Author: Mac Turija

Perhaps one of the most creative launches of a girl group in the history of K-pop, LOONA excited fans and even casual K-pop listeners. Maybe you’ve heard the name, or maybe for the thousandth time, you saw a tweet or YouTube comment that said the words “STAN LOONA” –  it is somewhat inevitable that you would have already encountered the group that have been regarded as one of the most exciting and “up-and-coming” K-pop groups.

And that’s where the problem with LOONA is. The group has been around since 2016, which means they are already in their sixth year. So, for them to already have completed close to six years in the Korean music scene and still be regarded as an “up-and-coming” group like eternal rookies is alarming. Moreover, despite the enormous hype and cult following among international fans, they’re almost an unknown group in Korea. Ask any normal Korean on the street and chances are, they don’t know who LOONA is.

Introduction to Loonaverse

All the way back to March of 2016, a company was formed by the name of BlockBerry Creative with the objective of creating “the most unique girl group.” How are they exactly going to do that? By revealing a girl as part of the group every single month through a solo debut. This pattern would then continue until all 12 girls are introduced and would then debut as a full group. 

In October of 2016, HeeJin, the first girl was revealed along with a solo single and solo album. From October to February 2017, HyunJin, HaSeul, YeoJin, and ViVi all debuted in a similar manner. A sub-unit was formed, called “1/3”. From May to July, JinSoul, KimLip, and Choerry all had solo debuts and formed a subunit called “Odd Eye Circle”. From November to March of 2018, Yves, Chuu, GoWon, and finally, the last girl of the puzzle, Olivia Hye (who holds the record of being a trainee for one day before debuting) had solo debuts, and we’re in the final subunit, “yyxy” (pronounced y y ‘by’ y). In the span of 2.5 years, LOONA has produced 62 songs, 32 of which have music videos. 

As for the amount of money spent, BlockBerry Creative gambled an insane USD 8,900,000. This is not really that shocking as the Ilkwang Group, the umbrella organization where BlockBerry Creative is included, has deep pockets. How deep, you ask? The company provides and manufactures arms and steel for different militaries. As in, they are players in the international military-armed forces game. So, budgets aren’t really a huge concern for the group. 

Even the concept of LOONA is unique and one of the most exciting things to have ever come out of K-pop. You see, LOONA is not just a girl group, but they’re all protagonists in a sci-fi universe known as the LOONAVERSE, which has been revealed in all of the girls’ music videos.

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honestly it tears me up every time i think abt how 12 talented girls were destined to come tgt and make loona a reality… like bbc really hit the jackpot cos they r definitely big 3 material

— . (@lvcherrymotion) April 1, 2022

With each MV, we follow a central plot or story that is advanced through each sequential music video. Much like the way each Avenger had his or her own movie but also appears together in those extravaganza MCU blockbusters. To understand the LOONAVERSE easily, think of its similarities with the Bible. There’s the creation, their exile from paradise, and finally their union as twelve with their debut single, Hi High. 

So, what went wrong? 

Asking because the members are obviously talented and hardworking, the concepts are exciting and attention-grabbing, and there are definitely no problems when it comes to funding. So, why has mainstream popularity continued to evade LOONA through their five years as an active group? 

A couple of factors emerge. For one, after all the excitement that the twelve songs and twelve music videos brought from 2016 to 2018 brought us, we got Hi High. Now here’s some real talk: Hi High was so underwhelming. This was supposed to be the first song that has all twelve members in a song, a culmination of the exciting concepts in each of the girl’s solo releases. And we were given a music video with the twelve girls in bright sceneries, running together. That’s it. The song and video just weren’t the highly-anticipated spectacle everybody was hoping for.

If we’re looking for a music video that went all-out in both the song and concept, look no further than WJSN’s Secret, the first song and MV the group had with then-fresh-out-of-IOI Yeonjung in tow. From the amazing mystical concepts that truly embody the Cosmic Girls to the vocal ad-libs the new member provides, fans were just excited. Unfortunately, the LOONAVERSE concept, with all its mystery and sci-fi elements, was not reflected in the way it deserves in the Hi High music video.  

Another factor that continues to plague LOONA to this day is the lack of a fitting marketing campaign for the group. Alas, as mentioned earlier, budget is not a problem at all for BlockBerry Creative. But then, this is really where the breadth of experience among the Big 3 companies comes in. They just know how to market their groups well, giving them substantial opportunities so that they can really get into public consciousness and become household names. So, even if money is out of the question, the marketing arms of these entertainment agencies need to point out which opportunities, whether through reality shows, variety show appearances, or even viral videos,  can maximize the group’s popularity. 

So then, since 2018, LOONA has amassed a very loyal international following while still keeping a low (at almost nugu levels) profile in their native Korea. By 2020, the group has attained steady sales figures with their albums, although their singles have not charted high locally.

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grammys wouldn't be such a flop if they invited loona to perform and give "butterfly" their proper grammy

— Mayita (@aeongatito) April 3, 2022

In 2020, they released two EPs, [#] and [12:00], with album sales of 83,000+ and 113,000+, respectively. That’s a load of albums considering they only released their first EP as a full 12-member group a couple of years prior to 2020. This also shows that they do have a large fanbase that is ready to buy their albums anytime. But since those albums can be bought even from overseas, their lack of presence in the singles charts does show that they have an unstable Korean fanbase who can stream their songs on Korean music websites like crazy. 

Financial woes

The group finally won its first music show trophy in 2020.  So, I guess that LOONA is already far from being a nugu group, but at the same time is also still far from being a household name in the level of Girl’s Generation, Apink, TWICE, or even (G)-IDLE. Thus, it was quite a surprise when talks of LOONA’s disbandment started surfacing all across social media and the Internet. Manic and obsessive Orbits, most of whom are overseas fans, rang alarms as news items of financial woes being experienced by BlockBerry Creative caught everyone off-guard. 

BlockBerry Creative, a subsidiary of Polaris Group, suddenly in financial turmoil? (A little background: Polaris Group was formerly a subsidiary of arms-trade company Ilgwang Group; They are now a subsidiary of Levite United, which was founded by Lee Jong-myung, whose father is Ilgwang Group’s founder.) Where did these rumors of financial woes begin? Is there even truth to this? Apparently, the company had some issues with their payroll and leave it to employees not getting their salary on time to complain on social media in no time. Those who were affected by it weren’t exactly those directly hired by the company, but ”external” employees like choreographers, consultants, and other companies they have contracts with. These parties have not gotten paid for months, culminating in some of them to finally voicing their complaints on social media in late September of 2021.

With the company’s other payables such as taxes, IOUs, and insurances, the company had to come up with KRW 900 million (equivalent to USD 760,000) fast. It came to a point where these companies were asked by BlockBerry Creative to halt all work. The company eventually released a statement saying they are trying their best to honor all their obligations, while fans were terrified of how this challenge faced by the company would affect LOONA’s future comebacks. 

Alas, speculations subsided when the group released Not Friends, a song featuring them but is actually included from Ryan Jhun’s “Maxis By Ryan Jhun” project. This means that the song, although it had Kim Lip listed as one of its composers, was not released by BlockBerry Creative. The song, which actually only featured JinSoul, HeeJin, KimLip, and Yves, may have been a contributing factor to the album’s success, as it did chart both in the Gaon Album Chart and the Billboard US World Digital Songs Chart (as with all LOONA singles).  And although it may not have proven that BlockBerry Creative is indeed out of the woods when it comes to their financial woes, the release may have been effective in placating the Orbit fandom, at the very least assuring them that the group has not disbanded yet, given the sorry state of their record label.

