It took 1,628 days for Brave Girls to rank first place in the music charts since they debuted — the longest record ever in the history of K-pop. Their success was a shock to many, as there has never been a group that succeeded after such a long period of obscurity.
The trigger for Brave Girls’ sudden rise in popularity was a single YouTube video by a creator named VIDITOR. It was a performance of their song “Rollin’” in K-Force Special Shows (a type of military consolation show) with screenshots of YouTube comments of fans’ reactions. The YouTube algorithm exposed the video to random users, and it soon ranked as the top hottest video in YouTube Korea. This promotion facilitated the comeback of “Rollin’”, and it quickly reached the top of the charts on all Korean music streaming sites in just six days. Furthermore, Brave Girls managed to rank first place in all six major music television shows like M Countdown.
Brave Girl’s rise in fame and influence was unexpected because they did not have an existing fandom, which is fundamental to an idol group’s success.The purchase of concert tickets and merchandise is an important source of profit to the group. The estimated market of fandom merchandise is approximately 8 trillion KRW in Korea alone. In addition, the unique Korean idol fandom culture of chonggong allows the groups’ songs to be on the top rankings of the charts through coordinated and repeated streaming of the songs on different platforms. But for a group to have such a strong fandom, the precondition is that either the group or the group’s agency is successful, neither of which Brave Girls satisfied.
Yet, Brave Girls had fans. The suggestion may be confusing; however, one can look at fans as soldiers and a fandom as a military unit. Without a fandom, it is difficult for individual fans to support their group in an united fashion. Brave Girls had individual fans, mainly from consolation performances in the military. Because soldiers lack access to diverse cultural experiences, events like K-Force Special Shows naturally evoke powerful reactions. Brave Girls, ever since their debut, has continuously performed in such stages for the last ten years. Hence, they had accumulated fans who did not manage to coalesce into a fandom until the revival of “Rollin’”.
Another factor for Brave Girls’ popularity lies in their dramatic success story. Brave Girls is not from a big agency. Furthermore, the group had endured nearly a decade unknown to the public. Their best attempt was when “Rollin’” reached 142nd in the charts before its comeback. Even in such difficult situations, they cared for each other and went on as a team. To the public, this was a clear contrast to the recent bullying scandals in idol groups like AOA or APRIL. Brave Girls were the underdog, and this made the public more supportive of them. Moreover, their company, Brave Entertainment, did not simply stop when they reached the top charts. The CEO of the agency, Brave Brothers, enthusiastically accepted feedback from fans ranging from the members’ hairstyles to album covers and redesigned in fans’ tastes.
Then what does Brave Girls’ success imply? In 2014, EXID, another girl group, experienced a similar success after a focused fancam in a military performance of Hani, a member of EXID, went viral on YouTube. It then became a maxim for all entertainment enterprises to take excessive care of fancams. Considering such a precedent, it is highly likely that agencies will change their recognition and consider soldiers as a potential source of fans; thereby, invest more in appealing to the soldiers like consolation performances. Currently, there are half a million soldiers in the Korean military. Yet their importance as a potential market has been devalued — until now. But with the success of Brave Girls, it is safe to conclude that the military will be the new blue ocean.