Why have the SNSD members seen more success in their solo endeavors compared to their 2nd Gen GG "rivals"?

SM idols always have many avenues. That’s always been the case. Whether that’s variety or acting or theater or modeling or consistent solo album releases. They participate in these even when the group is active.

I can’t think of another agency that’s as consistent with keeping their artists employed in some way or the other

I would add Nana (and Krystal maybe) since she's doing very well in acting too, but yeah, sadly in music career, the only notable ones are Sunmi and Hyuna and even then their careers are something incredible and never seen before (Hyuna re-debuting with 4minute and being part of so many collabs, Sunmi leaving the group, re debuting as solo and re-joining the group just to leave the company after that).

I think SM did the right thing with SNSD members, promoting them as individuals and investing on their respective careers (Yoona as actress, Taeyeon as singer, Hyo as dancer and DJ, etc) plus the girls all have that extra it factor which makes them stars and not just another idol group members.

Other companies failed because 1. Jyp don't want individual members to have careers, 2. YG was a mess with 2ne1, 3. The smaller companies like DSP and pledis just don't know how to manage their idols and 4. Some of the idols may be good members but don't have enough "it" factor

thanks to sm. Even key is more known than bts members bcs of being on tv. But that doesn't take away the fact they have been working very hard and exceling in what they do without settling down and resting which i think deserves respect. Even jessica hasn't settled down and doing well with her fashion brand even thoguh dispatch reports were pointing out that she was planning to get married and leave snsd before being kicked out.

i think its because of consistency..? and unlike SNSD, 2NE1 and SISTAR (and also WG) member solos are mainly revolving around music, and we know how hard and competitive the music industry currently. T-ARA member seems fine with acting job

i think another 2nd gen group where all the member are doing well is Girls Day and 3/4 member busy and booked as an actress.

Quote from 4d-maknae

I think SM did the right thing with SNSD members, promoting them as individuals and investing on their respective careers (Yoona as actress, Taeyeon as singer, Hyo as dancer and DJ, etc) plus the girls all have that extra it factor which makes them stars and not just another idol group members.

This. SM is quite good at getting the group members exposure in the industry. Same thing can be seen with Red Velvet. I think aespa is the only SM group i dont see SM promoting individual members a lot (maybe theyre going the Blackpink exclusive idol route)

One of SNSD biggest strengths is that they are THE multi entertainment group in kpop. If they weren’t putting out music they did almost everything else in the entertainment industry whether it was tv shows, acting, musicals, radio, modelling or whatever. So even if you didn’t care for their music or not like all members there’s was always still something there for you. They were a mini industry by themselves.

The full group was always on tv no matter what. Their even had their own tv show as rookies (Girls Generation goes to school). That meant it was easier to appeal to people who didn’t know about their music such as older tv watchers. It was a genius tactic as during their peak SNSD was known by almost every demographic from young and old to boys and girls and their tv appearances through their career were often record setters. It was a saying that you literally couldn’t watch TV without seeing SNSD in some way. Their appearance on quiz or the year last year (14 years as a group) was the number 1 watched show in the time slot and the ep was like the top 5 most watched in the shows history. Not bad for a group that did nothing on tv for 4 years straight.

Individually some followed the same strategy, start early and go hard.

Taeyeon was singing high charting and highly acclaimed OSTs as a rookie.

Yoona was a cast on one of the biggest dramas at the time and was already doing CFs.

Tiffany was being regularly pushed on small tv shows and guest appearances to help build her confidence in speaking Korean.

While some who didn’t get their break straight away they soon found their own paths later on and because of their focus and dedication to their chosen career they because successes on their own right

Hyoyeon became a tv variety hit which is to this day and also became a dj on the musical side

Sooyoung became a an all round entertainer doing tv, hosting and focused most on acting

Jessica did musicals and her tv appearances as just being herself gave her nickname ice princess made her very popular kinda by accidental

Sunny did a ton of tv and radio shows including the super successful invincible youth

Yuri did tv work (including invincible youth with Sunny) then acting then singing and now does a bit of everything

Seohyun became popular after we got married and soon became a musical star and actress.

When you get a group that ingrained into pop culture it’s no surprise that they make a name for themselves both as a group and individually. That level of popularity and recognition can carry a person or group for years and years even after their peak is over.