What is happening now?

This brings us to the group’s current situation. Most members have been quite active in most of their activities (except Chuu who had to beg off from their Loonaverse concert in February due to health concerns) and on social media, posting frequently on VLive for updates. To the delight of the Orbits, LOONA was also announced as part of the official lineup for the second season of Mnet’s highly successful Queendom. The show has proven to be part blessing, part curse to its participants as a few groups really reaped the rewards of their participation with heightened profiles (OH MY GIRL, Mamamoo, and (G)-IDLE), while some practically had Queendom as their sort of swan song before disintegrating or fading off into the sunset (AOA and Lovelyz), while some groups really just used to show the fans that they were still active despite lineup changes (as in the cases of iKON and BtoB in their participation in Kingdom, the male group equivalent). 

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Relistening to LOONA’s butterfly and fuck, it is such a flawless song. I can’t wait to see what they do with it on QUEENDOM and I hope no other group does it during the switch round!

— Kim Chi (@KimChi_Chic) April 3, 2022

As for LOONA’s chances of winning the entire thing, I would say they are quite high. The group undoubtedly has the largest fandom out of all the participating acts and ultimately, fanbase size plays a big role in voting the winner of the competition. But then again, if the voting public would be objective (this is a very unlikely scenario since we’re talking about an Mnet competition) and base their votes on the performance levels and discography of the participants, it is most likely that the Cosmic Girls, VIVIZ (should they be allowed to use the GFriend catalog), and even Hyolyn (who may pull a surprise if she relies heavily on the SISTAR catalog) will trump the competition. But if LOONA plays its cards right, then maybe Queendom will usher in the real era of LOONA. 

Featured Image: Official Loona Twitter

Are you one of those people who get frustrated when you’re told that you’ll listen to music from a “boy band” and what you get is a bunch of pretty boys with flawless skin and jaw-dropping dance skills? Where are the guitar riffs and the noisy percussion, you ask? Well, wonder no more as we present to you four Korean bands with members who actually play musical instruments.

Warning: No dance breaks and dance version MVs for these acts, though.

F.T. Island

During the time when K-pop was all about boy groups (TVXQ! Super Junior! SHINHWA! H.O.T! Sech.Kies!) and a smattering of girl groups (Fin.KL! S.E.S! Baby Vox!), bands – not “boy bands”, but bands with members playing musical instruments were mostly relegated into the Korean music indie scene. That was until FNC Entertainment released F.T. Island, a band that made its mark in the country’s music landscape. Suddenly, being in a band that just rocks — no elaborate choreography, no members who may just bank on their looks — became accepted and prompted even the rise of more rock bands into mainstream Korean music.  

The band has undergone three changes in its member lineup – the first being guitarist Oh Wonbin leaving the group two years after their debut to try his luck with a solo career and play other genres of music. He eventually became a soloist and actor and just in January, announced his marriage plans and his impending fatherhood. The second change introduced Seunghyuin as Wonbin’s replacement as the band’s guitarist, a position he held for more than 10 years, after which he left FNC and subsequently the group so he could focus on his acting career. The band’s leader and one of its founding members, Junghoon, had to quit the band and his career in the entertainment industry after it was revealed that he was involved in the Burning Sun scandal, where he was part of a group chat that had members exchange videos of sexual activities without the consent of the other party.

This brings the current band lineup down to three, with the remaining members enlisting and getting discharged more or less at the same time.  Drummer Minhwan was discharged in September 2021, main vocalist Hongki was discharged in April 2021, and bassist Jaejin was discharged on August 1, 2021. In December 2021, the band released Unthinkable, their first song as a trio. 

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It was so good to get a new album from #FTIsland!

I missed their music! F.T. Island was my 1st kband and Lee Hong-gi's voice…omg so good!

If you haven't listened to their music I highly recommend their discography! I pulled Lee Jae Jin for both of the photocards 😊 pic.twitter.com/MI0ChlFoZh

— Tahl Jin (@tahl_jin) March 20, 2022

All throughout their now close to 15-year career, the band has had chart-topping albums, EPs, and singles not only in Korea, but also in Japan. With the emergence of actual bands like Day6 and Wonder Girls (later in their careers) of JYP Entertainment and CNBlue and N.Flying also from FNC, we can safely say that it was F. T. Island that pioneered the concept and made bands trendy.   

Top 3 F.T. Island Songs

The thing about F.T. Island is that they are actually more known as a band that plays power ballads, not the dark and hard rock songs bands are usually known for. Think Meatloaf or Journey versus Metallica. So, a trademark F.T. Island song is more centered towards Hongki’s soaring vocals that only a few K-pop male vocalists can challenge – only the late Jonghyun of SHINee, Yeoseob of Highlight, Woohyun of INFINITE, and lately, Hwesung of N.FLying come to mind. For a mind-blowing extravaganza that will leave you speechless, look for the track Still Love You with the two power vocalists of FNC’s two bands. 

But I digress. The power ballad Severely is definitely the first song that comes to mind when we’re talking about F.T. Island. The 10-year-old song (yes, the song was released on January 30, 2012) also has an iconic music video featuring AOA’s Seolhyun. So you can see two of FNC’s talents that have also ventured into acting – Hongki and Seolhyun. Otherwise, you will experience Hongki’s heart wrenching vocals in this track that feels like a decades-old Korean standard ballad. 

If you’re looking for something a bit hard-hitting in the thread of hard rocks, Take Me Now is the song for you. The heavy guitar riffs alone will really convince you that F.T. Island can rock it with the best of them. 2009’s Bad Woman features a balance of haunting melodies and Hongki’s vocal range, making it a perfect gateway F.T. Island song.  

CNBLUE

Following the massive success of F.T. Island, FNC Entertainment may have felt the need to corner this niche market they have created with groups that have members that actually play musical instruments. Thus, two years after debuting F.T. Island, the company introduced another band to the public, CNBLUE. True enough, the company was rewarded with success anew as Yonghwa, Minhyuk, Jungshin, and Jonghyun experienced success in both Japan and Korea from the get-go. 

As with a number of acts in this period in K-pop that were exposed to the Japanese market first before debuting in Korea, CNBLUE also had their debut stage in Tokyo. After finally charting decently in Japan with their second EP (their first release was completely in English and did not chart in Oricon) and with original bassist Kwangjin replaced by Jungshin before the year ended, the band finally made their Korean debut in January 2010 with the EP Bluetory and the single I’m a Loner. The rest, as the old adage goes, is history. 

All of the band’s title tracks until 2017 have charted high and all their EPs and albums until 2017 have sold over 50,000 copies, a rare feat for a band. Even F.T. Island only averages 40,000 copies sold with their releases. All members also started to venture into acting only a year after their debut and were nominated and won accolades for their television work. Not only were they successful in their home country and Japan (having been the first band since 1971 to top the Oricon charts), but also charted well in Taiwan. While it took F.T. Island 53 days from debut to win in a music program, CNBLUE for a time held the record for winning in a music show in the shortest time since debut, with I’m a Loner winning in Music Bank 15 days after their debut. 

