INTERVIEW: BABYMONSTER on their WORLD TOUR [춤 (CHOOM)] IN OCEANIA: “Experiencing BABYMONSTER’s unique energy & performance in person will really show you what we’re all about.”

Published: 2 October 2026

Korean band BABYMONSTER are undoubtedly one of the music world’s greatest sensations. Comprising members from South Korea, Japan, and Thailand, the band has an addictive soundscape that incorporates pop, rap, hip-hop and R&B coupled with a variety of vocal styles across the band members that gives every song thrilling sonic twists. This December BABYMONSTER will be touring Australia and New Zealand for the first time ever on their 2026-27 BABYMONSTER WORLD TOUR [춤 (CHOOM)] IN OCEANIA.

BABYMONSTER officially debuted in April 2024 with their debut EP [BABYMONS7ER], featuring, amongst others, the hip-hop of their pre-debut single ‘BATTER UP’ and the incredible melting pot of sounds that is ‘SHEESH’, an international hit that spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Global 200. The song surpassed 100 million views just 10 days after its release, setting the record for the fastest K-pop girl group debut song to reach the milestone. It has continued to set new records, becoming the fastest to reach 400 million views as well.

Later in 2024, the band released their first full album [DRIP], a nine track collection that was another international success, charting on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with the title track hitting number 16 on the Billboard Global (Excl. U.S.) chart.

Last year they released their second mini-album [WE GO UP], which topped the iTunes Worldwide Album Chart, and in May this year they returned with their third mini-album [춤 (CHOOM)] a collection that  further showcases their incredible musical versatility across four tracks. Opener ‘MOON’ merges R&B, hip-hop and rap, while ‘춤 (CHOOM)’ (‘dance’ in English) has an intoxicating dance beat with an amazing pre-chorus build. ‘I LIKE IT’ is an almost impossibly joyful pop track with multiple addictive melodies, while ‘LOCKED IN’, a tender pop-R&B ballad, closes the mini-album.

Just before the release of new single [SUGAR HONEY ICE TEA] in June, a bubbly electronic pop-rap track, BABYMONSTER announced they would be touring Australia and New Zealand for the first time ever as part of their 2026-27 BABYMONSTER WORLD TOUR [춤 (CHOOM)] IN OCEANIA. The tour kicked off in Seoul in June and has been moving throughout Asia before arriving down under, with the first show at Auckland’s Spark Arena, on 8 December. This will be followed by a performance at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on 11 December and Afterpay Arena in Sydney on 13 December.

With live performances as electric and thrilling as their records, BABYMONSTER’s Australian and New Zealand shows are set to become one of 2026’s highlights and the perfect way to round off the year. We recently spoke to BABYMONSTER to find out more about their music and the upcoming shows.

Hi BABYMONSTER! Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us. How is everything in the BABYMONSTER world right now?
RUKA: Hi everyone! It's so exciting to connect with you for the first time through this interview. Right now, our world is filled with so many incredible memories with MONSTIEZ. Going straight from releasing our album to heading out on tour meant that we could perform our new songs live right away. Getting to see our fans singing along and having the best time right in front of us makes every single moment feel so special.

And we're coming to Australia and New Zealand soon! Since it'll be our very first time visiting, we're already so excited to see what the energy will be like and how everyone will enjoy the show with us. Feeling all that warmth and love from the people who listen to our music makes us want to bring our energy to even more places around the world and keep growing together with our fans.

You kicked off your '2026-27 BABYMONSTER WORLD TOUR [춤 (CHOOM)]' in June which will visit multiple cities across Oceania. How has the tour been going so far and how has the reaction from the fans been?
CHIQUITA: Ever since starting the tour, we’ve been having the absolute best time getting to meet our fans in person. Honestly, the best part is being able to feel that energy right there in the room. When we step onto the stage, hearing everyone cheer so loudly, sing along, and react to every little gesture just makes us even more excited to perform. Even after the show, reading all the fans’ comments and seeing how much fun they had always puts us in the best mood.

We’re also coming to Australia and New Zealand super soon! Knowing how long everyone has been waiting for us, we’re just as eager to finally meet you. We hope you come ready to sing, dance, and have the best time with us. We’re working hard to put on an amazing show for you, so just wait a little longer—we’ll see you very soon!

In December you will be playing your first ever shows in Australia and New Zealand, which is incredibly exciting for us! What can your fans look forward to, and also what are you looking forward to when you come here?
RORA: Since it’s our very first time performing in Australia and New Zealand, all of us are so excited and really looking forward to it! For those seeing us live for the first time, I think experiencing BABYMONSTER’s unique energy and performance in person will really show you what we’re all about. We’re preparing an incredible show where you’ll be able to see how much we’ve grown and experience our powerful stage presence up close, so please look forward to it.

More than anything, I’m most excited to finally meet our Australian and New Zealand fans face-to-face. I'm so curious to hear everyone singing along with us and see what kind of special memories we’ll create together. Plus, since it’s our first visit, if time allows, I’d love to try some delicious local food and take in the beautiful scenery and atmosphere of both countries. We can’t wait to finally meet you all. See you in December!

Performing live in various venues around the world is the dream of every musician, and while it must be an incredible experience I imagine it must also come with a level of nerves and anxieties. How do you normally prepare for a performance?
PHARITA: Getting to tour the world and perform in so many different places honestly feels like a dream, and I’m so grateful for it. That said, I still get a little nervous right before stepping on stage. When that happens, I try to calm myself down by taking deep breaths. Once I actually get out there, I shift my mindset from feeling nervous to simply having fun with our fans.

