YG Entertainment's BabyMonster to debut with only five members

YG Entertainment will roll out its new girl group BabyMonster with five members, eliminating two trainees from the list of seven girls who were revealed earlier this year as potential candidates for the agency's new band, according ...

A scene from the eighth episode of "Last Evaluation" YG Entertainment's in-house audition program for its upcoming girl group BabyMonster [YG ENTERTAINMENT]

YG Entertainment will roll out its new girl group BabyMonster with five members, eliminating two trainees from the list of seven girls who were revealed earlier this year as potential candidates for the agency's new band, according to the agency's founder.

The eighth episode of the girl group’s “Last Evaluation” video, posted on YouTube on Friday, garnered over 2 million views only half a day after its release. It showed the seven trainees — Ruka, Pharita, Asa, Ahyeon, Haram, Rora and Chiquita — putting on their final performance for "Last Evaluation."

"Last Evaluation," which first premiered on YouTube on March 10, is YG Entertainment’s in-house audition series made to choose the final members of the agency’s upcoming girl group, BabyMonster.

A scene from the eighth episode of "Last Evaluation," YG Entertainment's in-house audition program for its upcoming girl group BabyMonster [YG ENTERTAINMENT]

“Ever since I started planning for BabyMonster, the number of members I had in mind was five,” said Yang Hyun-suk, founder and executive producer of YG Entertainment.

“None of the girl groups produced at YG had a lot of members,” he said. Both 2NE1 and Blackpink debuted with four members.

Yang said the five final members, which he hasn’t decided yet, will be revealed on May 12.

A scene from the eighth episode of "Last Evaluation," YG Entertainment's in-house audition program for its upcoming girl group BabyMonster [YG ENTERTAINMENT]

BabyMonster will be YG’s first new girl group since Blackpink, which debuted in 2016. Since early January, the agency had been teasing details, drip-feeding information about BabyMonster into the market; a common K-pop strategy to build hype and demand ahead of the debut.

The seven candidates of BabyMonster currently consist of three Korean, two Thai and two Japanese trainees.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]