(G)I-DLE

(G)I-DLE (Hangul: (여자)아이들; RR: Yeoja Aideul; lit. Young Girls / Individual Girls; short for Girl-Idle) is a South Korean girl group formed by Cube Entertainment in 2018.

The group consists of six members: Miyeon, Minnie, Soojin, Soyeon, Yuqi, and Shuhua. The group debuted on May 2, 2018 with their first extended play titled "I am".

Pre-debut
Soyeon was previously introduced as one of the female trainees to represent Cube Entertainment on the Mnet survival show, Produce 101. She remained a popular contestant throughout the show's run, peaking at 10th place on the fifth episode. However, she was ranked at 20th place in the final episode and failed to become a member of the winning girl group, I.O.I. Soyeon also competed in the third season of the rap competition show Unpretty Rapstar, where she finished as the second runner-up. She later debuted as a soloist, releasing two digital singles: "Jelly" and "Idle Song".

Miyeon was a former YG trainee, from 2010 to 2015. She was originally supposed to debut with the girl group BLACKPINK, but failed to debut and left the company. Soojin was a former trainee under DN Entertainmnet in 2015. She was a member of pre-debut girl group VIVIDIVA, but left before the group's official debut. Her stage name was N.Na. Minnie, Yuqi and Shuhua appeared in the promotional video of Rising Star Cosmetic in June 2017. Shuhua made an appearance with labelmate Yu Seon-ho in 10 cm's "Pet" music video in September 2017. Minnie featured in Line Friends' album Dance Party, which was released in November 2017. From February 2018 to March 2018, Miyeon and Minnie made four cover videos under Dingo Music Youtube Channel. Yuqi also appeared in the short video of Dingo Music.

On March 22, 2018, Cube Entertainment announced that their new upcoming girl group would debut in the first half of 2018, which Soyeon was revealed to be a part of the group's line-up last January. On April 5, they unveiled the logo and the name of their upcoming girl group (G)I-DLE. Cube Entertainment began revealing the members of (G)I-DLE with the release of individual photos of the first two members, Miyeon and Yuqi, on April 8.Soojin and Shuhua were revealed two days later on April 10. Minnie and Soyeon were the last to be revealed on April 12, and they formed the final line-up of the upcoming girl group.

2018: Debut with I am and rising popularity
(G)I-DLE officially released their debut mini-album "I am" on May 2 with the lead single "Latata". Their debut showcase was held at the Blue Square iMarket Hall on the same day as the album's release. They made their official debut stage on the music program Mnet's M Countdown on the next day.

(G)I-DLE achieved combined views of 2.2 million for the "Latata" music video within two days of its release. The mini-album debuted at number 13 on the Gaon Album Chart issued on April 29, 2018. "I am" also debuted at number seven and has since peaked at number five on Billboard's World Albums chart on May 9, 2018. "Latata" debuted at number thirty-five on the Gaon Digital Chart on May 17, 2018. (G)I-DLE received their first-ever music show win on SBS MTV's The Show on May 22, twenty days after their debut. Two days later, on May 24, the group received their second music show win for "Latata" on Mnet's M Countdown and followed by their third win on The Show. After a month after debut, they made their debut on Billboard‘s Social 50 Chart by charting at number 36 on June 5.

On June 8, they made a debut in the rankings by topping the list for June. The rankings were determined through an analysis of the consumer participation, media coverage, interaction, and community indexes of various girl groups using big data collected from May 7 to June 8. In their first-ever appearance on the list, the group shot to first place with a brand reputation index of 10,038,719. High-ranking phrases in (G)I-DLE’s keyword analysis included “LATATA” (the group’s debut title track), “The Show,” and “debut,” while their highest-ranking related terms included “hot,” “pretty,” and “exciting.” The group’s positivity-negativity analysis revealed a score of 63.55 percent positive reactions. They received their first award, Female Rookie Idol of the Year, at the Brand of the Year Korea 2018 awards.

On August 6, (G)I-DLE performed a small concert and record a flash-mob performance of their hit single "Latata" in Times Square and Washington Square Park.

On August 14, (G)I-DLE’s first digital single comeback, “Hann (Alone)”, was released. The music video was released alongside the single on August 14. Within 24 hours, the video surpassed 4.9 millions views on YouTube. "Hann (Alone)" topped domestic music charts including Bugs, Genie and Olleh Music on August 16 and hits a new peak on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart where they debut at No. 2. They received their first music show win on Show Champion on August 29 for "Hann (Alone)".

(G)I-DLE released their second EP, "I made", on February 26, 2019. The EP contains five songs, including the lead single "Senorita", written and composed by member Soyeon and Big Sancho.

Collaborations

 * "ONE" (2018) (with BTOB, CLC, HyunA, Jo Kwon, PENTAGON, Yoo Seon Ho)
 * "POP/STARS" (2018) (Miyeon, Soyeon with Madison Beer and Jaira Burns (as K/DA)

Concerts

 * United Cube – One (2018)

Awards and nominations

 * Main article: List of Awards and Nominations

Trivia

 * The group name has some significations:
 * "(G)" (여자) is for "girl" and "Idle" (아이들) for "children".
 * The "I" in "I-DLE" is for the individuality and "DLE" (들 seen reversed on the logo) the plural, so the girls have a unique personality, but they are related in a way.
 * Soyeon was a contestant on Produce 101 and Unpretty Rapstar 3.
 * Soyeon made her solo debut on November 5, 2017 before joining the group.
 * In the music video for "Jelly", we can see a girl wearing a white fox mask. We will later know that the girl was Soojin.
 * In her comeback on February 2018, there is again the same girl in the music video for "Idle Song" and also some clues for (G)I-DLE members (an earth glob with indicators of their birth places and radio fixed on "450" (for April 5, their reveal date).
 * Miyeon is a former YG Entertainment trainee.
 * Soojin was originally supposed to be a member of the then-upcoming South Korean girl group VIVIDIVA.
 * Her stage name was N.Na.
 * She even performed once with them.