Anyone still remember Kep1er? Still one of the biggest wasted potentials in kpop for me

    • New

    They used to hold the record for the highest first day debut album sales for a girl group and the second highest for first week sales, only behind Aespa. Wadada even entered the Korean charts, and their views and engagement were huge. The thing is, they had the potential to continue Izone’s huge success, but things took a turn for the worse.


    The lineup caused huge turmoil, the company didn’t seem interested in pushing and promoting them, the keep jumping from one to another concept drastically and the fans were constantly fighting among themselves over favoritism or mistreatment. The group never saw any peace. And not to blame her, but Bahiyyih had Hybe stans token stanning her, which worsened the in-house fan wars. She received unnecessary hate because of that too.


    Honestly, since 2024, they’ve been off my radar after Yeseo and Mashiro left the group. I don’t know if their fanbase still like that, but every time I remember how I religiously watched Gp999, I still think it’s very unfortunate how they went from being able to compete with the Big 4 ggs to becoming such a mess.

    • New

    the same thing can be said of the other Mnet Survival Show groups such as IOI and Izone


    one might even say that IOI and Izone had more potential than compared to say Kep1ler since they disbanded when they were still at their peak (or peaking or even haven't reached their peak yet)


    Lots of groups have potential but sometimes it just doesn't pan out

    • New

    all i remember about gp999 is that it gave us this bop


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    • New

    They're doing alright. They seem to be winding down a bit and they still tour.


    I really like this song

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    I thought this song was fun

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    • New
    Quote from Flovell

    They used to hold the record for the highest first day debut album sales for a girl group and the se‍cond highest for first week sales

    Interestingly, they're the only major Fourth Generation group to experience a decline in physical sales during the period f‍r‍om 2021 to 2023, when everyone else saw a massive increase.

    • New
    Quote from selfmate

    the same thing can be said of the other Mnet Survival Show groups such as IOI and Izone


    one might even say that IOI and Izone had more potential than compared to say Kep1ler since they disbanded when they were still at their peak (or peaking or even haven't reached their peak yet)


    Lots of groups have potential but sometimes it just doesn't pan out

    I treat Mnet survival show groups as temporary, not permanent, even if Kep1er continues their contract as a group. For me, IOI and Izone fulfilled the purpose and live up to their fullest potential as a temporary groups. Both groups give their members exposure and public recognition. Disbanding at their peak was actually beneficial for the members, allowing them to bring that momentum to their own companies. (Although in IOI’s case, their companies didn’t capitalize on the opportunity as well). Some of their members can still have brand deals, Cfs, and modeling gigs until today without doing much activities outside of it.


    All groups have potential, but Kep1er (and X1) is one of the few that already on the right trajectory from their debut, with strong sales and growing public attention. Very few have all that in their hand just to lose it within a year.

    • New
    Quote from Flovell

    I treat Mnet survival show groups as temporary, not permanent, even if Kep1er continues their contract as a group. For me, IOI and Izone fulfilled the purpose and live up to their fullest potential as a temporary groups. Both groups give their members exposure and public recognition. Disbanding at their peak was actually beneficial for the members, allowing them to bring that momentum to their own companies. (Although in IOI’s case, their companies didn’t capitalize on the opportunity as well). Some of their members can still have brand deals, Cfs, and modeling gigs until today without doing much activities outside of it.


    All groups have potential, but Kep1er (and X1) is one of the few that already on the right trajectory from their debut, with strong sales and growing public attention. Very few have all that in their hand just to lose it within a year.

    but isn't that what potential means my friend? that IF IOI and Izone would have continued then they had the potential to dominate? compete with the other top groups? I would argue that had Izone and IOI renewed their contracts for say another couple of years (such as Kep1ler) that they could have become even bigger than they are now - obviously hindsight is 20/20 and we can never know whether they could have achieved more or did they disband at their peak...


    what do you think was the biggest problem(s) with Kep1ler that it failed to achieve their potential?

  • AllKill VIP
    • New

    I think at this point they are more popular in Japan than in Korea. That said I agree that final line-up caused some weird shit but I blame the mentors for it. They've did Yurina Kawaguchi dirty with that bad talk and not only took her confidence down but also basically turned voters away. There was also way too much evil editing and setting up Chinese trainees like Fu Yaning and Cai Bing.


    I also remember the whole weird situation with Bahiyyih being nowhere to be seen in top ranking in early rank, and in next 3 rankings and suddenly just before final episode she appeared in the middle of top 9. Overall it ended as being show which was trying to limit foreign trainees. 3rd ranking result in ep 11 had 4 japanese girls, 4 korean and Fu Yaning. The mid-rank revealed before final episode meanwhile had 8 Korean girls, and Su Ruiqi. And then in final episode there were six Korean girls ranked from 1 to 6 lol.


    Overall group was visually too distorted and also no wonder during Queendom older groups were laughing about goofy Wa Da Da which was weird song. Shooting Star, MVSK, Giddy, and Bubble Gum are Kep1er's best songs.


    Kep1er seems like one of best examples how being a good and interesting individual trainee doesn't mean that whole group will look and sound cohesive, and that they can slay in all concepts. This is probably why they couldn't hit it bigger, and also losing members didn't help at all.

  • AllKill VIP
    • New

    They've certainly could've done more and be bigger, but the same could also be said for 99% of all Kpop groups out there. I think right from the jump at their debut or even before that, there were already doomsday posting cos people already thought they lacked star powers compared to previous Produce groups and the show itself was bit of a mess. Tbh I don't think it was much of a "wasted potential" because people really didn't see the massive potential in them in the first place.

    Edited once, last by ks8126 ().

  • AllKill VIP
    • New

    Agencies in Korea recently held auditions for trainees who want to get a chance and participate in girl group survival show. So there are high chances it will be for GP999 2, altough that said I'm pretty sure that MNet and other tv channels who are planning survivals are in a pickle here. China implemented that J culture ban, and they didn't want to give visa to Japanese members of Le Sserafim and izna. So this basically kills any chances for mixing trainees like it was before. So I'd expect it to end as K+J + some of Chinese girls who dream of being KPOP Idols, but don't really think about promoting in China mainland with group. Personally if someone ask me I would select girls from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and maybe Thailand or Philippines. I get that Chinese market is big but if MNet wants to do something, they can produce a separate show like Planet C girl version and then just let that Chinese group promote in China.


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