Rebooted K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty admit they feel pressure living up to viral hit Cupid

SINGAPORE - In 2023, the catchy bubblegum pop song Cupid, released in both English and Korean, went viral on TikTok.

With various versions of it being used in a cumulative 15 million videos on the platform, Fifty Fifty, the rookie girl group behind it, rose to fame as well, becoming the fastest K-pop act to enter the Billboard Hot 100.

But the quartet’s activities screeched to a halt when their members fell into a contractual dispute with their management agency Attrakt.

After much public discord and legal back-and-forth, three of the four original members left the group, and a global audition was held at the beginning of 2024 to find new members to join the line-up alongside lone original member Keena.

Auditions were also held in Singapore in February, organised in partnership with Singaporean businessman David Yong and his company Evergreen Group Holdings.

Yong was arrested in August and faces four falsification of account charges involving sums that run into the millions. No Singaporeans were selected to be part of Fifty Fifty.

Now newly rebooted, the five-member group – comprising South Koreans Keena, Hana and Yewon, as well as Korean-American Chanelle Moon and Korean-Swedish Athena – released their seven-track EP Love Tune in September.

It consists of six songs, two of which are English versions of SOS and Starry Night.

Chanelle Moon, 21, previously a contestant on the South Korean survival show R U Next? (2023), says in English that the entire audition process took close to 10 months and members went through rounds of evaluation before they were confirmed as part of the line-up, which was unveiled in August.

While many K-pop acts train together for years before debuting, Fifty Fifty tell The Straits Times over Zoom from Seoul on Oct 1 that they grew close, fast.

Yewon, 19, a fellow R U Next? contestant, says: “Each of us led individual lives and had dreams of our own. And when we came together, we had a lot of respect for one another. To be able to have the chemistry that we have now, it feels like fate.”

Keena, 22, adds: “Each of us has her own unique characteristics, so I was really looking forward to how we would sound together on our songs.

“With five members instead of four, we have more chances to showcase our talents. I also think our synergy is better.”

And while they had only a few months to prepare for their big comeback as a rebooted quintet, the members say they gave it their all.

Keena says: “It was a short turnaround time, but we did our best to select the music, study and discuss it. We gave our all in every aspect that was required to produce the album.”

Hana, 18, who once appeared on the South Korean children’s song survival programme Wicked (2016), adds: “Day and night, we were focused on practising and perfecting our songs.”

But Cupid, with its incredible popularity, is still a tough act to follow. Various versions of the song have hit a cumulative billion streams on Spotify, while its music video has 190 million views on YouTube.

Keena admits: “It would be a lie if I said there was no pressure at all (to live up to Cupid), but the songs on Love Tune have their own unique flavour and identity, including our lead single SOS. We hope the public can pay attention to that.”