u/Carelessies

Major feast for us multistans! We’ve been blessed with an avalanche of girl group comebacks from April up to now. Probably the most stacked lineup of comebacks in a short period we've seen in years? To better recall the releases, I’ll list the comebacks during this period:

YOUNG POSSE – we don’t go to bed tonight
KISS OF LIFE – Who is she
KATSEYE – PINKY UP
RESCENE – Runaway
ILLIT – It’s Me
Le Sserafim – CELEBRATION, BOOMPALA
BABYMONSTER – CHOOM
Billlie – WORK, ZAP
aespa – WDA (feat. G-Dragon)
NMIXX – Crescendo, Heavy Serenade
ITZY – Motto
I.O.I – Suddenly

Listing it out like this shows just how stacked this nonstop wave of girl group comebacks has been. It felt like we were getting a new comeback every other day lol

How would you rate them, and what kind of impressions did they leave on you? What stood out as great, and what didn’t work as well for you? Did any of them make it onto your playlist? Feel free to talk about anything about these releases. You can also talk about the b-sides from the albums as well! Let me know if I missed any!

When it was revealed that Macarena is being sampled for BOOMPALA, I can't lie I’ve been a bit nervous about the release... Macarena is such a global iconic song that it makes the whole thing feel quite risky imo. Literally everyone in the world knows the melody. I was curious but unsure about how fimmies would be able to incorporate the song without the original completely overshadowing this new track.

After watching the teasers and the full performance from their Spotify Live today, it does feel closer to a remix version of Macarena featuring Le Sserafim if I'm being completely honest. The intro starts off with the Macarena hook, both post-choruses heavily leans into Macarena’s chorus and dance, and the final 20 seconds of the song are essentially the original hook and its iconic dance.

It’s always a huge risk when you sample such a popular song because it’s so hard to surpass the original most of the time. I do feel like they could’ve integrated more of their own color into the track, both in the sound and the choreo, or made Macarena’s presence a bit more subtle within the overall composition. I just feel that the original Macarena was too deeply embedded into BOOMPALA.

I think I have a pretty solid perspective on this because I’ve stanned groups ranging from complete nugus, to groups from smaller labels, all the way to groups under the Big 4 companies. Outside of the usual petty fanwars online, stanning a Big 4 group honestly isn’t that stressful. Though ngl, the constant ITZY doomposting over the past 3 years has definitely been annoying and gotten to me at times. But aside from that, it’s been a pretty comfortable experience overall.

What really sucks about stanning smaller groups is that every comeback feels like survival mode. Realistically, you know they’re probably not going to top charts or anything, but you still desperately want them to achieve some level of success because you never know when, or if, the next comeback will happen if the results aren't as encouraging.

With bigger groups, there’s at least a sense of stability. You’re pretty much guaranteed regular music releases, decent-to-good promotions, and opportunities to see them tour globally. Even if a few comebacks underperform, you know the company has enough resources to continue pushing the group.

For smaller groups, one underperforming comeback can genuinely change the trajectory of their entire career. Budget cuts become noticeable, promotions become shorter, content output slows down, and eventually you start seeing long hiatuses that make fans anxious. Sometimes the members themselves start looking visibly discouraged because they’re putting in the exact same amount of effort without getting much in return.

That's why every moment feels so special. Getting a music show win on The Show (which sadly stopped running atm), or even something as small as getting a viral moment online feels incredibly rewarding as a fan. Idk, the journey just feels a lot more personal and emotionally invested as a fan.

Have you guys ever felt the same way stanning smaller groups? What has your experience been like?