New girl group Babymonster comprises members Ahyeon, Ruka, Chiquita, Haram, Pharita, Rora and Asa. Image: YG Entertainment via The Korea Herald
YG Entertainment on Friday, May 12, announced the members of Babymonster, revealing the group will consist of seven members and not five as previously announced.
YG’s founder and executive producer Yang Hyun-suk made the announcement in a YouTube video posted on Friday, two weeks after the band’s final evaluation, made public via a YouTube series, came to a close.
“So many fans, around 99 percent of them, wanted all seven members to debut together. As a producer, I was confused about whether I should go as I had initially planned or take your opinions into account for the decision,” Yang said in the video.
Yang went on to reveal the members who made the final cut: Ahyeon, Ruka, Chiquita, Haram, Pharita, Rora and Asa.
“We decided to take all seven of them. The first five members were selected by YG. Rora and Asa are chosen by the fans,” he said.
Elaborating on how he arrived at the exceptional decision, Yang said, “The YG Family is not simply a group of YG artists but (includes) all of you who are watching this program right now. It’s the fans who truly make up the YG Family.”
“It’s this whole group (of seven members) that the fans wanted to see, and I expect I’ll be able to show you what I’ve planned through putting these talented members into different subunits,” he continued.
The producer projected Babymonster will be ready to come out by fall.
Babymonster will be the first new female K-pop act from YG Entertainment in seven years following Blackpink’s debut in 2016.
Just like Blackpink, the septet will be a multinational group. There are three Korean members (Ahyeon, Haram and Rora), two Japanese members (Ruka and Asa) and two Thai members (Pharita and Chiquita). All the members except for 20-year-old Ruka are in their teens. The youngest is 13-year-old Chiquita. AP/ra