page_title: Crayon Pop
section_title: 2013: Success in Japan, "Bar Bar Bar" and rising popularity
hierarchical_section_title: Crayon Pop / History / 2013: Success in Japan, "Bar Bar Bar" and rising popularity
caption_attribution_description: English: Crayon Pop in December 2013
context_page_description: Crayon Pop was a South Korean girl group formed under Chrome Entertainment in 2012. The group consisted of four members: Geummi, Ellin, Choa, and Way. Their fifth member, Soyul, left the group in 2017. Crayon Pop officially debuted in July 2012 with their performance of "Saturday Night" on Mnet's M! Countdown. Their first EP was not a commercial success, and when their song "Dancing Queen" was released in October, the group had few opportunities to promote on music shows. Instead they held guerrilla performances on the streets of Seoul, which helped increase their fanbase.
  Crayon Pop gained a huge increase in popularity following the release of their single album "Bar Bar Bar" in June 2013. The group's unique stage outfits and choreography gained public attention, and made the title song a viral hit. It eventually managed to reach number 1 on Billboard's K-Pop Hot 100. Crayon Pop was able to earn numerous awards, including the New Rising Star Award at the Golden Disk Awards, the Hot Trend Award at the MelOn Music Awards, and Best New Female Artist at the Mnet Asian Music Awards.
context_section_description: Crayon Pop returned to Japan and held a mini-concert on 6 January 2013 in Shibuya, Tokyo. Tickets went on sale on 11 December 2012, and sold out in less than an hour. As a result of considerable demand from fans unable to purchase tickets, Chrome Entertainment announced that another Japanese concert would be held at a later date, and a second mini-concert was staged in Osaka on 22 February. On 25 January, Crayon Pop began promoting the remixed version of "Bing Bing", which included a popping dance break to Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" instead of the original rap verse. They had a "delinquent schoolgirl" concept with new choreography, and wore tracksuits or school uniforms with tracksuit pants. On 19 May, a third Japanese mini-concert was held in Shibuya, Tokyo. A new Japanese member, Arisa, was to be revealed at this concert, but she had withdrawn from the group before the performance.
  On 8 June, Crayon Pop performed a preview version of their new song "Bar Bar Bar". The unusual dance featured choreographed jumping, and they wore scooter helmets, polo shirts, and tracksuit pants with skirts. A story version music video was released on 13 June, a week before the song's digital release on 20 June. Three days later, a dance version music video was released. Filmed with a budget of only 380,000 won (US$347), the music video went viral and Crayon Pop drew interest due to their unique stage outfits and choreography. This music video has more than 51 million views on YouTube as of April 2019.
  As "Bar Bar Bar" went viral, it began to climb the Korean digital music charts, eventually reaching the upper positions of most major real time chart listings. It stayed at the top of Billboard's Korea K-Pop Hot 100 chart for more than a month, and ranked number 1 for the first time eight weeks after release. "Bar Bar Bar" solidified its viral status when a parody video was aired on a segment of SNL Korea on 13 August. That same day, it was announced that Crayon Pop had signed a contract with Sony Music Entertainment, who were inspired by the groups' creativity and uniqueness and saw their global market potential. Crayon Pop scored their first music show win when "Bar Bar Bar" won first place on Music Bank on 30 August, beating EXO's "Growl". On 9 September, a "Global Version" music video was released ahead of Crayon Pop's second mini album, The Streets Go Disco, which was released on 26 September under the Sony Music label. This album consisted of their four previous singles and remixes of those songs. A music video for the title track, "Dancing Queen 2.0", was released along with the album. "Bar Bar Bar" earned Chrome Entertainment US$2 million in the year after its release, and Crayon Pop was able to move from their small row house in Nonhyeon-dong to a luxury "villa" apartment due to their increased income.
  Crayon Pop's rising popularity also brought them criticism. Netizens accused the group of being affiliated with the right-wing website Ilbe after Way used the phrase nomu nomu (노무노무) on Twitter. This phrase was popularized on Ilbe and was used to criticize former president Roh Moo-hyun. It was then discovered that Chrome Entertainment's CEO previously mentioned the website on Twitter. CEO Hwang responded by saying he was registered on many popular online communities, including Ilbe, in order to gather information about singers and girl groups. He also stated that Way's phrase was an example of aegyo and she was not even aware of the website. However, the controversy continued and several of the group's scheduled events were cancelled after criticism from the public. Online auction company Auction stopped broadcasting its new TV commercial featuring Crayon Pop after widespread customer complaints. The controversy resurfaced in January 2014 after Ellin allegedly used the Ilbe hand sign, but Chrome Entertainment explained that Ellin was forming the letter "E" with her hand, and all the Crayon Pop members have alphabet hand signs that signify their names.
  Due to Crayon Pop's increased popularity, they had more opportun
caption: Crayon Pop performing "Bar Bar Bar" in December 2013
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