BABYMONSTER’s Ballad Just Beat ‘CHOOM’

Featured photo: BABYMONSTER’s Ruka at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, June 20, 2025. Photo: Farouk Azim, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

BABYMONSTER broke their own record with their voices, not their dancing. The music video for “DESERVE,” the ballad released October 23, passed 100 million YouTube views at 1:57 a.m. Korea time on November 4. That took about 11 and a half days, more than two days faster than the 14 days set this year by the hard-hitting performance track “CHOOM,” and it’s now the group’s fastest ever (Sports Donga).

I’ll be honest: as a fan, what makes me happiest isn’t the number 100 million. It’s how this song won. The “monster rookies” who always dance like they’re about to tear the stage apart picked up hand mics and put the singing first, and that singing reached people faster than anything they’ve done.

BABYMONSTER is the first girl group YG Entertainment launched after BLACKPINK. They officially debuted in April 2024.

One hand mic, and the voices to prove it

“DESERVE” is a pop ballad built on lyrical synth sounds with a retro mood. It’s a song about looking back on old memories and wishing happiness to someone who left, arranged so the emotion keeps rising toward the end (Bizenter). The members introduced it as “a style we’ve never shown before,” and on October 24 on MBC’s “Show! Music Core” and October 25 on SBS’s “Inkigayo,” they performed it live with hand mics (Bizenter, Raon News).

결국 비는 내리고 난 우산이 없네 (In the end the rain falls, and I have no umbrella) Baby you deserve better — BABYMONSTER, “DESERVE” (2026, YG Entertainment; lyrics from the official music video description)

The singer runs into an old love after a long time and asks how they’ve been. The spring that covered up the winter, the days of being carried home on someone’s back, come back like a fairy tale, until the song lands in the present, where the rain is falling. And instead of holding on, she lets go: you deserve a better love than this. The high notes and ad-libs burst out right at that moment of letting go.

As of early November 6, the music video had passed 111.85 million views (BABYMONSTER official channel). With it, BABYMONSTER now has 19 videos over 100 million views. Their official channel has about 13.5 million subscribers and more than 10 billion total views (Sports Donga).

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They didn’t drop the dance. They saved it

This year was BABYMONSTER’s year of performance. The May music video for “CHOOM” now stands at 207.99 million views, and June’s “SUGAR HONEY ICE TEA” at 149.89 million (official channel, as of November 6). Both were videos people clicked to watch the members dance.

“DESERVE” flipped that formula, and still didn’t put the dancing down completely. The music video carries itself on the members’ acting, then sets off fireworks and a full-scale group dance at the very end (Sports Donga). They caught your heart with the song first, then pulled out the thing they do best as the final blow.

The stages that left nothing but voices drew crowds too. The band live video on “it’s Live” passed 3.73 million views in nine days, and the Inkigayo comeback stage reached 1.81 million (as of November 6).

Ruka cried at Kyocera Dome, and November 20 is next

On November 5, on SBS Power FM’s “Cultwo Show,” the members talked about their concerts at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, this September. BABYMONSTER sold out the roughly 45,000-seat dome two days in a row. Host Kim Tae-kyun was stunned: “This place is really big, and you sold it out two days. Isn’t that 90,000 seats?” (Newsen)

The backstage stories are even more lovable. Asked about talking to the audience in Japanese without an interpreter, Asa laughed: “The Japanese members get nervous and stumble even more. The Korean members next to us helped us out.” Ruka admitted, “My whole family came. It felt unreal. I was riding the torokko (a moving stage cart that circles the venue) and I could see my family. I was so moved. So I cried.” Rora chimed in, “And she’s the unnie who cries the least” (Newsen). Unnie is what a younger woman calls an older sister or close older friend.

BABYMONSTER is in the middle of their second world tour, “CHOOM,” with 31 shows in 18 cities across five continents (Sports Donga). In Japan, Asa is also the member shouting “Kenchana!” in a Suntory tea ad, the Korean word for “it’s okay” that Japanese teens now use to comfort each other. And on November 20, as part of the day-one lineup of the MAMA Awards 2026, they’ll stand on that same stage at Kyocera Dome Osaka again (Financial News).

BABYMONSTER is going back to the dome where Ruka saw her family and cried two months ago. I’m already waiting for that night, to hear what kind of voices they’ll fill it with this time.

Sources

• Sports Donga, November 4, 2026: “DESERVE” 100 million views, 11 and a half days, “CHOOM” 14 days, 19 videos, 13.5 million subscribers, world tour · Sports World, November 4, 2026
• Bizenter (eToday), October 23, 2026: pop ballad, lyrics, hand-mic live on Music Core and Inkigayo
• Raon News, October 23, 2026: “a style we’ve never shown before”
• Newsen, November 5, 2026: “Cultwo Show,” two Kyocera Dome sellouts, members’ quotes
• Financial News, November 2, 2026: MAMA 2026, November 20 and 21 at Kyocera Dome Osaka, day-one lineup
• YouTube views: BABYMONSTER official channel (“DESERVE,” “CHOOM,” “SUGAR HONEY ICE TEA”), it’s Live, SBS KPOP X INKIGAYO, checked 4:52 to 5:10 a.m. KST, November 6, 2026