The Song Planner

Global Girl Group Pop

tagStarted 2018Peak 2023-2026Last big hit still active

K-pop's trainee and concept machine applied to multinational, often non-Korean lineups making English-first global pop. Keeps idol pop's choreography, concept resets, and viral-hook engineering, but the sound skews Western-radio: drum-and-bass R&B, dance-pop, hyperpop, sung mostly in English. Built from the ground up for international charts.

History

JYP's American experiment and SM's localized units paved the way, but HYBE x Geffen's KATSEYE (2024), cast via the "Dream Academy" survival show with members from the Philippines, Korea, Switzerland and the US, crystallized the format. JYP's NiziU (Japan, 2020) and VCHA (US, 2024), plus the all-English Japanese act XG, mark the same globalized-idol push.

Defining artists

Essential listening

← Explore Pop

Sources

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katseye
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girlset
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_You_Happy_(EP)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_Star_(XG_song)