is ITZY downfall similar to Gfriend's ?

  • (ofcourse we only gonna talk about digital sales because ITZY is a monster when it comes to album sales compared to gfriend)


    we all can agree that gfriend's peak was one of hugests for kpop girl group, they started off really strong, have a multiple national hits before suddenly experiencing downturn by each comeback.. from their last hits (TFTMN) to Sunrise, Fever, Crossroads, Apple and their last track Mago..

    is the same thing is happening to ITZY now ?

  • no.....



    idk how many forget that towards the end of them being a group, they were becoming more and more popular internationally. getting interviews such as these:


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    and more.


    they had a slow period but they were climbing back up. yes it is true they were struggling a bit pre-bighit (and even during) but it was due to concept indecisiveness. their sales were pretty okay, but they had gotten eyes back on them for their ~company change~.



    yk what itzy is suffering from? jyp being in a slight rut. i don't think they've had a "downfall" quite yet. now if they have another two comebacks that don't perform as great/aren't on par with anything pre-Sneakers (because though ITM and Loco were dividing, they were still good by lots of people's standards), then we'll be in trouble.


    the problem is they not only lost the signature itzy sound, they kinda lost a sound that really differentiates them from others. which is why some people have been tuning out. i still love them but do i love this as much as pre 2022? not really. i'm sure if jyp realizes this (.... well.... one can hope) they'll be fine.


    they're not down and out yet.

  • itzy really only had dalla dalla as their big hit though right?? not that they fell off right after but they haven't hit that kind of success since.


    gfriend had a bunch of hits and was the top girl group for awhile.

    i think their other hits (Sneakers, Wannabe, Icy,Mafia In The Morning) is comparable to Gfriend's hits (Rough, Navillera, TFTMN, Love Whisper)

  • i think their other hits (Sneakers, Wannabe, Icy,Mafia In The Morning) is comparable to Gfriend's hits (Rough, Navillera, TFTMN, Love Whisper)

    Please tell me you're joking 😑😑

    You can't be serious


    Just rough is a bigger hit than any itzy song



    Really ? I was under the impression that Gfriend's hits were way bigger


    They are

    They were consider as a top group when they released mengustas tu, rough and navillera back to back

    These songs were massive success

    You can't compare itzy songs to hit like the ones Gfriend had

    ✩We Born with the X-Gene✩

    #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON

  • It can't be compare


    Even if Gfriend was doing great i think everybody was expecting them to have a sudden rise to the top but also a quick fall to the bottom because Source couldn't manage them or give them as much exposure on the long term to keep them relevant for a long time


    In contrary it's very surprising for a Big 3 GG to do so bad in charts

    People were already doubting itzy after their very average digital performance with loco, mafia in the morning

    And Sneakers was doing bad too until chaeryeong goes viral and finally they had a minor hit

    But tbh i didn't expect them to do some crazy digital performance because sneakers wasn't very huge

    But i expected them to do better than they did with loco and MITM now that they were able to gain the public attention again

    But it really surprise me that after a week and even after they start promoting the song in music show the song still wasn't able to enter melon top 100


    Personally i think yes it might be their downfall unless they can attract people again

    Because clearly what cheshire prove was that Sneakers success was only a viral thing and the success wasn't because of people being interest in itzy as a group


    So unless they pull a Psycho moment with a song so good that it smash everywhere and make people interest in them i don't know what to think

    ✩We Born with the X-Gene✩

    #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON

  • Itzy are simply a known quantity at this point.


    You know what you are going to get - some people continue to love it, but more general population is clearly tiring of it.


    What's been shown this year is people are looking for new music, new concepts. Itzy will struggle because they're going to struggle to pivot.


    Look at this year and the groups that popped off- people are chasing something fresh.

  • I think ppl are doing a lot of overreacting with this new song. Sneakers is still charting. This was a December release and honestly don't think the intention was to come out with another huge hit this era. I Don't think that they expected the song to flop this hard but it is what it is. Itzy will be back next year and I'm sure they will come back hard after Chesire underperformed. Again, sneakers just happened so Itzy is far from being done and are still capable of getting a hit song. I'm glad their albums are still selling well though. The one silver lining.

