[CELEB] Brave Girls say 'thank you,' and really mean it

K-pop

Published: 16 Mar. 2022, 15:23

[CELEB] Brave Girls say 'thank you,' and really mean it

The cover for Brave Girls' sixth EP "Thank You." From left are members EunJi, YuNa, YuJeong and MinYoung. [BRAVE ENTERTAINMENT]

You can say "thank you." You can sing it. Or, if you're a top girl group, you might release a whole album to express gratitude.

That's just what the Brave Girls have done with "Thank You," the group's sixth EP, which dropped Monday.

The EP has five tracks: the title track, "You and I," "Love is Gone," "Can I Love You" and a remix of the title track. Brave Entertainment said prior to the EP's release that the title track is about how the group is thankful to its fans for their continued support over the years.

The music video for "Thank You" was viewed more than 10 million times in under a day.

The date of the EP's release, March 14, is a meaningful day as it was on March 14, 2021 when the group won its first No. 1 trophy on SBS's "Inkigayo" (2000-) for sleeper hit "Rollin'" (2017).

Brave Girls earned the dubious honor of taking the longest to hit No. 1 on a local music show, as it was 1,854 days since the current lineup debuted in 2016.

The last album from the group was "After 'We Ride'" (2021), a repackaged version of "Summer Queen" (2021), the group's fifth EP.

Brave Girls as a group has technically existed for a decade, but the lineup has been completely changed.

The album cover for "Rollin'" [BRAVE ENTERTAINMENT]

It debuted in 2011 as a five-member group. Around 2016, it completely overhauled the roster — all of the original members departed from the group, and the members we know now, MinYoung, YuJeong, EunJi and YuNa, joined Brave Girls. HaYoon — the fifth Brave Girl — left in 2018.

They met with little success, with "Rollin'" receiving a lukewarm response when it was first released in 2017. The song became a sudden surprise sensation in 2021 when a YouTube compilation video of Brave Girls performing the song for military audiences became a hit with viewers.

In the video, uploaded by Viditor in February 2021 as "Brave Girls - Rollin' (with comments)," soldiers in the audience go mad for the group as comments in support of the group scroll, such as "We can win any war as long as this song is played."

The video had over 24 million views as of March 16.

Immediately after this video started trending on YouTube, "Rollin'" shot up to No. 1 on music charts of local music streaming sites like Melon and Bugs.

A scene from the YouTube video that helped Brave Girls climb up to success [YOUTUBE SCREEN CAPTURE]

With the newfound success of Brave Girls, other songs like "We Ride" (2020) climbed the charts as well. In June 2021, the group released EP "Summer Queen" with lead track "Chi Mat Ba Ram," which also proved to be a hit. The song took the No. 1 spot on multiple music streaming sites, and the music video was viewed over 30 million times within the first 10 days of its release on YouTube.

The members are well aware they owe everything to their fans.

In past interviews, when asked if Brave Girls will be "too busy" to perform for the military anymore, YuJeong said that "performing for the military will always remain a top priority to us as everyone knows that it is the reason the group was able to become so successful."

MinYoung of Brave Girls [BRAVE ENTERTAINMENT]

MinYoung (Kim Minyoung)

Date of birth: Sept. 12, 1990

Zodiac sign: Virgo

Birthplace: Seongnam, Gyeonggi

Debut: February 2016 as the main vocalist of girl group Brave Girls

Agency: Brave Entertainment

MinYoung debuted as the main vocalist of girl group Brave Girls in 2016. Known for her steady, high-pitched, powerful singing voice, she has earned the nickname "Mebo-jwa," a compound of the first syllables of the Korean pronunciation for "main vocal" and "jwa," meaning a status or rank. As MinYoung is the oldest of the four members, she is also the unofficial leader for the group.

This information was confirmed by Brave Entertainment on March 15, 2022.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]