With the band’s massive success came controversies and intrigue, with the first being their awkward rivalry with their labelmates F.T. Island. Since they were the only two bands that dominated the “mainstream” K-pop scene in the late 2000s to early 2010s, it was a bit inevitable that the two groups were always pitted against each other. Primadonnas (F.T. Island’s fandom name) assert the superiority of Hongki’s vocal skills and the fact that F.T. Island is the more senior group that blazed the trail for acts like CNBLUE to follow. Through the years, news about competition between the two groups have not died down. From the alleged preference of FNC towards the more junior group, Hongki claiming he earns more than Yonghwa and again, Hongki accidentally spilling that Jonghyun has had plastic surgery to make his ears prettier, BOICE (CNBLUE’s fandom) had to endure quite a lot. 

As for their music, CNBLUE’s music sounds more pop, which makes it more radio-friendly, and thus, more successful commercially. It also doesn’t hurt that all members took on acting jobs way early in their careers, making the group popular to more people, not just to followers of K-pop. But then, the group has also gone through a lot in terms of controversies involving the members, particularly Yonghwa and Jonghyun. And no, these doesn’t involve Hongki, although Jonghyun and F.T. Island’s Junghoon suffered the same fate later. 

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Bruhhhhh #CNBLUE members flexing their stuff is just so sexy 🤙🏻No matter how many dramas or variety shows they shoot…these guys are still through and through musicians ^^ pic.twitter.com/EsV0iyHFxR

— CNB | 🤙🏻🌸🐶 (@CNBStarAccord) March 21, 2022

In 2016, both Jonghyun and Yonghwa were accused of obstruction of business / insider trading, aka the illegal act of buying a company’s stocks after being given beneficial information by people inside the company. In this case, the two were supposedly tipped to buy stocks of their own company, FNC Entertainment, when the price is low before they dramatically increase in value as they will be welcoming a high-profile celebrity in their talent stable. It was revealed later that it was Yonghwa’s mom who bought the stocks on his behalf, as she has been managing his son’s finances for years already. On the other hand, Jonghyun held on to his stocks even though he was advised that having them would result in legal issues for him. He was fined for this offense and the public’s perception of CNBLUE unfortunately took a bit of a hit. 

A couple of years later, Yonghwa was involved in another scandal, this time regarding his admission to Kyunghee University’s PhD program. It appears that during the time he was applying to the program, he invited his professor to his studio to catch up with him and show him his work. In hindsight, that was a wrong move considering that one of the requirements to the PhD program is an interview with a faculty member. Thus, it looked like Yonghwa was trying to influence his professor into admitting him to the program. Alas, some speculated that Yonghwa was trying to get in the PhD program so that he could avoid his military enlistment schedule. Yonghwa explained in a handwritten letter that the entire professor-PhD affair was a miscommunication and he was not aware that part of the PhD application process was an interview with one of the faculty members and that he has not plans of ever avoiding his conscription. 

Finally, the Burning Sun scandal dealt a huge blow to the careers of everyone involved, including F.T. Island’s Junghoon and CNBLUE’s Jonghyun. Jonghyun immediately left CNBLUE after he was named as one of the parties in that controversial chatroom, although he did not release a statement about his status in the entertainment industry. He has not appeared on TV since then, though. Since his departure, the band has had two Korean comebacks and one Japanese comeback.

Top 3 CNBLUE Songs

Not considering their banging debut track I’m a Loner, which the group and FNC had to pay fines when it was proven that it was plagiarized from an indie band’s song, CNBLUE’s singles discography features one catchy tune after another. Intuition, Hey You, and Can’t Stop are stand-outs and if you haven’t heard any of these, it’s high time you do. 

N.Flying

After immersing ourselves in the world of K-pop’s first two mainstream bands, let’s talk about the maknaes of FNC Entertainment, the company of the two aforementioned “pioneers”. N. Flying is the product of FC feeling they have caught lightning in a bottle with the success of F.T. Island and CNBLUE, so why not tempt fate by producing a third band, because after all, third time’s the charm? Like their senior CNBLUE, N. Flying also started their careers in Japan where they first performed and released an indie single album in 2013. They also served as F.T. Island’s front act in their 2013 Japan tour. And just like their predecessors, N. Flying’s Japanese activities were met with success.  

In May 2015, N. Flying finally debuted in Korea, which was postponed for a bit as the band’s leader, Seunghyub, got injured in July 2014. The music video for their Korean debut single, Awesome, also featured FNC labelmate Seolhyun of AOA. But alas, unlike F.T. Island and CNBLUE’s high-profile Korean debuts, this did not do as well. True, the EP peaked at #4, but it only eventually sold close to 4,000 copies. Considering Cheerful Sensibility, F’T. Island’s debut album, sold over 83,000 copies in 2007 and CBBLUE’s Bluetory sold a whopping 219,000 copies, the 4,000 copies N. Flying’s debut EP sold significantly pales in comparison.

The band entered 2017 with promise as they welcomed a new member in Yoo Hweseung, who despite looking like a formidable contestant/trainee in the second season of Produce 101, got axed quite early in the show’s second elimination round. In his limited exposure in the show, Hweseung was shown to be a very competent trainee, knowing the full choreography to INFINITE’s Be Mine while doing vocal runs. It, unfortunately, did not do his team a lot of favors as the opposing team had Kenta (who eventually debuted under the project group JBJ) who snatched a whole lot of popularity votes. Eventually, he was eliminated in the 35-conterstant cut-off (aka Episode 8) where it was revealed he was ranked 39th, four places short of continuing with the show. It was later revealed that FNC did not really plan on having Hweseung go all the way to the finals and only wanted him in the show for a bit of exposure. 

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[#엔플라잉] Yoo Hweseung being an Infinite's fanboy. (2018) pic.twitter.com/1gzSDacCrf

— n.flying doing things (@nflyingthings) January 20, 2018

Thus, close to a month after his last PD101 episode was released, Hweseung was announced as N. Flying’s newest member and would be the band’s other main vocal on their second EP, The Real. This was followed by two other EPs in 2018, The Hottest in January and How Are You? in May. The sales of the three EPs with Hweseung did not experience major increases with only 6,000 units sold for The Hottest and 7,900 units for How Are You? 

The Real, Hot Potato, and How R U Today, the band’s three singles did not really make a splash commercially, with the music video for The Real generating some buzz as it featured a cameo of Jang Moonbok, a popular PD101 S2 contestant. People continued recognizing Hweseung’s superior singing skills but unfortunately, the band struggled in amassing a solid fanbase. An EP that sells less than 10,000 units is something both F.T. Island and CNBLUE have not experienced in their entire careers! Those are sales figures only nugu (that term for obscure groups from new entertainment labels) groups would be familiar with. N. Flying needed a breakthrough. 

If the lack of significant success wasn’t enough, later in 2018, bassist Kwangjin (before you scratch your head, yes, he is the same Kwangjin that Jungshin replaced in CNBLUE) was embroiled in a scandal where people accused him of acting inappropriately towards fans. Initially, he said he would be taking a break from group activities before officially leaving the group a day after Christmas, 2018.

