Young Posse aims to finish 'eating the stage' with new EP 'Ate That'

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Young Posse aims to finish 'eating the stage' with new EP 'Ate That'

Published: 21 Aug. 2024, 16:35

YOON SO-YEON
yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr

Girl group Young Posse performs its new track ″Ate That″ during a showcase held on Aug. 21 for the release of its third EP ″Ate That″ in Sinchon, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

While many newly debuting K-pop bands promise to succeed, Young Posse’s promise may be bigger than any seen in recent years in the industry.

The five-member girl group released its third EP, “Ate That,” on Tuesday at midnight, boasting another addition to the mischievous hip-hop concept it has been successfully pulling off ever since debuting last October.

The new album is the final chapter of the three-part series focusing on the idea of the growth and maturity of the group, which began with the first album, “Macaroni Cheese,” (2023) followed by “XXL” and “Ate That,” according to the members.

“We first filled our stomachs with ‘Macaroni Cheese’ and made our stage larger to a size ‘XXL,’” leader Sunhye told reporters during a showcase held on Wednesday in western Seoul.

“With ‘Ate That,’ we’re going to eat that large stage without leaving any crumbs behind.”

Girl group Young Posse poses for photos during a showcase held on Aug. 21 for the release of its third EP ″Ate That″ in Sinchon, western Seoul. [NEWS1]

“Ate That” comes just two months after the girl group’s digital single “On My Scars” in June and five months after the second EP “XXL” was released in March.

The four tracks of “Ate That” are the very manifesto of the group's goal to “eat” the stage, expressed best in title track “Ate That,” as well as “Loading...,” the West Coast hip-hop B-side track. “Ate That” is a G-funk hip-hop track containing moves and sounds from the 1990s U.S. hip-hop scene, with a special focus on showing just how confident the members are, according to Jieun.

“This album, to express it simply, is our ambition,” she said. “It’s filled with our goal that contains the best of all our ambitions in music.”

Young Posse has been aiming to mark itself down as “a real hip-hop” girl group rather than only using hip-hop as an element of its songs, which is common in K-pop. And for the music video of “Ate That,” the quintet was inspired by the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise. The music video was shown off by the members during Wednesday’s showcase.

Girl group Young Posse performs its new track ″Ate That″ during a showcase held on Aug. 21 for the release of its third EP ″Ate That″ in Sinchon, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

“We read a lot of comments saying that they liked the music video,” Doeun said. “The idea came from a video game, which meant a lot of computer graphics for us, too. I think that added the fun to the video.”

It’s been less than a year since Young Posse made its debut last October under DSP Media, a K-pop agency famed for successfully launching K-pop artists over generations, including Sechskies and Fin.K.L to Kara, Rainbow and April. Not many full-on hip-hop girl groups are common in K-pop, and so one of the biggest things they’re looking forward to this year is the concert of girl group 2NE1.

“We’ve always said that 2NE1 is our role model,” Jiana said. “We heard that they are holding a concert to celebrate their 15th anniversary of debut. It would be so exciting to be able to make a challenge [video] with them.”

But that doesn’t mean Young Posse will only limit itself to hip-hop songs, leader Sunhye said.

“We like hip-hop and we’ve been going with this ever since our debut, so our roots will always be in hip-hop,” she said. “But there are so many things that we want to try, so we don’t want to limit ourselves to anything. We’ll always try new things and everything is open to possibilities.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]