There has been no era of success for girl groups led by Bang Si-hyuk at HYBE. Only a time of suffering.
Chairman Bang has shown affection and ambition for girl groups since the days of Big Hit, the predecessor of HYBE. Even before launching the group BTS, his idol business was focused on girl groups, as seen with GLAM.
GLAM was a group that Big Hit and Source Music jointly created in 2012, pouring their efforts into it. At that time, both companies focused on discovering trainees, drawing attention. Big Hit handled music production and marketing, while Source Music managed the group, leading to high expectations for their collaboration.
However, their first results were disastrous. GLAM, which started as a five-member group, lost one member early on due to personal circumstances. To make matters worse, another member was arrested and indicted for blackmailing actor Lee Byung-hun over personal issues, making it virtually impossible to maintain the team. It was revealed that this member had demanded 5 billion won from Lee Byung-hun using a video of inappropriate content as leverage, shocking everyone.
Ultimately, Big Hit's first foray into girl groups sank without a trace. Before they could showcase their musicality, they were embroiled in serious controversies, suffering significant damage to their image.
Afterward, Big Hit shifted its focus to its new boy group BTS in 2013, resetting its direction. As BTS achieved considerable success in the music industry with chart-topping hits and strong performances on music shows, Bang Si-hyuk began to eye girl groups again. This shift began when Big Hit changed its name to HYBE in 2019 and acquired Source Music, which was home to the group GFRIEND.
GFRIEND debuted in 2015 and established itself as Source Music's representative girl group with a solid fandom and several hit songs. However, after the acquisition, GFRIEND's musical performance declined, and the power of their fandom experienced instability. They maintained an uncomfortable relationship with HYBE and ultimately decided to part ways with Source Music in 2021. This decision became a major topic of discussion among fans and in the music industry, leaving many puzzled and disappointed. It was a sudden disbandment of a group that was thriving and had a strong reputation.
As a result, HYBE, which bore the stigma of being a 'graveyard for girl groups,' introduced another potential group. This was fromis_9, which was acquired when HYBE took over Pledis Entertainment in 2020. They debuted in 2018 and had built a core fanbase, consistently receiving love. However, they were notably inactive among the groups under Pledis Entertainment, with a hiatus exceeding a year and a half. Consequently, the members publicly expressed their frustrations through fan communication platforms last year.
Then came the dissolution of the team. Pledis ended its relationship with fromis_9 in December last year, marking a farewell. This was the realization of a predicted outcome. At this point, it seemed that Chairman Bang had effectively given up on his challenge to write the history of girl groups. The active comeback activities of boy groups under HYBE, such as Tomorrow X Together and ENHYPEN, further confirmed this.
The final nail in the coffin for Chairman Bang's girl group ambitions was none other than NewJeans from Ador. Despite bringing in Min Hee-jin from SM Entertainment to seek change, it became the biggest risk. In April, the so-called 'HYBE incident' erupted due to allegations of 'Min Hee-jin's takeover of Ador's management rights.'
A whopping 21 billion won was invested to nurture NewJeans, and the results were indeed impressive. Their debut song and all subsequent works became hits, and the team quickly rose to the ranks of top girl groups in the music industry. However, due to the HYBE incident, the members sided with Min Hee-jin, building a wall against HYBE and leaving the agency on their own. They received a settlement of 5 billion won each from the company.
This marked the beginning of Chairman Bang's nightmare with girl groups. The future of Ador, which had achieved the highest performance as the only girl group under HYBE, crumbled.
The legal disputes between HYBE, Min Hee-jin, Ador, and NewJeans are ongoing and expected to be prolonged. One thing is certain: the court has granted all of Ador's requests for injunctions to preserve its status as a planning agency and to prohibit the signing of independent advertising contracts by NewJeans members, steering the situation in a favorable direction.
While LE SSERAFIM, which Chairman Bang has been involved with from their debut to their recent album, and ILY:1, which faced plagiarism allegations against NewJeans, are still holding on, they too are not achieving standout results comparable to boy groups. Especially when compared to NewJeans, their performance is disappointing.
Attention is focused on the activities of girl groups under HYBE, which maintains a multi-label system.
[Ji Seung-hoon, Star Today Reporter]
