Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
FIFTY FIFTY have explode onto the Billboard Hot 100 despite not even charting on Melon nor BUGS. Their song, “Cupid“, was released on Feb. 24 and had over 5.7 million official US streams alone, with a whopping 22.9 million streams worldwide. While Billboard mixes all versions of the song into on for their charts, it’s still an impressive feat for the rising rookie girl group.
How did this rookie group make the Billboard Top 100 without charting in Korea? TikTok was a huge player in their growth, as of this writing they have over 525,100 videos on the platform using excerpts of the song. This isn’t even including how many views they’re getting from their challenge videos on the platform, nor the views on YouTube clips or Instagram. Meanwhile, the official music video is about to break the 12 million mark.
“Cupid” itself is an absolute cozy banger, with great vocal harmonies in the track and a ton of melodies and hooks. While at times it’s more of a low-energy pop sound, it also never strays and becomes too minimalist for me. I can see a few parts being dull to some, but I was hooked by how upbeat and cute it is compared to their previous songs. It fits as a perfect break from some of the more technical or dynamic songs we’ve gotten recently in K-pop, while still being flexible, which is why it works so well on short video platforms.
“Cupid” will definitely be stuck in my head for the foreseeable future, and is already a staple in my everyday playlist because it’s so versatile. I’m looking forward to see where this group goes from here, as they already have one viral hopeless romantic track and an EP filled with cozy tracks that flew under most people’s radar.
