BABYMONSTER’s Ahyeon to rejoin group after missing their debut

YG Entertainment, the label behind BABYMONSTER, has announced the return of pre-debut member Ahyeon to the group.

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Today (January 25), in a surprise announcement on YouTube, YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun-suk revealed that Ahyeon has rejoined K-pop girl group BABYMONSTER. Ahyeon had initially been part of the line-up of BABYMONSTER, but had to delay her debut due to “heath reasons”.

“Ahyeon has fully recovered her health and as of today, [she] is back at YG,” he said. “She’s currently recording songs for the album. I wanted to share this joyful news with you as soon as possible and that’s why I’m addressing everyone like this.”

In addition, Yang Hyun-suk also revealed that two of the group’s previously recorded songs – their debut single ‘Batter Up’ and the unreleased ‘Stuck in the Middle’ – will be re-recorded as a seven-member group to include Ahyeon.

The YG Entertainment founder promised that the road to new music will be “much faster… than before”, revealing that the agency has “significantly reinforced [the number of] YG’s in-house producers” from about ten to “forty to fifty”.

He then announced that BABYMONSTER will release their new song ‘Stuck in the Middle’ on February 1, as previously announced, followed but their first mini-album on April 1. The girl group’s first full-length record is expected “around autumn”.

BABYMONSTER have also since released a “mood teaser” for ‘Stuck in the Middle’, which appears to preview the instrumentals for the upcoming song.

BABYMONSTER made their debut in November 2023 with their first single, ‘Batter Up’. It has since become the most-viewed debut K-pop music video in 24 hours, besting a record previously held by aespa.