  • I don't think it's comparable at all, the main reason being that ITZY still has a strong fanbase and they are selling insane amounts. ITZY is a massive financial success for JYP still regardless of how they chart. Sneakers also charted very well this year, since when did 1 non-charting release mean the end of a group? :pepe-hips:


    Gfriend never exceeded 100k sales on a release and their last release had a 30% drop in sales compared to the previous. ITZY has sold like 1.7M in 2022. Obviously sales went up across the board in K-pop but the point is that Gfriend were probably losing money or barely profitable for the company while ITZY is raking in cash for JYP.

  • I don't think it's comparable at all, the main reason being that ITZY still has a strong fanbase and they are selling insane amounts. ITZY is a massive financial success for JYP still regardless of how they chart. Sneakers also charted very well this year, since when did 1 non-charting release mean the end of a group? :pepe-hips:


    Gfriend never exceeded 100k sales on a release and their last release had a 30% drop in sales compared to the previous. ITZY has sold like 1.7M in 2022. Obviously sales went up across the board in K-pop but the point is that Gfriend were probably losing money or barely profitable for the company while ITZY is raking in cash for JYP.

    This just proof how powerful the groups from big 3. They can afford to released a 'bad songs' or not even have a good songs at all but still have a huge fanbase.

  • I don't think it's comparable at all, the main reason being that ITZY still has a strong fanbase and they are selling insane amounts. ITZY is a massive financial success for JYP still regardless of how they chart. Sneakers also charted very well this year, since when did 1 non-charting release mean the end of a group? :pepe-hips:


    Gfriend never exceeded 100k sales on a release and their last release had a 30% drop in sales compared to the previous. ITZY has sold like 1.7M in 2022. Obviously sales went up across the board in K-pop but the point is that Gfriend were probably losing money or barely profitable for the company while ITZY is raking in cash for JYP.


    Comparing their sales is not comparable at all

    Gfriend was active in a time where reaching 100K was very good and the best selling album was around 400K

    + The fact that little agency group doesn't have the same ease to build a fanbase because they don't get the support of agency stan and well we all know JYP stan go hard considering that they bought 400K for NMIXX when they just debuted and nobody liked the song


    And you can't neither compare their sales at the end of their career

    You are comparing their performance after 7 years of activity

    To itzy in 3 years

    In 3 years Gfriend sales kept increase they never increase

    And secondly there's a lot of factor to their decrease in sales not just them going downhill

    But the biggest factor was the fact that BIG Hit bought Source Music and the fact that they completely change what used to make Gfriend what they are and what their fans liked about them

    That's why a lot of fans completely left the ship after the Siren era


    As you can see between labyrinth and Siren era their sales increase because labyrinth was very In-Brand for Gfriend so a lot of their fans was happy that Big hit will not change Gfriend too much that's why they preorder Siren

    And then with Siren Big hit completely change the group sound and aesthetic that's why a lot of Gfriend fan didn't bought their last album

    ✩We Born with the X-Gene✩

    #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON #aespa from GOMAWO TAEYEON

  • You are right, sales did increase massively across the board and numbers are no longer comparable. For example when IZ*ONE sold 500k it was unheard of and they broke every record but this year a ton of groups sold 500k+ as if it's completely normal. This all happened very fast, in 2-3 years.


    But the point I really wanted to emphasize (now that I read my own post I realize I didn't do a good job) is that their company deemed it a bad business move to keep investing in them. I believe that's the reason they disbanded. Source Music basically decided that they are better off investing in a new group rather than trying to make Gfriend financially worthwhile.


    I guess I agree with Buddys - their company did them real dirty after they pretty much built the company up.


    There is no risk of JYP deeming ITZY financially unviable so the original question - are the situations comparable? - I would still say that's a definite no.

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