BOL4

Whereas many K-pop groups seem to have their slickly-packaged identities forged by huge media companies, duo Bobblegan4 were two happy-go-lucky school friends whose gentle, breezy indie-pop songwriting captured teenage romance and brought humble, low-key charm to the glossy South Korean music world. Growing up in the city of Yeongju in Gyeongsang, South Korea, Jiyoung and Jiyoon were teenage classmates obsessed with boybands like Big Bang and Shinhwa, before they came to wider attention in 2014 when they competed in the popular TV talent show Superstar K6 and performed songs by Maroon 5 and One Direction. It led to a deal with Shofar Music, and the pair took the name Bolbbalgan4 (meaning "blushing youth") as a nod to their shyness and teenage spirit. Their debut EP Red Ickle (2016) and album Red Planet (2016) sounded like a dreamy mix of K-pop, the folky melodies of The Carpenters, and the sugary disco synths of Saint Etienne. "Galaxy" became a surprise, break-out hit that reached number 2 in the Korean charts in 2016 and was named Song of the Year at the Korean Music Awards, and they later hit number 1 with singles "Some" and "Travel." They also collaborated with 20 Years of Age on the acoustic ballad "We Loved" and with rapper Mad Clown on "Lost Without You," firmly establishing themselves as representative of a new kind of alternative idols with popular EPs Red Diary Page 1 in 2017 and Puberty Book I Bom in 2019. Over the following years, Bolbbalgan4 cracked the Top 10 of the Circle Chart with the albums Two Five (2019) and Puberty Book II Pum (2020) and reached artistic maturity through releases such as Seoul (2022), Love.zip (사랑.zip) (2023), and Merry Go Round (2023), which peaked at number 3 in South Korea.