[Music Y] YOUNG POSSE, K-Hip-Hop's 'Darlings,' Ask: So Who Are We?

Hip-hop girl group YOUNG POSSE is turning their identity search into sound.

At a media showcase on Aug. 14 at CGV Sinchon Artreon in Seoul’s Seodaemun District, the five-piece unveiled their fourth EP, “Growing Pain pt.1 : FREE,” sharing the heart behind the project and the goals they’re chasing next. Arriving roughly five months after March’s special release “COLD,” the record channels the “growing pains” of navigating the space between the self and the world―with YOUNG POSSE’s trademark mix of candor and mischief.

SUNHYE put it this way: “If our previous ‘trilogy’ was us dreaming big, this album is our answer to the question, ‘Okay, but who are you?’―answered in our own language.”

DOEUN added, “We still don’t have a neat label for what YOUNG POSSE is. We’re growing through that uncertainty, and we made this record believing that one day we’ll define ourselves on our own terms.”

The lead single, “FREESTYLE,” rejects outside rules and stares, choosing to move wherever instinct points. Built on a punk-hip-hop backbone and spiked with jazz, metal, and more, it gleefully blurs genre lines. “However the world tries to box us in, we’re going where we want,” said YEONJUNG.

All members dove into the writing, composing, and overall concept, sharpening the album’s vision from the inside out.

“It’s us, unfiltered,” YEONJUNG said. “Putting our own words in the music made us that much more confident.” JIEUN shared, “Since our trainee days, we questioned whether this path was right. In the end, we decided to do what we love―and that conviction is all over this record.”

YOUNG POSSE has already tested U.S. waters with a festival performance, and their ambitions are only getting bolder. “We have great memories from an early festival show in L.A. We want to launch a world tour under our own name,” said SUNHYE. “Headlining global festivals like Coachella or Lollapalooza―that’s the dream.” DOEUN added, “I want to tour overseas―and snag a No. 1 on a music show so we can sing that encore.”

They’ve been dubbed everything from “K-hip-hop’s darlings” to its “big sisters.” Asked what nickname they’d like next, DOEUN laughed, “We’ve been gifted so many cute labels since debut, and we’re grateful. But from here on, we want to be known as a cool, formidable YOUNG POSSE―a group with real bite. ‘K-hip-hop trendsetters’ has a nice ring to it.”

“Growing Pain pt.1 : FREE” drops today at 6 p.m. on major streaming platforms.

Photo by Baik Seung-Chul

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)