Almost three years to the day he officially left N. Flying, Kwangjin announced that he has been freed of all harassment allegations against him. He explained that it was true that he dated a fan who later became her girlfriend, causing N. Flying fans to request his removal from the group. To protect his band and then-girlfriend, he did quit the group, but rumors persisted that he sexually harassed fans. So, he spent three years taking legal action to clear his name. Days before posting this announcement, he also posted pictures of his marriage.    

Anyway, back to the breakthrough. Probably derailed by the Kwangjin drama, the band had to wait until the New Year of 2019 before releasing Rooftop which they promoted on music programs, and by holding a concert series starting January 19. The song charted in the lower 100s before going viral on social media when the group was already in the final days of promoting it in the last week of February. The song then shot up to the top of most Korean music charts, including the Gaon Digital Charts where it took the top spot for two consecutive weeks. The band also took their first music show win on March 5, close to four years since their Korean debut. 

https://twitter.com/gummy_smiless/status/1413027716601847809?s=20&t=Z_s4KjsRqZ8lASecJOBdjw

Rooftop became that single break the band needed to sustain their career. They haven’t had a massive song to match Rooftop’s popularity since then, but their songs have continued to chart and more importantly, their albums (one full-length studio album, one reissue album, and two EPs from 2019 to 2021) boast of five-figure sales, a far cry from the anemic average 5,000 units average their previous releases sold. 

Top 3 N. Flying Songs

N. Flying’s discography is filled with bops, but if we have to choose three standouts, we shall go for three that were released in the different stages of the band’s career: Obviously, Rooftop, during the time when the band was reduced to four members and they didn’t have a bassist (although Dongsung was already present as the band’s bassist during the song’s recording, he was still not an official member); Oh, Really? with the current line-up; and The Real with the original line-up (this one is really catchy).

Day6

Finally, let’s talk about a band that’s not from FNC! Day6 actually started off as 5LIVE in 2014 with Sungjin (main vocals and guitar), Jae (guitar), Young K (bass and vocals), Junhyeok (keyboard), and Wonpil (synthesizer), performing in the Mnet reality show Who is Next Win (aka the show that produced Winner and iKon) before drummer Dowoon joined the line-up in mid-2015. The band was then renamed Day6 and debuted in September with the single Congratulations from the EP The Day. Both the song and the EP met considerable success, with the EP selling more than 10,000 copies and the single peaking at #48. Internationally, the EP peaked at the second spot on Billboard’s World Album Chart. The band spent the rest of 2015 promoting overseas in Singapore and Taiwan while also holding their first live concert in Seoul in November.

The band was about to make their first comeback in March 2016 when JYP announced that Junhyeok has left the group in February “for personal reasons”. However, rumors revealed that Junhyeok had decided to date a fan, which is in violation of JYP Entertainment’s rule that their artists are banned from dating in the first three years of their career. Whether it was Junhyeok’s decision to leave the company or JYPE’s decision to let go of him once they found out of the violation is unclear, but the band was left without a keyboardist when Letting Go was released on March 30. This comeback was the band’s music show stage debut on M Countdown, as they only relied on live performances and their music video to promote their debut single. 

2017 was a very productive year for Day6 as they kicked off the Every Day6 project, where the band would be releasing a couple of songs every month with concerts and music videos. In the middle of the year, they also released their first full-length studio album, Sunrise which contained the first five releases they had for the year plus versions of their singles Congratulations and Letting Go and two new tracks.  They concluded the year with another full-length album Moonrise, which contains their releases from June to December, three new songs, and final versions of their B-sides from their debut EP. The year-round project raised the profile of the band, with the two albums faring better in terms of sales, reaching more than 48,000 copies for both releases. 

The band spent 2018 launching their career in Japan while releasing two EPs in Korea: Shoot Me: Youth Part 1 in June and Remember Us: Youth Part 2 in December.  July 2019 had the group release The Book of Us: Gravity, their first (and so far still their only) EP that peaked at number 1 in the Gaon Album Chart. The band also had its first music show win while promoting Time of Our Life, four years after debuting. In May 2020, the band released The Book of Us: The Demon that contained the lead single Zombie, which peaked at No. 4 on Melon’s real-time chart and went up to the No. 1 spot in Bugs. Zombie continues to be the band’s most successful single to date, as it peaked at number 18 on the Gaon Digital Chart. In August of 2020, the band’s first sub-unit, Even of Day composed of Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon, debuted. 

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~2022.03.18 Fri 11:59PM (KST)#DAY6 #데이식스#원필 #WONPIL#Pilmography#WONPIL_SOLO_CONCERT_Pilmography pic.twitter.com/dI6jFZ0RqE

— DAY6 (@day6official) March 17, 2022

In 2021, Sunjin and Young K have enlisted in the Korean military. In the absence of the two, the remaining members launched their solo releases one after the other. However, on December 31, 2021, Jae announced via Twitter that he will be taking a hiatus from his promotions as a member of the band. However, JYPE announced on the same day that he has already been released from his exclusive contract with JYP Entertainment and therefore, from the group. 

Jae complaining about JYP is nothing new. Through the years, he has been vocal about the company’s lack of support when it comes to his solo efforts, including his personal YouTube channel where he has also posted his rants. But then, a lot of artists (all GOT7 members come to mind) have been direct about their dissatisfaction with the way JYPE runs things. But this, along with Jae’s seemingly personal problems, has caught the attention of fans and casual observers alike. In one of his live broadcasts this year, Jae used a derogatory term against Jamie, one of her closest female friends, and his former co-hosts in the Arirang music show, After School Club. This has made people think that Jae has more issues than just his dissatisfaction over JYPE’s poor treatment of him. 

But back to the group – not a lot of activity these days as three members are already in the middle of serving their military enlistment. Wonpil has dropped his solo release, Pilmography in February.      

Top 3 Day6 Songs

Day6 doesn’t come short when it comes to releasing high-quality material. In terms of commercial success, the band’s highest-charting songs are Zombie (peaked at #18 in Gaon), their debut track Congratulations (peaked at #58 in Gaon), and their latest single as a complete band, 2011’s You Make Me (peaked at #73 in Gaon). 

If you’re into music videos with a continuing storyline, check out the MVs of Congratulations and You Were Beautiful, which features Choi Wooshik of Parasite and Our Beloved Summer fame. 

Here’s hoping we’ve given you your fill of Korean boys who rock with this list. And we’re also hoping more bands with members who actually play instruments will join mainstream K-pop in the years to come.  

Featured Image: CNBLUE official Japan Twitter

When one talks about project girl groups nowadays, it is inevitable that we will mention Iz*One. The Korean-Japanese girl group that started on Produce 48 went on to become a record-breaking group with members who are well-loved by both Korean and international fans.  They were loved despite that all-too-big elephant in the room: Their involvement in one of the biggest scandals in Korean TV history. 

Let’s go on a trip down memory lane and review the group’s career trajectory.

Not-so-humble beginnings

It all started with Produce 48, the third season of the reality competition show Produce 101, which by that time was THE standard for what would now be referred to as “idol survival” shows. As with its predecessors, the public is supposed to have the biggest say in the girl group that the show will produce as they will be voting for members out of a pool of 96 contestants. What the “twist” of this edition is that a good number of “trainee” contestants will be from Japan, and in fact, will be from the J-pop idol mega group AKB48 and its various clusters in numerous Japanese cities. The final group, whose name will also be determined by the public, will be composed of 12 contestants this time and its composition will not be capped according to nationality. Although as with Produce 101 Season 2, only Korean viewers were given the chance to vote for their favorites. The group will be promoting in both Korea and Japan for two years and six months.

