As boy groups from South Korea are conquering the world stage, the girls will not be left behind. Since the success of Wonder Girls and 2NE1 a decade ago until today with BLACKPINK, TWICE and Red Velvet, K-pop girl groups are also proven to be huge moneymakers for their country.

Aside from Korea, several countries in Asia also launched girl groups of their own and the Philippines is one of them. In the last 10 years, we have 7 notable acts that were introduced in the local music scene. Which of these groups are you familiar with?

Pop Girls

Pop Girls is perhaps the first P-pop girl group formed after the Sex Bomb and Viva Hot Babes era. This group was launched by Viva in 2009 with a self-titled 13-track studio album. Notable members from 2009 to 2017 are Nadine Lustre and Shy Carlos who both ventured into acting, and Carlyn Ocampo who is now a member of the multinational Idol group Z-Girls.

Pop Girls were able to release 5 music videos. One of these MVs–“Baby Boy”–almost hit 1 million views.

Pop Girls – “Crazy Crazy” MV

Pop Girls – “Prinsesa” MV

Pop Girls – “Baby Boy” MV

After 5

Just like Pop Girls, After 5 is also a quintet formed by Viva. They are composed of Karla, Andrea, Arabelle, Rachelle, and Anne. They were tagged as the girl group with “killer looks” matched with “killer vocals.” Their first music video was “Paano Na” which was released on February 27, 2017. They made a comeback in December 2017 with “Babalik” but with only 4 members as Arabelle left the group. On October 5, 2018, they released the MV for “Pers Lab.” Unfortunately, none of their 3 MVs reach 1 million views, not even half-a-million views.

After 5 – “Paano Na” MV

After 5 – “Babalik” MV

UGG (U Go Girls)

UGG or U Go Girls is dubbed as the cheerleaders of the P-Pop movement. They were launched by Viva last Dec 23, 2016 with the track “Ikaw Na.” They are composed of 10 girls namely Madelaine, Ivy, Apphle, Raj, Ashtine, Amber, Danica, Krezia, Remy and Therese. All of them came from the reality talent search “Born to be a Star.” The group was able to release 3 music videos but none of which surpass the 1 million views mark (not even 500 thousand).

UGG – “Ikaw Na” MV

UGG – “Dati” MV

UGG – “Kalimot” MV

Japh Dolls

Japh Dolls is also a five-piece girl group but with Japanese lineages. They are composed of Rei Minagawa, Rika Sakuma, Risa Murayama, Riyo Nishijima and Runa Takanashi. They debuted last February 13, 2018 with the music video “Magdamagan.” Six months ago they launched their second MV “Count Senpai.” None of their 2 MVs reach 200,000 views to date.

Japh Dolls — “Magdamagan” MV

Japh Dolls – “Count Senpai”

https://youtu.be/g7GEEJQDqFM

Charmed

Charmed started off as an independent girl group in 2016 with their first single “Crush.” On December 8, 2017, Viva launched them with a new track “Kidlat.” Unfortunately, their MV only got 30,798 views as of this posting.

Ch4rmed – “Crush”

Charmed – “Kidlat”

P-pop Generation

In 2019, Viva partnered with RTM of Japan to form the 45-member girl group called P-Pop Generation. The girls were divided into three and they performed live at Teatrino in Greenhills every Tuesday and Saturday for the whole year. They’ve released two music videos: “Boom Ganda” and “Ikaw at Ako,” none of which surpass the 200,000 views mark. However one member named Apphle released a solo track called “Gwapong Filipino” last July 30, 2019 and it garnered 264,887 views to date on YouTube.

P-Pop Generation – “Boom Ganda”

https://youtu.be/z-M7DAHv2Cw

P-Pop Generation – “Ikaw at Ako”

Apphle – “Gwapong Filipino” MV

MNL48

MNL48 is dubbed as the first ever Filipino Idol group and the fifth international sister group of AKB48, after Indonesia’s JKT48, China’s SNH48, Thailand’s BNK48, and Taiwan’s AKB48 Team TP. Among the “48” girl groups in Asia, only the Philippine version has the exact number of 48 members. Produced by Hallo Hallo Entertainment, the group was formed via a reality talent search that aired as a segment on ABS-CBN noontime show “It’s Showtime.”

On August 13, 2018, MNL48 released the music video of their debut single “Aitakatta Gustong Makita.” The blurry MV only got 58,816 views as of this posting. On October 26, 2018, the girl group premiered their second music video “Talulot ng Sakura”. Finally, in HD, the video garnered 358,203 views to date. But on November 25, 2018, MNL48 becomes the first Filipino girl group with a music video that surpassed one million views on YouTube! The MV for their single “Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie” which featured only 16 members garnered 2,100,228 views to date. On December 21, 2018, the Gospel Unit of MNL48 composed of 8 members released the “Amazing Grace” music video.

In 2019, a second generation of MNL48 was formed. They released the singles “365 Araw ng Eroplanong Papel,” “Ikaw ang Melody,” and “High Tension.” On February 23, 2019, the girl group launched another hit! The MV for “Palusot Ko’y Maybe” becomes their second MV to surpass the 1 million views mark. To date, it garnered 1,134,381 views. Last February 19, 2020, MNL48 released the music video for “High Tension” (their latest) and after almost 2 months it already garnered 846,950 views.

MNL48 – “Talulot ng Sakura”

MNL48 – “Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie”

MNL48 – “Palusot Ko’y Maybe”

https://youtu.be/QV51W3IIpUg

Clover

Clover, the first Filipino girl group trained under a Korean entertainment company, debuted last March 20, 2020 with the music video “Kumakabog-kabog.” Clover is composed of 4 members: Jade (leader), Mia (main rapper), L.A. (rapper) and Yuni (main vocal). They are being managed by KP Entertainment, a Korean label that has been established as a branch of KP Entertainment Korea in the Philippines

Clover – “Kumakabog-kabog”