From the Shadow to the Stage: How BABYMONSTER Earned Their Place in 5th-Gen K-pop

BABYMONSTER releases their third mini album 〈춤 (CHOOM)〉 on May 4, 2026. This BABYMONSTER review isn’t a preview of that new record — it’s a look back at what these seven artists have actually built in the two years leading up to it.

Look at the numbers alone, and the group already holds a clear position inside fifth-generation K-pop. Cumulative Spotify streams have crossed roughly two billion, and the 〈SHEESH〉 music video alone passed 400 million views. As of January 2026, the official YouTube channel surpassed 11 million subscribers — the fastest pace ever for a K-pop girl group. Their first world tour 〈Hello Monsters〉 ran 32 shows across about 20 cities, drawing roughly 300,000 fans, and Billboard’s 2025 year-end Global 200 Excl. US chart includes only one fifth-generation girl group: BABYMONSTER.

What this review wants to look at is what comes next. They started with the labels “YG’s first new girl group in seven years” and “the second BLACKPINK,” but two years in, BABYMONSTER has been quietly stepping out of the weight of those comparisons through their music and their stage. 〈춤 (CHOOM)〉 is likely to be a turning point that shows what kind of identity that drift is hardening into.

1. The Only 5th-Gen Group Carrying the YG Hip-Hop Lineage

If you had to compress the musical current of the fifth-generation girl group market into a single word, it would be “easy listening.” NewJeans took Y2K minimalism, ILLIT took whisper-pop plugnb, and KISS OF LIFE took 2000s R&B. Among them, BABYMONSTER almost alone walks a different path. Heavy 808 bass, siren sounds, choreography-friendly chant choruses — the “YG hip-hop” grammar defined by 2NE1 and BLACKPINK is, within the fifth generation, carried head-on only by this group.

What’s interesting is that it doesn’t end as simple imitation. If 〈BATTER UP〉 (2023) opened the case with orthodox trap hip-hop, 〈SHEESH〉 (2024) layered baroque piano and explosive vocals over dark hip-hop to forge the group’s signature. The first full album 〈DRIP〉 (2024) brought a title track co-composed by G-DRAGON, and through the double-title 〈CLIK CLAK〉 attempted the bold structure of all seven members rapping. Billboard’s Jeff Benjamin called the album “tight-and-mighty K-pop incorporating dance, hip-hop, EDM and powerhouse pop.”

The flow gets bolder from there. The second mini 〈WE GO UP〉 (2025) widened the edges of the discography with rock (〈Psycho〉), slow-jam R&B (〈Supa Dupa Luv〉) and even country pop (〈Wild〉). Riding the same current, the third mini 〈춤 (CHOOM)〉 returns once more to the center. Yang Hyun-suk described the album as having “a slight edge and coolness fans haven’t heard from BABYMONSTER,” and the released motion teaser shows a sports car drifting across desert sand and carving the Korean character “춤” into it.

The Members’ Own Authorship

Because the YG system is strong, songwriting credits are still concentrated on one side. The only member with a co-composing credit on a title track is main rapper ASA, who registered her name with KOMCA from the debut single 〈BATTER UP〉. RUKA co-wrote 〈Woke Up in Tokyo〉 from the first full album together with ASA. Main vocalist RAMI told Weverse Magazine she “participated in the recording direction” on 〈LIKE THAT〉. The fact that members showing real authorship are still limited to two or three is one of the next tasks this group will need to work through.

2. “Handheld Mics and a Live Band” — The Way They Take the Stage

The moment BABYMONSTER’s stage identity was set is unexpectedly clear: the 〈SHEESH〉 stage on Mnet’s 〈M Countdown〉 on April 25, 2024. On a Korean music show where headsets and backing tracks are the standard, they set up a live band and sang holding handheld microphones. The high notes that AHYEON belted out in the second half of the song trended on Korean social media and overseas K-pop communities at the same time. From then on, OSEN’s reporting and YG’s official position have settled into the same line — “every stage is performed live with a live band and handheld mics.”

The policy reached its furthest point on the first world tour 〈Hello Monsters〉 (2025). Roughly 32 shows across about 20 cities, totaling 300,000 fans. They drew 150,000 across 10 shows in Japan alone, and the three-night run at Yokohama K-Arena filled 55,000 seats. Their two-night Seoul KSPO Dome shows in January marked them as the fastest female act ever to headline that venue — only eight months after debut. Reviewing the opening night, Korea Herald noted that “confident vocals supported by the rhythmic live band session elevated the quality of the performance.”