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[ May 10,2018 ]

Yes, exactly 3 years ago (Produce 48).
Let's appreciate and recall one of the amazing MVs, "Nekkoya MV" with the center, Miyawaki Sakura 💗pic.twitter.com/iBn7fCe1Xw

— 아델 ★ (@SsamuF2) May 9, 2021

The number of Korean and Japanese trainees staying in the program and getting included in the top 12 were more or less equal. In fact, going into the finals, there were eight remaining Japanese trainees as opposed to the 12 Korean trainees, which isn’t too bad, considering the two contestants who occupied the top two spots were Japanese (Sakura and Miho). Episode 11 of the show had 7 of the twelve spots occupied by Japanese. 

However, in true MNet style, things went weird when during the announcement of the final 12 members (which coincided with the revelation of the group’s official name), during the show’s finale on August 31, 2018. Miho (ranked 2nd in Episode 11), Miyu (ranked 6th in Episode 11), Miru (ranked 8th in Episode 11), and Miu (ranked 10th in Episode 11) all disappeared in the final lineup, joined by former After School member Gaeun (ranked 5th in the previous episode), to be replaced by Yuri, Yena, Yujin, Chaewon, and Minju). Granted that the “one account, one vote” policy MNet always implements on the final episode of the Produce shows affected the results drastically, it still comes as a shock that a contestant can rise 15 places (Yuri) and someone who was in the top 12 in the previous episode would come dead last in the finale (Miru). Not to say that fraudulent things were happening, but these things feel sketchy, to say the least. But just like other Mnet reality shows that have the tendency to leave a bitter taste on the viewers’ mouths, things are swept under the rug as buzz for the winning group’s debut intensify.   

The attack of the monster rookies

Following the footsteps of the show’s earlier groups, the highly experimental I.O.I and the phenomenal WANNA ONE, Iz*One was expected to debut big, and debut big they did. The group’s debut EP Color*Iz was released two days short of two months after Produce 48’s finale, with “La Vie en Rose” as its lead single. Their debut showcase concert held at the Olympic Hall, tickets of which were sold out within a minute of being on sale.  Their music program debut happened on Mnet’s M Countdown in November 1 and after a week, they got their first music program on the same show only 10 days after their debut. This means they became the fastest girl group to win in a music program.

34,000 units of the EP sold in its first day of release, which set a new record for the highest number of albums sold on the first day of a girl group’s debut release. The music video for the La Vie en Rose was viewed more than 4.5 million times within the first 24 hours of its release on YouTube, which made it the most-watched debut music video by a Korean act in 24 hours at the time. As expected, Iz*One won the “New Artist of the Year” category at the several awards ceremonies, including Mnet Asian Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and Seoul Music Awards. Billboard Magazine named Iz*One as one of the best K-pop debuts of that year. 

Overseas Boom and a Scandal Erupts

Iz*One started 2019 by debuting in Japan, holding their Japanese debut show-con in Tokyo Dome City Hall on January 20, where they performed their debut Japanese single Suki to Iwasetai for the first time. Five days after the event, the music video for the song was released, and the single itself was released on February 6. The single charted at number 2 on both the Oricon Singles Chart and the Billboard Japan Hot 100, with more than 200,000 copies sold on its first week alone. A month after, it was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) with more than 250,000 unit sales, which was also Iz*one‘s first Platinum certification.

After a successful Japanese debut, the girls went back to Korea in April to release their second EP entitled Heart*Iz and the lead single Violeta. The EP’s domestic pre-orders went over 200,000 copies and over 130,000 copies were added in the first week of its sale, which gave the group another new record. The EP went on to receive a Platinum certification on October 10 in Korea by the KMCA after selling more than 250,000 shipment figures. Violeta peaked at numbers 18 and 5 on Gaon Digital Chart and Billboard K-pop Hot 100 respectively and won its first music program trophy on SBS MTV’s The Show on April 9. The song went on to win six more times on M Countdown, The Show, Show Champion, and Music Bank, the last being what people consider to be their only “legit” music show win, as the others are music shows in cable channels.  

Two months later, the group released their second Japanese single, Buenos Aires, which this time topped both the Oricon Singles Chart and the Billboard Japan Hot 100. On July 6, the group debuted in the US by participating in the annual KCON, on that year held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. Another two months went by and by the end of September 25, Iz*One released their third Japanese single titled Vampire. The girls topped on both domestic charts in Japan with its first week sales exceeding 200,000 copies. It is also the group’s only Japanese release to chart on Billboard K-pop Hot 100, peaking at number 52.

As it was clear that the group was as successful in Japan as they were in Korea, Oricon declared them the country’s best-selling new artist for the first half of 2019, earning an estimated ¥510 million (₩5.5 billion or USD 4.5 million) of total sales in Japan in just six months (December 2018 to June 2019).

By that time, the group weren’t really embroiled in any major controversy and it may seem that the public, especially rabid K-netz, have forgotten their earlier misgivings about the group, particularly about their lineup. Their debut single, La Vie en Rose, was already recorded by active group CLC, which had a number of fans smarting, knowing that CLC is a group of Cube Entertainment, whose contestant Han Chowon ranked 13th in the final episode of Produce 48. People also questioned why a song that would have guaranteed a hit for struggling group CLC had to be given to Iz*one. 

Fans also noted a bit of a discrepancy in the quality of music videos of the group’s Japanese releases with their Korean MVs, claiming that the latter were too “staged” and had the girls in less photogenic and flattering shots. Finally, nitpicking fans have pointed out that despite her second place finish, Sakura has never been allocated substantial lines in their songs, whether it’s Korean or Japanese releases. 

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During LIGHTSUM's online showcase on Jun. 10, member Han Chowon reveals how she felt following the voting manipulation scandal of "Produce 48." https://t.co/eC1ukSkCf5

— KpopStarz (@kpopstarz) June 11, 2021

But those controversies were quite minor, considering the extent of the success the girls have experienced until that time. That is, until the mother of all scandals broke. 

Iz*one was scheduled to release their first studio album on November 11, 2019. However, the release was postponed due to an investigation that was launched over allegations of vote manipulation in the Produce shows. The initial investigation started with Produce X, as ordinary fans noted that there is a pattern in terms of the differences of votes contestants got. The investigation went on to include all other seasons of the Produce series as well as the other Mnet-produced idol survival show Idol School, which produced fromis_9 and also featured Jang Gyuri and eventual Iz*one member, Jo Yuri. 

Investigations revealed that the Produce 48 producer Ahn Joon-young had selected the twelve members of Iz*One from the top 20 just before the airing of the finale. Meaning, the contestants who were not in Producer Ahn’s list but were voted by the “public producers” were excluded from the group. These contestants, who were unjustly “kicked out”, were later revealed to be Pledis’ Lee Gaeun and Cube’s Han Chowon, who apparently placed 5th and 6th.

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i love izone and i love chaeyeon but their rigged voting scandal makes me soooo upset after watching produce48 and seeing how hard each of the 96 girls worked for a fake competition

— hey (@heyryujin) April 2, 2020

What was not revealed, of course, was who were pushed into the group that caused Chowon and Gaeun’s displacement. Although the investigations clearly revealed who these contestant are, the courts chose not to reveal the identities of the contestants who benefited from the scam. For the rest of 2020, Iz*One‘s activities were either were cancelled or postponed.

