We know by now that to become a star in K-pop requires more resilience and motivation than one could ever imagine. Six day weeks; long days; training in singing, dancing, Japanese and English. You are primed to be a star and, for the ones who are tough enough to stick it out, fame and infinite admiration comes your way.
For BTS, that process took three years, from joining Big Hit Entertainment in 2010 to ‘debuting’, as K-pop acts do, in 2013. Now, they’re arguably the biggest K-pop band in the world. But there’s a new group on the horizon, born as part of YG Entertainment, who rep the iconic BLACKPINK, who could be coming to stand toe-to-toe with their legendary predecessors. Their name is TREASURE, and after years of waiting, we get our first idea of what their music sounds like this Friday.
Having already racked up over 1.35 million followers on YouTube and 1.6 million on Instagram, the group’s debut single “Boy” drops on 7 August, and fans are already gearing up for it to be a hit. In fact, they’ve broken the pre-order record for a rookie YG Entertainment group, with 100,000 copies of a song nobody’s heard having already shifted.
So what is it that’s getting K-pop fans so excited about TREASURE? Well, here’s your quick lowdown on everything we know about the group so far.
They’re YG’s first new K-Pop band in four years
Part of the hysteria that surrounds TREASURE is down to the fact that YG Entertainment, known for birthing brilliant K-pop stars, has waited a long time to debut a new band. In 2015, the seven-piece male group iKon debuted, with BLACKPINK following a year later. But since then there has been relative silence on new artists. BLACKPINK have made history, performing at Coachella and playing massive international venues, but in the background, TREASURE have been forming too.
They were born from a TV talent show
Like many K-pop acts, TREASURE first formed on a televised competition, or ‘survival show’, titled YG Treasure Box. In the winter of 2018/19, 29 male artists competed to become part of the final line-up of TREASURE. The original plan was to split TREASURE13, a 13-piece group, into two separate entities: TREASURE AND MAGNUM, though they would both make music under the TREASURE13 banner. But that plan, originally used as a way of letting each boy flex their talent, has been scrapped, and after one member, Ha Yoonbin, left at the end of 2019, the group went forward as a 12-piece.
They’re all between 15 and 22
The group may have been toiling at their craft for around a year and a half already, but TREASURE’s line-up are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Their oldest member is Choi Hyunsuk, a rapper/dancer who has been training with YG for five years. He’s 22. On the other hand, Junghwan is just 15 years old, and has been training for almost three years.
Haruto seems to be the reigning bias
Fans have been following TREASURE’s career for some time now, and it seems like the general consensus points towards Haruto being everybody’s bias (a term used to describe the fan favourite). At 17 years old, he’s being framed as TREASURE’s “number one visual”, which essentially means he’s the head heartthrob going forth. Interestingly, he’s also YG’s first ever Japanese artist.
One member has already made his solo debut
Since the TREASURE debut has been pushed back several times already, some of the group have been kickstarting their solo careers in the meantime. In June, Bang Ye-Dam released his solo track: a melancholy acoustic number with a surprise sexy flute twist at the end, called “Wayo”. Two months later, it’s acquired over 11 million views.
Their first single album drops Friday
And after all of that, fans will finally get to hear their first single album (imagine an EP but with two tracks + instrumentals) on Friday. Both “Boy” and “Come to Me” will hit digital streaming services then, with the physical versions of the record dropping the following week. These are obviously native to South Korea, but if you do some online snooping you’ll find versions to buy in Europe and America too. Start collecting — these often sell out quickly, and become collector’s items in the years to come.