STAYC: A girl group that always outdoes itself!
STAYC: A girl group that continually outdoes itself!
Author: Helen Bosch / Feb 16, 2023
K-Pop Blog > Artists > STAYC
The girl group STAYC made their debut in November 2020 and quickly achieved great success! Since then, the young girl group has continued to break personal records and win the hearts of fans. This is the origin story and career of STAYC so far:
- Pre-Debut: Youtube Original Serie
- The members
- debut
- Staydom and Stereotypes (2021)
- Young-Luv.com, We Need Love and Japan debut with Poppy (2022)
- 2023
Pre-Debut: Youtube Original Serie
On March 31, 2021, a YouTube original series titled “K-Pop Evolution” was released. In the seven episodes, the origins of K-Pop were explained and, among other things, the lives of trainees were examined in more detail. The trainees who appear in episodes 5 and 6 of the documentary are none other than the members of STAYC! The series was released over four months after the girl group's debut, but since it was recorded long before that, it provides rare insight into the group's creation:
The documentary was probably filmed at the end of 2019. At that time, High Up Entertainment was about to form a new girl group. Only eight trainees remained and a decision would be made shortly as to which of them would make their debut. The trainees were worried because the planned debut had already been postponed several times.
The producers had decided that the group would have six to seven members. They wanted to make the final decision at the monthly review in December. We see a few excerpts from the training, where the trainees cover “Like Ooh-Aah” by Twice, among other things. The documentary also features a monthly assessment where the group performs “Rollercoaster” by Chungha.
At the end of the 6th episode, the trainees prepare for the crucial monthly exam. They realize this day is special because they usually wear workout clothes for a monthly assessment. This time they were in a salon and wearing fancy outfits.
Six of the trainees cover “Psycho” by Red Velvet. Taiwanese Lydia had to return to Taiwan due to visa issues and Kim Min Young had missed several rehearsals for personal reasons. However, Min Young was present at the monthly test and showed a freestyle. However, in the end she was not chosen and left High Up Entertainment. Lydia was unable to return to South Korea due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The six trainees who sang Psycho together are now known as STAYC! J, Yoon, Seeun, Isa, Sieun and Sumin!
The YouTube series gives us a small impression of how many worries the members of STAYC had to carry with them for years. Of course, this is the case with most idols, but we rarely get such detailed insights into the period leading up to their debut. Thanks to STAYC, we understand a little better how rocky the road to debut really is.
After the events in the documentary, the six continued to train together for about a year until they finally entered the spotlight in November 2020!
The members
| Artist name | Real name | Birthday |
|---|---|---|
| Sumin | Bae Su Min | 13.03.2001 |
| Sieun | Park Si Eun | 01.08.2001 |
| Isa | Lee Chae Young | 23.01.2002 |
| Seeun | Yoon Se Eun | 14.06.2003 |
| Yoon | Sim Ja Yun | 14.04.2004 |
| J | Jang Ye Eun | 09.12.2004 |
Before her debut as an idol, Sieun was already a successful actress!
In 2014, at the age of 14, she appeared in a series for the first time. Since then, Sieun has appeared in popular series such as Six Flying Dragons (2015), Queen for Seven Days (2017), Still 17 (2018) and many other K-dramas. She even won the “Best Young Actress” award at the SBS Drama Awards for her role in Still 17!
Seeun also has experience as an actress. In 2017 she had several small roles in dramas such as “The Guardians” or “Circle”.
debut
On September 8, 2020, High Up announced that the label's first girl group would soon debut and introduced Sieun as the first member. On September 10, the first video was uploaded to STAYC's official YouTube channel . In the following weeks, short clips appeared in which the members introduced themselves and covers with which they could show off their talent. So when the first music video teaser for the first song "So Bad" was released on November 3, some fans were already looking forward to the debut!
STAYC is an acronym for Star to a Young Culture. The name embodies the girl group's goal to "dominate pop culture."
On November 12th, the long-awaited debut album was finally released, which is named after the girl group “Star to a Young Culture” . It contains two songs: the title song “So Bad” and the B-side “Like This”.
4,300 copies were sold on the first day and more than 10,000 within the first week. STAYC surpassed all other girl groups that had previously debuted in 2020! The album also reached number 6 on the Korean Gaon Album Chart. A great start!
Staydom and Stereotypes (2021)
The second single album “Staydom” followed about five months later, on April 8th. It reached number 9 on the Gaon Album Chart, just a few places behind Star to Young Culture. Only half a year after their debut, STAYC already had two top 10 albums!
The music video for the title song "ASAP" was viewed 20 million times in just nine days:
The song's success was also evidenced by the fact that it made it to the top 10 of Billboard's K-Pop Hot 100 list. “So Bad” from the first album had previously only reached number 82.
With their first mini album “Stereotype”, the girl group outdid themselves once again. It was released on September 6, 2020 and entered the Gaon Album Charts at number 2. The title song of the same name also brought STAYC their first win in a music show!
Young-Luv.com, We Need Love and Japan debut with Poppy (2022)
2022 promised early on to be a more successful year. On February 21st, STAYC presented the second mini album “Young-Luv.com” . It topped the Gaon Album Chart! The girl group also won no less than seven trophies in music shows with the title song “Run2U”! It is currently STAYC's most successful album.
The third single album “We Need Love” (July 19) could not quite keep up with the previous success, but was still close behind in the Gaon Album Charts at number 2. With the title song “Beautiful Monster”, STAYC also won the music show “The Show”.
The first fan meeting followed on August 13th and about three months later the girl group took a new step. She made her Japanese debut with the single “Poppy”! This landed at number 7 on the Oricon Singles Chart, one of the biggest Japanese charts. So STAYC has won a lot of fans there too!
And 2023 may be an even better year for the girl group:
On Valentine's Day , the fourth single album "Teddy Bear" was released. Many fans showed their love to STAYC on the first day after the release and helped them beat a personal record: 186,405 copies of Teddy Bear were sold in the first 24 hours! The previous record was 115,000 copies sold for "We Need Love".
In fact, the girl group has outdone themselves with every new album so far. Each sold more on its first day, first week and first month than its predecessor. And it looks like Teddy Bear's streak of success will continue.
Not only are the sales figures impressive, but also the views of the music video. After just one day, the video for the title track, which is called “Teddy Bear” like the album, was viewed more than 9.5 million times!
Within two years and three months, STAYC have released seven successful albums and regularly outdo themselves. We are sure that the talented singers will continue to give us many more hits and win more hearts in the future.
By the way, STAYC's fandom is called SWITH. The name is made up of the letter S for STAYC and the English word “with”. So SWITH means “Together with STAYC”. SWITH also sounds like “sweet” when pronounced. The name was announced back on October 31, 2020, just a month after the girl group's debut.
Are you also a SWITH?
Quellen: Youtube, KOREAN SALES, STAYC - High Up Ent.
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