Hyoyeon, Sunny, Sooyoung, Tiffany have been active but i don't think i can call them successful.

*Cough* Just speaking up for the Wonder Girls here:

- Ye Eun is now part of an government advisory board that is advising the Korean government on sexual harrassment issues, fighting for the rights of females all over the country.

- Sunye is happily-married and a mother of 3 beautiful daughters, and as shown by MAMA the Idol, can easily regain her popularity in the industry should she ever decide to come back full-time.

- Yubin founded her own agency and is currently acting as a CEO.

- Sunmi is a successful solo artist.

- Hyuna is a successful solo artist and now happily engaged to the love of her life.

- Sohee is doing well in her acting career.

- Lim already has several notable instances of putting her foreign language translation degree to good use (she worked on the Korean translation for the Diary of Anne Frank), and is making progress as an artist alongside her husband, while also welcoming their first child.

If you broaden the definition of "success" to encompass more than a career in performance, they're all doing well.

I love SNSD just as much as the next fella but the only members i can instantly recognize are Taeyeon and Yoona.

I cant consistently put a name to a face for any of the other members, heck i dont even know the names of all of them (right now i can only think of Tae, Yoona, Jessica, Tiffany, Yuriah and Sooyoung, and Sooyoung only because of the user on here and Yuriah only because of the hilarious video with her, Tiffany and Taeyeon lol).

When it comes to an actual career in music or acting, it's pretty much just Taeyeon.

Like everyone said, SM does a surprisingly good job of promoting idols in a variety of solo careers. I think what some people forget, or maybe you're newer to the kpop scene, is that snsd wasn't just the nation's girl group because of their record sales, they were icons and each individual member was well known to the public. They went on variety shows non-stop so everyone got to see all of their individual personalities. A lot of other groups who put out hit songs may have one or two popular members, but it's rare to have a 9 member group where all 9 are memorable.

People are similarly well acquainted with all the members of Twice, but JYP has decided they can make more money keeping them as a group rather than letting them splinter off into other projects for now. Since pop groups never last forever, I hope by the time they're winding down their group activities it isn't too late to cash in on their individual name recognition.

Quote from BlackpinkHouse

I love SNSD just as much as the next fella but the only members i can instantly recognize are Taeyeon and Yoona.

how can you put say these two things in the same sentence

Even though other groups had bigger hits in some years. SNSD was pretty much more popular than all the other GGs, they were in all the variety shows, and had high public recognition. 2NE1 members would have done much better if not for YG's mismanagement

Quote from BPAKGAE

Hyoyeon, Sunny, Sooyoung, Tiffany have been active but i don't think i can call them successful.

Why not? They are regularly in demand and popular than majority of idols past and especially present trendy and younger idols. They likely also earn much more than most idols. When veteran idols are still highly competitive that’s more than successful in my book.

Hyoyeon is often a TV ratings guest star and gets a lot of praise for her personality. Recent years she’s toured the world and been involved in cfs and fashion.

Sunny is basically the number 1 idol when it comes to tv work. If someone needs an idol as permanent role it’s Sunny as the defacto choice.

Sooyoung is a critically acclaimed and successful actress. She is also a hot topic in cfs as has the “Sooyoung effect” where a lot of stuff she endorses brings ina different section of customers especially younger females (Cadillac Korea hired Soo and she was so popular they saw many new young female customers, so much so they ran out of inventory)

Tiffany was very popular up to 2016 as singer, fashion icon and semi tv star. Of course her scandal more or less rest that to zero but the fact despite that she’s back and in high demand (musical, tv, soon acting, hosting events etc) more than most current day idols shows how successful she is. How many idols or groups can say they came back from a major scandal half as strong as Tiffany has? Hell not many idols can say they have a scandal free career to the same level as Tiffany is currently post scandal.

Quote from Haolat

how can you put say these two things in the same sentence

Well i love them for two songs, The Boys is something i kinda recently rediscovered (i remember hearing the song before but i never knew that SNSD actually sang it until i saw Izone covering it, then i went back and watched SNSD's OG version).

And of course, their other great song, IGAB.