The final act before disbandment

2020 started great for Iz*Ones as CJ ENM and the agencies of the members agreed that the group would resume their activities until their contracts ended. In February, the much-awaited first studio album of the group, Bloom*Iz and its single Fiesta was finally released. The lack of activity at the tail end of 2019 worked to the group’s advantage, as the album broke the record for the highest first-week sales on Hanteo (actual unit sold versus Gaon’s actual units shipped) for an album by a girl group with 356,313 copies. Bloom*Iz is also the first album by a girl group to surpass the 300,000 copies mark in Hanteo’s history. If that wasn’t enough, Bloom*Iz also topped Oricon Overseas Album Chart, following their previous two EPs.

Five months after Fiesta, Iz*One released their third EP, Oneiric Diary, and its lead single Secret Story of the Swan. Oneiric Diary peaked at number 2 and has recorded over 510,000 sales on the Gaon Album Chart. The group garnered another record as the EP became one of the first two albums by a girl group to be certified Double Platinum by the KMCA.

Despite the pandemic, the group did not put any breaks to their activities as they inched closer to their disbandment date. On October 21, the group released their first Japanese studio album Twelve, which debuted At #1 on the Oricon Albums Chart. Before the year ended, Iz*One released their fourth EP, the Korean release One-reeler / Act IV, accompanied by its lead single Panorama. The EP brought the girls back to the top of the Gaon Album Chart, where they debuted at #1.

On April 29, 2021, Iz*One officially disbanded after the end of their contract. The official fanbase of the group, WIZ*ONE, started an initiative called Parallel Universe on April 21, 2021, in an attempt to prevent the girls from disbanding. The initiative raised ₩1,000,000,000 (roughly USD900,000), which was successful considering it was the goal of the initiative; however, Iz*One still disbanded as planned. CJ ENM confirmed that negotiations were underway to potentially relaunch the group, in consultation with the agencies which manage the members, but as of July 6, and the group’s re-debut has been cancelled.

The aftermath: Where are the girls now?

As with I.O.I and WANNA ONE, there is a mix of the activities and career paths for the 12 members of Iz*One after their disbandment. Some have launched solo careers, while some will be in groups with their mother agencies. Here is a rundown of their current and future activities:

Yuri: Known as the group’s man vocal who miraculously ended Produce 48 at number 3, Yuri is actually a “veteran” of the idol survival show genre, as she participated in Mnet’s Idol School where she finished in 15th place, six places short of being included in fromis_9. After Iz*One, Yuri contributed to a couple of OSTs, namely My Love for SBS’s television series Do You Like Brahms? and Story of Us for JTBC’s Monthly Magazine Home.

On September 23, Jo released Autumn Memories, a collaboration song with Lee Seok-hoon, who was a mentor in Produce 101 Season 2 and Produce X 101. On October 7, Yuri finally released her first single album titled Glassy with lead single of the same name. The album peaked at number 5 in the Gaon charts, selling more than 84,000 copies.

Eunbi: After Iz*One‘s disbandment, Eunbi and labelmate and groupmate Chaewon returned to Woollim Entertainment as trainees. She started a career on TV as a presenter as she became the new host of FashionN’s beauty program Follow Me along with Ha Sung-woon, Pentagon’s Kino and Freesia. She was featured in her labelmate Rocket Punch’s debut Japanese album Bubble Up! as a composer and producer for the track Let’s Dance.

 

On August 25, Eunbi was finally launched as a solo artist with her first extended play Open, the lead track of her EP, Door, peaked at number 3 in the Billboard US World singles chart, while Open peaked at number 8 in the Gan Albums Chart, selling more than 58,000 copies. 

Hyewon: Known as the contestant who frustrated everyone, fans and trainers included, with her blank expressions and seeming lack in drive and variety, Hyewon went on to become one of Iz*One‘s visuals. She has further surprised a lot of people when she guested in some variety shows with her members and showed her quick with and academic intelligence, showing that she’s not as slow and ditzy as most regarded her. 

While the group disbanded, Hyewon returned to 8D Entertainment, her original agency. She is set to star in My K-Star Family, a new variety show with Super Junior’s Yesung, BTOB’s Eunkwang, former I.O.I leader Lim Nayoung, and AB6IX’s Lee Dae Hwi, among others. The show’s format is to form virtual “families” among the idols in various combinations.

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izone members on yena's animal detective show as guests 🥺

✅ Yuri
✅ Eunbi
🆕 Minju pic.twitter.com/Yyij5AwEm9

— nani¹² (@yyujinationn) December 7, 2021

Yena: Known as the lively vitamin of the group and even during her stint in Produce 48, Yena has since then been very active as an actress and variety show personality. She was still in Iz*One when she embarked on her first variety show, tvN’s Prison Life of Fools, with Lee Soogeun, Seventeen‘s Seungkwan, and Got7‘s JB, among others. The show was basically the cast playing a more elaborate version of Mafia on every episode and in prison. She was also one of the cast members for mystery variety show Girls High School Mystery Class, TVING’s first original content variety show that ran from December 2020 to January 2021. 

Yena also participated in King of Mask Singer before Iz*One disbanded. She was confirmed as the sole MC of Studio Waffle’s web variety show Yena’s Animal Detective, which started airing on August 24. She also became one of the cast members for TVING’s Idol Dictation Contest, which reunited her with her Prison Life of Fools castmate Seungkwan. She has also been part of the fixed MC panel for tvN Story’s Fireworks Handsome. Finally, she is preparing for her debut as a solo artist. 

Chaeyeon: Known as Iz*One‘s main dancer, Chaeyeon is also another veteran in the idol survival show genre after participating in JYPE’s Sixteen with her sister, Chaeryeong. While her sister opted to stay with JYP Entertainment and later on debut with Itzy, Chaeyeon moved to WM Entertainment (B1A4, Oh My Girl) and represented the company in Iz*One. 

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REMEMBER WHEN LEE CHAEYEON PRODUCE DO THIS.. EVERYONE WHO WATCHES STREET WOMAN FIGHTER SHOULD KNOWhttps://t.co/JdZELEQIjC

— 14  | CHAEYEON (@GELSAGR) September 22, 2021

After Iz*One, Chaeyeon’s next high profile appearance was in the dance survival show Street Woman Fighter, which was another Mnet production. The show became a trend as it featured all-female dance crews being all sassy with each other, as what you would expect from street dance crews in dance battles. She was eliminated in the 6th episode with her dance crew WANT, placing 7th out of 8 participating groups. Her stay in the show was marked with controversy, as many contestants voiced their disagreement with her participation in the program, citing that she was an “idol-dancer” and not a legitimate dancer. She was usually challenged into dance showdowns and had a noticeable loss record. Mnet’s character development angle was utilized on her to the max, although everyone is in agreement that she may not be a true-blue dancer, her dancing skills are definitely a cut above your generic idol.  

Chaewon: As noted earlier, Chaewon returned to Woollim Entertainment with her labelmate Eunbi after Iz*One‘s disbandment. However, while Eunbi continued to flourish under Woollim, it seemed Chaewon wanted to break away from her company as months later, her profile was removed from Woollim’s artists website. Her agency being listed as Woollim has also been removed from her Korean website profiles. 

