RE: Why do SM stans ignore Billlie?

I think with HYBE it’s because they don’t have enough older and established acts but kpop fans love the “family” image and love being company Stan’s so they latched on quickly to all the subsidiaries. And hybe is also capitalizing on this by pushing that HYBE brand to showcase they can handle many groups too.

SM stans already have decades long list of SM groups and multiple active groups they can stan and have no reason to Stan the subsidiaries. SM also doesn’t push them to colab or be a part of SM town cuz they already have fifty billion artists who perform at SM town for 5 hours RIPPPP lol.

It’s all the same just that with HYBE they’re new so the subsidiaries model works.

Quote from zuzuhhaa

consider it a blessing, i love what billlie is doing. SM lost all originality, they say kwangya in every song and we eat that shit up and come up with some wild ass theories we can't even confirm until aespa drops those 10 minute videos every two years. the way they just entirely lied to us with half the stuff they said in that thing they did with lee sooman in the middle of 2021

SM def has a formula for group title tracks, stuff been sounding similar for a while.

I'm sure I'm on the minority here, but I actually knew about Billlie even pre-debut BECAUSE of Mystic Story's being a subsidiary from SM. Although that's surely just because I'm interested on the business side of SM.

It's a fact that SM barely promotes Billlie or any Mystic Story thing aside from mentioning them on their website or videos like these:

Mystic Story and Billllie have their own channels, where they upload their MV's, and Billlie since the start was more marketed as "Mystic Story 1st girl group" than "a new gg from a SM subsidiary". This might have to do with the fact that Yoon Jong Shin (famous singer in Korea, founder and chief producer of Mystic Story) is friends with LSM, Mystic Story probably wants their own recognition but they have some SM funds and advices coming their way since the success of Billlie benefits both.

It's true that Mystic Story has more of an "alternative" and J-pop vibe than SM but you can tell they are very much influenced by them (heavy R&B b-sides that remind me of Red Velvet, quirky and very musically unique sound on their title tracks, their own "strange world" with a lot of terms used only for that storyline...)

Basically, it's not that most SM stans ignore Billlie, it's that I doubt most of them even know of their existence because, from the scratch, they weren't marketed as an SM group, neither they had a comparable investment. Tsuki got viral on GingaMingaYo and they have some hype to them, but it's much more likely to discover that Billlie is under an SM subsidiary because you liked Billlie from the first place than to know about Billlie because you like SM groups.

Also, obligatory: Woollim has not been a SM subsidiary for some time, most of the stocks are from their own CEO and SM has about 27% of stocks, but they are not the ones taking decisions at all, Woollim is more like an affiliate. Mystic Story, however, is indeed a subsidiary because SM is it's biggest shareholder.

Do most people even know they are a subsidiary of SM?

Quote from zuzuhhaa

i honestly don't think so, unless you pay attention to the group

All their mvs are put on their channel and not on SM so obviously they aren't using the SM branding

don't like the music

I think letting Billlie grow their own stable fandom is better for the group's image

and it's also better for Mystic Story's image