BABYMONSTER’s CHOOM Era Is Here — and the World Is Already Dancing
There’s a line buried in BABYMONSTER’s new title track that says everything: “Yeah, I know we’re seven but we ate.” It’s part boast, part acknowledgment, and entirely intentional.
The group is six members right now — main vocalist Rami has been on a health-related hiatus since May 2025 — and rather than sidestep the obvious, they put it front and centre. That kind of confidence, folded into a synth-heavy hip-hop banger, is what CHOOM is all about.
Released on May 4, 2026, CHOOM (춤) is BABYMONSTER’s third mini-album and their first comeback of the year. The title means “dance” in Korean — a word that, by the time you’ve watched the choreography, feels less like a label and more like a promise.
A New Side of BABYMONSTER
Every BABYMONSTER release has pushed the group into new territory. Their debut full-length DRIP (2024) established them as a group with genuine commercial firepower — the title track’s music video has since crossed 200 million views on YouTube, joining Batter Up and Sheesh in that milestone club.
Their second mini-album WE GO UP (October 2025) went even further, clearing 550,000 copies in its first week and consolidating their status as one of K-pop’s leading fifth-generation girl groups.
But even by those standards, CHOOM represents a shift. YG Entertainment’s own founder described the project as having “a slight edge and coolness” that fans hadn’t heard from the group before. The result is something leaner, darker, and more self-assured: less of a showcase, more of a statement.
The album opens with “Moon,” a 2:46 Southern trap-style R&B track with an unconventional atmosphere that immediately signals this isn’t going to be a straightforward pop record.
The title track follows — a driving hip-hop dance song built around an addictive synth riff and heavy bass, its central message one of collective surrender to rhythm and movement.
“I Like It” brings in brightness and energy, while closer “Locked In,” sung entirely in English, pulls the record back into warmth with an R&B pop portrait of inescapable emotions.
Four tracks. Four very different moods. It’s a compact album that knows exactly what it is.
The Mugshot Moment
The visual concept for CHOOM generated attention before a single note had been heard. Where many K-pop comebacks lean into fantasy, luxury, or softness, BABYMONSTER went in the opposite direction: raw, confrontational, and deliberately unglamorous. The “mugshot” aesthetic — members photographed as though they’d just been brought in — turned pre-release imagery into a talking point on its own.
It was a calculated risk that paid off. The music video, which showcases intuitive movement and a powerful point choreography section in the chorus, pulled in tens of millions of views within its first weeks.
A dedicated performance video followed on May 6, produced in-house by YG to near-music-video quality, unveiling the full choreography for the first time in a high-ceilinged space lit in dramatic green.
Member Ruka summed up the vision in a pre-release interview: “I hope people think, ‘I want to see the performance,’ while listening to the song.
CHOOM becomes even more energetic when you see it with the performance. The song and choreography feel hip, but also deeper than before.”
The Numbers
Chart performance backed up the hype almost immediately. On its first day of physical sales, CHOOM moved 387,871 copies according to Hanteo Chart — placing it among the group’s strongest openings. The album hit number one on iTunes Top Albums charts in 15 regions simultaneously, confirming that BABYMONSTER’s fanbase, known as Monsters, continues to mobilise globally and not just across Asia.
It’s worth putting those numbers in context. The group debuted in 2023 through YG Entertainment’s survival program Last Evaluation, and built their following at a pace that surprised even seasoned industry observers. By the time DRIP arrived in late 2024, they had already demonstrated consistent chart performance, strong physical sales, and an international reach that most groups take years to develop.
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The Rami Question
Any honest account of CHOOM has to address Rami’s absence. The main vocalist has been away since May 2025, initially announced by YG Entertainment as a temporary, health-related break. As months passed with limited updates, the uncertainty became one of the more discussed topics in the fandom. During an October 2025 fansign, member Pharita shared that Rami was “still unwell, but she’s getting better” — a small update that fans held onto.
The “Supa Dupa Luv” music video, released in December 2025 for a WE GO UP b-side, didn’t help quiet the speculation: it ended with a mysterious young girl watching the group through a window, which fans immediately read as symbolic of Rami watching from the outside. Whether that was intentional or coincidental, YG never confirmed.
What is clear is that the six remaining members — Ruka, Pharita, Asa, Ahyeon, Rora, and Chiquita — have not used Rami’s absence as an excuse to coast. CHOOM was recorded and produced without her, and the result is a group that sounds entirely in control. The line “Yeah, I know we’re seven but we ate” isn’t defensive. It’s a flex.
The World Tour
CHOOM isn’t just an album — it’s a launchpad. The 2026–2027 BABYMONSTER World Tour [CHOOM] begins with a three-night run at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul from June 26 to 28, before heading to Japan for stops in Kobe, Fukuoka, Yokohama, Chiba, Nagoya, and Osaka. Additional dates across Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America are still to be confirmed.
This is the group’s second world tour. Their first, “Hello Monsters,” followed by the “Love Monsters” Asia fan concerts throughout 2025 and into early 2026, sold out arenas and brought their stage show to hundreds of thousands of fans across multiple continents. The CHOOM tour is positioned to go even bigger, both in ambition and in reach.
For a group still in the relatively early stages of their career, the scale is striking. And for fans who’ve followed them since the survival program days, it’s a measure of just how far — and how fast — BABYMONSTER have travelled.
So to Conclude : What Comes Next
The world tour isn’t even the final act of 2026 for BABYMONSTER. YG Entertainment has confirmed that a full-length album is being prepared for release in October. If CHOOM is the opening move — a four-track declaration of intent — the full album is set to be the full statement.
For now, though, the world is learning a new word. CHOOM. Dance. The invitation has been extended, and by every available metric, people are accepting it.
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