MUSIC
YG girl group Baby Monster releases '16-year-old Japanese' asa video
YG Entertainment posted 'BABYMONSTER – Introducing ASA' on its official blog at midnight on the 20th. Following Luca, Parita, and Laura, this video introduces Asa, a 16-year-old trainee from Japan.
Asa was fascinated by YG's unique hip-hop style and attempted a trainee audition, confidently passing with the ambition of "I definitely want to become a K-pop artist." Since then, he has worked hard toward his dream of debuting under YG's systematic training system.
Asa's specialty is asking questions so as not to miss even a single detail of the choreography. Li Jeong also praised Asa, saying, “He is the friend who asks the most questions, so he has the best understanding.” Thanks to this, I was able to combine powerful movements and soft grooves with ease, as well as captivating facial expressions and gestures.
Asa also had exceptional musical talent. With his innate sense of tempo, he performed a fast-paced tongue twist rap that surprised everyone. The sight of him wiping away tears while working on his self-composed song 'DIARY' because he thought it was still not good enough is a glimpse of his extraordinary passion for music. Producer Victon did not spare praise, saying, “He is a perfectionist who upgrades himself when taught one thing.”
The person who became Asa's strong support was none other than Luca, also from Japan. Asa expressed his affection by saying, “When I first came to Korea, Luca was by my side, so I became a source of support,” and made them smile warmly as they took pictures together wearing their old school uniforms.
Currently, Asa has grown into a full-fledged artist with both performance and rap skills. On the evaluation stage at the end of the month, he drew rave reviews for his self-composed song that contained his sincerity. Executive producer Yang Hyun-seok said, "The fact that he came to an unfamiliar environment where he didn't understand the language at a young age of 12 or 13 and persevered while practicing like this is because he has clear goals and dreams. Asa "is a great friend, and I want to applaud him."
Meanwhile, Baby Monster is a new girl group released by YG about 7 years after Blackpink, and most of them are teenagers. They are 'all-rounders' with not only vocals, but also dance, rap, and visual capabilities. They include 3 Korean members (Ahyun, Haram, Laura), 2 Thai members (Parita, Chiquita), and 2 Japanese members (Luca, Asa). The multinational composition can be expected to indicate that YG is an ambitious new talent targeting the global market.
Although they are still in the teasing stage before their official debut, they are receiving a lot of attention from music fans around the world. The number of subscribers to the YouTube channel has exceeded 1 million, and the number of views of related video content has exceeded 140 million, showing a steadily rising graph. Not only has YG put a lot of effort into it for a long time, but general producer Yang Hyun-seok personally announced their debut, so it is expected that they will change the landscape of the global music market beyond the domestic music industry in 2023 .
Reporter Junho Yoon, Ten Asia delo410@tenasia.co.kr