SNSD had to hit the ground running to build sustainable solo careers. They even took nearly a year between SNSD and Gee to focus on solo work so they could break SM's streak of unlucky and unsuccessful girl groups. During that time: Taeyeon got a record breaking ost, Yoona bagged a hit drama and they kept up that work even during their peak years with Jessica's Naengmyun doing even better than Genie, Yuri and Sunny doing Infinity Challenge and the entire vocal line bagging OSTs, musical theater gigs, and radio hosting. They never had to wear name tags at shows and the everybody knew and had a favorite girl. Used to be a joke that every channel you turned to had a Soshi member

What I'm most impressed with is how the SHY line managed to turn their careers around the last few years, before then they were known as the flop ones

Quote from oldschool29

.

People are similarly well acquainted with all the members of Twice, but JYP has decided they can make more money keeping them as a group rather than letting them splinter off into other projects for now. Since pop groups never last forever, I hope by the time they're winding down their group activities it isn't too late to cash in on their individual name recognition.

that's the most disjointing thing about going from SNSD to Twice. When the girls aren't doing music, which is rare by itself, there's basically... nothing

Quote from BPAKGAE

Hyoyeon, Sunny, Sooyoung, Tiffany have been active but i don't think i can call them successful.

People use the word so lightly

Even Jessica is on debt

The only ones that fit there are ty and yoona, who sm always push. Seohyun to a smaller scale but her dramas never do well

Quote from killingtime1934

Even Jessica is on debt

First that has absolutely nothing to do with her success. Two, Jessica isn't in debt, her fashion company took a business loan

Quote from Golden_Wishes

First that has absolutely nothing to do with her success. Two, Jessica isn't in debt, her fashion company took a business loan

Same thing

It's not doing well

Quote from BPAKGAE

Hyoyeon, Sunny, Sooyoung, Tiffany have been active but i don't think i can call them successful.

How did Jessica do after leaving SM?

I am curious

they choose to work work work work work and say YES to opportunities when it came to them.

Quote from killingtime1934

Same thing

It's not doing well

And you have jessica's sister as ur dp

Quote from killingtime1934

Same thing

It's not doing well

No.

Quote from Armedryu

How did Jessica do after leaving SM?

I am curious

very well. She might be the richest snsd member lol.

Quote from Armedryu

How did Jessica do after leaving SM?

I am curious

Her solo debut was the 2nd most successful but SM blacklisted her so she had a hard time rebuilding. She does fine. Her songs always chart on melon but since she can't promote and she doesn't wanna put in full effort until she can tour, it's meh. She's still one of the most popular female soloists in China and her Japan debut was going well right before Corona could hit

Quote from gerrard174

This. SM is quite good at getting the group members exposure in the industry. Same thing can be seen with Red Velvet. I think aespa is the only SM group i dont see SM promoting individual members a lot (maybe theyre going the Blackpink exclusive idol route)

Maybe they want to secure the group first and then start promoting them as individuals later, but based on their nct promotions, it does seems SM wants their newer idols to be less prominent as solos and focus on the group

It's shocking to me how none of the aespa members have gotten a single MC gig when that's the usual for any popular rookie.

It's pretty telling from when they were active that they're going to be okay post group activities, as all of them have solo activities one time or another, so they're quite experienced with it. Also it's a bonus that all of them have charms and is the most popular Kpop girl group with all ages. It's pretty well documented that SNSD was the group that the public knew of their individual names.

And they have proven how longlasting their presence is.

- Taeyeon: I don't think I even need to explain about her activity as she's very prominent with music related activities. Unlike the other members who are more towards film, musical, variety related. Interesting to note that Taeyeon have more variety shows guesting and CF deals as well in 2021 than in many of her previous years.

- Sunny: She was in 4 different variety shows from July last year and finally starting to find her confidence in singing again with her OST for Bossam. Recently she guested on D&E radio show. She's the most laid back member but even during her 'inactivity' she actually guested on a variety show to watch TV from her bed all day.

- Tiffany: Had her own Mobidic talk show and rumour has it they're planning a season 2. Almost finished her Chicago run, and Rumoured to be in Moulin Rouge musical (some linked her tennis ball green fairy dress as a hint for her role). Currently filming a drama with Song Joong Ki

- Hyoyeon: released a single and was on few variety shows last year, just finished one last week. Unfrotunately due to Covid she couldn't DJ much but yeah she's active in variety and was in GOT

- Yuri: broke the record for her MBN drama last year, had a cooking show that is now licensed by an official broadcaster. Now she's a judge on MBC Teenage Girls and soon have a film coming up

- Sooyoung: was in many dramas last year Run On, Married an Antifan, Move to Heaven. Was on a special MBC show with her sister. Currently filming a drama with Ji Chang Wook.

