▲This photo, shows Fifty Fifty. (Yonhap)

 

▲This Photo shows, Fifty Fifty. (Yonhap)

 

▲This photo shows Saena of Fifty Fifty. (Yonhap)

 

 

SEOUL April 23 (Yonhap) -- Rookie K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty's "CUPID" is continuing on with it’s long term success in the U.S. and other parts of the global market, its management said on Sunday. 

The music industry is expecting the track “CUPID” to successfully guard its place within the Billboard main single chart "Hot 100" for five consecutive weeks,according to Attrakt, the group's management agency. 

 

In order for the group to grow with success and longevity, the popularity of the song needs to be shifted into the interest of the artists themselves eventually, it added.

◇ The whole world is addicted to “CUPID”...Long run on both U.S. and UK charts.

According to the music industry on April 23, "CUPID," released in February, succeeded in penetrating the U.S. Billboard main single chart "Hot 100" and the U.K. official single chart "Top 100" for four consecutive weeks.

"Cupid" depicts truthful feelings about how one feel after being rejected, featuring simple and comfortable rhyme to appeal to the broader audience. The synth-pop track exudes a retro atmosphere, and the synthesizer sound gives a refreshing feeling.

Among various K-pop girl groups, only BLACKPINK and New Jeans have stayed longer than Fifty Fifty within the Billboard's "Hot 100."

Fifty Fifty is most likely to guard its place for the five consecutive weeks, especially as it has showcased a rise throughout the two charts.

The girl group managed to list their track within the top 10 U.S. daily charts of Spotify, the world's largest streaming platform. Spotify's performance is also important as it is reflected in Billboard's "Hot 100."

As the fame of Fifty Fifty’s track became hot overseas, "Cupid" also achieved a steep rise in the ranking within South Korea’s biggest music streaming platform, Melon.

The song remained outside the 1000th place for about a month since its release, rose up to 370th place on April 1 due to their fame obtained through word of mouth. Since then, the ranking of the song has risen vertically to 242nd on April 3, 151st on April 5, 91st on April 11, and 32nd on April 19.

◇ Differentiating from the existing formula focusing on the fandom...A comfortable song. Unimaginable power on TikTok

Experts often describe that the popularity of "Cupid" is different from the other tracks which follower the existing formula within the K-pop industry.

So far, K-pop stars had strong downloading power by their fandom, However, Fifty Fifty is gaining strength in streaming. This also means that the song itself is able to obtain fame through its competitiveness.

Jung Min-jae, a pop music critic, addressed, "Fifty Fifty has amazing skill sets and knowledge in terms of music in general, and uses easy-to-listen melodies throughout their tracks," adding, "There is an impression that the tracks were made with the purpose to fit the idea of easy listening music' rather than performance based tracks."

Throughout the press conference held on April 13, Saena, the leader of Fifty Fifty, pointed out her own secret to popularity, by addressing, "Secret to our fame is a synth-pop that's easy to listen to and feels soft, therefore overseas fans got interested first."

As such, strategies focusing on music that is easier to listen to than performances oriented by " various group dances" have been well recognized in new media such as TikTok.

Kim Do-heon, a pop music critic, stated, "Previously K-pop used TikTok, but to promote challenges," adding, "However, Fifty Fifty has captivated the public's taste on TikTok with good track. In particular, a version with a higher speed than the original song is popular, and this is a very unique phenomenon for K-pop within the platform.”

Moreover, critic addressed "K-pop had a strategy to create a fandom by showing charismatic and powerful performances in the U.S. and use that to enter the Billboard. The most important factor within the strategy was the downloading and sales rate of the CDs.” adding “However, Fifty Fifty who came out with their track which the group has worked hard on turned out well."

Some say that the success of "Cupid" is like Psy's "Gangnam Style," syndrome which took over the world through YouTube, a new media platform that emerged rapidly 11 years ago. It is also similar in that it is a result based on trend streaming, not fandom-based downloads and CD sales.

However, critic Jung Min-jae addressed, "Gangnam Style had a selling point such as easy to mimic dance routines and entertaining music video, however 'Cupid' became a mega hit by TikTok users' voluntary through the tactic of word-of-mouth," adding, "It's the same pattern but the context is completely different."

◇ Interest in the group is still low …Building a fandom is still a challenge

Within the music industry, critics pointed out that in order for Fifty Fifty to continue on with its popularity, it is necessary to shift its attention on their track to the group itself. In other words, it is necessary to build a fandom of some size.

According to an analysis by Kim Jin-woo, a senior researcher at Circle Chart, the number of views on YouTube for the music video of "Cupid" has increased significantly since the end of last month when the news of the track successfully entered the Billboard "Hot 100" dropped. In addition, the number of followers on group’s official Instagram increased by 13,000 a day as of the beginning of April. The album containing "Cupid" sold about 500 copies a week.

Kim Jin-woo, a senior researcher, addressed, "Considering music-related and fandom-related indicators, current interest related to rookie K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty are based on their tracks instead of the actual group," adding, "It is necessary to make efforts to strengthen its position in the girl group market by turning domestic and foreign interest in ‘Cupid’ its singers for continuous future growth."

In other words, the singer's recognition is lacking behind the popularity of their track “Cupid.”

Coincidentally, K-pop superstar Psy, who swept the world 11 years ago, addressed throughout a press conference in 2022, "There are cases where the track receives the fame and the artist receives the fame, and the reason why I was mentally devastated during the 'Gangnam Style' was because the song was more famous than the artist Some foreigners knew my name as 'Gangnam Style.’”

The current situation of Fifty Fifty seems to be related to the fact that they have not engaged in full-fledged promotional activities such as appearing on radio and TV programs within the North American market.

Fifty Fifty’s agency “Attract” is known to have recently met up with major record labels in the United States. This can be interpreted as looking for a partners expand their market in to various countries.

Kim Jin-woo, a member of the committee, stressed, "Fifty Fifty are left with a homework to increase the fandom by increasing the individual merit of each member."

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo)

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