"GFRIEND didn't disband but our contract was terminated by THAT agency." -GFRIEND LEADER "KIM SOWON"

Are they finally speaking out now that they know Hybe's reputation is in the gutter?

The way they disbanded was so sudden, it makes sense. As for the companies, they can terminate their artists contracts just like that in an instant...not really surprised tbh.

Terminate or hybe didn't want to renew?

Quote from SooYoung

We all knew it

But even if i hate HYBE, she doesn't need to act like if the group was disbanded it's only because of HYBE

because half of the group still find a way to stay together because they wanted to continue GFRIEND as a group

If the other girl didn't want to disband they could also follow the 3 other members and form VIVIZ

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EXACTLY.

The girls obviously didnt want to stay together, only three of them reformed. The others wanted to embark on flop solo careers. If they still wanted to be together, there would be six members of VIVIZ not three.

Quote from Rarami

Terminate or hybe didn't want to renew?

It was terminated early by a couple of months. But why was it terminated, that the is question.

It must have been so hard for them all.

Quote from SooYoung

We all knew it

But even if i hate HYBE, she doesn't need to act like if the group was disbanded it's only because of HYBE

because half of the group still find a way to stay together because they wanted to continue GFRIEND as a group

If the other girl didn't want to disband they could also follow the 3 other members and form VIVIZ

Display More

Quote from BlackpinkHouse

EXACTLY.

The girls obviously didnt want to stay together, only three of them reformed. The others wanted to embark on flop solo careers. If they still wanted to be together, there would be six members of VIVIZ not three.

I don't think it's fair to judge Sowon when we didn't know what happened.

I'm sure those who chose solo careers still would have done it even when their contracts had not been terminated. It was the right time to go solo. And I don't think there's a label that'd sign them together if they were going to focus on their solo careers as well. Who knows if they were offered to join viviz for sometime before going solo or if they weren't given the offer at all?

i agree with the above, despite HYBE terminated/ not renewing them, the members eventually didnt stick together

At one point, i observed that Yuju wasnt feeling it with the group anymore

We'll see if GFRIEND will link up together in BPM in near future, Yuju is currently a FA after leaving KONNECT, Sowon and Yerin are still in an agency. If Yuju joins BPM in near future, might be a sign for other 2 to follow suit once they're FAs.

Quote from SooYoung

First of all i'm not judging her, i'm just saying that she implied that if Gfriend disbanded it's only because of the company

So i'm adding more nuance to her sentence by saying that Gfriend could have their contract terminated by Source Music

But it doesn't mean Gfriend had to disband, they could have all follow the VIVIZ members and continue as 6 members

I disagree people would have sign them because as a group they were a big name in korea

They could have continue to promote as a group and continue their solo career on the side it's what everybody does

Highlight left cube and they continue to promote as a group and do solo career

I just think that if they have disbanded it's in party of HYBE but also cuz of the members too

It's obvious that some of of them wanted to go solo and didn't want to be gfriend anymore or promote as a group

If they were offer to join viviz or not ??

I mean met's not be naive

Viviz members talk about how they talk with each other when their contract was terminated, and sharing their vows of continue as a group

Do you really think only the three of them had this discussion ? They probably had the discussion with all the members asking them if they were interested and then they could search for an agency that would accept them

But the 3 other members probbaly told them that they wanted to pursue a solo career and give up on their idols career

That's why only the 3 members of VIVIZ looked for an agency that would accept to sign them

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You're making a lot of assumptions. In actuality we have no idea how it all went down. One thing I'm certain of is that Viviz isn't called Gfriend for a reason.

Viviz is doing great. They are still young and can gradually build up their touring numbers in the next couple of years, and even sing GFriend songs in concerts and events if they want to. I really like how with fewer members, that all three have a lot more time to shine now, and they are. That is why they are successful and becoming even more successful.

Suddenly the members are the one in the wrong bc Hybe/Soumu disbanded them without consideration leaving a trauma on them, but who cares? It's their fault for not pursuing the group career after this situation

Anyway, what Soumu did was terrible like they should've at least talked with them and explained the reason instead of letting them know from the news. Even till this day 2ne1 talks about their abrupt disbandment and some act like YGE was terrible, hope you have the same sympathy towards a smaller group from an early small company.

