Hybe's girl group situation is chaotic right now. While Nj is thriving, the Hybe vs Min Hee Jin issue casts uncertainty on their future. But we can fully sure that they're not the favourite or the one that Hybe will push.
This leaves us with lsf, illit, and katsseye. Katseye while on the right track, still faces a tougher road as they’re still confined to the kpop bubble despite their brand as global/American gg. With Lsf, despite the success of PN, they hasn’t been pushed in that softer direction to fully utilise the hype they gotten from that song likely to avoid competing with Illit, that Hybe debuted not long after PN become a huge success. Not to mention that with all the controversies around them before, just like Nj, they are losing some of their casual fans too.
So, my last bet is on Illit and well it looks like that too to many of us. With much of NewJeans' old team now working with the group, it’s clear where Hybe priorities lie. They wanted something like Nj and their success but not Nj themselves. Other than that, Illit is still new, still can make people excited and curious so they can generate tons of buzz for their first cb next. Not to mention they're also token stan by Armys, making their position more clear.
In short, illit seems poised to be Hybe's flagship, with lsf close behind. katseye remains a wildcard, while Nj and fromis_9 are treated as their unwanted bastard child.
But I wonder if Hybe can maintain their trajectory of debuting successful girl groups and how long their current girl groups now can continue to dominate. This company has serious attitude and ego issues from their higher-ups, and I’m concerned that at some point, they might become dissatisfied like YG if their most famous groups after BTS are girl groups rather than their boy groups.
