirring voice reminds me of waves lapping the sea, approaching peacefully and then crashing unbound. Yeo-eun has a soulful voice with the ability to stir tender feelings in the heart; her voice can patch up disconnected emotions and experiences with one fluid seam. Having recently discovered Baby Soul, her voice really touched me. It is feminine and temperate, hushed yet hopeful. Very evocative of “beginnings and endings.” And last but not least, Jieun’s voice is passionate, pained, and patient. It would add a rather spicy and unique flavour to the harmony.
This girl group would redefine the meaning of “ballad,” and would be called Roseate because their concept reminds me of the pretty and rosy color that tints memories.
Willis: I would put a spin on the traditional co-ed group with G.O. from MBLAQ, Miryo from Brown Eyed Girls, and Amber from f(x). I think the dual female rap roles in a co-ed group would make for an intriguing listen. I also feel these three would bring a dynamic energy on stage. I dub this group M(Brown).
Morgan: I would like to see a girl group that is focused on dancing. If SNSD’s Hyoyeon, 2NE1’s Minzy, Miss A’s Min, and 4minute’s Hyuna were put together they would have some killer potential.
Girl groups always seem to be very limited with their dances, the same as they are limited with the concepts of cute and sexy. These girls, having proven themselves as powerful dancers, would have the ability to challenge the expectations for girl groups when it comes to dancing. I mean, how cool would it be to see something like EXO’s Overdose or any B.A.P release but from a girl group? I think these girls have the potential to do it if they can work together.
Cjontai: Well if we’re going co-ed, then I’m pairing CL, Minzy and B.I. in the sub-unit that I wanted YG to create. All of them are fantastic performers with charisma to the max, so we’re guaranteed some blazing stages. CL and B.I. could play off each other’s styles while Minzy added that bit of soulful flavor to the mix with her vocals. It feels like I may need one more person to balance this out though, so I may throw in Junhoe from iKon for good measure. Since I don’t have any ideas on group names, I’d allow YG to do another survival show involving fans who compete for the sole honor of choosing it.
What about you, readers? Who is in your ideal K-pop group?
(YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment)
