Once members of one of the most perspective new girl groups, now models, influencers, aspiring actresses, songwriters and producers.
At one point in time, the public thought the group would for sure hit it big, but due to unexpected and unexplained developments that we can only speculate on, the group first fell to virtual obscurity, then followed by a shocking disbandment.
In this deep dive we'll take a look at how members of a former group that was winning rookie and best new female artist awards at big award shows left and right are doing now.
Chapter 1 - History
Seven of the ten final members of Pristin, Nayoung, Roa, Yuha, Eunwoo, Rena, Kyulkyung and Xiyeon competed on Produce 101, season 1. The show aired from January to April. Some of the girls faded into the background, but future members Eunwoo, Nayoung and Kyulkyung (real name Zhou Jieqiong) definitely stood out and two of them; Nayoung and Jieqiong went on to win the show and make it to the final lineup of the future powerhouse girl group I.O.I as rank 10 and 6, respectively.
In March of 2016, Pledis officially announced the formation of Pledis Girlz with a lineup of the same seven girls which they sent to Produce 101, with the addition of three other trainees that the public did not know much about, Sungyeon (Shannon), Yehana and Kyla. The group had a lot of predebut fans who would have preferred the core seven to be the final lineup.
Many have theorized that the reason Pledis decided to debut the ten members was the success of their male group, SEVENTEEN, and their self-made, self-producing concept and subsequent fame. The three trainees who did not appear on Produce 101, especially Shannon, participated in the creation of a lot of the group's songs, but they did not have the fan support the other seven had.
On June 27th of the same year, Pledis Girlz released their promotional single, We. The song was written by members Xiyeon, Sungyeon, Eunwoo and Roa, and did not feature the two members who debuted in I.O.I and who were currently promoting with said group.
In the absence of two key members, Pledis Girlz promoted by performing semi-regularly for their growing fandom and at one point held weekly showcases which were helping to prepare the girls for their future debut.
Their last concert under the moniker Pledis Girlz was held in January of 2017.
Pristin debuted on March 21st, 2017 with their first mini album, "Hi! Pristin" and title song, Wee Woo. Member Sungyeon participated in writing the music and lyrics for the single. With lyrics that nowadays nobody would bat an eye at but which caused some drama and eyebrow raising at the time, a catchy tune and a colorful music video, Wee Woo entered the Gaon digital chart at number 52 and by the end of April, sold over 138,000 digital copies and had close to 4 million streams.
Wee Woo failed to achieve a music show win and their first mini album had around 43,000 copies sold in domestic sales alone.
Pristin went on to become the first rookie girl group to perform their debut song on a live broadcast during Mnet Present. In May, they were part of the lineup for KCON Japan. On June of the same year, they performed at the 2017 Dream Concert at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Later in 2017, Pristin Won Asia Artist Awards' (AAA) Rookie Award, and Best New Female Artist at Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA). They were awarded the New Artist Award at Seoul Music Awards (SMA) and Global Rookie Top 5 at the V Live Awards.
The group's second mini album, Schxxl Out, was released in August of 2017 and sold over 27,000 copies domestically, and debuted at fourth please on the Gaon Album Chart. The lead single was titled We Like, and members Roa and Sungyeon wrote the lyrics for the single, while Sungyeon also participated in writing the music for the song.
Pristin's first controversy arose from the lyrics of We Like. Although Wee Woo was also previously highlighted for having somewhat cringey lyrics, one part of We Like was singled out as somewhat problematic and old fashioned and Pristin were called out by the public for perpetuating the "not like the other girls" archetype.
Pledis never released a statement about the controversy, but the lyrics were subsequently quietly changed from "I'll pick out what I want to eat, but I'll also take care of the bill. You don't see this often, you'll be more attracted to someone like me," to, "I'll pick out what I want to eat, and I'll also take care of the bill. After all, I'm the type to be straightforward about what I like and don't like,"
We Like also failed to achieve a music show win.
After the group finished that cycle of promotions, fans joked that the girls ended up in Pledis' perpetual basement. Member Kyla Massie went back to United States, where her family lived, after a head injury and a concussion and was put on a break from group activities, but at the same time, the group had no activities and went on an indefinite hiatus. The silence was deafening.
On May of 2018, Pledis unexpectedly announced the debut of Pristin's first and only subunit, Pristin V.
Pristin V consisted of five of the most popular members of the main group; Nayoung, Eunwoo, Jieqiong, Rena (Yaebin) and Roa (Minkyeung). Fans of the whole group were unhappy with what they perceived as the second debut of the group and Pledis' attempt on cutting down the rest of the members and cashing in on the popularity of the five who would be in the subunit, while some others were just happy they would be getting new Pristin content.
