Show Review: With solo stages and new performances, Babymonster keeps things fresh

In a span of a year or so, K-pop girl group Babymonster visited our city-state a total of three times. Yet, they’ve somehow managed to keep things fresh.

The septet was here last June for their fan concert. Followed by a performance at the F1 Grand Prix in August. Now, they’re back for the Singapore leg of their first world tour, Hello Monsters.

Tailoring their set to the crowd, the group performed tracks like Batter Up (2023) and Sheesh (2024) again, albeit at a larger venue.

Though they were one man down, as member Rami is now on hiatus due to “health-related reasons”, the remaining members managed to cover her lines seamlessly.

While they’ve toned down interactive activities like gameplay, the girl group took more time to show the crowd their abilities. With new hits like Drip (2024) and Forever (2024), fans, mostly in their teens, saw something new from the group.

But what was truly unique to the show was the individual performances. Some of them chose ballad numbers to work their vocal cords. Like Rora’s Someone You Loved (2019), Pharita’s What Other People Say (2021), Chiquita’s traitor (2021) and Ahyeon’s Dangerously (2016).

Asa and Ruka also served up a fun, unserious yet peppy rendition of Woke Up in Tokyo (2024).

They’ve performed songs from 2NE1 in their previous stops. But Babymonster covered As If It’s Your Last (2017) and Kill This Love (2019) from Blackpink instead, in Singapore.

Sitting in the crowd of Monstiez, which are what fans of the band are called, I got reminded, again, that Babymonster’s present achievement (like their current sold-out show) doesn’t come easily.

Born out of a reality programme, their between-set videos show some of their sombre reflections on their journey to stardom. Slightly more than a year since their debut now, and I still stand by what I said during their first fan-concert here.

They’re only at the start of a limitless journey ahead.