Music Shows Aren’t the Best Platform for Comebacks?

Comebacks, music shows, and challenge videos 💕🔥

Where do you think you encounter most of the new releases from idols? The variety of challenges that come along with comebacks have transitioned from being optional to utterly indispensable. The first half of 2023 saw K-POP gods launch numerous types of challenge videos. And if we're talking about the most impactful challenge of the first half, it was, hands down, LE SSERAFIM's challenge for <Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard's Wife>.

💥Boom boom boom, my heart is beating♪

ⓒYoutube HYBE LABELS LE SSERAFIM’s 'Eve, Psyche, and the Bluebeard’s Wife' Music Video

In their first year since debut, LE SSERAFIM released their first full-length album 'Unforgiven', and Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s Wife (referred to as E.P.B hereafter) is one of the tracks. It gained more recognition through the chunk of audio used for the '💥Boom boom boom, my heart is beating♪' challenge. Not only the ‘Boom boom boom’ part but also the intro part ‘I’m a mess mess mess~🐍’ gained popularity. When watching the video, you can’t help but marvel at LE SSERAFIM's slick moves and meticulous choreography. Fans were also thrilled by the members' own fun variations of the challenge, such as the amusing video of SAKURA filming KAZUHA dancing🤣, and another of KAZUHA and HONG EUN CHAE dancing at various locations👯‍♀️.

ⓒYoutube M2 LE SSERAFIM’s 'Eve, Psyche, and the Bluebeard’s Wife' Performance

A heavenly combination where favorites and second favorites meet

What happens when idols from different groups come together for a challenge video? Pure magic. One particularly loved trend is when idols from different groups get together to film these challenges. On May 21st, the day of the last broadcast for LE SSERAFIM's 'Unforgiven' activities, (G)I-DLE, aespa, and LE SSERAFIM got together and filmed challenge videos for each other's songs, uploading them to their official group accounts.

[Video 1 = (G)I-DLE's <Queencard> w/ LE SSERAFIM's KIM CHAEWON, SAKURA]

Everyone knows Miyeon has been killing it in the challenge videos, right? She teamed up with Kim Chaewon and Sakura from LE SSERAFIM.

[Video 2 = LE SSERAFIM's <Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard's Wife> w/ aespa's Winter]

aespa's Winter, whose stage outfits were hailed as the epitome of perfection, joined LE SSERAFIM for their E.P.B challenge!

[Video 3 = aespa's <Spicy> w/ LE SSERAFIM's KIM CHAEWON]

KIM CHAEWON of LE SSERAFIM, also known as the villain rabbit, added some spice to aespa's 'Spicy' challenge. It's hot, hot, hot!

Fans reacted to these collaborations by saying, "Heavenly combination, paradise combination."🥳 If you’ve been following K-POP for a while, you might remember how rare it used to be for idols from different groups to perform together. It only used to happen during year-end music festivals hosted by the three major broadcasters, and even then, it was usually mixed gender groups or girl groups swapping songs.

Another name for the challenge is community?

The world of challenge videos started with ZICO's 'Any Song' in 2020. Back then, people typically made videos with ZICO himself, but these days, it's not limited to close friends. The trend has evolved into a kind of mutual aid among idols active during the same period – it's a win-win situation as they get more channels to promote their songs. Not only other idol groups, but also actors with upcoming film releases, and popular content creators resuming activities after military service, all participate in these challenges.

ⓒZico's TikTok

Zico's 'Any Song' challenge, which started the era of challenge videos,

a scene dancing with MAMAMOO's Hwasa

In this era that cherishes harmless fun, friendly competition and easy-to-follow challenge videos align perfectly with the values of our generation. They also demonstrate that broadcasting stations are no longer the only media outlets in the era of individual media. So what do you think? Aren't challenge videos the real comeback hotspot?

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