Hello everybody! Welcome back to our podcast and welcome to SEASON THREE!

We are so excited for this new season and hope you guys like everything we have planned for you.

Since currently the girl groups are dominating every chart, every platform, and every area of entertainment, this episode is ALL about girl groups.

We have also recorded a brand new intro this season! Have you listened yet?

Since we were gone for a bit longer than expected, we wanted to start by sharing some personal updates on what we’ve been up to in this offseason:

– Laura 

• New hair
• New nails
• Bought the Justin Bieber pimple patches 

– Kathy 

• Was in Colombia for close to two months unexpectedly
• Currently in Orlando to see Sik-K in concert 
• Found ALL the connections between Colombia and South Korea (find them here in English and in Spanish).

– Together

• We organized and hosted Miami’s very first K-Pop Rumba Bus
• We have seen Keshi, pH-1, and Epik High (it’s only March)

With our check-in out of the way, let’s get into the episode. Girl groups. What’s the tea?

What’s the herstory?

• Boy groups dominated from the beginning
• The aim was always selling to young girls, and they were more likely to dip into their own wallets + their parents’

It’s not just about the history, though. Although we know not everyone is like us, we had much more interest in the boy groups from day 1 and it has taken us a while to give girl groups a chance.

Why weren’t girl groups calling our attention initially? 

At the very beginning, the reality is that our in to K-Pop was thirst, so naturally, boy groups were taking up all our time.

The few times a girl group had a newsworthy moment that caught our eye, we Although these are big generalizations which now we see from a different perspective after getting a little more into a few girl groups, our general feeling was that girl groups were:

• Passive
• Purely for the male gaze 
• Bubblegum music (not typically our cup of tea) 
• Cookie cutter 
• Choreos weren’t as striking as boys’
• Infantilization and high pitched voices

When/what changed our minds?

The first girl group who stood out to us was Mamamoo. We didn’t quite remember how we got into them during the episode, but we went back for trusty receipts on our chat, and found the right origin story.

Kathy was on Spotify and decided to give some K-Pop playlist the time of day after I had consumed BTS’ entire discography. The first song on the playlist was TXT’s Blue Hour. The second was Mamamoo’s hip. Came across a video where SUGA praised Mamamoo and that was it. Of course he does. Man’s got TASTE.

Completely unrelated and not connected, months after this, Laura‘s YouTube started recommending Mamamoo video content, and she was hooked on them right away.

Basically, it’s AI’s fault! Receipts below:

Update: I never ran out of BTS content indeed, but I did watch them.

What did we like about Mamamoo? EVERYTHING.

• VOCALS. 

• Sexiness. 

• Personality.

We also liked Itzy but have been disappointed with the music that <presumably> has been pushed upon them in the past year or so. 

What’s our relationship with girl groups today?

Kathy: I’m fully in my girl group era. Other than TXT’s recent album, I basically am all about the girl groups and all the drops have been IT. How did I get here? Funnily enough, it started with SM Town 2022’s GOT The Beat stage, which made me want to investigate further. Then I found and fell for Girl’s Generation, right in time to be around and interested for their Forever 1 iconic comeback!

Then, as a new K-Pop stan, I don’t get the chance to say that I’ve been for any group from day 1. So when Le Sserafim and NewJeans debuted, I was there front row. The Le Sserafim debut showcase really caught my eye from an event production standpoint, and NewJeans just bulldozed through everyone’s lives and nothing’s ever been the same since.  

Then Twice. 

IVE has dominated musically, but their style doesn’t call to me yet.  

NMIXX caught my eye from day 1 because of Lily’s talent, but I’m not super into their music or group chemistry. And Kep1er don’t stand out to me and feel like one of those groups who might disband or start losing members early (hope I’m wrong).

XG captured my attention with Cocona’s cypher that went viral on TikTok, and from that day I decided that they were all my daughters. You know how people have biases? I make maternal or big sister blood bonds with my faves these days (mostly because they’re literal children…).

And of course, Fifty Fifty’s Cupid has had me in a chokehold. 

Laura: I’m nowhere near where Kathy is; however, it’s obvious (and a good thing) to see things changing from being after the male gaze to also appealing to the female gaze. There’s also a shift from passive to women in charge. I live.

How about you? Yes, you, reader! Do you feel seen with our take or are you of a completely different mind? Let us know! And if you want our takes in more detail, you can also watch us talk this through: