From Unknown Rookies to Melon No. 1: How RESCENE Became the Latest K-Pop Miracle for Small Agencies

South Korea’s music industry has always had a soft spot for artists who come from humble beginnings. Time after time, relatively unknown artists have overcome fierce competition to earn nationwide recognition through persistence and talent. Many of today’s biggest K-pop groups, including BTS, began their careers under small agencies with limited resources.

Now, RESCENE is writing its own underdog success story.

At a time when the gap between large entertainment companies and smaller agencies continues to widen, the rise of Muze Entertainment’s first girl group has become one of the industry’s rare success stories. Many industry insiders believe it has become increasingly difficult for artists from smaller labels to gain widespread public recognition in today’s K-pop landscape.

It took almost two years for RESCENE to finally reach the top.

The group’s dance-pop track “Love Attack,” originally released in 2024, first entered Melon’s Top 100 chart at No. 100 in March 2025 before quickly dropping out.

Many assumed the song’s chart journey had come to an end. Instead, “Love Attack” made an unexpected return to number 98 on May 28. Just over a month later, at 10pm on July 8, the song completed a notable climb to No. 1 on Melon’s Top 100 chart.

Behind what seemed to be a sudden breakthrough there were actually months and even years of constant effort on the part of the five members of the group.

RESCENE debuted in March 2024 with Woni, Liv, Minami, May and Zena. As the first girl group launched by the small agency The Muze Entertainment, they had limited opportunities to appear on television music programs and lacked the large-scale promotional campaigns typically enjoyed by big company artists.

Instead, the group chose a different strategy: building a loyal community of fans online.

Over the course of nearly two years of promotions, members have produced more than 1,500 live streams, videos and various digital content to stay connected to their fandom, Remine. Their approach reminded many fans of BTS’s initial strategy of growing through constant online interaction, as well as the recent success of virtual boy group PLAVE, which has also built a dedicated fan base through frequent live streams.

Earlier this year, leader Woni further expanded the group’s reach by launching her own YouTube channel, where she shared fun, daily vlogs that introduced RESCENE to a new audience.

Ironically, the group’s biggest breakthrough came from a banal phrase.

In a YouTube video uploaded to Woni’s channel on March 20, Japanese member Minami introduced viewers to gyaru culture before enthusiastically shouting: “Geoje yaho!” a playful expression that means “Geoje is amazing!” in reference to Woni’s hometown of Geoje in southern Gyeongsang Province.

Minami’s pronunciation and cheerfulness quickly went viral across short-form video platforms and online communities. “Geoje yaho!” it quickly became a popular meme, inspiring countless parody videos and recreations.

As the trend spread, views on Woni’s YouTube channel increased, bringing new attention to RESCENE and his music. The renewed interest eventually returned “Love Attack” to the Melon charts, nearly two years after its original release.

When the song officially reached No. 1 on July 8, all five members immediately held a surprise livestream to celebrate with fans. During the broadcast, the members became emotional and burst into tears as they thanked Remine for helping a once overlooked group of rookies reach the biggest milestone of their careers.

Following their chart-topping success, RESCENE continued to gain public attention with an appearance on MBC Reveal the life of my star: The Manager.

During the show, the members reflected on the difficult years before their breakthrough. They revealed that the company’s CEO and staff personally accompanied them to programs, prepared hundreds of promotional packages, handwritten letters and even baked cookies to send to television stations in hopes of securing opportunities to perform in music shows.

Their journey has become a textbook example of what the Korean entertainment industry often calls a “small agency miracle,” a term used to describe artists from lesser-known companies who achieve mainstream success through perseverance and strong music.

Before RESCENE, bands like BEAST, INFINITE, EXID, Brave Girls and, more recently, FIFTY FIFTY have all been cited as examples of similar breakthrough stories.

However, according to an anonymous entertainment executive, such success stories have become increasingly rare.

“Ten or twenty years ago, it was much more common for artists from smaller agencies to gradually gain success,” the executive said. “Back then people didn’t even need the expression ‘small agency miracle’. But as some companies became large corporations and the structure of the industry changed, these types of stories became much less frequent.”

The executive added that the cost of producing and promoting a K-pop group has increased nearly five times compared to a decade ago, making it much harder for smaller agencies to compete with industry giants like HYBE.

The growing divide between entertainment companies was also discussed during a July 8 meeting in Seoul between South Korea’s Culture Minister Chae Hwi Young and representatives of small and medium-sized entertainment companies.

During the meeting, industry representatives noted that the number of debut artists featured on the Circle Chart over the past year has decreased by about 40% compared to 2023. They also pointed out that production budgets can now differ up to thirty times between large and smaller companies, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.

While acknowledging that the industry’s rapid growth has helped K-pop expand its global influence, participants also warned that the increasing concentration of resources among a handful of large companies could threaten the industry’s long-term sustainability.

“If only a small number of companies control the majority of the industry’s assets, it becomes difficult to maintain a diverse music ecosystem,” one participant said during the discussion. “K-pop will only continue to grow sustainably when many different types of artists and creative voices are able to succeed.”

Sources: Znews

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