YG Entertainment‘s new girl group, BABYMONSTER, has been getting mixed reactions from netizens with their recent debut. While the girls themselves are undeniably talented and charismatic, many K-Pop fans are underwhelmed by the song they were given to debut with. Many think it sounds too similar to a song that BLACKPINK would release, or that the girl crush concept they’re going for is too outdated.
The music video for “Batter Up” has certainly garnered plenty of views — nearly 40 million in the two days that it’s been released — though it wouldn’t be surprising if many of those views are from people who were just curious to see what the new girl group from YG Entertainment, home of BLACKPINK, have to offer.
Mixed reactions to the song aside, BABYMONSTER has been busy promoting their title track on social media, including with a shorter version of the choreography on TikTok that just includes the chorus.
BATTER BATTER #BATTER_UP #BABYMONSTER #베이비몬스터
In the video, the six members show off their dance skills and impressive facial expressions through the fun choreography they were given. But one thing that some fans couldn’t help but notice is that, for some of their positions, there seemed to be a clear gap where it seems like someone should be.
Some of the gaps were more obvious than others, but it has led to even more speculation that Ahyeon, a YG Entertainment trainee that was preparing to debut with BABYMONSTER, may end up joining the group later on.
This conversation has already been going on among some K-Pop fans, considering how invested and involved Ahyeon seemed to initially be in the production of BABYMONSTER. With her reason for not joining being explained as health issues, her fans are hopeful that once she recovers from whatever she’s dealing with that she’ll do something similar to Yeri joining Red Velvet months after their original debut.
Some comments on the TikTok video are commenting about the apparent gap left for Ahyeon, and it’s clear that she still has many of supporters that would love to see her debut.
However, not everyone is convinced that Ahyeon will be joining BABYMONSTER at all. On a forum post about these “gaps” in their choreography positions, where the original poster shared the images shown above, many fans left comments saying that it might just be left over from when they did learn the choreography as seven members, and that the label just didn’t bother to change things up after Ahyeon’s departure.
Ahyeon | YG Entertainment
The overall consensus here is pretty pessimistic in regard to BABYMONSTER becoming a seven-member group, especially compared to other K-Pop groups that went through similar speculation.
Only time will tell what Ahyeon ends up doing, and if she even stays at YG Entertainment at all or ends up moving on to something else. Regardless, we wish the best for her and for the six talented young members of BABYMONSTER!
Not everyone agrees, though.