Soon enough, news about her moving to Source Music (former agency of GFriend which is now under HYBE) has been reported in more news outlets. No official statement has come out from HYBE, Source Music, and Woollim have been released. 

Minju: One of Iz*One‘s members known for having arresting visuals, Minju has always leaned towards an acting career. While she was still with Iz*One, she already starred in a film entitled The Fault is Not Yours, released in 2019. Even before that, she played the role of the young version of one of the main characters in MBC’s drama Tempted, a drama based on the French novel Dangerous Liaisons. She also appeared in the talk show Happy Together in 2019 as a special host. 

As of the moment, Minju can be seen in MBC’s Show! Music Core as one of its main hosts with SF9’s Chani and Stray Kids’ Hyunjin. She was also host of MBC’s variety program Save Me! Rooms and is actually listed in her agency, Urban Works as an actress. Fans have speculated that she was one of the factors that delayed the reboot of Iz*One under Source Music/HYBE because she has expressed her intention to pursue an acting career rather than continue her career as an idol-singer. 

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Since the movie is being screened, here is a reminder that Minju was awarded the Special New Actor of the Year Award by Cine Rewind for her acting in The Fault Is Not Yours 🥺 pic.twitter.com/O5bqP4k13w

— all about kim minju (@allaboutminju) March 10, 2022

Nako: The smallest member of Iz*one has since returned to Japan and with her HKT48 group after the Korean group’s disbandment. She has even appeared in a Japanese TV drama Kao Dake Sensei. However, things lately haven’t been super rosy as just in November, various news items have sprung up regarding the poor treatment Nako has been receiving from her HKT48 groupmates. 

Recent social media videos and posts have pointed to her being made fun of by her Japanese groupmates when she posted content on her social media accounts in Korean for her WIZ*ONEs. Another video allegedly showed Nako finding her lost airpods in a trash can. No official statements addressing the matter have yet been released by her Japanese agency.     

Hitomi: Hitomi has returned to promoting with AKB48’s Team 8 after Iz*One‘s disbandment. Since her return, she has participated in two AKB48 singles – the A-side single Nemohamo Rumor and the B-side Seikoutoutei, both in 2021. She has also launched her own cosmetic beauty brand named NOTONE in October. 

Wonyoung and Yujin: Two of Iz*One’s visuals, Yujin and center Wonyoung have returned to their mother agency, Starship Entertainment after their group’s disbandment. Wonyoung has been a widely sought-after endorser and model for local and international fashion brands and is currently the host of KBS’ Music Bank with ENHYPEN’s Sunghoon. On the other hand, Yujin shares main host duties in Inkigayo with Treasure’s Jihoon and NCT’s Sungchan. Both are very busy for the debut of IVE, Starship’s newest girl group. 

Sakura: Finally, we have Iz*one’s Japanese center, Sakura! After the group’s disbandment, Sakura returned to Japan with Hitomi and Nako. However, rumors of the Japanese members pursuing idol careers in Korea were loudest with Sakura, with rumors of her leaving HKT48 complicating her Japanese comeback. But alas, she confirmed the rumors herself when she announced the schedule for her graduation concert on June 19. The short version of the music video of her graduation song, Omoide ni Suru ni wa Mada Hayasugiru was released on YouTube on June 14 and she staged her final performance with HKT48 on June 27.

Despite the end of her connection with HKT, Sakura has continued to be very visible in public, bagging modelling gigs for international brand such as Kerastase and the Chinese cosmetics brand Flower Knows.

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Acc. to News1, Hybe x Source Music first girl group, with former #IZONE members #Sakura and #KimChaeWon, will make their debut in Mayhttps://t.co/bEki7OdZmE #KoreanUpdates RZ pic.twitter.com/AflZ6ibmEc

— KoreanUpdates! (@KoreanUpdates) March 21, 2022

Finally, on November 1, 2021, Vernalossom, the company that manages AKB members’ careers, announced that her contract with them has ended. This makes a lot of sense because since May, it has been reported that she has already signed up with Source Music (GFriend’s former agency), a company now under HYBE Labels (aka BTS’ company that also houses Pledis of NU-EST and Seventeen). This means that the new Source Music / HYBE girl group will have her and Chaewon (as mentioned above) as possible members.

With all of these exciting developments, we are super happy for the girls and we can only hope to see all 12 girls in a reunion stage in the future! 

Featured Image Credit: Official Iz*one Twitter

In May of last year, the inevitable finally happened: Dara, formerly of the mega girl group 2NE1, announced that she has parted ways with her entertainment agency for more than 17 years, YG Entertainment. 

It was indeed the end of an era, as the groups that we have always associated with the company are pretty much gone or are on an extended hiatus. BigBang remains quiet despite everyone in the group being done with military duty, Seungri left BigBang and the entertainment industry altogether since his scandals became public, all four 2NE1 members are with new agencies after Dara’s departure, Lee Hi is now with AOMG, Nam Taehyun has been out of WINNER since 2016, B.I has been out of iKon since 2019, Psy also left the company to make it on his own with the establishment of PNatio, and the company’s resident hip-hop group, Epik High, also called it quits in 2018. 

And if you think that these have been only the huge departures from the company, here are three YG artists that have left the family before the ones we mentioned finally decided to pack their bags, too. 

Se7en: Was he dismissed or did he decide to leave?

Back in the days when there is still an option for Korean male singers to find fame as soloists of any genre and not be confined as balladeers, rappers, or group idols, Se7en debuted and shot to fame. It was 2003 and the likes of Usher, Craig David, Mario, and Chris Brown (not to mention Latino singers like Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin) were dominating American, European, and even Asian music charts, so becoming a male R&B or soul soloist somehow became trendy. 

Thus, when YG Entertainment introduced Se7en to the Korean public as a soloist who’s not particularly associated with sappy ballads or trot, people took notice. He also received several Rookie of the Year awards in his home country, a testament to his popularity throughout the first decade of the 21st century. And having a signature fashion statement such as wearing roller shoes or heelys (for Generation Z readers, they’re shoes with retractable wheels in them, which distinguishes them from roller skates as the wheels in the latter cannot be hidden) in every public appearance and music video really helped in Se7en‘s name recall. 

He continued to maintain his popularity through Korea, which eventually spread throughout the rest of Asia, as he also debuted in China and Japan. As with most K-pop acts at that time, there was a clamor for Se7en to debut in the rather finicky and fickle-minded American market (something which the Wonder Girls and Girl’s Generation attempted to do), so, he made his American debut in 2009 with a song Girls that featured rapper Li’l Kim. And like all K-pop acts attempting to make it big in the American music scene, Se7en received a lukewarm welcome in the US. 

The lackluster US debut did not diminish Se7en’s stardom in his native Korea, where his comebacks until 2012 were still unquestionable successes. He even figured in a first as his 2012 comeback, When I Can’t Sing, was written and produced by Park Jinyoung aka JYP of JYP Entertainment himself. That title track was the first official collaboration between YGE and JYPE and it was also his first number 1 under the Gaon chart system.  