This live foundation didn’t appear out of nowhere. In episode 7 of the pre-debut documentary 〈Last Evaluation〉 (2023), AHYEON’s cover of Charlie Puth’s 〈Dangerously〉 went globally viral, and that connection led to the original artist personally writing 〈LIKE THAT〉, which was included on the first mini album. The seven members’ performance of Alessia Cara’s 〈Scars To Your Beautiful〉 is still one of the “pre-debut” clips MONSTIEZ love to share.

Seven Members, Seven Distinct Strengths

3. MONSTIEZ — A Fandom That Speaks Seven Native Languages

BABYMONSTER’s lineup is made up of three Korean members (AHYEON, RAMI, RORA), two Japanese (RUKA, ASA) and two Thai (PHARITA, CHIQUITA). It’s a configuration that bundles the three biggest non-Korean K-pop consumption markets into a single group. This design didn’t stop at marketing. 150,000 fans across one Japan tour leg, a steady top-tier presence on Southeast Asian streaming charts, Thai-language TikTok content becoming the entry point for PHARITA and CHIQUITA’s fandom — all of these read as direct consequences of that lineup composition.

The official fandom name “MONSTIEZ (몬스티즈)” was announced on July 27, 2024, through a parody news segment 〈BAEMON News 7〉 on the official YouTube channel. The name combines BABYMONSTER’s “MONS” with “TIES” — close bonds — and was introduced with the definition: “the closest entities that can rely on each other.” The official lightstick, which appeared for the first time in the same video, takes the form of a white half-globe with red devil horns on top — a direct visualization of the group’s “Baby/Monster” duality.

By the numbers, the scale and distribution of MONSTIEZ is one of the most honest indicators of this group’s actual global standing (measured April 2026).

By monthly listeners alone, they sit behind NewJeans and ILLIT, but on cumulative streams they hold the deepest catalog among fifth-generation girl groups. The fact that Jakarta, Bangkok, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur sit at the top of their Spotify listener distribution shows clearly where this fandom is most rooted. 〈MONSTIEZ DAY〉, held March 30 to April 5, 2026 across Hapjeong, Myeongdong and Insadong in Seoul to mark the group’s second debut anniversary, was also the first time that global fandom converged on Korea.

4. The Current Chapter — Not “the Next BLACKPINK” but the First BABYMONSTER

The third mini album 〈춤 (CHOOM)〉 drops May 4, 2026 at 6 PM KST as a four-track EP — 〈CHOOM〉 (title), 〈MOON〉, 〈I LIKE IT〉, 〈LOCKED IN〉. Two signals are clear in YG’s released concept imagery. The motion teaser of a sports car drifting across desert sand, and the individual “mugshot” concept photos with “TV news bulletin” chyrons on top. The caption “charged with the crime of dancing too excitedly” borrows the form of a joke, but the actual message is serious: this album is BABYMONSTER’s attempt to once again say directly how they want to define themselves.

There is one thing that should be written honestly at this point. Main vocalist RAMI has been on hiatus for health reasons since May 9, 2025. She did not participate in the second mini 〈WE GO UP〉, 〈Hot Sauce〉, parts of the 〈Hello Monsters〉 tour, the 〈Love Monsters〉 fan concerts, or the recording and promotions for the third mini 〈춤 (CHOOM)〉. What YG has officially confirmed stops there; no return date has been announced. The promise of “OT7 complete” remains the heaviest unfinished chapter for this group.

Even so, the next stage that the six-member BABYMONSTER will take is bigger. The 2026-27 〈BABYMONSTER WORLD TOUR [춤 (CHOOM)]〉 opens June 26-28, 2026 with three shows at Seoul Jamsil Indoor Stadium — already sold out as of April 2026 — followed by a Japan arena/dome tour through six cities, and then becoming the group’s first to span all five continents: Asia, North America, South America, Europe and Oceania. YG has also pre-announced a second full studio album in the fall (around October) of 2026.

The label “the second BLACKPINK,” attached to this group at debut, can no longer accurately describe BABYMONSTER in April 2026. A group that has begun to be measured by its own name rather than by anyone else’s, and a group trying to redefine that name with a single character — “춤.” May 4 at 6 PM KST is when the next chapter begins.

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