VCHA Release Their Debut Single, Discuss Being a 'Global' K-Pop Group (Exclusive)

VCHA is shining a light on the global reach of K-pop. Made up of American and Canadian members with diverse backgrounds, the group's name, VCHA, is based on the Korean word meaning "shine the light." The group values authenticity and togetherness and believes everyone has a special place in the world because we are all different.

VCHA made their debut in 2023 through the competition series A2K (America2Korea) with members Camila, Lexi, Kendall, Savanna, KG, and Kaylee revealed during the show's two-part finale in September. After the release of their pre-debut single SeVit (NEW LIGHT) that month, they launched their official debut single, "Girls of the Year."

Packaged as a two-song release, along with the track "XO Call Me," the new single was released to all streaming and digital platforms on January 26. With this highly anticipated new music, VCHA stamps their entry into 2024 as a pop group capable of delivering uplifting, pop-driven songs.

It's all quite a whirlwind for the group, signed under JYP Entertainment, especially considering they were all K-pop fans before becoming artists. "I think we all had a little bit of interest or a lot of interest in K-pop before coming into it, which is probably why some of us would have auditioned," Lexi told PopCulture. "For me personally, I was a huge fan of K-pop, so when I saw that this audition came out, I wanted to go for it right away." 

Following A2K, the girls were dropped straight into the infamous K-pop trainee system, where they were expected to work just as hard as the K-pop idols they had admired from afar. "The training was definitely rigorous," Savanna said. "I was coming from normal teenagers going to school. We had to adapt quickly. Starting right from the boot camp. We were thrown right in there. We basically were just learning dancing, and singing combined. So we just spent most of our time doing that each day and just growing every day as much as we can." 

Meanwhile, the members of VCHA have undergone all this grueling practice an ocean away from their homes, lives and loved ones. Savanna maintained that despite this, their lives as of late have been so hectic that they have needed to adapt to the culture more than anything else. 

"I'd say we didn't even have much time to be quite homesick in a sense," she said. "But adapting to the culture, that took probably the longest. Obviously, not everything is the same here in South Korea as it is in the U. S. So, we wanted to learn the different cultural norms that people did here so that we would respect everyone and we never want to come across as disrespectful."

She added, "But other than that, I think we adapted pretty quickly. And especially having each other here was obviously super beneficial because we used each other as support and relied on each other. So it's feeling pretty nice to call Korea my home right now."

VCHA are unique in that there are no East or South Asian members of the group, as is standard in K-pop. However, the members view that characteristic as a strength rather than a disadvantage. Kendall noted, "I think it's great that we as a group, as well as individuals, will get to come together to represent us as a group that has a lot of diverse backgrounds, and we can each represent where we each came from and represent those people who are watching us as a group and hope that they can feel inspired just by the growth that we have had through this whole journey and performance as well."

Another distinctive aspect of the group's "global" qualities is that they sing in English, casting off another trait of the typical K-pop group. However, Kendall explained that they have all been learning Korean "and taking classes and improving there as long as we've been here. And I think it would be a great opportunity for us to release a Korean single sometime in the future."

VCHA are still so early in their careers, yet their immediate goals are not lofty. Besides the typical aspirations of fame and fortune, they said they want to demonstrate the incredible strides they have made as a group. "I think one big thing that we all really want to do is go and perform in the U.S.," Lexi said. "Maybe back in our hometowns, especially because that's where a lot of friends and family are. And I think we just want to be able to go back to the place that we first started, like in L.A., especially to perform and show people how far we've come."

The opportunity will come sooner than they think. Earlier this month, it was announced that VCHA would take the stage at Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium as the opening act for their labelmates, K-Pop superstars TWICE, as a part of the group's 'READY TO BE' ONCE MORE concert on March 16.    

With so much on their plates, there is already so much to look forward to from the pop group. For fans, Kendall's message is, "We've already been working really hard on our future releases and there's a lot of exciting and unexpected new sides of each of us for them to expect, so I think they should be watching out for the future." 

"Girls of the Year" is now available on all music streaming platforms.