GFRIEND (여자친구; also known as Girlfriend) is a six-member South Korean girl group formed by Source Music in 2015. They debuted on January 15, 2015 with the mini-album Season of Glass.
History
2015: Debut with Season of Glass and Flower Bud
Promo for Season of Glass
In November 2014, Source Music announced the upcoming debut of their first girl group, named GFriend. Source Music had originally hoped the girls would make their debut towards the end of last year, and released pictures in October 2014 featuring SinB, Umji, Yerin, and Sowon. On January 5, the whole group was unveiled in multiple social media platforms, announcing their debut with a date. On January 15, the group finally released their first mini-album, Season of Glass, with title song, "Glass Bead", with an accompanying music video. The song is described as a bubblegum pop dance song, with a magnificent string sound, powerful beat, and emotional and flowing melody. The lyrics are from the perspective of a teenage girl, who says she will not easily break despite seeming fragile like a glass bead, and will shine for the one she loves. Their debut is reminiscent to their senior girl group, Girls' Generation's "Into the New World". "Glass Bead" is the first song in the group's "school series" and represents the start of school semester and enjoying time with friends. On January 16, the group made their debut stage on Music Bank. The song was a success on multiple charts.
Promo for Flower Bud
On July 13, it was announced that the group will be making a comeback with their second mini-album. On July 23, the album Flower Bud was released with title song, "Me Gustas Tu", with accompanying music video. "Me Gustas Tu" means "I Like You" in Spanish, and the lyrics are about a girl's shy confession of love. The song was written to emphasize the members' "bright and youthful" qualities, and features "funky" synths, guitar, and Moog bass sounds. "Me Gustas Tu" is the second song in the group's "school series" and represents a trip during summer vacation. On July 23, the group made their comeback stage on M! Countdown. The title song “Me Gustas Tu” took first place on the on some of some of major music charts. and entered other music charts in high positions. On September 5, they performed the song at an SBS Radio event in Inje, Gangwon Province, the group garnered international attention after a fan-taken video showed the group continuing performing the song even when stage floor was wet due to the rain, with members Yuju slipping and fell eight times, while SinB fell once. On September 17, the group made headlines again as the only girl group to be nominated in the 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards for the "Best Korean Act" category alongside boy groups B1A4, BTS, GOT7, and VIXX.
2016: Snowflake and LOL
Promo for Snowflake
On January 13, a series of photos were uploaded onto the group’s official Instagram account, announcing their comeback with a caption announcing third mini album. The group's mini-album was much-anticipated after the group won multiple Rookie awards. The tracklist was released the next day. On January 25, they released the album Snowflake with title song, "Rough", with the music video. The album was noted for its similarity in style to K-pop from the late 1990s and 2000s. The title song, "Rough", is a dance song described as lyrical, catchy, and melodic with "powerful beats and emotional lyrics". Its Korean title literally translates to "Running Through Time", and the lyrics are about a girl's desire to run through time and grow up so she can be with the one she loves. "Rough", is the final song in the group's "school series" and represents the end of a school year. The accompanying music video for "Rough" was inspired by the anime film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The group managed to grab people's attention when they went to Weekly Idol and sped up their song “Rough” twice as fast, and managed to keep up with the pace. Despite the rapid formation changes and complicated arm movements, the girls did not lose their perfect synchronization, maintaining their knife-like choreography. The album and song was critically acclaimed, topping multiple of Korea's major music charts, eventually achieving an All-Kill, and manage to grab their first music show win, eventually winning multiple music shows. By February 28, "Rough" had won a total of 15 music show trophies, with these wins, GFriend is in second place for number of wins by a girl group for a single song, behind Apink's 17 wins for "Luv".
On June 29, the group released two teaser images through their various social media accounts, announcing their comeback with their first studio album. The tracklist was revealed on July 5. After releasing multiple teasers, on July 11, the album LOL released, with title song "NAVILLERA", with accompanying music video. The album name means two things, "Laughing Out Loud" and "Lots of Love", which represents the groups "playful and bubbly" and "feminine and graceful" songs in the album respectively. The song, "Navillera" is a pop-rock song with a guitar solo, the song is a reference to Cho Chi-hun's poem "The Nun's Dance" (승무 Seungmu), and is a phrase used to describe a fluttering action similar to the movement of a butterfly. Its Korean title literally translates to "You and I" and the song's lyrics describe a girl's feeling of wanting to fly like a butterfly to be with the person she loves. The album was a commercial success, with the song being critically acclaimed, topping multiple music charts, and winning various music shows, and in the end they won a total of 14 music show awards,
2017: The Awakening
Promo for The Awakening
On February 23, it was announced that the group will be making a comeback with their fourth mini-album. Four days later, they released a video confirming their comeback with a girl crush concept, in contrast to the group's usual innocent image, the same day. they released their tracklist for the album. On March 6, they released the album The Awakening, with "Fingertip" as the title song, with the accompanying music video. The song "Fingertip" is described as a funk-driven song, propelled by electric guitar and bass, emphasizing the group’s powerful vocals. The song is reminiscent to senior girl group Girls' Generation's song "Hoot", due to the girl crush, Bond-esque concept. The song was a critically acclaimed noting the maturing of the girl group, placing high in various charts while winning various music shows.
Members
| Member | Position |
|---|---|
| Sowon (소원) | Leader, Main Rapper, Sub-Vocalist |
| Yerin (예린) | Vocals, Lead Dancer, Visual |
| Eunha (은하) | Lead Vocalist |
| Yuju (유주) | Main Vocalist, Dancer |
| SinB (신비) | Main Dancer, 3rd Vocalist, Center, Face of the Group |
| Umji (엄지) | Lead Rapper, Sub-Vocalist, Maknae |
Discography
Studio albums
- LOL (2016)
Mini albums
- Season of Glass (2015)
- Flower Bud (2015)
- Snowflake (2016)
- The Awakening (2017)
- Parallel (2017)
- Rainbow (repackage) (2017)
Gallery
Promotional
Miscellaneous
Official links
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