Now it’s time to see which of the girl groups came out on top in a year filled with fantastic output from girl groups in particular, maybe their best year since early in the 3rd gen. To see if they have the best song tomorrow, or to see any of our previous awards this season, check out the hub page. Also, sorry this was late, as much as I’m trying to prioritize the site more, because I really love it, it doesn’t earn me any money, so I do have a real job, and it gets real busy at the end of the year, this weak has been nuts, save me girl groups.
9. WJSN (Scores: 6,6,8 | Average: 6.7)
WJSN has been my favorite group for the last year, so it pains me, as a Ujung, to put them so low, but musically, I think a few other groups have had better years, and I’m saying that having all of Neverland on my playlist. They have had some pretty good content throughout the year though, with a virtual concert and one of my personal favorite Uzzu Tapes, where they played a few games of Mafia, which were really fun. A lot of the members spent a lot of time spreading out to work on personal projects, acting, variety and the like, so here’s hoping we do get a bit more group content, and more than one comeback next year.
8. Fromis_9 (Scores: 2,8,9 | Average: 6.3)
Fromus_9 has always been a group whose music I have really liked, Heart to Heart, DKDK, and one of my favorite kpop songs of all time, Love Bomb, which I think represents what kpop is truly all about. So, with that context, they have had some of their best music ever this time around, between Feel Good being an absolute bop of a title track and Weather being one of the best b-sides put out all year, Fromis_9 managed to survive the survival show rigged voting scandal and come out better than ever, picking right back up from where they left off.
7. Twice (Scores: 9,3,4 | Average: 5.3)
There’s so much that anybody who understands kpop could say about Twice, to describe them as the most dominant girl group in the most cutthroat and saturated era in the history of kpop somehow feels like an understatement. Twice defined what it means to be a modern kpop group, and JYP entertainment basically wrote a guide to marketing with their whole career and promotion approach. We actually all agree that had a great year too, which makes it so incredible that they are only at 7th. With some of their best title tracks ever, More & More and I Can’t Stop Me, and the excellent Cry For Me, they’ve now fully transitioned to being more stylistically diverse and interesting too, JYP again, showing exactly how to transform and grow a group. If you want to see what the best in the industry has to offer, it is Twice in every way.
6. Itzy (Scores: 8,5,3 | Average: 5.3)
Speaking of Twice’s guide to being the best group in the industry, their little sister group, Itzy, seem to be doing a pretty good job of following in their footsteps. Itzy are basically unable to release a song that isn’t loved, and have started the new crazy trend of releasing as many dance practices as humanly possible, to the point where it’s comical, yet, we still can’t help but click on every single one. Not Shy and Wannabe are fighting for the spot of their best title track yet, and Ryujin’s dancing in the latter has become absolutely iconic. Celina and I were able to see Itzy live this year at their showcase, and they really seem like nice and charming kids, and you can’t help but root for them. They have also had some of the best virtual content during the pandemic as well, doing lots of collabs with major English sites like Buzzfeed, which always helps.
5. Iz*one (Scores: 5,9,2 | Average: 5.3)
Speaking of surviving the drama around rigged survival show voting, here is the number one example, Iz*one. Given more time, this group would have been Twice’s successor, consistently getting sales numbers that can compete with them, pushing what is possible while still releasing regularly. They have also continued their trend of releasing absolutely top tier photo books, easily the best in the business, although Twice, WJSN, and Loona are definitely ready to fight in that arena. They also have had a lot of great b-sides, which is a trend among the groups at the top of this category.
4. Rocket Punch (Scores: 1,7,7 | Average: 5.0)
Speaking of great b-sides, much like General Grievous, Rocket Punch has had a lot of great additions to their collection. Highlights include Fireworks and Lilac as detailed in our b-side article, but we haven’t really discussed the great title tracks they’ve had. Bouncy is fun and energetic, an absolute musical treat that lets you just get into the bounce, lets you channel that energy to fuel up for the rest of the day. Meanwhile Juicy was more polarizing, but was actually my preferred of the two, the dance is great, and watching Yunkyoung hit the pops, and every move in general, to her peak sharpness after needing to sit out most of Juicy was a blast.
3. Gfriend (Scores: 7,1,6 | Average: 4.7)
Gfriend once tried to make the G stand for GirlCrushfriend with Fingertip, that experiment into new waters left them doggy-paddling back to shore, just to continue their classic style with far less momentum. Despite this leading to some fantastic comebacks, and my favorite Gfriend song Love Whisper, they were stuck in a rut, but with Bighit’s backing, there was less risk in making a second attempt at branching out, so after their more normalized comeback to start the year with the fantastic Crossroads, they did branch out. What we got with Apple was the birth of Sensualfriend, and they proved they can thrive in other categories, with Apple being one of the best songs put out by any group all year. Then they evolved into Retrofriend with Mago, and that was great too, they’ve proven to be extremely flexible with three very different comebacks, while still maintaining the classic Gfriend feeling. This is a group that we are extremely excited to watch heading into the new year.
2. Everglow (Scores: 3,2,5 | Average: 3.3)
“Everglow forever let’s go!” In one line Yiren has described the feeling of every Forever, wishing this group a long lasting dynasty as they solidify themselves as a top girl group in the 4th gen, fighting with Itzy for view counts, while lagging behind quite a bit in physical sales, a place where they could definitely be doing a lot better, and one that I, admittedly, give more credit to. Celina and I also had the pleasure of seeing them live this year right before their tour got stopped, and it was an absolute pleasure, it made me really dive into the group further, they are so much fun live. Everglow already had an extremely dominant song with Dun Dun and the fantastic b-side No Lie, but then they also joined the retro movement with La Di Da, and to say they killed it would not quite be enough, they annihilated it out of existence, and everybody who knew about it can’t even remember it existed… whatever it is, I feel bad for it. La Di Da is a peak example of how to modernize retro, I’ve talked a lot about modernizing disco, but this synthwave tune is a whole new beast. Also, they invented leather clothing this year, so that’s a pretty big innovation too.
1. Dreamcatcher (Scores: 4,4,1 | Average: 3)
Dreamcatcher squeaks just ahead of Everglow and takes first for girl groups. Spoilers for another Manely, but Dreamcatcher has already won Album of the Year with Dystopia: Tree of Language, and I can talk for an extremely long time about it, in fact, it’s the only blurb in any category up to this point that had to be broken into two paragraphs, and I still said so little. So let’s pivot and look at their other album this year, Dystopia: Lose Myself, lead by Boca, and featuring another suite of great b-sides. Or, let’s discuss that we had to bend the rules for foreign song of the year to include two of their songs, a Japanese and English one. The combination of pure volume and quality is just impressive, and pretty unusual in a genre where b-sides can sometimes get too creative and weird. They also have had a fantastic virtual concert, and a second one that I assume is also fantastic but the VOD isn’t up yet, so I haven’t seen it, I’m also biased having loved seeing them live last year. Congrats Dreamcatcher for their second win this year with the coveted 2020 Manely for Girl Group of the Year!