K-pop girl groups and soloists debuts and comebacks of 2022

Girl groups and female soloists in K-pop have definitely stolen the show this year. There are so many debuts and comebacks worth watching that I decided to make a list with some of my favorite ones and some that I believe can be your favorite, even though I might not be a big fan.

Even though 2022 isn’t over and we still have a lot to look forward to this year when we talk about K-pop girl groups and soloists, this list will bring you some light on how these amazing female artists are doing so far.

Let’s start with the 2022 debuts! Kep1er, LE SSERAFIM, NMIXX, XG, NewJeans, NAYEON and the SM musical project, Girls On Top are some of the k-pop debuts of the year and I am pretty excited to tell you about their songs.

Kep1er

Kep1er was formed in a survival show called Girls Planet 999, from it 9 girls – Yujin, Mashiro, Xiaoting, Chaehyun, Dayeon, Hikaru, Huening Bahiyyih, Youngeun, and Yeseo – were chosen to be part of the group that debut in the beginning of the year with the song WA DA DA.

WA DA DA is a catchy song, even with that after chorus that can be a little annoying to some people. The girls look and sound amazing on the movie video, the choreography was all around on covers on Instagram and TikTok and they already gathered more than 2,20mi subscribers on Youtube, proving their popularity.

Now their second comeback was with the song Up!, a great summer song, very fun and catchy, with a concept lighter than their debut that fit the girls pretty well.

This third comeback was, in my opinion, their weakest one so far. Also, the line distribution is so unfair, Bahiyyih has no lines in We Fresh, hopefully the company will give her more opportunities to show her vocals on their next comeback.

In my opinion they still have a lot to explore, they have some great performers and vocals in the group and I believe that with the right songs they could become a strong 4th gen group.

LE SSERAFIM

These girls have definitely had a bumpy debut but delivered very strong performances of their first single FEARLESS. The group was firstly formed by six members – Chaewon, Sakura, Yunjin, Kazuha, Eunchae and Garam, but after controversial claims, Kim Garam left the group.

FEARLESS is a song that speaks about moving forward without worrying about the past. The chorus is catchy and you have probably copied the moves without even noticing because of the cool choreography. The girls have an amazing chemistry and now as a fixed five-piece group they recently released their new single ANTIFRAGILE, showing how strong of a group they are.

This song got a whole movie video and live performances, although Impurities is not a single, but it deserves recognition because the girls look and sound amazingly good.

NMIXX

NMIXX is the newest JYP addition to the K-pop scenery and they had an amazing and strong debut with the single O.O. To be completely honest at first I hated the song, I enjoyed the visuals on the movie video and you can definitely notice how good the girls sound, but the song was a no for me, but I guess after watching so many perform the song on Instagram it kind grew in me and now I really enjoy the song.

NMIXX is formed by Kyujin, Jinni, Sullyoon, Jiwoo, Bae, Haewoon and Lily. They debuted in February and made a comeback in September with the song DICE. I don’t think it beats their debut, but it’s a fun song to listen to and the visuals like Alice in Wonderland are amazing. If there’s one thing about JYP is that they’re not going to lack visuals on movie videos.

NewJeans

NewJeans is probably one of the most unexpected debuts of the year, they appeared with almost no announcements before they dropped three singles at once and dominated the charts in South Korea. Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein are five young girls that are facing a rapid increase of popularity in the K-pop scene and they are doing it beautifully. They’ve proved with their cute performances and incredible vocals that they came to impress and make an impact, it only helps that all three songs they’ve performed so far are amazingly good and catchy.

They debuted with the track Attention but my personal favorite is definitely Hype Boy. Now the single Cookie had some controversies already since it’s a double meaning song and people were worried that such young girls were singing something like that. The company was quick to respond and put at ease those claims.

NewJeans have just made their first comeback with Ditto and I’m not quite sure how I feel about this song yet, I can only say that I wasn’t expecting a song like this after their debut songs being so catchy. Make sure to check the side B to the movie video below.

Out of all songs which one is your favorite?

Girls on Top

Definetly one of the most unusual mixes of a SM subunit. GOT is formed by BoA, one of the most famous first gen in the industry, Taeyeon and Hyoyeon from the second gen group SNSD, Seulgi and Wendy from Red Velvet and from aespa the popular fourth gen group, Karina and Winter. Even though I really enjoyed the group and how well their voices match the song Step Back could have a different direction than the one the songwriter gave to it, to support rivalry among women is so old. I was expecting a strong bop about strong women, but despite the lyrics I think the group deserves to be mentioned here.

XG

XG, or Xtraordinary Girls, is a global group formed by Jurin, Chisa, Cocona, Hinata, Maya, Juria and Harvey, they are all Japanese and the idea of them being a global group is to allow them to reach listeners from the whole world, both of their singles are in English.

Their first single Tippy Toes is such a good song, very catchy. We had only the movie video and the performance video, but when they dropped Mascara they started performing live on Korean shows and now we have both of the songs live and it’s really worth watching them. The girls are really talented and work well together, each of them standing out each time they are performing.

NAYEON

Nayeon from Twice had her solo debut with POP!, a song that screams K-pop vibes. It’s a fun and cheerful song that matches Nayeon’s personality. She got everyone trying to figure out the hand choreography and the POP! Dance Challenge was a huge success on social media. Definitely one of the best solo debuts of 2022.