Another thing we never miss is getting together with the members right before the show, putting our hands together, and shouting, “Fighting!” It’s our way of boosting each other’s confidence and saying, “We’ve got this!” Seeing everyone’s faces in that moment really helps ease my nerves and gets us all pumped up to go out there and enjoy the stage.

I want to go back to 2024 and talk about your single [FOREVER]. This is one of our favourite tracks from you, it has this glorious, uplifting pop feel to it while also retaining an experimental edge with its unusual structure and the change in speed and mood between the sung sections and the rapped sections. Could you tell us what this song means to you, and what you focused on most when bringing it to life on stage?
ASA: [FOREVER] is a song that really showed me just how much fun being on stage can be. Like you mentioned, it has a bright, refreshing vibe, but there are also rap sections where the mood suddenly shifts. I love that it lets us showcase so many different sides of BABYMONSTER and bring a fresh energy to every performance.

When performing it, I felt that the most important thing was to capture the song’s free-spirited and confident energy. While getting the choreography right is important, I really wanted our genuine enjoyment of performing the song to come through on stage. I think our songs really come alive when we perform them live. In [FOREVER], there’s a moment near the end where the whole crowd sings along with us, and seeing everyone singing and having fun together gives me such an incredible rush of happiness.

There is so much incredible artistry and creativity to everything you do, from the music to your visuals. I am curious to know if you have a favourite part of the different stages of the process -recording, choreography, filming the music video, and live performances?
AHYEON: I love every part of what we do, but if I had to pick just one, it would definitely be performing on stage. I enjoy recording, learning choreography, and shooting music videos, but nothing compares to finally getting on stage and showing our fans everything we’ve worked so hard on.

What I love most about performing live is hearing the crowd and seeing everyone’s reactions right in front of us. When everyone sings along and gets excited with us, that energy makes me even more excited to perform. It’s a feeling you just can’t get during rehearsals. I also love how the same song can feel fresh and exciting every time we perform it, with each show bringing new moments and memories that we can share with our fans. Every performance feels like a new experience. That’s what makes performing live so special to me and why I’m always excited to get back on stage.

You are such an inspiration for millions of girls and women across the world, including aspiring artists. What is your advice to young women who want to pursue a career in music?
PHARITA: It’s incredibly humbling to know that there are people who look at what we do and feel inspired to pursue their own dreams. We’re still learning and growing ourselves, though, so I’m a little hesitant to call anything I say “advice.”

If there’s one thing I’d like to share, it would be to trust yourself and not be afraid to try something new. There will always be days when practice doesn’t go the way you want it to, or when you walk away feeling like you could have done better. But rather than comparing yourself to everyone around you, I think it’s more important to focus on what you genuinely love and the kind of artist you hope to be.

That’s something we’re trying to do as BABYMONSTER too. We want to keep pushing ourselves, trying new things, and growing through every experience so that we can continue to evolve as artists.

CHIQUITA: More than anything, I hope music always stays something you genuinely enjoy. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to be perfect or being too hard on yourself and forget what made you want to do this in the first place. Keep listening to the music that you love, and remember to have fun with singing and dancing. We’re still learning and growing too, so I hope we can all keep doing our best and cheer each other on!

You have achieved such incredible success since [BABYMONS7ER] was released in 2024. What has been your favourite experience, or ‘pinch me’ moment, over the last few years?
RORA: Since our debut, we’ve had the chance to experience so many amazing things, and I’m incredibly grateful for all of them. Compared to our first world tour in 2025, this tour is taking us even farther, with shows in Oceania, South America, and Europe. It makes me so happy to see just how many MONSTIEZ are supporting us all around the world, and honestly, I think some of my favorite moments are when we’re on our way to meet our fans.

Even the journey itself feels special to me. There’s so much to look forward to, from seeing a new country for the first time to imagining the energy we’ll share with everyone once we’re on stage.  Hearing our fans in person at the shows also made me realize just how many people are listening to our music and enjoying it.
I’m happiest when I see our fans singing along and enjoying the show with us, and I can’t wait to meet even more MONSTIEZ around the world.

RUKA: We’ve had so many memorable moments since our debut, but I think the ones that stand out most are the times we’ve been able to share the stage with our fans. Standing on a big stage we’d always dreamed of and hearing all the cheers from our fans made it really sink in that I was actually getting to experience a moment like that. It felt amazing, and I was so grateful. I hope we can keep making special memories with our fans that we’ll cherish for years to come.

We have the '2026-27 BABYMONSTER WORLD TOUR [춤 (CHOOM)]'  in full swing, and we can’t wait to see you in Australia at the end of the year. What other creative plans do you going into next year?
AHYEON: For now, we’re focused on finishing this tour on a high note. We’ve been learning and discovering so much through each performance, and I think all of these experiences will naturally come through in our music and performances in the future. Next year, I hope we’ll get to show you a new side of BABYMONSTER, and we’re also excited to see what we’ll get to do next and how we’ll get to connect with our fans.

ASA: Going forward, I hope we’ll have more opportunities to develop BABYMONSTER’s identity and show what we have to offer beyond our music. This tour has been really inspiring, from performing on different stages to meeting different audiences in person. We’ve also been talking a lot as a group about what we could improve and how we can make our performances even better.

We hope to bring what we’ve experienced on this tour into our future music and performances and surprise our fans once again. There’s not much we can share yet, but please look forward to what’s next for BABYMONSTER!

Thank you!

2026-27 BABYMONSTER WORLD TOUR [춤 (CHOOM)] IN OCEANIA
8 December - Spark Arena, Auckland
11 December - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
13 December - Afterpay Arena, Sydney
Tickets are on sale now.

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