By Spencer de Tenley, Managing Editor

Tis’ the season of old K-pop groups coming back with 2NE1, GFriend and GOT7.

K-pop supergroup 2NE1 announced a world tour in honor of their 15th anniversary in late 2024. Fittingly titled “Welcome Back,” the tour has seen all four members – Park Bom, Sandara Park, CL and Minzy – return to the stage beginning in Seoul, South Korea. The tour will continue on through the eastern Asian subcontinent, making stops in the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and finally ending back where they started in Seoul. 

Since debuting in 2009 with their single “Fire,” 2NE1 have seen world praise for their many hits over the years such as “I’m the Best” and “Come Back Home.” After many years in the spotlight, a year-long hiatus and the departure of Minzy caused the group to disband in 2016 with their apt final song, “Goodbye,” being released in 2017. The group would not resurrect from disbandment until 2022 when CL reunited the group at Coachella, which marked their first time performing together since 2015. The group’s Coachella performance got fans stirred up in hopes of a comeback, which came in late 2024 with the announcement of their world tour. 

Continuing with anniversary comebacks, K-pop girl-group GFriend in celebration of their tenth year anniversary is back with the single, “Season of Memories” and an accompanying album under the same name. The group’s members – Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, Yuju, SinB and Umji – all returned to the stage at the 39th Golden Disk Awards in Japan. Performing their old hits and debuting “Season of Memories,” GFriend has brought much praise as they end their comeback stage run, with all of the members seen sobbing at the end of their final performance. 

Debuting in 2015 with the EP “Season of Glass” and accompanying title-track “Glass Bead,” GFriend was an instant hit. They would go on to sing timeless classics such as “Rough,” “Me Gustas Tu” and “Mago.” The later of those, “Mago,” was announced to be their last single as they would unfortunately disband in the middle of 2021, following the expiration of the group’s contract. The members would each go their own direction, whether that be music or acting, until late 2024 with the announcement of a comeback. 

Switching to boys, the K-pop group GOT7 also made a comeback recently. The album, “Winter Heptagon” with accompanying title-track “PYTHON,” was released earlier this month, marking the first GOT7 release since their departure with JYP Entertainment in 2021. The album marked the first reunion of the seven members – Jay B, Jinyoung, Mark, Jackson, Yugyeom, BamBam and Youngjae – since their self-titled album “GOT7” back in 2022.

GOT7 made a name for themselves after debuting in 2014 with the single, “Girls Girls Girls” and went on making hits such as “Stop Stop It” and “Just Right.” The group would go to produce a variety of other hits together. After splitting ways with JYP entertainment and all of the Korean members serving their mandatory military service, the group became inactive from 2022-2025 with this new album marking their return to the music scene. 

All three of these groups have been in the K-pop industry for 10 or more years and continue having listeners from around the world. Notably 2NE1’s world tour sold out at multiple locations and GFriend has received praise for their comeback. As the newer generations of K-pop reign triumphant currently, it is obvious that old-gen fans still appreciate and seek their former favorites.