Girl group 2NE1 performs during SBS Gayo Daejeon held at Inspire Arena, Incheon, on Dec. 25. Courtesy of SBS

K-pop groups from first through third generations are making their return to the music scene, generating excitement from fans welcoming their comebacks after a long hiatus and creating buzz across the industry with those eager to relive the golden years of K-pop.

The 1990s girl group Baby V.O.X unexpectedly took end-of-year music awards by storm last month, offering a taste of early K-pop. The group, which was active from the late 1990s through early 2000s, and disbanded in 2006, reunited at the KBS Song Festival late last month to present hit songs like "Get Up," putting on its first performance in 14 years.

The performance gained significant attention from old and new K-pop fans, accumulating over 3 million views on YouTube.

Groups 2NE1 and BIGBANG , which swept the K-pop scene in the late 2000s, reunited for tours and special performances as well.

In October, 2NE1 set off on its full-group world tour "Welcome Back," its first in over 10 years. The group's 15th debut anniversary tour held shows in different cities throughout Asia, including Jakarta, Manila, Tokyo and Hong Kong, selling out most of the shows. The group will soon visit cities like Taipei, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh and Kuala Lumpur for the rest of the tour.

Baby V.O.X during the KBS Song Festival held at KINTEX in Gyeonggi Province on Dec. 20. Captured from KBS

The group announced earlier this month that it will hold an encore concert in Seoul on April 12 and 13 at a larger venue, at KSPO Dome in Songpa District, Seoul.

"As there have been continuous requests from fans, we expanded the audience capacity to more than triple compared to the previous Seoul concert in October, which marked the beginning of the tour, in order to repay fans' support," the group's agency YG Entertainment said in a release.

The four-piece group, whose last release was the song "Good Bye" in 2017, proved its standing with a powerful performance at last month's end-of-year music festival, SBS Gayo Daejeon, its first in nine years. The performance hit over 6.4 million views on YouTube in just over two weeks, proving their undying popularity.

BIGBANG, another iconic second-generation K-pop group, also surprised its fans with its member G-Dragon's new release "Home Sweet Home," featuring fellow members Taeyang and Daesung, their first collaboration in over two years. The group made a buzz-worthy performance of the track at the 2024 MAMA Awards in November, showcasing their continued chemistry and stage presence that fans have been anticipating for years.

Boy group BIGBANG performs at the 2024 MAMA Awards held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, on Nov. 23. Courtesy of Mnet

Evolving fan culture

Pop culture critic Kim Hern-sik noted that the reunions of early generation K-pop groups satisfy the desire of older K-pop fans for music they can enjoy.

"Currently, the issue with K-pop is that it mainly focuses on teenagers and those in their 20s. So people in their late 30s and 40s don't have much music to enjoy. They can't do trot and they can't just enjoy only ballads either," he said.

"This generation is used to being actively involved in fan culture and they form fandoms, but there aren't many music genres available for them to enjoy. Additionally, now that there are many long-running idol groups, idol music fandom culture has become a common thing. While idols past their prime used to be just forgotten, now there are many long-running idol groups and they hold great significance."

He added that as contactless fan culture switched back to in-person events as the COVID-19 pandemic ended, fandom culture has grown stronger than ever, which allows these reunions to be welcomed with such a strong fan base.

"As face-to-face culture has become more active after COVID-19 and with groups reuniting, fandom culture is evolving in a way that makes these fandoms even stronger," he said.

A concept photo of GFriend's reunion release "Season of Memories" / Courtesy of Source Music

Third-generation groups, which disbanded after their seven-year agency contract period, are also making a return to the music scene.

Lovelyz dropped its first release in four years with the new single "November," offering a special track for fans to celebrate its 10th debut anniversary. Following the release, the group held concerts in Seoul, Macau and Taiwan.

The members of GFriend, whose group contracts ended in 2021, also reunited for its 10th debut anniversary, releasing a special album "Season of Memories" on Monday. The six-piece will pick up album promotions with an Asian tour, starting with a Seoul concert on Jan. 17. The group will travel to four cities, including Yokohama and Hong Kong throughout March.

Kim noted that K-pop enthusiasts will be able to see more groups reuniting this year.

"Similar [comeback] cases are likely to continue in 2025. Uniquely for female groups, there was high fan demand for their comeback. There were many complaints that entertainment companies disbanded them too early. So, as fan demands align with company interests, I expect to see more comebacks in 2025," he said.

Kim also predicted that the so-called "seven-year curse" — in which groups disband after their seven-year exclusive initial contracts expire — will become less prevalent in the K-pop scene.

"[Seven-year curse cases] are expected to decrease. This is because idol group members are no longer just company-managed singers like before, but rather have become more independent artists," he said.

"They can sing, write lyrics, compose music and have strong communication skills with fans. There's an increasing tendency to remain as artists rather than leaving the industry entirely. Because of these factors, we expect to see more K-pop stars to return to or remain in the K-pop arena in the future."