SEULGI

Now closing the debuts, we have Seulgi from Red Velvet with her solo debut 28 Reasons a song and concept that fit so well with her voice and got everyone hooked. She also dropped a whole album exploring her dark side. She’s a strong vocalist and has had a few subunits before, it’s nice to finally see some of her solo work happening.

STACYC

The group has had two comebacks this year being RUN2U my favorite one, the song is catchy, they sound and look amazing and definitely proved they have talented members in the group. Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon and J debuted in 2020 and have dropped bop after bop ever since. Their second comeback this year was for BEAUTIFUL MONSTER, the title track of their third single album, the song explores a relationship that is painful but also sweet. Both songs are definitely worth adding to your playlist.

ITZY

SNEAKERS was released a few months ago and had everyone obsessed. ITZY is without a doubt a very strong 4th gen group and I feel that every comeback there’s always this huge pressure around them with high expectations for each release and they never disappoint to deliver something good to their fans.

After the bubbly single, ITZY went back to a more mature sound that some fans have been asking after SNEAKERS. Cheshire seems to match more their concept as a group.

Jessi

You’ve probably caught one TikTok or two with ZOOM as the chosen song and most likely saw people doing the choreography on the app as well. One of the trendiest songs of the year without a doubt this was Jessi’s last single before leaving PNATION, company she had been under for a long time. We don’t know what Jessi’s next steps are, but hopefully we’ll get more trendy songs from her in the future.

IVE

To be honest, IVE is not my favorite group, but there’s no denying that they are a very strong girl group of this generation. Their songs seem to be everyone’s cup of tea. This year they’ve released LOVE DIVE and After LIKE, both songs count with more than 100 million views on Youtube proving how popular they are.

Red Velvet

Just like ITZY, I feel that there’s this huge expectation with Red Velvet and their comebacks after Psycho. Feel My Rhythm has a different concept but it pleased their audience all the same and compared to their latest comeback with Birthday, the first song fits more the group whole vibe.

Sometimes it appears that companies avoid more mature concepts to mature girl groups because they’re afraid of the public’s acceptance, and I feel that’s the case with SM and Red Velvet. Hopefully we’ll be able to see a more mature side of them next year.

(G)-idle

One of the strongest groups this year, even while dealing with the fact that they had one last member after Cube made Soojin leave the group after bullying controversies. (G)-idle was not afraid to put out some strong feminists concepts this year. The group stole everyone’s attention with TOMBOY and Nxde. They topped charts with these songs and delivered great performances as well. A group to keep an eye on as they definitely will keep coming up with more surprises.

Billlie

The 2022 viral fancam belongs to Billie because the member Tsuki caught everyone’s attention with her performance and facial expressions. The song Gingamingayo is a fun, upbeat song that talks of a strange world where you’re becoming an adult, the uncertainty behind the process. Tsuki’s fancam has over 10 million views and it definetely put Billlie on the spotlight this year.

The other song the group released this year was RING ma Bell, a whole different vibe from the previous hit, more of rock n’ roll type of song, showing how versatile the group can be.

TAEYEON

Definitely one of the strongest vocalists in K-pop, Taeyeon delivered amazing looks and vocals in INVU, a song about envying the other’s reaction to a hard part of a relationship. She based the visuals of the movie video on the Greek goddess Artemis and she looks absolutely breathtaking, it was definitely the right concept for her.

aespa

One of the strongest girl group of this generation disappointed me a little with this comeback. I don’t think Girls allowed them to show how powerful and talented they are. The choreography was without a doubt the biggest mistake in this comeback, it lacked impact and it only worked with a good camera work, without it, it looked so weird. But I like the girls and find them incredibly talented, so hopefully next comeback SM will give them a song with a strong choreography because they’re great performers.

TWICE

I’m always a little afraid of Twice’s comebacks because I’ve been loving every single one since I Can’t Stop Me came out, so I’m afraid of being disappointed by the new songs, but they did it again, I absolutely love Talk That Talk. The song is catchy, the choreography is addicting and they look so mature! Twice is without a doubt my favorite girl group!

Blackpink

I believe K-pop stans were definitely anxious to Blackpink’s comeback and they got very good song in return! Pink Venom and Shut Down carry the group’s vibe from the beginning to the end. Blinks were well fed this year, new songs, new album, live performances and a world tour.

Girls Generation

The perfect gift for the 15th anniversary of the group! It was great to watch the girls get together to perform live again! FOREVER 1 fit them so well and they look younger than ever! I love the song, the choreography and the way they sound and look! Hopefully they’ll get together soon for more performances, we’d love to see it happen!

MAMAMOO

One of my favorite girl groups! MAMAMOO surprised me with ILLELLA this year because I’ve been pretty disappointed with their previous songs, but this comeback I think they found themselves again. Their strongest feature is without a doubt their vocalists and this song showed how good they can be. It’s catchy and I love the beat! I hope we get more music as good as ILLELLA from them from now on.

I guess that this is it! If you feel like someone is missing from this long list please mention it in the comments! I tried to cover the most talked comebacks and debuts this year, but K-pop is a box full of surprises, there’s always someone new that we need to keep an eye on! Hopefully you’ll enjoy this list!