TRI.BE hopes to pioneer “K-pop afrobeats” as they foray into the genre with “Diamond,” the girl group’s first physical release in more than a year.
“I believe that not many [K-pop] girl groups have based their songs in the afrobeats genre, […] so I hope people listen to ‘Diamond’ and link TRI.BE to the afrobeats genre in the future,” Songsun, the leader of TRI.BE, said during a press showcase held in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the single’s release at noon.
“Furthermore, I hope people link the K-pop afrobeats genre to TRI.BE and have more K-pop idol groups release songs in the genre,” Songsun said.
“Diamond,” the title track of TRI.BE’s latest single, is a song that mixes chill afrobeats tunes with TRI.BE’s unique vocal style. Producer S.Tiger, known for working on EXID’s “Up & Down” (2014), Apink’s “LUV” (2014) and more, worked with TRI.BE once again to produce the two songs on the single.
“While we had some afrobeats sounds in our previous releases, this is our first time going full-on with the genre, and it was not easy for us to understand and adapt to it,” Songsun said.
Trying out and really nailing down the new genre was one of the reasons why it took so long for TRI.BE to come out with new music, according to the members.
“We started preparing for ‘Diamond’ back in July,” Hyunbin said. “We had some changes in our title track, and it also took us a while to come up with matching choreography.”
“I would send producer S.Tiger recordings of me singing for his evaluations and feedback,” Mire said.
“He provided me with precise directions and even recorded back pronunciations for words that I was unfamiliar with. I think that’s one of the ways I tried to improve myself.”
트루🤍 트라이비가 드디어 ‘Diamond'로 컴백했어요!💎 오랜 시간 기다려주셨으니까, 트루들의 하루하루를 다이아몬드보다 더 빛나게 만들어 줄게요! 매일매일 함께해✨#트라이비 #TRI_BE #Diamond pic.twitter.com/fkYxDJjLoA
— 트라이비 (TRI.BE) (@tribedaloca) February 20, 2024
Who Are TRI.BE?
x-member girl group under TR Entertainment and Mellow Entertainment. Originally as seven, they debuted on February 17, 2021 with their first single album “TRI.BE Da Loca”.
Their name is a combination of the words “Tri” (short for triangle) which symbolizes perfection and “Be” which means being, and together they denote: “perfect existence”.
Pre-debut
On June 3, 2020, Lionheart Entertainment trainee Kim Hyunbin uploaded her first vlog on YouTube. In the time that followed, six trainees made an appearance in different vlogs or covers. The seventh member, Kelly, made her first appearance in a vlog on September 9.
On August 21, they officially started introducing the 7 trainees under the tentative group name LIONGIRLS, starting with Japanese trainee Sumire. She was followed by Kim Hyunbin on August 25, Taiwanese trainee Jia on August 28, Bang Soeun on September 2, Kim Jinha on September 7, Taiwanese trainee Kelly on September 10, and finally Kim Songsun on November 16.
On December 29, 2020, it was revealed that producer Shinsadong Tiger and Universal Music would be debuting a new girl group in early 2021.
2021: Debut with “TRI.BE Da Loca”, fandom name, “Conmigo”, Veni Vidi Vici, “Santa For You”
On January 4, 2021 at midnight KST, their official SNS released an official logo motion video, revealing the group’s logo and their name to be TRI.BE. It was confirmed later that day the group would debut in February 2021.
At midnight on February 1, TRI.BE released a teaser and concept image for their debut single album, “TRI.BE Da Loca”, which was released on February 17.
On April 9, TRI.BE announced their official fandom name to be “TRUE”. The name is an abbreviation for “TRI.BE! with us forever”; it takes the ‘TR’ from the group name, the ‘U’ from the word ‘Us’, and ‘E’ from the word ‘Forever’ to show the group’s wishes to be with their fans forever.
In a March interview with Universal Music Malaysia, it was revealed that TRI.BE will make their first comeback in May with a double-single album and their second with a mini album in September.On the midnight of May 1, the group released the first teaser image for their second single album, “Conmigo”, to be released on May 18.
On September 25, TRI.BE released a teaser for their first mini album, Veni Vidi Vici, which was released on October 12.
On November 23, TRI.BE announced that they would be releasing the winter song “Santa For You” on November 25.
2022: “A Kind Of Magic (Coke Studio Session)”, Jinha’s hiatus, “Leviosa”, and “Memu Aagamu”
On May 20, TRI.BE released the digital single “A Kind Of Magic (Coke Studio Session)”.
On May 31, TR Entertainment announced that JinHa would be going on a hiatus due to health reasons and that the group will be promoting with six members for the time being.
On July 20, pre-orders opened for their third single album, “Leviosa”, which was released on August 9.
On August 22, TRI.BE released the collaboration single “Memu Aagamu” which included Allu Arjun, Armaan Malik, and Lost Stories.
2023: W.A.Y, “Wonderland (English Ver.)”, JinHa’s departure, “The Little Drummer Girls”
On January 25, 2023, a teaser image was released, announcing their second mini album W.A.Y, which was released on February 14.
On May 17, TRI.BE announced that they would be releasing their first English digital single “Wonderland (English Ver.)” on May 26.
On July 21, it was announced that JinHa had left the group after being on hiatus for over a year.
On November 21, the group announced that they would be releasing their special single “The Little Drummer Girls” on November 28.
2024: “Diamond”
On February 1, it was announced that the group will be releasing their fourth single album “Diamond” on February 20.
Members
| Name | Position(s) | Representative Animal | Years active |
|---|---|---|---|
| SongSun (송선) | Leader, Main Vocalist, Lead Dancer | 🐹 | 2020–present |
| Kelly (켈리) | Lead Vocalist, Visual | 🦥 | 2020–present |
| HyunBin (현빈) | Main Rapper, Main Dancer, Lead Vocalist | 🦊 | 2020–present |
| Jia (지아) | Sub Vocalist | 🦜 | 2020–present |
| SoEun (소은) | Lead Rapper, Sub Vocalist | 🐰 | 2020–present |
| MiRe (미레) | Main Dancer, Sub Vocalist, Sub Rapper, Maknae | 🐶 | 2020–present |