- Yoona: this girl is also everywhere and go viral every so often, Miracle, Happy New Year was her big projects last year. Confidential Assignment 2 with Hyunbin and Big Mouth with Lee Jong Suk should be aired soon. She also has plenty of CF deals with 38 brand deals as of last year, including Hyundai Duty Free, Jigott, MiuMiu.

- Seohyun: the girls said that Seohyun is actually the busiest and it's true. She had like 4 back to back drama/film schedules. Just released Love and Leashes and finished with Jinx Lover which should air in June and she has a movie as well coming up. Also another filming for a drama mid this year. Seohyun is booked booked

So yeah they're active and making bank with their activities. If some consider that not successful who cares, they're doing something that they want to do, they're making money with their own efforts, they get to be active and present on shows/film/music, and they represent SNSD, a generation of girls who are role models and the epitome of success for plenty of their juniors. They can also return as SNSD when they decide the time is right for them.

So tldr: they were given opprtunities (by being SNSD the nation girl group and from SM) to flex their individuality and they make the most of that

It's not only SNSD, there were several other 2nd gen artists that have been doing well in their solo endeavours (eg. Hyuna, Suzy, Sunmi)

Basically 2 reasons:

- SM is 1 of the better companies when it comes to being flexible in providing all kinds of solo opportunities for their artists (although not always, which is why Seohyun left, bc SM people cockblocked her role in megahit movie in Train of Busan and another top popular k-drama while she was 1st choice)

- all SNSD members were cherished and very well known to Korean people, they were all very active and most of them were specialists and top performers in their respective specialised fields, which gave their solo career a great boost: Yoona started off as lead in a megahit series, Taeyeon scored a megahit OST in their 1st year, Sooyoung and Sunny were successful top variety idols and so on.

So it's a combination of opportunity, using those opportunities and talent (and luck, but that's always the case) that gave them that boost.

is it true jessica was popular than taeyeon when snsd is active as 9 members i also think jessica most talented amongst snsd members i am curious how popular she will be if sm didn't send her out

Quote from One-and-only

is it true jessica was popular than taeyeon when snsd is active as 9 members i also think jessica most talented amongst snsd members i am curious how popular she will be if sm didn't send her out

I think popularity varied within the group partially based on whose solo activities were making a bigger impact based on any given time, but that Yoona usually was the most popular (at least in South Korea).

As for most talented, that depends on what you're comparing: when it comes to vocals, Jessica can definitely outsing most main vocalists of most groups, but Taeyeon's actually better on a technical basis.

But Jessica was definitely very talented (like many members in SNSD for that matter).

Quote from One-and-only

is it true jessica was popular than taeyeon when snsd is active as 9 members i also think jessica most talented amongst snsd members i am curious how popular she will be if sm didn't send her out

She was popular, but Taeyeon & Yoona were generally the top 2 in terms of popularity.

From what I've seen back then, it's something like

Taeyeon/Yoona (Popular in their respective field)

Jessica

Tiffany/Seohyun

Yuri

Sooyoung

Sunny/Hyoyeon

Quote from One-and-only

is it true jessica was popular than taeyeon when snsd is active as 9 members i also think jessica most talented amongst snsd members i am curious how popular she will be if sm didn't send her out

I think korea wise- Jessica is 3rd

But WW - Jessica and Tiffany probably are in the top 3

Some people here don't know but SNSD was a huge force bigger than any other GG the only one that's bigger is BLACKPINK thanks for their international fandom but domestic SNSD was just too big.

SNSD wasn't just sales it was the BRAND SNSD that was huge. They were everywhere not only in music they were always active in every field they were literally the face of Korea I mean they were even put next to Kimchi that's how huge and loved they are/were

When people compare them to groups like Twice or 2NE1 I just laugh because yeah they had better digitals but SNSD BRAND was way bigger than music everyone knew them as a group or at least 1 member because their faces were literally in every corner of Korea

bcoz they are more popular to korean general public

easy

The obvious thing that helped was how unfathomably massive they were,but SM also did a good job promoting them as individuals by playing off of their strenghts.