When The Members Are More Popular Than The Group

  • I feel like there are always a few groups from each era where multiple members in the same group are more popular as actors or soloists etc than the group is.


    To be honest with some of Kpop groups I really feel like group activities and promotions hender the careers of the group members and they are just doing this stuff because they have to until the contract ends.


    So, I don't piss off any fans, I'll use an inactive group as an example. Groups like Ze:A where like half of the members became hugely generally public popular in Korea after they stopped focusing on the group activities. Park Hyungsik, Siwan, and Kwanghee being the biggest from that group. I feel like the industry takes you more seriously when you're not labeled an Idol Actor and you don't have a ton of group schedules to do etc.


    I know I'm not the only one that notices stuff like this, I'm kind of scared to mention it though as a lot of hardcore fans in fandoms worship the group even if it can be at the expense of the members in the group.

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  • I agree! being an actor is seen as more prestigious and acceptable, just look at idols preforming at acting award shows, the whole crowd is straight faced!

    Tho tbh I think it has gotten a lot better. Idols are not look down on as much as they used to be. Tho I still feel like standards are different for dating with idols. Sometimes I get the impression that fans treat Idols less like adults than other celebs in Korea even if the Idols are 35 etc.

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  • You out here with the receipts.

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  • I don't see the point beating around the bush lol

    These are just facts :pepe-notes:

    The industry is weird, there is the other side of the coin where a decently popular group disbands and then the careers of the members fall off a cliff after. Like Jongup from BAP puts out nice stuff, all the BAP fans seem to either all disappeared or are ignoring the solo stuff from the former members. Jongup's song US deserves way more than 500K views on Youtube etc. The group has MVs with over 40M views etc.

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  • Quote

    Park Hyungsik, Siwan, and Kwanghee

    Its crazy all 3 are from the same group


    However is any of them more famous than ZEA in musical department?


    I think there are more cases of individual idols finding alot of success as CF, variety and actors.

    Its harder to think of idols more famous in music department compare to their groups.


    Even for Suzi, her career as a singer is a total flop, no offense

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  • As another example recently there was a post listing the guests of Taeyeon concert


    They put Key' name as part of Nolto's cast rather than along Minho and Taemin as SHINee member :holding-back-tears:

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  • Idk about the others that well but I don't think Hyungsik promotes as a singer at all (like albums and single releases) He does musical acting and makes OSTs for Dramas he is in tho.


    Stuff like this:


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  • Tho tbh I think it has gotten a lot better. Idols are not look down on as much as they used to be. Tho I still feel like standards are different for dating with idols. Sometimes I get the impression that fans treat Idols less like adults than other celebs in Korea even if the Idols are 35 etc.

    true! dating is a different story, k-pop is like any other fandom, fans love their idols so much they negate anything bad, and baby them. that's just our kpop worldom I guess.

  • I guess Kim Jungkook could be counted as well? Since I think more people will know him as the running man cast rather than Turbo. Heck maybe even a younger kpop stan will know him more as a youtuber/gym guy

    Yeah, def now. Wasn't expecting an example with a group from the 90s.

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  • idk in the case of up10tion it destroyed them.


    Jinhyuk and Wooseok went on produce, jinhyuk was rigged out but and wooseok made it. even though promotions were supposed to last a couple years because of the controversy the group was disbanded....yet instead of allowing wooseok and jinhyuk to return back to up10tion...they kept them as soloists...


    the group could have done much better as a whole but top media's dumb ass didn't do that. then they silently booted out jinhoo after they forced him to enlist early to cover up a dating controversy. up10tion could have done way better had top media brought the members back to the group in addition to allowing them some solo work.


    Jinhyuk has expressed numerous times how upset he was that, that never happened, and now they all left the company but top media stated that the MAIN 7 would remain as up10tion with wooseok, jinhyuk and jinhoo gone. The group feels empty despite my love for them and I will forever hate top media for their dumb ass decisions. I am still bitter about hwanhee and xiao going on boys planet, I don't know why they did that...because I could see that if either made it, up10tion would further be ruined. so in this case it really fucked them up.


    In a sort of positive case...Jaechan starring in Semantic Error and doing a damn good acting job along side seoham boosted the hell out of his group. he's still pretty popular but i think the promotions and the fanbase he gathered really helped them. but they are easily forgotten despite 2 members being a unit and promoting right now.

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