Crayon Pop to hold first solo concert for free

Crayon Pop, the group that turned jumping up and down into a nationwide craze, will be holding its first solo concert titled “1st POPCON IN SEOUL” at Nuridream Square in Sangam-dong, Seoul, on Wednesday. The event is free and open to the public.

Since their debut last year, the ladies had made little to no impact with the release of their first EP album in July featuring singles “Saturday Night” and “Bing Bing.” Months later, Crayon Pop attempted to capture audiences once again by releasing the follow-up track “Dancing Queen,” which did not reap much success. In fact, the group was hardly known until its sudden late surge in popularity with the song “Bar Bar Bar.”

The single was released earlier in June, but made very little impact on the local music charts ― until a parody video of the group’s funky and childish choreography was aired in a spoof segment on “SNL Korea” in August. The single then suddenly appeared on the top chart spots, months after its initial release, and even topped the Billboard K-pop Hot 100 chart for weeks.

The choreography to “Bar Bar Bar,” also known as the “Straight-Five Engine Dance,” has the five members, Ellin, So Yul, Gum Mi, Cho-a and Way, jumping up and down and side to side ― meant to mimic parts of an engine cylinder ― wearing motorcycle helmets and athletic training gear.

The track and choreography took the nation by storm, and the once virtually unknown song and dance has now been seen nearly 8 million times on YouTube. The phenomenal popularity led Crayon Pop to release a global version of the song titled “Bar Bar Bar 2.0” on Sept. 26.

Officials from the group’s talent agency Chrome Entertainment announced that during the ladies’ first solo concert, members Cho-a and Way will take the stage along with “Bar Bar Bar” composer Kim Yoo-min for a special collaboration performance, where the members are also said to reveal their newest single.

Bumkey, MYNAME, 100% and The SEEYA will also be taking the stage at the upcoming concert as special guests. The concert will be aired on cable station MBC Music on Nov. 12.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)