K-Pop is undergoing an fascinating evolution, one which is being driven by consumer trends on both a national and international scale. Although, new girl groups continue to debut, the concept is seeing a decline within major companies. In the past two years, K-Pop has been dominated by the debut of male groups such as EXO, B.A.P, BTS, WINNER, and GOT7. While there have been numerous success stories with new male groups, the market reception for female groups has been weaker.

While Girls' Generation and 2NE1 continue to maintain their stronghold, speculation has arisen over what the chart figures for actual music sales will reflect for the artists. CRUSH is now the highest charting best selling K-Pop album on the Billboard 200 chart, while the current Gaon Digital Chart, Billboard K-Pop Hot 100, and MCountdown charts all reflect the popularity of solo artists, subunits, and K-Drama original soundtracks. Headlines surrounding girl groups have been dominated with news of lack of contract renewals and artists who are not leaving the industry, but instead choosing to maintain solo careers. Wonder Girls, KARA, and T-ARA have all experienced line up changes due to members leaving either for solo endeavors or over contract disputes.

In terms of solo artists from girl groups, SISTAR has yielded two of the most successful female vocalists. Hyorin has had phenomenal success in the past year, delivering a solo album and providing vocals for three of the best selling original soundtracks in Korea: Crazy of You for Master's Sun, Hello for You Who Came From The Stars, and Let It Go for the Frozen soundtrack. As a proven success for soundtracks Hyorin is becoming Korea's Celine Dion, a singer whose timeless voice has sustained her career past most of her contemporaries. Soyou has now joined Hyorin in proving that she is a marketable solo artist through the surprise success of Some. However, these solo accomplishments do not represent the achievements of the group as a whole.

Hyorin is developing fame outside of SISTAR for Korean drama soundtrack songs such as 'Crazy of You'.

One of the most brilliant concepts in the development of the K-Pop girl group was utilized in the formation of After School. With the creation of After School, Pledis Entertainment employed what is referred to as an admissions and graduation system. Members can age out or pursue other endeavors through the graduation process, which emphasizes the positive aspects of the separation of the artist from the group. In turn, Pledis brings in fresh, new artists to replace those who have left. Beyond the scope of their success in Korea, After School enjoys a large contingency of Japanese fans with their sub-group Orange Caramel delivering a huge helping of aegyo.

Chrome Entertainment's Crayon Pop has been one of the standout female groups in recent years, having marketed themselves with girl-next door and cute concepts, rather than joining the sexy trend. Crayon Pop's international reception is a testimony to what is becoming a trend of audience resistance to traditional K-Pop girl groups. Although the Bar, Bar, Bar concept may be played out, it enabled Crayon Pop to become the embodiment of living magical girls. The key to Crayon Pop's successful existence will lie in the fact that they differentiated themselves from other K-Pop groups, early on.

The explosion of sexy concepts that kicked off 2014 should serve as a warning sign for female groups in K-Pop. Game of Thrones fans will recognize the fact that in a battle, when all else fails, have women show a little more flesh. As the war for market domination continues, Korean entertainment companies will need to reevaluate their priorities in terms of marketing new girl groups. New artists such as Melody Day and BeBop may achieve success, as long they remained tied to the soundtrack market. However, it appears as though the era of large female groups is coming to an end, with the strongest vocalists like Hyorin emerging as victors.