While a countless amount of songs are being produced each and every day, it’s not an easy process for a song to be released officially. In order for a song to be released and have a chance at being successful, it has to find the right owner and the right timing. Some songs are lucky enough to go through the process overnight, but some songs have to literally wait a decade.

With that being said, here are nine K-pop songs that took at least two years since being written to be officially released.

1. “Produce 101” Season 2 – “It’s Me (Pick Me)”

Ryan Jhun is the producer behind this famous “Produce 101” theme song “It’s Me (Pick Me).” He also produced a number of hit K-pop tracks including EXO’s “Love Me Right, “Taeyeon’s “I,” Red Velvet’s “Dumb Dumb,” and SHINee’s “View.” According to Ryan Jhun, he produced the “Produce 101” theme song around the same time as SHINee’s “Lucifer.” He stated in an interview, “‘It’s Me’ is one of the songs I produced when I was still an aspiring producer 10 years ago. The original title of the track was ‘Moonlight,’ but PD Ahn Jun Young [of ‘Produce 101’] suggested that we should change it.”

2. BTOB Blue – “When It Rains”

The song was written by Hyunsik four years before it was officially released in August 2018. During an episode of BTOB’s “The Beat” series in 2015, the group’s leader Seo Eunkwang was spotted singing the song along with the lyrics, “when it rains.” In 2017, Hyunsik also addressed the track himself while communicating with fans on social media and said, “Don’t you guys all know the song ‘When It Rains’? We will try to release the track next year if an opportunity presents itself.”

3. MAMAMOO, Bumkey – “Don’t Be Happy”

This song was originally produced by Esna, who is also responsible for producing Wheesung and Gummy’s collaboration “Special Love.” While it was produced as an acoustic song, producer Kim Do Hun added a bit of jazz to the song, and it was finally released as a collaboration between MAMAMOO and Bumkey after two years in 2014.

4. BIGBANG’s G-Dragon – “Untitled, 2014”

It is reported that G-Dragon recorded the song back in 2014, three years before the track was officially released as part of his solo album “Kwon Ji Yong” in June 2017. While many fans suspect that G-Dragon included the number 2014 in the title to represent his birthday (If you add the year, month, and day of G-Dragon’s birthday together, you get 2014), it actually represents the year that the song was recorded.

5. Oh My Girl BANHANA – “Banana Allergy Monkey”

During a radio show, the members of Oh My Girl BANHANA revealed that the track was made 10 years before the group released it in 2018. According to the members, a producer at their agency had produced the track a long time ago, but wasn’t able to find the right group to give it to, until they met the Oh My Girl BANHANA members.

6. INFINITE – “Pray (Maetel’s Sorrow)”

This track was released as part of INFINITE’s third studio album “Top Seed.” During a press conference for the release of the album, INFINITE revealed that this particular b-side track was recorded seven years ago. Sungyeol stated, “We’ve been preparing this song since seven years ago. While the rest of the members recently re-recorded the track, the voices of Sunggyu and Sungjong remain the same from seven years ago.”

7. Girls’ Generation – “Dancing Queen”

Girls’ Generation had already recorded and even filmed a music video for “Dancing Queen” in 2008 as a comeback song. The track remained hidden for four years until it was released as a pre-release song of the group’s fourth studio album “I Got a Boy” in January 2013.

8. EXO – “El Dorado”

Fans were first introduced to “El Dorado” in 2012 through a debut teaser that introduced Chanyeol to fans for the first time. The track was finally released three years later as part of the group’s second album “Exodus” in 2015.

9. Super Junior’s Kyuhyun – “My Thoughts, Your Memories”

Kyuhyun revealed that he composed this track when he was suddenly in the mood to write songs after consuming alcohol. Afterwards, he partnered up with his labelmate TVXQ’s Changmin to write the lyrics for the song. Three years later, the track was released as part of Kyuhyun’s first solo mini album “At Gwanghwamun” in 2014.

Do you know any other songs that took a long time to be officially released? Let us know in the comments below!

BIGBANG has achieved yet another YouTube milestone!

On June 7 at approximately 5:30 p.m. KST, the music video for “Fantastic Baby” surpassed 400 million views on YouTube, making it BIGBANG’s first music video to achieve the feat. This is about seven years, two months, and 11 days after the music video’s release on March 27, 2012 at 12 a.m. KST.

The music video for “Fantastic Baby” was also the first K-pop idol group music video to reach 200 million views in January 2016 and 300 million views in June 2017.

Congratulations to BIGBANG!

Celebrate by watching “Fantastic Baby” again below:

Trends are widely hyped in the K-pop industry and usually start among idols and spread within the avid fans before it reaches the general public soon after.

Away from the usual vogues that take the world by storm, trends can also happen to be an expression, a gesture, or a combination of both. With this in mind, and in no particular order, here are eight times idols started their own signature trends with the utmost impact!

1. TWICE’s Sana – “Sha Sha Sha”

“Shy Shy Shy” was first revealed to the world as a lyric in TWICE’s title track “Cheer Up,” but Sana’s adorable pronunciation of the English word introduced the pre-hook line in a whole new perspective that was instantly adopted by listeners as well as other K-pop idols.

2. Park Ji Hoon – “Jeojang”

The former Wanna One member has been known since his “Produce 101” days for his “Jeojang” aegyo. The full confession spells “Nae maeum soge, jeojang” which translates to “I’m saving you in my heart.” It goes without saying that this expression invaded many hearts and made them flutter!

3. BTOB’s Ilhoon – “Gwiyomi Player”

We’ve all come to see and love the different Gwiyomi interpretations that idols have shared with us throughout the years. As it turns out, we owe it all to Ilhoon, who created the hand gestures that go along with the cute chant back in 2012, which inspired the release of a single of the same name a year later by singer Hari. Gwiyomi is a Korean slang word that means a cute person, a cutie.

4. LOONA’s Chuu – The “biting” heart

I think we can all agree that the “Chuu heart” is one of the most unique illustrations to date! The idol came up with it during a fansign, where she made a circle with her hands and “bit” its top into a heart. This special sign surely captured a handful of hearts in return!

5. Jessica Jung – “Daedanada”

On an episode of “Radio Star,” Jessica partook in the conversation between the MCs and Sunny by commenting “Daedanhada,” which means “that’s awesome.” But the way she pronounced it sounded more like “Daedanada” with a dull tone, which became so popular that it landed in the Korean slang dictionary.

6. BIGBANG’s G-Dragon – “Hangsho”

During his appearance on “Infinite Challenge,” G-Dragon came up with a new buzzword “Hangsho” which is short for “Haengbokhashipshyo” and simply means “Be happy.” The expression trended all over Korea and even gave birth to a variety show called “The Hang Show” later on.

7. BTS’s V – “Borahae”

This unique profession of love saw the light of day during member V’s comments at BTS’s third fanmeeting. He started his speech by recreating the meaning of the color purple as a symbol of eternal trust and love between BTS and ARMY. Later, V started using “Borahae” as in “I purple you,” since bora designates the color in question.

8. EXO’s Sehun – “Yehet”

This quirky “scream” of joy is brought to you by EXO’s maknae. Known for his fair share of distinctive words that make up the “Sehunese” language, “Yehet” is a sound that Sehun makes to express an extreme state of happiness or excitement. Although the word is voiced rather calmly, it only takes one glimpse at the idol’s face to know that he is indeed jolly when he says it!

Which idol trend is your favorite? Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below!

Esmee L. is a Moroccan lively dreamer, writer, and Hallyu enthusiast.