Pristin V made their debut at the end of the same month with a single album called Like a V. It consisted of two songs only, Get It and Spotlight. Many felt that this was the group and the kind of music Pristin should have debuted with.
Despite being a fan favorite, Get It was not a domestic hit and the single album sold around 18,000 copies in South Korea.
After their promotion cycle ended in June, Pristin and Pristin V's activities alike, were finished for good.
There were still no news about Kyla's condition. Fans were unaware she even had a head injury and speculated her hiatus was caused by the extreme body shaming the 15 year old received while promoting with the group.
A clip of Pristin's fansites completely ignoring Kyla while it was her to pose for them at a September 2017 fansign went viral.
In a now privated video, one of the formerly most popular YouTubers posting about his life as a foreigner living in South Korea, Edward Avila, spent 22 minutes defending Korean netizens who were bodyshaming the then 15 year old Kyla. His video was heavily criticized by the international K-pop community and although he didn't apologize and stood by his words, he did end up closing the comment section on his video at the time.
Rumors started speculating that member Xiyeon ended her exclusive contract with Pledis Entertainment. Pledis quickly denied the claims and called the reports fake. Another similar rumor surfaced about Kyla terminating her contract, but this time Pledis was already clearly checked out and a clarification was never released and it was on Kyla's younger sister's shoulders to explain the rumors were not true. This would be one of the many times one of Kyla's siblings spoke out about things their sister was contractually obligated not to speak about.
Pledis Ent announced that the member Jieqiong would be making her solo debut in her home country of China, with the single Why. Why was released in September of 2018. This marked the beginning of her successful solo career and she continued receiving offers and work, while there was no news about any of the members back in South Korea.
The remaining girls stopped updating their social media and fans were truly in the dark. Internationally fans unfairly blamed 15 year old Kyla's hiatus for the group's inactivity, but it was obvious something bigger was going on in the company besides that. Pristin would not be the first group to continue releasing music and performing while a member was on hiatus. There was no reason why that would be preventing them from making new music, posting or appearing in the public.
During the group's hiatus and the uncertainty over the status of their activities, a photo of Kyla working at a fair in her hometown in America surfaced. A lot of misplaced hate and anger from the international fans of the group ended up Kyla's way. It's important to stress that the girl was only 15 and 16 at a time, already went through a lot and was not to blame for the group's circumstances, but when did that stop stan Twitter? At the time, they managed to drive her off of every platform she was on. She had her fair share of messy behavior, but we'll get to that later. Still, she never deserved a witch hunt.
Tired with getting no answers from Pledis, the Korean fans of the group took matters into their own hands and requested for the group to have a comeback by plastering the Pledis building with post-it notes asking for just that.
Fans were also asking for feedback. Pledis staff quietly took the post-it notes down and a day later, fans appeared again and rinse and repeated the situation from the previous day.
Pledis continued to ignore the questions and demands and staff even deleted fans' posts from the group's fancafe so they wouldn't have to address any of them.
In early 2019, it was time for member Xiyeon to graduate from SOPA. Traditionally, the companies would send off the member graduating in a company car, surrounded by staff for protection and their members for support, and an active idol would receive a special award from the school. She also wasn't invited to stand in the photo zone where other idols took photos with their group members who came to support them. Both of these things were especially controversial since graduating at the same time was an idol who left their group, who received all of those things.
A few of Xiyeon's fansites attended and they posted the only photos of her that the fans got from that day. The only member who attended her graduation was Sungyeon, and she was sitting in her corner with Xiyeon and giving her full support. The lack of company support for Xiyeon was especially jarring considering how she spent almost her whole childhood, over nine years, being a Pledis trainee.
A few months later, the members started opening up their personal social media accounts. The fandom knew this wasn't a good sign, because usually only after a group disbands or has been established for many years are the idols allowed to open up their accounts. At the same time, Pledis Ent ignored Pristin on their second anniversary and no post was made commemorating it.
On May 24th, 2019, the fans finally got the answer they were dreading - Pristin was disbanding. Three former members, Jieqiong, Sungyeon (from now on referred to as Shannon) and Yehana would be the only ones staying in the company. The other seven would be leaving it for good, as they had terminated their contracts with Pledis.
Shannon stayed to work on songwriting, producing and music. Yehana was suspected to be staying for the same reason, but she hasn't been heard of much ever since. And Jieqiong? She was a whole other story.
But Pristin as the fans knew it was long gone.
