CROSS GENE K-Pop Comeback In February 2017 With ‘MIRROR’

UPDATED 02/10/17 — Cross Gene released their latest comeback MIRROR featuring title track song “Black or White.” The music video utilizes themes of life and death, light and darkness as the boy band is divided up into two groups of three. It also follows the popular concept of music videos being artistic or like a movie. As of the update of this article, the music video has over 500 thousand views on YouTube.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE 02/05/17 — It seems the K-pop comebacks constantly continue to stack up for the month of February this year. It started out with Red Velvet making their first K-pop comeback for 2017 with Rookie, an extended play (EP) or mini-album considered “the worst one” by K-pop fans, but it still managed to achieve an All-Kill nevertheless. They will be joined by SM Entertainment label mates NCT through their sub-group consisting of members 17-years-old or younger, NCT Dream, with The First.

The two upcoming K-pop comebacks in February most K-pop fans are anticipating are BTS with the extension of their 2016 full-length studio album WINGS and Twice with the continuation of their last EP or mini-album TWICEcoaster: LANE 1.

Despite all the powerhouse K-pop acts making comebacks in February, others are joining into the fray. As a matter of fact, Cross Gene will make their first K-pop comeback for 2017 this month too with Mirror.

#CROSSGENE #MIRROR #20170208 pic.twitter.com/9ninCVzP7T

— CROSS GENE(????) (@CROSS_GENE) January 26, 2017

News of Cross Gene making their K-pop comeback in 2017 was first made known last month in January. However, the Amuse Korea boy band consisting of six members — Takuya, Shin, Seyoung, Casper, Sangmin, and Yongseok — got plenty of attention suddenly with just one second. That may sound absurd but the teaser video showing Cross Gene wearing white in a white room grabbed everyone’s attention mostly because it was one second long. It was actually called the “shortest teaser ever,” as reported by AllKpop.

After releasing another short teaser video in which the concept was a lot darker as it shows a hand covered in blood, Cross Gene seemed to be following the new K-pop comeback concept of releasing two featured track songs instead of one. This was easily seen in the initial teaser images for Mirror. Three of the members are in white while the other three are in black.

Apparently, Cross Gene doesn’t want to follow like the new trend and instead will do something different in releasing two pre-release singles titled “White Mind” and “Black Mind” which will eventually lead up to their comeback’s featured title track song, “Black and White.” Recollecting on Hallyu history, such a concept has never been attempted in K-pop.

Eventually, Cross Gene promotions for their upcoming K-pop comeback went in a more traditional direction. They already released a title track list of their upcoming extended play (EP) or mini-album. Cross Gene even released a “traditional” music video snippet that lasted about 10 to 30 seconds long, not like their “shortest trailers ever,” which is featured above.

To be frank, it is very brave for Cross Gene to be making their K-pop comeback the same month so many prominent K-pop acts choose to do so too. Many K-pop entertainment labels and agencies are keeping an eye simply on BTS alone, when they will release new content. The reason is so they do not have their K-pop acts release content around them for they will be mostly ignored.

In all fairness, some K-pop acts can go one-on-one with BTS if they are popular enough. Red Velvet, NCT, and Twice are popular enough to hold their own. Looking back on past K-pop comebacks, Cross Gene is not. Since their debut back in 2012, none of their comebacks (in South Korea) surpassed 6,000 copies sold. They did manage to get on the top 10 for the Korean Gaon album chart, but their featured songs have yet to even break the top 100. Cross Gene actually has more influence and popularity in Japan actually.

Maybe by releasing a ton of pre-release promotions, Cross Gene may finally earn some recognition similar to K-pop acts from bigger entertainment labels and agencies. Mirror, their fourth EP or mini-album, will release on Wednesday, February 8.

[Featured Image by Amuse Korea/CROSS GENE Official Website]