Sejeong: Redux possible?

https://www.allkpop.com/article/2022/03/netizens-want-to-see-a-business-proposal-star-kim-se-jung-return-to-singing-dancing-asap

It is indeed a pity that Sejeong's singing career floundered since her Produce days, gugudan made good music, but gods did not smile on them. Unlike Yeojeon, the other IOI vocal powerhouse who thrived in WJSN.

Her solos, well she got 2 music show wins. Flower Way got to Gaon #2.

Otherwise nothing much to write home about. Her popularity is more from Variety-TV, CFs and dramas - pretty successful at those.

She is an impressive vocalist- many duets with veteran singers, musical theater etc. but not a smooth dancer, By her own admission, dance does not come naturally to her. She has to put in a lot of work for that, so her songs are highly reliant on vocals. Which is not a great market, unless one is IU.

Unlike Eunbi, Yuri, Yena - other "less" dance based singers - IOI did not have a fandom built like Wizone to support going solo.

So can she really redux on the singing/dancing K-pop career?
If she/Jellyfish keep going to folk like Sungwoo Jung A for ballads, nothing much is going to happen.

I doubt it though. She can be a Gummy or maybe Ailee type, OSTs etc., And multi-field success would help with that.

Which is fine, not every song needs to be dance-bop.

Quote from Hyoseop

I already like her discography, she only needs to keep releasing more songs

Well she has not had a hit with the current discography has she?

Personal like/dislike is different, to know the market and cater to the tastes is necessary.

Even IU knows that, that is why kept many of her acoustic ballads out of her albums for years and finally released them as "pieces" without much fanfare.

If Sejeong is fine her style of music, that is ok. But if per the article, she wants to succeed in K-pop market, that needs to change.

"Danceability" is an important factor.

Fandom is a major factor

She has neither now, though "Warning" was an improvement.

Quote from selfmate

sejeong can do whatever she feels like

if it's acting or variety stuff or singing it's up to her

I'm sure she's going to be dabbling in a little bit of each as she seems fit

Of course, she can.

But the discussion is based on the article, which is expecting K-pop solo success.

That I think won't happen on her current trajectory., is my speculation.

Quote from selfmate

but that's the thing...she's not a singer (or rather not a pure singer)

she's not a pure actress or pure comedienne

she's an idol which means she got training in singing, dancing, variety, acting etc etc

and thus as an idol she can do all those things plus more or less...

and besides didn't she like last release music like 8/9 months ago which isn't so long in the grand scheme of things

On July 23, 2021, Kim collaborated with Municon and released the digital single "Baby I Love U",

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It is not the frequency of releases, but the impact on charts that's is lacking, that's because of her style, if not the trend now.

Even IU doesn't entirely rely on vocals alone.

That simply has a narrower market than dance-singing.

Quote from fdblink

I would love to see more music...
I love her vocals and songs like Skyline and Whale is an absolute favorite of mine.
Unfortunately it's so hard for soloist, especially because Sejeong's style isn't fitting with the trend currently.

That's precisely my point.

Thanks

Quote from selfmate

but why does it matter whether she charts or not...

does her charting or not affect whether you like the song or not?

maybe that is her style? maybe next time she might change it up or not?

different strokes for different folks my friend

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Well if it doesn't matter to you, what are you doing in this thread?

To me, it is interesting to analyse trends, reason for success or not.

If your only contribution to such, is I like her music, I don't care about anything else. Then you are wasting time even for a site meant to waste time.

Quote from QueenMaknae27

She has lot of good songs, people just don't have taste in music

Well artists have to cater to decent range to be successful,

Of course no artist can cater to every taste.

They have to find the sweet spot, of being part of a popular trend yet differentiated enough.

Getting that right, is the key.

She has all the needed abilities, but simply not hitting that sweet spot.

Quote from omegateatimer

I think it’s not that she is not hitting the sweet spot or else she wouldn’t be so successful in variety and dramas. There is definitely a demand for her but a lot of members from ex-produce groups (with the exception of I*zone) didn’t immediately join a group or joined groups that were on the brink of disbandment or unknown.

I think that she is concentrating on acting for some time now and increase her visibility and it’s a matter of time once her success will be seen in her music numbers. Gugudan’s last releases have a tons of new comments by ABP fans, so I wouldn’t worry that much.

Also that throughout the thread IU comparisons seems weird

How is her acting success relevant to her singing choices?

She hardly needs any visibility in Korea, do you know how successful Produce and IOI were?

IU is the benchmark for Solo success, and since my point is that Sejeong needs to mix up her singing choices and not be stuck to ballads, referencing that even IU can't afford to stick to just acoustic ballads, is a valid point.

I want Sejeong to succeed in music as well and think she needs to diversify her styles for that.

As simple as that.