How RESCENE turned a two-year-old song into a Melon No. 1

RESCENE's "LOVE ATTACK" reached No. 1 on Melon's Top 100 at 10 p.m. on July 8, nearly two years after its August 2024 release. Six days later, the five-member group won its first music-show trophy with a different song. Together, those milestones make this more useful than a familiar story about one lucky viral clip.

The clip mattered. Japanese member Minami's delighted cry of "Geoje yaho!" in a March 20 video on leader Woni's YouTube channel became one of the year's most imitated Korean catchphrases. Melon said searches for RESCENE rose 6,550 percent after the video, while listening to "LOVE ATTACK" increased by as much as 2,019 percent.

What happened next required a catalog people wanted to keep playing, an audience relationship built long before the meme, and unusually nimble timing from a very small company.

The song had already survived one climb

Woni, Liv, Minami, May, and Zena debuted under THE MUZE Entertainment in March 2024. "LOVE ATTACK," one of two title tracks on their first EP, SCENEDROME, followed on August 27. Its bright dance-pop arrangement came from Swedish writers Wilhelmina, Simon Jonasson, and Gustav Landell with THE MUZE, while Bang Hye-hyun and the label worked on the lyrics.

The single did not disappear completely after its first promotion. It reached No. 65 on Melon's daily chart in May 2025, nine months after release, an encouraging result for a group without a major label's broadcast access. By March 2025 it had briefly entered the Top 100 at No. 100, then fell away.

This spring's return was steeper. The song re-entered the Top 100 at No. 98 on May 28 and took six weeks to reach No. 1. That route matters because Melon's daytime Top 100 blends an hour of recent usage with 24-hour usage and limits repeat activity by account. A meme can create a rush of curiosity, but holding the chart requires new listeners to stay.

Woni built the route from personality to music

RESCENE had spent its first two years producing more than 1,500 livestreams, videos, and other pieces of online content for its fandom, Remine. The volume gave new viewers somewhere to go when Woni's personality began reaching people outside idol feeds.

Her first wider breakthrough arrived through My Driving School Uncle, a Studio Kok series launched in August 2025. Comedians Lee Sun-min and Yoo Young-woo tried to teach Woni to drive; her cheerfulness under pressure made the long-form format work. Solfa Studio, the production company behind ODG, then partnered with her on a personal channel in February 2026. It passed one million subscribers in four months.

Minami appeared there to introduce gyaru fashion and Japanese phrases. When Woni joked that her styling might get her scolded in Geoje, Woni's hometown on Korea's southern coast, Minami answered, "Geoje yaho!" The phrase moved through short video, reaction clips, and offline conversation. By May, Geoje had appointed the full group as city ambassadors.

That sequence is hard to manufacture on schedule. The agency gave Woni room to become a creator in her own right, experienced producers shaped the formats around her, and the other members entered as funny, recognizable people rather than guests delivering a comeback pitch.

A smart follow-up turned attention into a career result

THE MUZE had only three employees and 10 million won in starting capital when chief executive Lee Joo-heon and his colleagues formed the company. Early on, Lee drove the members to schedules and hand-delivered profiles and letters to broadcasters. RESCENE reportedly secured just one music-show appearance during its debut promotion.

On July 8, the day "LOVE ATTACK" first reached No. 1, the label released RESCENE's remake of KARA's 2008 hit "Pretty Girl." The choice connected the new audience to a proven, buoyant song and preserved the group's fragrance concept with a grapefruit theme. It also carried a fitting history: KARA's original helped turn that group's difficult early period into a breakthrough.

RESCENE's version entered Melon's Top 100 at No. 4. On July 14, it earned a perfect 10,000-point score on SBS Life's The Show, giving RESCENE its first music-show win since debut. The members cried, thanked KARA and Remine, and performed a deep bow onstage. In August, they are due to take this much larger audience to KCON LA's emerging-artist X Stage on two consecutive days.

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The lasting lesson is the handoff between formats. Driving videos made Woni familiar. Her personal channel made Minami's catchphrase travel. The meme sent people to a strong older song. A well-chosen remake then gave the new audience something current to support.

RESCENE still needs an original follow-up that can carry this attention without borrowed nostalgia. For now, the group has already solved the more immediate problem that defeats most viral idol moments: it gave curious viewers several good reasons to stay.