ANN/THE KOREA HERALD – “Golden Girls” on KBS2 introduces a fresh chapter for iconic divas Insooni, Park Mi-kyung, Shin Hyo-beom, and Lee Eun-mi. Reimagining themselves as a K-pop girl group, Golden Girls is set to drop a new single this Friday.
Guiding this transformation is none other than JY Park, the mastermind behind JYP Entertainment.
Park orchestrates a program melding the divas’ decades-long vocal prowess with youthful K-pop vibes, creating a trendy girl band.
The quartet, known for their stage charisma and powerful voices, tackles challenges like mastering new rhythms and dances from contemporary acts like Twice, Ive, NewJeans, and Chungha. Their recent K-pop song covers on YouTube have amassed over 15 million views, signaling a promising start to their reinvention.
While evoking nostalgia for older viewers, the show introduces a “new” experience for younger audiences unfamiliar with ’80s and ’90s singers. The middle-aged divas’ inspiring journey of humility and growth as they embrace new trends has earned widespread applause.
“We have already earned our places, and it is upsetting to be evaluated again. We have to be courageous,” said Insooni in one episode.
Park, who in charge of producing, recalled that the veteran singers’ K-pop challenge did not elicit a good response initially. “Many investors said they didn’t think the program would work. The show almost didn’t happen,” Park said during the program showcase held Thursday.
“Golden Girls” is not the first program to bring top stars from the past back into the limelight.
“Dancing Queens on the Road,” which aired on tvN from May to August, cast the limelight on dancing divas Kim Wan-sun, Um Jung-hwa and Lee Hyo-ri, who, with their younger counterparts BoA and Hwasa, brought back memories of Korean pop music from the ’80s to the early 2000s.
However, “Golden Girls” sets itself apart from such shows by bringing in soloists from totally different genres and confronting preconceptions about how a K-pop group should be.
“‘Golden Girls’ is an attempt to change the stereotype that girl groups should be young, sexy or feminine. It definitely expanded the scope of K-pop groups,” pop culture critic Kim Hun-sik told The Korea Herald.
The program also successfully embraced middle-aged viewers who had been neglected by the K-pop fever, offering new options for people across various generations to enjoy the show together, Kim added.
“In order to expand the horizons of K-pop and continue to try new things, rather than being consumed as a one-time group, they must seek a balance between their soloist identity and girl group member identity,” said Kim.
Golden Girls will release their debut song, “One Last Time” a fast-tempo dance pop tune, at 6 pm Friday.
