Is Somi joining Teddy’s new girl group?

"why did you make a solo debut?"

"when I left my old agency for the new one, I was the only one there." - video below

TLDR: There is evidence that Somi might have left JYP because she didn't want to join a JYP group, not because she wanted to go solo. She joined TBL because Teddy is great with solo endorsements (like with BP). She went solo because TBL trainees were not ready and she needed to stay in the public eye, but when they are ready she might join the group.

This will likely be Somi's last chance to ever be in a proper (not project) girl group, but if she joins the group she can still do solo work in the group and after disbandment (because it's a Teddy group). She must be considering it.

Despite this, I don’t see anyone even considering the possibility that Somi might join Teddy’s new group (from The Black Label, not YGNGG ‘Beamon’). Perhaps because Somi is ‘too famous’ or she is ‘only interested in her solo career’. Maybe, but I don’t know if either argument is as strong as people think.

First, Somi appears to be open to being in a group. She has stated repeatedly that she misses being in a group and is sad that all the groups she was in lasted such short periods of time (four project groups so far, although the last one is just an ad). When asked why she didn’t join a group after leaving JYP Somi said it was because TBL didn’t have anyone to debut with (but it appears that they do now...), not that she was only interested in going solo (video above). People assume she left JYP to go solo but there are plenty of other possible reasons, including losing all solo endorsement/TV opportunities (she had many) if she joined a JYP group.

Second, the ‘too famous’ argument is entirely based on Miss A as far as I can tell. The situation would be completely different if Somi was to join a group (also there's Ive and Lesserafim). Somi is already famous before joining the group, so there is no reason for the other members to be jealous. Somi’s contract wouldn’t share her solo deal money with the group, avoiding the tension that creates (same with the other members' contracts). Somi would also be much better than Suzy at supporting the other members through their relationships, like Somi and IOI members, or Somi and Chaeyoung, or Somi and Giselle… etc.

Somi has been teasing 'crazy news' since last December, around the same time she showed some of TBL's trainees on her vlog. There's a small chance that the crazy news is that she is going to join TBLGG. Whatever it is, it's been in development for a long time.

Other possible issues:

• Losing her current brand deals (her main source of income)… Not in a Teddy group. BP members do plenty of solo endorsements. Somi might even gain deals if she keeps most of her solo deals and adds the group deals.
• Not being able to release solo music again… Maybe for the first year, but Teddy is open to solo projects.
• Being locked into a 7-year contract… This is a big one, and the most likely reason Somi would not want to be in a group, but she might think it’s worth it.
• Age… she’s only 21. Normal for 4^th gen, and Bom was 25 when 2NE1 debuted.
• Age gap if Teddy wants to include a young member (15-16)... Minzy was 15 when 2NE1 debuted.
• Teddy would lose a dedicated soloist (with some solo work on the side) but make it more likely that his group will be successful… not sure if this is an issue for him.
• Somi might not fit whatever concept Teddy is going for with the group… potentially a good reason against Somi joining the group.

Quote from HardcoreBLINK

Naur

Also YG is not being sold lol

Quote from kwonjiyong92

I didn't think so at first, but think about why Teddy would have recruited her in 2018, and what plan he sold her on. Somi has talked about him having many plans for her but she has never said what they were.

What's more likely:

1. "We are going to debut you [Somi - one of the best centers and arguably the best face in the business] as a soloist."

2. "I want you [Somi - one of the best centers and arguably the best face in the business] in my next group [after Blackpink, the most successful kpop gg ever]. It will be a few years until the group will debut, though. So, we will maintain your popularity/brand deals/music career by debuting you solo until we are ready to debut the group."

It is much more likely that Teddy wanted Somi for his next group. He would still need to debut her as a soloist if that was the case, so the fact that she did go solo isn't evidence against this.

Of course, with Somi getting a hit with DD they might have decided that it would be best for Somi to stick with her solo work. It would have been much more likely that Somi would have joined the new group if she had not gotten a hit yet.

On the other hand, this will likely be Somi's last chance to ever be in a proper (not project) girl group, but if she joins the group she can still do solo work in the group and after disbandment. She must be at least considering it.

Quote from omnimorphism

Teddy will have a girl group?

What else will he do with these trainees?

Quote from pamyu-pon

shes still very young but she debuted so long ago, it feels like she's been around for ages, her debuting in a group again would be kinda strange? the rest of the group would be like her back up dancers forever

It worked for Ive and Lesserafim. Somi's bigger than Wonyoung (Ive) and Sakura (Lesserafim), but not that much bigger. Teddy will recruit top talent, so they should be able to keep up.