Quote from SooYoung

First of all i'm not judging her, i'm just saying that she implied that if Gfriend disbanded it's only because of the company

So i'm adding more nuance to her sentence by saying that Gfriend could have their contract terminated by Source Music

But it doesn't mean Gfriend had to disband, they could have all follow the VIVIZ members and continue as 6 members

I disagree people would have sign them because as a group they were a big name in korea

They could have continue to promote as a group and continue their solo career on the side it's what everybody does

Highlight left cube and they continue to promote as a group and do solo career

I just think that if they have disbanded it's in party of HYBE but also cuz of the members too

It's obvious that some of of them wanted to go solo and didn't want to be gfriend anymore or promote as a group

If they were offer to join viviz or not ??

I mean met's not be naive

Viviz members talk about how they talk with each other when their contract was terminated, and sharing their vows of continue as a group

Do you really think only the three of them had this discussion ? They probably had the discussion with all the members asking them if they were interested and then they could search for an agency that would accept them

But the 3 other members probbaly told them that they wanted to pursue a solo career and give up on their idols career

That's why only the 3 members of VIVIZ looked for an agency that would accept to sign them

Display More

Its not as easy as your saying. Highlight continued because they formed their own company, and as we know, not everyone can be a CEO of a company and an idol, for most they ended up loosing all their money and/or fame. From what I can find, only 2 members went to college, Sowon took media and arts and Yuju for Contemporary Practical Music. If they don't have the qualifications, nor interest in running a company, why should they risk it all to make one? Only other group I can think of who stayed together after leaving a company was BEG (who went to different companies) and ikon who went to 143 (which was formed in 2020, and focused on sending trainees to 3 different reality shows, and debuting their own group. Most of their signings happened in 2023 so its clear where their priorities were).

Considering they were a pretty popular group, most companies wouldn't have been able to afford all their fees, and the ones who could wouldn't want to risk it on a recently disbanded group (i.e. making enemies with Hybe or having a lower income split since they aren't rookies or deal with an opinionated fandom for a group that may slow down their group work, do loads of solo work that may end up flopping and getting blamed by the fans for it, especially since they recently changed their sound).

They got disbanded end of May, Yerin was frankly one of, if not the, most popular member and ended up signing to a new agency a month after disbandment. Sowon signed in August, Yuju in September.

Viviz was announced early October. Honestly its mad BPM came along, but considering BPM was only formed that July, it had the funds (subsidiary of Fact invest which was rumoured to be a finance company, also a deal with million market (which is owned by SM) and Swing (a subsidiary of CJ ENM)) and needed to make a name for itself quickly so they went after established idols, signing their first artist in September (Soyou). I wouldn't be surprised if thats when they made the offer to viviz, by which time only Yuju may have been free and as you mentioned she may have long wanted to try solo work.

Now I'm not saying they would all have renewed, but I think 5/6 would have, the maybe's being Yuju wanting a solo debut and Yerin wanting more solo jobs. But both of those things would have been normal to negotiate in renewal talks, and they may have even gone the mamamoo route, of renewing the group contract but having solo contracts elsewhere. The difference is mamamoo's group contract was with RBW which owns all their group music and their group IP. If gfriend tried to stick together and move elsewhere, they wouldn't have anything gfriend related, remember source kept fighting to keep profits from gfriend IP and trademark their stuff up until January 2023, almost 2 years since disbandment. YG gave ikon all their trademarks. Finding a company to debut them with no catalogue or IP, having to navigate a sound change, fight with Hybe over trademarks, solo work for 6 members, solidify a group image and sound and all for a smaller portion of their earnings was simply not going to happen unless some fan happens to be a billionaire willing to burn money.

so if I was laid off by the company due to not meeting the kpi, the revenue , the profit,… Is it the company fault , not mine ?

business is all about money, idols are the workers. It is sad but thats how life goes.

It would help if you were actually making money for the label.

Quote from worlddome48

so if I was laid off by the company due to not meeting the kpi, the revenue , the profit,… Is it the company fault , not mine ?

business is all about money, idols are the workers. It is sad but thats how life goes.

I see someone is bringing back the old 'they were unprofitable' thing despite the MHJ Hybe beef debunking it.

Just to run with your analogy btw - if the company raises your KPI's, revenue, profit aims to lets say, the best performer at the head office of their owner despite you being in an off shoot of an offshoot with far less resources and investment, your department being the main reason the company was acquired and the profit you generated is being eaten by other massive investments the company is making so they blame you for the shortfall and let you go, are your still going to take the blame for not being profitable enough?

They are saying that now because the careers of Sowon, Yerin and Yuju are going nowhere and they miss the GFriend days. I doubt viviz will take them.