Se7en enlisted for his mandatory military service in 2013 and was finally was discharged from the military in December 2014, but not without scandal. Not only was it reported that he broke curfew, but he was also spotted visiting a massage parlor famous for prostitution. His contract with YG was slated to end two months after his discharge, but maybe because of the scandals during his military service, both parties decided mutually not to renew his contract. To add to this, two days before Christmas, the agency of his then-girlfriend for 12 years Park Hanbyul announced that their talent’s relationship with Se7en has ended.  

Se7en then established his own agency, ELEVEN9 Entertainment, but it took more than a year before he released new music. He first released a single entitled I’m Good in July of 2016 before releasing an EP entitled I Am Se7en, with the carrier single Give It to Me in October. The EP managed to sell more than 8,000 copies, although his songs failed to chart.

Se7en has been busy with musical theater, having headlines a number of musicals such as Dogfight and I Loved You. He also hosts a web show on YouTube entitled Seven Golf Courses. He signed with a new agency, Dmost Entertainment in 2020, although he hasn’t released new music since 2016.  

Katie Kim Breaks Free From the Dungeon

If there is one thing YG Entertainment is very famous for when it comes to how they treat their artists, it’s that they rarely give them comebacks. Once an artist is established and has acquired some semblance of popularity, the company opts to make sure that his or her next releases are of premium quality. 

Unfortunately, the process of ensuring this takes a long time, and for most YG artists, it takes years. Lee Hi famously cried on an episode of Party People hosted by JYP (the guy we mentioned earlier, as in Park Jinyoung) expressing her frustration that she has had only four half-albums in her four-year career. Thus, the birth of the YG “dungeon,” where the company allegedly keeps their artists until they (or an in-house YG producer like Teddy) give them materials of superior quality. 

If you think that Lee Hi’s time with YG was tragic, wait until you read the entire story of Katie Kim. Like Lee Hi, Katie was also thrust into the spotlight via a singing audition program – K-Pop Star 4 in 2015. Not only did she participate in that season, she actually won the show and got offered contracts with the companies partnered with the program. She decided to sign a contract with YG Entertainment. And that may have been a not-too-good decision. 

For the next three years, as in the moment she won until 2018, she recorded several songs and produced music videos, and went back and forth between Seoul and the US, as YG noticed that her style leaned more towards American music – jazz and R&B, to be precise. So, she participated in songwriting camps and wrote songs for her album that has been a year two years three years in the making. With her songs finally available, what does YG do? Continuously delay the development and release of her solo album to ensure the finished product is up to “YG standards”. 

The release of Katie’s album has been exaggeratedly delayed that even the creative director who was in charge of Katie at YG Entertainment had quit the company and started a new record label. Katie with nothing to show for her “career” after three years followed him to his new label, AXIS Entertainment. Finally, in June 2018, Katie debuted with the album Log under AXIS, but guess what? YG Entertainment was still involved with her career as the company was the distributing arm of her new company. Even the music video for her debut single, Remember, is housed in YG Entertainment’s YouTube channel, where, as of press time, it has amassed close to 15 million views.

Alas, it seems that the search for perfection and high standards that is YG’s signature trait has rubbed off on Katie, who only released her second EP, Our Time is Blue, with the single Our Time, in December last year. She had not promoted any of her songs in Korea. Her second single off the EP, Faux, has been seen by casual listeners as shades against her former record label. In an interview, she claims that “The song was inspired by “an experience with a record label. I thought everything went super well and we were getting ready to sign the paperwork, but everything fell through. I later learned that they were looking for a K-pop artist and I wasn’t really K-pop. They were interested at first, but later realized I wasn’t what they were looking for.”

If that’s not a reference to her time in YG, then I don’t know what that statement is all about!

Gummy: When the Queen Left Her Kingdom

If we’re talking about the pillars of YG Entertainment, there’s Gummy. When she debuted in 2003 (coincidentally the same year as Se7en‘s debut as well), she immediately took the position as YG Entertainment’s biggest female artist with her title track We Should Have Been Friends.” After all, not everyone (if not anyone else) can boast of winning the Bonsang at the 19th Golden Disk Awards with her debut single. Close to 20 years later, We Should Have Been Friends remains one of the most popular Korean pop songs ever. It is constantly being used as a contest piece in singing competitions and is still one of those songs Koreans recognize and pick in their noraebang sessions.  

The awards and recognition continued in her debut year as Gummy won earned the Mobile Popularity Award for Memory Loss, the lead single of her second album, It’s Different, at the 2004 Mnet Km Music Festival. Despite suffering from vocal nodules between preparing her first and second albums, Gummy was on a roll. Her third album, For the Bloom, kept her at the top of both album and song charts. Then, she altogether stopped releasing music and went on a hiatus that lasted for three full years.

In 2008, she released her fourth album titled Comfort, which saw her officially ending her hiatus. The lead single I’m Sorry features BigBang‘s T.O.P and immediately charted at #5 in music charts in the first week of its release. She then took another two-year break before releasing a mini-album, Loveless, in April of 2010.  

Things between SM and Gummy finally came to a close after the singer marked her tenth anniversary in the music business. After celebrating with a fan meeting and releasing her OST for the drama, That Winter, the Wind Blows entitled Snow Flower (which charter as high as #3), she also released a Japanese album, Fate(s). She also had a duet with Daesung from BIGBANG.  Then, just like that, it was reported that she has left YG Entertainment, her home agency for 10 years, and has transferred to C-JeS Entertainment in October 2013.

https://youtu.be/Z2U1HX6GMCw

Gummy hasn’t looked back then, as she has thrived in every aspect of her life. Since leaving YG, she has married Hospital Playlist actor Jo Jungsuk in 2018 and gave birth to their first child in August 2020. As for her music career, she has continued her reign as the OST Queen while still releasing new music, the latest being a single titled It Was Still Love in October this year.

Which brings us to: Why did Gummy leave YG in 2013? In a 2014 interview, she said,  “It has been a little over half a year since moving to a new agency. My former agency had a [particular] tendency [in the way they do things]. YG is not the type to release albums often… When good music comes out, you release an album. Artists agreed on that, and each artist had a lot of ambition to promote with good music. I also made an album at YG, which fell through about two times. After thinking about it a lot, I decided to switch agencies.”

Quashing rumors of bad blood between Gummy and her former agency, she clarified, “We did not go our separate ways on bad terms. [Yang Hyun Suk] CEO actually felt sorry towards me. He told me that if there is a place where I can get cared for more, then let’s do that comfortably. I think it came about naturally.”

Therefore, we conclude that even the queen of YG during her reign still felt like she languished in the YG  dungeon as a lot of her work was refused. 

So, who are we left with in YG? The depth of talent is still mind-blowing. Sechs Kies, the legendary 1st generation boy group that joined YG when the members decided to revive their group in 2016, just released a top 10 single in February this year, still under the company. Digital monsters AKMU just released an EP in July, with a collaboration with The IU entitled Nakka topping the charts, and is still charting as of press time. WINNER is still with the company, despite having changes in their line-up and inactivity due to Jinu and Hoony currently serving in the military. While iKON members won’t be starting their enlistment until next year, they have also experienced a line-up change with B.I’s departure and the sudden revelation of Bobby being a father as he plans on marrying his partner. Of course, there’s the biggest girl group BLACKPINK and the promising Treasure. Finally, we still hold out hope for a BigBang comeback.

Featured image: Before BIGBANG there was SE7EN, one of YG Entertainment’s former artists. Photo: YG ENTERTAINMENT/YouTube