overview

(G)I-dle (Korean: (여자)아이들, romanized: Yeoja Aideul, stylized in all caps), is a South Korean girl group formed by Cube Entertainment in 2018. The group consists of five members: Miyeon, Minnie, Soyeon, Yuqi and Shuhua. Originally a sextet, Soojin left the lineup on August 14, 2021. (G)I-dle debuted on May 2, 2018, with the single "Latata" from their first extended play (EP) I Am. They debuted in Japan under U-Cube with Latata on July 31, 2019. Since their debut, they have been considered one of the most successful South Korean girl groups outside of the "big three" record labels.

Unlike most K-pop girl groups, (G)I-dle are directly involved in the creation of their music; in particular, Soyeon who has written and produced the majority of the group's songs. Members Minnie and Yuqi have also co-written and produced numerous album tracks. The group rose to domestic fame in 2020 with their single album Dumdi Dumdi, which charted at number two on the Circle Chart, became the second best-selling single album by a girl group of all time.Their next single, "Tomboy", from their first full-length album, I Never Die, topped the Circle charts, remaining at the top of the charts for more than two months.Additionally, the single was certified platinum by the Certification Korea Music Content Association (KMCA), followed by their next single, "Nxde", which also topped the Circle Chart, making (G)I-dle the only artist to have two songs achieve a PAK in 2022. In 2023, they became the first act from an independent label to rank at number 39 on Mediabase Top 40 Radio airplay charts and debuted at number 40 on the US Billboard Pop Airplay chart with a non-English song.

name

In an interview with The Star, group leader Soyeon revealed that the name "Idle" (아이들) came to her when she was composing the "Idle Song". She suggested it to Cube Entertainment, and the name was finalized after undergoing internal competition.[13][14] However, the name received mixed reactions in South Korea and internationally since "아이들" (aideul) means "children", and "idle" in English refers to someone who avoids work.[15][16] Accordingly, the group was renamed (G)I-dle, with the "I" standing for individuality, the hyphen showing that the name has been divided into two parts, and "Dle" (deul) as the plural form of "I" in Korean to indicate a group of six different personalities gathering together.[17][18] When the name is stated aloud, the "G" enclosed in parentheses is not included.[19] Following their return as a quintet, on an episode of 1theK Original's IDDP released on the March 15, 2022, the group confirmed they would like to be referred to verbally as "I-dle".

history

Soyeon was a female trainee who represented Cube Entertainment in the survival show Produce 101, peaking at 20th place on the final episode. However, she did not become a member of the winning girl group, I.O.I. Soyeon also competed in the third season of the rap competition reality show Unpretty Rapstar, finishing as the second runner-up. She later debuted as a soloist, releasing two digital singles, "Jelly" and "Idle Song".

Miyeon previously trained under YG Entertainment between 2010 and 2015, leaving the company after unknown complications regarding her debut with Blackpink and attending a vocal academy.Before joining Cube Entertainment, she was a freelance singer and appeared as an associate singer with Lim Seul-ong in Urban Zakapa's Canada Tour in September 2016. In 2017, Miyeon had a small part in Lim Seul-ong's "You" music video.

Soojin was a former trainee under DN Entertainment in 2015. She trained as a member of the girl group Vividiva with the stage name N.NA but left before the group's debut.Minnie featured in Line Friends' album Dance Party, which was released in November 2017. In September 2017, Shuhua appeared alongside Yoo Seon-Ho in 10cm's "Pet" music video.

On April 5, 2018, Cube Entertainment revealed the name of their upcoming girl group, (G)I-dle. Before their debut, Cube unveiled the lineup to the public through Dingo Music's dance busking at Hongdae, Seoul. The busking performance video exceeded two million views on YouTube less than three weeks after its initial upload on April 15, 2018.

On January 17, (G)I-dle performed as a five-member group for the first time as part of the Expo 2020 in Dubai on South Korea's country day.

On February 24, it was announced that (G)I-dle would return with their first studio album, I Never Die, and its lead single, "Tomboy" on March 14, their first release as a five-member group.The album's lead single "Tomboy" became the group's first chart-topper in South Korea on both the Gaon Digital Chart, the K-pop Hot 100 as well as South Korea's Billboard, where it remained for two, three and two consecutive weeks, respectively. On March 24, the group managed to achieve Perfect All-Kills, where a song topped on the top 100 in several domestic music sites.Collectively, it spent 167 hourly becoming the second group to achieve PAK that year. Meanwhile, the B-side track "My Bag" became the group's highest charting b-side, peaking at twenty-two on the weekly Gaon Digital Chart, thirty-four on the K-pop Hot 100, and nine on South Korea's Billboard chart. Notably, the song created the "Tomboy Syndrome" by dominating both domestic and foreign music charts, and their point choreography. The music video recorded 10 million views within 16 hours of release and reached 100 million views about fifty days later. That same month, the group released a remix version of the song by Dutch-Moroccan DJ R3hab on May 20.A visualizer video for this remix was released to R3hab's YouTube channel on the same day. "Tomboy" point choreography was voted first place for the most addictive point choreography. The 'ILY sign' folding the middle and ring fingers with both hands and then shaking it crosswise became dance crazes imitated by many celebrities and dance teams domestically and internationally. The 'Tomboy Challenge' hashtag videos recorded more than 100 million views on TikTok.The song then achieved 100 million streams on Spotify in September.I Never Die was selected as one of Time magazine's The Best Albums of 2022. The magazine wrote that "Tomboy" was "one of the most commercially successful K-pop songs of 2022", and the album I Never Die "deserves its own recognition." Additionally, Billboard ranked "Tomboy" at the topped of the list for The 25 Best K-Pop Songs of 2022.

Miyeon became the group's third soloist with the release of her first extended play, My, on April 27.

(G)I-dle began their first world tour, Just Me ( )I-dle starting in South Korea, the United States, Chile, Mexico, Bangkok, Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines, Japan, and Singapore.The tickets to the show at Olympic Hall in Olympic Park, Seoul on June 18 and 19 was sold-out after the opening of pre-sale tickets.Cube then opened an additional Seoul concert schedule on June 17 and was also sold-out within three minutes.