The First K-Pop Girl Group From Psy’s Label

“I hope for them to be not number one but the only ones,” K-pop legend Psy tells The Hollywood Reporter of his label’s new group Baby DONT Cry.

The four-member girl group — comprised of members Yihyun, Mia, Kumi and Beni — officially debuted Monday with their lead single “F Girl,” which followed their pre-release track “Bet You’ll Regret It.”

“I feel like the song (‘F Girl’) really represents us well,” Yihyun, the eldest at just 19 years old, tells THR over a Zoom call from their label P Nation’s Gangnam headquarters. “I feel that the song itself is a very honest and very confident song, and I believe that all of the members are also very confident in who they are.”

Mia adds, “Speaking with all of the staff around, we were really able to discuss what type of concept would best fit our group and we ended up coming up with ‘F Girl.’”

The two-minute and change song, described as a baby rock track, is buzzy, fun and unapologetically youthful in nature. “F Girl” feels like the soundtrack to a sleepover montage in a teen movie. The fun and unique sound of Baby DONT Cry, also known as BDC, comes from their producer and creative director: Soyeon.

In a rare twist, BDC is being creatively helmed by the leader of K-pop girl group Idle. “She’s someone that’s already achieved what we want to achieve in the future, so she was able to actually give us very realistic and very relatable advice,” Yihyun says.

The girls trained for five years; an impressive feat regardless of age, but even more so when you realize the group ranges in age from 19 to 16. Beni, the youngest, was a trainee for about six years, around the time P Nation was established in 2018. “Since then, I was looking for the right members to join Beni, and the right time for a girl group,” Psy says. He adds the timing is perfect because “the girls are ready now.”

“There were hardships that I faced during my trainee era, but I feel like are definitely more fun and memorable moments,” Beni says when asked about her trainee days. The 16-year-old adds she was able to learn several genres of music along with other languages. The latter is typical for K-pop groups but makes sense in BDC’s case as the group is poised to make a global impact, with two of the four members (Mia and Kumi) hailing from Japan.

Psy explains he sees luck as “the moment when effort meets opportunity,” when asked how the company helped prepare the girls to debut. “Our five years of training were effort. Soyeon stepping up as producer; that was the opportunity,” he says. “Because of that, we’ve been lucky, we are lucky and our luck will keep going.”

Soyeon remains an inspiration for the group, but the girls also count some K-pop heavyweights as their role models. “I personally really like all of our senior artists, but if I had to choose a few, it would be Blackpink’s Lisa and Twice’s Chaeyoung. I feel like the energy that they convey on stage is very impressive,” Kumi says.

“Even before I joined [elementary school], I was the biggest fan of IU,” Yihyun adds. “If I get the chance to meet her on stage, it would be the biggest honor ever.”

While debuting is only step one, the members of BDC are already looking ahead. “I believe all of our members have confident but also lovely personalities,” Mia says when asked how she wants the group to be known. “I really want our group in general to be perceived as that — a very lovely yet confident group.”

The Hollywood Reporter has more exclusive images from Baby DONT Cry’s debut below.