On March 31, K-pop competition show Queendom 2 began airing on South Korean broadcaster Mnet. Hosted by Taeyeon – both a soloist and member of legendary K-pop group Girls’ Generation – Queendom 2 is the fourth edition in Mnet’s Queendom and Kingdom competition series, which pit K-pop acts against one another. During the first series of Queendom in 2019 , girl groups AOA, (G)I-dle, Lovelyz, Mamamoo and Oh My Girl competed alongside soloist and former 2NE1 member Park Bom. While Mamamoo ultimately took the crown, all of the groups on the show garnered interest and attention for their performances. Here are the competitors taking part in Queendom 2 , set to end in June, listed in alphabetical order. Brave Girls Currently a four-member group, Brave Girls were formed in 2011 but found little success until 2021. Produced by K-pop hitmaker Brave Brothers, the group has gone through multiple line-up changes over the years, and had been on the verge of breaking up until their 2017 single Rollin’ saw a surge of interest in 2021 . The group went through a phoenix-like rebirth almost overnight, and they began performing on television and releasing new music. Hyolyn Formerly a part of K-pop “song of summer” queens Sistar, which disbanded formally in 2017, Hyolyn is known for both her emotive balladry and intense R&B/pop dance tracks. An independent musician and entrepreneur, she currently heads her own music label, Bridge. Kep1er The most rookie group competing in Queendom 2 is Kep1er , pronounced “kepler”, a nine-member team formed during another Mnet K-pop competition show, 2021’s Girls Planet 999. Featuring members of Korean, Chinese and Japanese descent, the multinational girl group released their first album, First Impact , on January 3. Their debut single, Wa Da Da , has been a major hit . Loona Each member of this 12-member group was introduced to the world through a song release from October 2016. After arriving formally on the scene as a whole team in 2018, Loona become known for their inspiring, LGBT-favourite music. Most of Loona have tested positive for Covid-19, so they were unable to participate fully in the filming for the first round of Queendom 2 ’s competition. However, the group were able to share their first performance of their song PTT (Paint the Town) . Viviz Viviz, who released their first album in February, are a spin-off group of the now-disbanded but highly popular girl group GFriend. Featuring Eunha, SinB and Umji, the trio debuted in GFriend in 2015, which went on to have hit after hit. They re-debuted as Viviz with their EP Beam of Prism on February 9, and have performed covers of GFriend songs on Queendom 2 in a nod to their roots. WJSN The 13-member group have gone through waves of popularity since their debut in 2016. Also known as Cosmic Girls, the group have released music ranging from dreamy synth-pop to quirky comedic numbers, using smaller subunits and working around members being unavailable to play with their craft. Group member Bona starred in the recent and popular K-drama Twenty Five, Twenty One , drawing attention to WJSN as a whole .
