Besty's 13-year-old song hits the top 10 and the group is back together

Imagine wishing for just one hit song, never getting it, and then having it arrive 13 years late. That is what has happened to the K-pop girl group Besty.

Their 2013 song "Conditions of Love" (Yeonae-ui Jogeon) has climbed into Korea's top 10. In Chinese-speaking regions and Southeast Asia, it has been fighting for first and second place on the charts.

What happened?

Besty debuted in 2013, in the gap between K-pop's second and third idol generations. They never made a real splash. They effectively stopped activities two years later and disbanded in 2018.

According to the report, the four-piece earned nothing from settlements (the pay-out of a group's profits) and each member left with about 100 million won in debt. That is roughly 70,000 US dollars.

The members moved on. Leader Hyeyeon became a trot singer (a classic Korean pop genre) and a TV regional news reporter. Yuji built a musical theatre career. Haeryeong returned to acting, and Dahye kept going as a solo singer and musical actor.

Why is everyone talking about it?

It started with short videos. Clips that laid the song over footage of other girl groups caught on, then spread into dance challenges by other singers.

This is unusual even for K-pop. Brave Girls, the old record-holder for comebacks, had their song "Rollin'" take off four years after release, while the group was still active. Besty had been disbanded for years.

The members, all working in different fields and agencies, then announced a reunion after eight years. They also released a new choreography video and appeared on a terrestrial music chart show.

Many people see more than a pop story here. With job markets tight and dreams harder to reach, the members' perseverance reads like a story about ordinary people. Now in their early to mid 30s, they are being called "eoreundol", or "grown-up idols".

What's next?

The group is rehearsing and performing again, and the chart run is still going. Whether it turns into lasting success is not yet known. For now, Besty finally has the hit it waited for.