‘We have the best new star ever!’

On the 18th, it will be exactly their 1st debut anniversary. In the wasteland of ‘girl bands’, they have become the brightest star, sweeping various popularity charts. They are the 4-member group QWER.

It only took them a year to reach the top. Following ‘Addiction to Worries’ in the first half of the year, they completed an unprecedented ‘triple crown’ with their 2nd mini-album pre-released song ‘Fake Idol’, and the title song ‘My Name is Clear’, opening their ‘prime’.

They are easily avoiding the common sophomore jinx. There were concerns that the title song wouldn‘t be able to surpass the popularity of the pre-released song ‘Fake Idol’ of their 2nd mini album, but the result is ‘3 consecutive hits’. An example is their runaway success on TV music shows, commonly referred to as ‘Music Bank’. With ‘My Name is Malgeum’, QWIR went on to win ‘1st place since their debut’ on ‘Show! Champion’ that aired on the 9th and ‘Music Core’ on the 12th.

The ‘Music Bank 1st place march’ that started with ‘Show! Champion’ is likely to become a reality rather than a hope due to the ‘My Name is Malgeum’ craze that has hit the global platform YouTube. As of the 10th, they have finally taken the top spot in the music video trending chart on YouTube.

‘My Name is Clear’s conquest of #1 on YouTube is especially garnering attention because it was achieved with a so-called ‘music appreciation clip’ that was not even an official music video.

QWERL, from ‘Worry Addiction’ to ‘Fake Idol’ and now ‘My Name is Clear’, has also drawn attention with ‘authentic storytelling’ that relies on autobiographical stories.

Since ‘real narratives’ rather than fiction appealed greatly to not only the fandom but also the general public, QWERL also produced and presented a ‘special documentary’ to reflect this.

The documentary, which is like a making-of story for the popular second mini-album, was released on the group’s official YouTube channel at 6 PM on the 10th.


Reporter Heo Min-nyeong mignon@donga.com