babyMINT : TikTok’s Beloved Girl Group Keeps On Giving [2/27/2025]
It was the tail end of summer 2023, and I was preparing for a new season of my radio show VOCAVERSE. My show centers around what I’ll oversimplify as a niche genre of Jpop — nobody wants me to get into the lore of Hatsune Miku right now — and I near constantly search for new music that fits the nature of my show. Over time, with what is probably the help of a little man watching me through my phone, my social media algorithms know exactly what I want when I search for music: weird, freaky, out-of-the-box pop tunes! And, even if it doesn’t fit the theme of my show, apps such as TikTok certainly deliver on things that are right up my alley sonically.
Cut to me in my room, surrounded by expensive toys and action figures, just before I had to move back to school, putting off packing by scrolling through my For You Page, absolutely captivated by what I was hearing. Despite being a connoisseur of strange music, this track was like nothing I had heard before — what was this melody?!
Formed on Taiwanese survival show NEXTGIRLZ, pop idol group babyMINT took a very specific side of TikTok by storm with their mouthful of a song “Hellokittybalahcurrihellokitty美味しい,” due to the unique performance video of the song. Within just the first few seconds of the song, one of the members tells the other to ‘shut up’ as they begin to chant a ‘magic word’, inviting the audience to join in. Soon thereafter, the song turns into an experimental, rave-style drop, followed immediately by the song’s chorus and eventual transition into a rap section. Later, the song devolves into intense screaming and dancing before ending with a cute group pose. The clash of silly, bubblegum pop and harsh, electronic noises really feels like I’m a little cartoon boy eating a comically large lollipop with a chaser of the most electrifying McDonald’s Sprite known to man. It shocks me to my bones! My propeller cap is flying off my head!
While other idol groups at the time were dabbling in an experimental sound, babyMINT stood out by captivating the weird Kpop and Jpop loving side of TikTok with their song’s sheer, unapologetic absurdity and experimentality. Brought to the forefront by user @the.official.naevis, with a video captioned “NO BABYMINT DON’T OUTDO EVERYONE IN THE WEIRD/QUIRKY CONCEPT!” people began to praise the song’s “hyperpop vibes” and the members’ “silly and cute” performance. Fans also loved the abrasive nature of the song, with a video proclaiming “LET WOMEN SCREAM!!!!” overtop a clip from their performance to many likeminded individuals in the comments. babyMINT themselves acknowledged the Western fans of their music, personally thanking @the.official.naevis in a video for introducing their work to overseas fans.
After the viral success of “Hellokittybalahcurrihellokitty美味しい,” babyMINT struggled to pull similar numbers on their recent releases, but they haven’t slowed down! Despite a lineup shakeup — 3 members leaving before the official debut of the group — babyMINT continues to release banger after banger, all with an experimental flair. Their debut song, “BOOOOOORING,” takes a more subdued approach, but still includes babyMINT’s signature quirky production choices — most prominently heard in this song in the video game-y and liquid percussion — and screaming. The song also does a fantastic job of highlighting the updated lineup of the group, with each member chanting the word ‘boring!’ in their own unique voice during the chorus, with my personal favorite coming in at around two minutes into the song where one of the girls sings it in a twirly, operatic sort of voice. Being very different from the delivery of the other chants, it initially catches you off guard, but after a few listens, the audience is definitely in on the zany joke. Their second post-debut release, “BB Gals of the Galaxy,” follows a similar production philosophy, but with a space concept as the group sings “LASER GUN BIU☆彡☆ミ” (yes, the kaomoji are part of the official lyrics) accompanied by laser beam sound effects.
Personally, my favorite song by the group is “2023 : BBMeme Odyssey.” The song divides the group up in thirds to sing three wildly contrasting verses, at one point transitioning between a dramatic ballad and an addicting hyperpop-esque chorus complete with, again, screamo vocals. Their performance and debut of the song on the final episode of NEXTGIRLZ is also a must-watch, complete with beautifully overstimulating visuals, cutesy anime caricatures of the group, and callbacks to memes that haven’t crossed my mind since I was in middle school. It’s perfect, and it’s my baby sensory video.
As of writing this, babyMINT has released their first post-debut EP, titled BBMatrix∞, on December 17th, 2024. While I had been digging their calmer sounds of their pre-release singles — which were reminiscent of their other survival show songs “Ocean Bomb” and “R!ng R!ng R!ng” — I was curious if the EP would revisit the high highs and overall loud production as heard in both “Hellokittybalahcurrihellokitty美味しい” and “2023 : BBMeme Odyssey.” However, the EP went in a different direction than anticipated.
The EP’s intro song, titled completely unpronouncably as “(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ▄︻┻┳━ ·.`.`.`.”, is a 3 minute long spacy, electronic soundscape with very few vocals, which was an unexpected pleasure to listen to. Very few idol groups I’m into have embraced an intro track such as this — the only one coming to mind currently being rock-based K-Pop group Dreamcatcher — so I was already primed for babyMINT to continue their experimental streak through the two new songs on the EP. The fourth track, “trippin drippin”, is quite calm, but in a different way than I had already known babyMINT to dabble in. The overall sound was very level and mellow, very much feeling like a lo-fi hip hop beat to chill and study to, with production that very much reminded me of songs such as NewJeans’ “Get Up” or “Right Now”. But then the EP’s closing song, “\ LUCY!!!!!! /“, immediately turns the energy up beginning with a cheerleader chant followed by a bratty beat that belongs in the club. At around the minute mark, the tone shifts to almost that of a Christmas carol, and then, as babyMINT does, they start screaming. The rest of the song combines electronic drum breaks and rap, with an intermittent emotional, almost ballad-y way of singing. Of course, ending with more screaming. It’s perfect as an ending song, and comes with the cherry on top of a new music video.
While, in my opinion, babyMINT’s new EP doesn’t revisit the exact loudness present in their previous work, they’re still delivering the same quirky, experimental goodness fans have come to expect and adore. Following this EP release, I’m very excited to find out what they’ve been scheming for their next releases, and what direction they’ll continue to pursue. Hopefully, it will still include screaming.