Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
As mentioned earlier, Brave Girls‘ “Rollin’” began to climb charts in Korea after around four years due to a viral fanmade video. Over the last week or so, that has proven to be a lot more than just a flash in the pan, as its popularity continues to surge.
In response, Brave Entertainment has managed to at least do the bare minimum for once without issue, and have been putting them in front of cameras to talk about the sudden change.
In one noteworthy interview, Yujeong said they talked about disbanding around the time the video went viral, going as far to moving out of their dorms with Yuna.
Yujeong spoke about what the team has been doing before and after the success of “Rollin.” She jokingly shared, “If I’m to talk about this, we have to stay up all night.”
Yujeong continued to explain, “Our team is not young. I’m the second oldest and I’m 31 [in Korean age]. Between the members, we said, ‘We can’t do this much longer. It’ll be better to end this quickly,’ just last Tuesday [February 23]. Right now, Yuna and I have already moved out of our dorm. It was nearly the end.”
She added that the video had begun to gain traction about a day before that conversation, but that the members could not get excited because they didn’t want to get their hopes up. Yujeong shared, “That’s how low our self-esteem was. We just thought, ‘Nothing we do will work out, because nothing the four of us have done so far has worked out. Let’s not do this and just work normally.’” She revealed that they had even discussed what jobs they might try out next, with Yujeong sharing that she had thought about becoming a show host.
After seeing “Rollin’” finally hitting No. 1 on music charts while they were in the car, Yujeong explained how she felt saying, “It wasn’t just that it didn’t work out. It was so hard. We’re in our sixth year now and have been dragging this out for so long that I think we know better just how valuable this is and how thankful we are. There are now so many people who are giving me strength and have expectations for me that I feel that much more responsibility so I just want to show our original selves.”
Yujeong also talked about the confidence that was slowly whittled down and a fan comment that kept her going.
Although the original group debuted in 2011, the current members of Brave Girls made their debut in 2016 with “Deepened.” Yujeong shared, “I ambitiously made my debut with the song ‘Deepened.’ At the time, our concept was a bit of a breakthrough. We wore athleisure, tanned ourselves, and intensely filled in our eyebrows, so our CEO told us, ‘Hey, you guys are the best. This time, you’re really going to do well. Believe in me.’”
She continued, “We came out so confidently but everyone looked at us confusedly. It felt like we were ahead of the time. Then ‘High Heels’ came out with a bright concept, but that didn’t do well either.”
The interviewer also asked whether there were any memorable comments she had read, to which Yujeong responded, “When we made a comeback last year, someone wrote, ‘Guys, don’t give up.’ There was no response [to our release] so that really touched me. I screenshot that and still have it saved. I cried a bit by myself in our dorm. I thought, ‘At least there’s one person who is still supporting us.’”
She also had encouraging words.
She commented, “Due to my promotions, I graduated college after eight years. After debuting, I fell over, but I eventually got to where I wanted to go. You can’t know the course of one’s life. If you’re thinking ‘Can I do this?’ ‘Can I start chasing this dream?’ just because of your age, then I hope that you won’t have those thoughts.”
Hard not to feel amazing for them reading stuff like that, really.
Additionally, a broadcast from Yuna from February 16 re-emerged and she says there’s no plans for a comeback, she doesn’t think she can continue on as an idol but will stick it out until May, and wants to become a barista, telling fans to visit.
Not that there was any reason to believe otherwise, but they really were right on the brink.
Now they’ll return to music shows to promote, starting with M! Countdown on March 11.
According to predictions, they have a decent chance of securing a win based on their digital scores alone. What a moment that would be.
If you want to help them win, you can simply watch their music video.
Also, they have performed “Rollin'” for Esquire Korea and SBS HANBAM already.
Understandably, they seem rather hastily put together, as if they were there for an interview and they just told them to dance to “Rollin'” real quick or something.
Still, it’s just nice to see them do something, and while I imagine it must be a hectic mess for them right now, seeing them perform on music shows and what not will be a must watch.
