Is Le sserafim a risky group for Hybe to debut?

    They go against trends:

    -Mostly older, above 20 members when the trend now is younger

    -Let Yunjin debut even though she has left Kpop, returned to the US since no company debuted her

    -Change the image of Chaewon/Sakura from cute/magical to edgy, strong performers

    -Debut Garam despite her past

    -Debut a professional ballerina with little idol training

    -Choose risky songs (Fearless was called flat at first but is now a stable hit, Antifragile goes for reggaeton, which no group is doing)

    -Hard dances while Kpop now is going for simple, Tiktok viral dances

    …

    With many risks, is it surprising Le sserafim succeed so fast?

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    With Sakura in the group there wasn't much of a risk. They were gonna sell well regardless. And the First HYBE GG thing was gonna get them attention. They would've actually been MORE successful by now if Fearless was just a better song and if the Garam + Kakao smear campaign never happened. Also I'm still suspecting that they debuted Garam because she simply didn't tell the company about the Level 5 punishment until the bullying thing started going public during debut.

    I love how you conveniently leave out other things

    - Chaewon and Sakura, both already debuted in a Produce group

    - Sakura who has a big Chinese and Japanese fanbase

    - Chaewon who's a popular member in Japan, decent fanbase as well

    - Yunjin who's one of the top vocalists in PD48, and a recognisible face as she's appeared on the show

    - Kazuha who's a top visual, recruited specificially from Netherlands. Gained attention right away from debut, as they've probably expected.


    Why would it be risky for HYBE to debut them? They themselves are a big company, which typically guarantees the attention and connections them themselves have, and if anything, acquiring Sakura and Chaewon are a guarantee win in the sales department. It's a no-brainer move really, as opposed to debuting all completely new faces.

    Lesserafim was a slam dunk moneywise, I knew they would sell plenty with Ssamkura's fanbases. The digital success can never be predicted but i knew they would be digitally relevant just like Izone which now has all five of their title tracks hitting 2M Uls and two with over 3M. I just didnt know if they would ever make it to the very top the way they did.


    Izone girls are literally the least risky investments you could ever make, they literally print money. Even the most unpopular members still outselling 98 percent of all female soloists. Like Hyewon's first album last year was mostly a photobook, unpromoted with no stages or choreo, and they only printed 20k copies but those sold out in a flash, that's double the sales of Chungha's debut ffs.

    no but can we talk about how fromis haven't disbanded yet? the real deadweight of hybe (newjeans soon once they enter their flop era)

    Quote from OP

    -Mostly older, above 20 members when the trend now is younger

    They do have a young member, and Sakura and Chaewon had fans already from Iz*One


    Quote from OP

    -Let Yunjin debut even though she has left Kpop, returned to the US since no company debuted her

    Why would they care for other companies judgement?


    Quote from OP

    -Change the image of Chaewon/Sakura from cute/magical to edgy, strong performers

    Their new image is still not too foreign, so it just generated buzz.


    Quote from OP

    -Debut Garam despite her past

    Okay that was risky. And stupid


    Quote from OP

    -Debut a professional ballerina with little idol training

    She's a PROFESSIONAL BALLERINA. That drew a lot of attention to her


    Quote from OP

    -Choose risky songs (Fearless was called flat at first but is now a stable hit, Antifragile goes for reggaeton, which no group is doing)

    Neither of those songs were risky, their sound is pretty mainstream


    Quote from OP

    -Hard dances while Kpop now is going for simple, Tiktok viral dances

    Is it really

    I feel like Hybe found newjeans more risky, MHJ said in an interview they lacked trust in newjeans music...but I find Lesserafim more risky since Kpop fans prefer fresh faces, and many Hybe stans treated newjeans (then plus group) like first Hybe gg from the start and were angry when Hybe released news about another group. So yeah it was risky but girls did well and proved their status as one of the best ggs of this gen.

    she was a student, she was never a professional ballerina

    depends how you look at it


    Profit wise, definitely no. Having Sakura already guaranteed sales. Chaewon has decent sized fanbase too


    Acceptance by Korean, YES. Because Sakura is not fond by koreans. And, the group has 2 and half foreigners. Putting Garam aside, debuting with such strong concept (being fearless) and polarising song (it is catchy though) was definitely a bold move.

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