A popular fifth-generation girl group has successfully graduated from nugudom!

The K-pop industry sees dozens (maybe even hundreds) of groups debut yearly, with only a handful reaching success. Some groups like SECRET NUMBER, PURPLE KISS, TEMPEST, among others, may have gained some fans, but they are far from being household names.

There was once a girl group who was among these names, but they have recently reached a level of fame that proves they are no longer nugus.

What is the Nugudom?

In the international K-pop community, artists or groups who are not as popular or are relatively unknown are called "nugus," taken from the Korean word "nugu" which means "who."

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The "nugudom" is the kingdom of nugus, aka the realm in which unknown artists reside. A "nugu company" is a small entertainment agency, the complete opposite of the Big 4.

Since the conception of nugu, several other words revolving around this situation have been born. For example, "a bunch of nugus" refers to a bunch of nobodies, while "nuguness" means something that no one has heard of.

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"Nuguism" is the act of being unknown, while "nuguing" is when someone acts like nobody. "Nuguest nugu of all nugu" refers to the biggest unknown artist in the industry.

Lastly, "nugued" means they were previously a "nugu," but no longer have that title. This label was recently given to a rising girl group.

Kiss Of Life Officially Gradutes From Nugudom

On April 4, 2024, a post titled "Famous foreign 'nugu' Twitter finally saying goodbye to a group..." was uploaded on the South Korean online community forum TheQoo.

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In the post, they included a tweet from the X account "nugu promoter," who is dedicated to promoting underrated groups. In their tweet, they bid good-bye Kiss of Life from the nugudom after selling over 20,00 copies of their latest single album "Midas Touch" in one day.

Korean netizens who saw the post congratulated Kiss of Life for escaping the nugudom. They also went crazy over the concept of nugus and nugudom, as it is a foreign concept for Korean K-pop fans. Additionally, they praised the purpose of the nugu promoter account.

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Some comments read,

• "This is so cute!"
• "'Nugu company' LOL"
• "'Nuguest' HAHAHAHA"
• "Kiss of Life, congratulations on escaping nugudom."
• "'Nugudom' LMAO"
• "What a nice account. Congratulations on escaping, Kiss of Life!"
• "The purpose of this account is good."
• "Wow, so there is something like that."

What do you think of the situation? Tell us in the comments below!

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Written by Alexa Lopez