In Memory of GFRIEND (여자친구)

I'm an Eternal Buddy

Hello everyone, I made this special book to solidify my memories with the group I love the most. They are called GFRIEND, A legend.

Playlist : GFRIEND - Trust

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Early in January 2015, I was a 13-year-old ordinary student in my junior high school. I was very obsessed with K-pop world, I learned about many groups and immediately liked them. I liked almost every group but all of them were just "like". Just like when you like a certain candy brand, you won't refuse to like another brand too.

One day I saw a new mv teaser in my youtube recommendation. I looked at the the title "GFRIEND - Glass Bead" and I wondered what group that was. There were six girls wearing school uniforms with natural makeup. They looked very cheerful and the song was promising. That day the MV was released, I didn't need another second to like them.

It was the same cases with many other groups. I liked them a lot and because they came from a small company, not many people noticed them at their early days. The society was cruel and prejudiced. The one who were rich and famous could easily trample on anyone behind the screen. Although GFRIEND became popular later on, it was undoubtedly hard for them. I could imagine what was it like to bow everytime you saw a person, to compete with many groups that had more resources and fans, to practice day and night harder than anyone else, to rely on themselves without becoming a burden to the company. From early of spring until the end of winter, four seasons changed and they had much more on their shoulders. How old were they at that time? Leader Sowon was 20 and the youngest Umji was only 17.

They were harshly criticized because their song was much similar to that of Girls Generation and SinB looked like a copy of Jessica. Everyone looked down on them and secretly harbored evil thought that these young girls were just like sand pillar, with a gust of wind they would be gone for good.

When they released "Me Gustas Tu", it gradually received attention from the public. They were praised because the song was catchy, the MV was good and the dance was very hard. The Koreans also noted that the lyrics were in full Korean except for the title itself. The songs inside the album were all top-notch. They were always inside the top 10 for weeks inside the music show. Then the falling incident happened and more people started to notice them.

They said legend grew from hardship and it was true. The funny was that things that happened 6 years ago were still vivid in my mind like yesterday.

I began to fall deeply in love with GFRIEND and did not even realize it.

I would search for their info everyday, looking for their newest contents, listening to their songs like an intoxicated person. I grew up listening to their songs, watching their shows, learning about many music shows and awards, even downloaded many apps just to give them my best support. I have done this for 6 years and time was just like an aging bullet. I am now at the end of my teenage years and still look up to the same six angels.

When "Rough" was released, I realized there was no turning point for me. This group, no matter their talents and personalities, all were very aligned to my  preference. They set a very high standard that I found it hard to like another group. Preference was a word that only existed in my dictionary after discovering GFRIEND.

As all of us have known, "Rough" could be considered GFRIEND's starting point to have their own standing in the industry. The competition was fierce and 2016 was the year when many famous groups from the 3rd generation debuted, e.g Blackpink. GFRIEND managed to win a total of 29 trophies in the music shows that year and won in many music awards. 2016 was a legendary year for GFRIEND and Buddy.