I really wish the former Cube CEO would take Chowon with him and debut her in Kiss Of Life
I wasn't even aware that the former Cube CEO had left Cube. Was he a JYP/LSM/YG type of figure, where he was the main figurehead of the company? When did he leave? And who's running the company now, is it someone new?
I wasn't aware that Kiss of Life had that connection to Cube, I'll look them up.
And yeah, I do think that Cube has an issue with managing their groups effectively, on top of that I think they're severely underusing Chowon: making someone else leader of Lightsum while Chowon's the oldest, making Nayoung the main vocalist of LS while she ranked lower than Chowon in PD48 and trying to make Nayoung happen as the visual/center/face of the group, even when she can't operate on the level of a Wonyoung, Jennie, Yoona/Taeyeon, Suzy or Soyeon.
Where as Chowon, who had shown to be able to operate on top tier level all by herself when she had no one helping her and everyone underestimating her, is put in the backseat and her potential neglected.
I just dont see it with her. She's not a cant miss talent, the way folks were hyping her up back when she was mentioned as one of the girls rigged out, i expected literal Beyonce and Michael Jackson wrapped into one idol. She's talented and has a distinctive look, but i'm not sure she would have fit in Izone's elegant/cutesy image.
Like others already mentioned, I think that's more a case of lack of imagination and you already getting familiar and attached to this version of the group, making you unable to see how IZone also could have worked with other people in the group.
Without mentioning all the obvious names, other IZone members were unlikely to fit either the elegant or the cutesy side or have the stage presence when they were still in their PD48 phase - but the company behind IZone made it work.
And Chowon has already shown with Lightsum to be able to fit the cute/elegant concept well.
It's all simply a matter of styling and practice.
Unless you think that Chowon wouldn't have fit IZone because she was the darkest skinned candidate in PD48? (Which I think honestly is 1 of the main reasons that the PDs selected Chowon to get rid of in favor of the paid-for candidates; some subconcious Korean prejudice against darker skinned people that they are or deserve less, why else go after a #6 ranker?).
But the typical Korean skin whitening has solved that issue, as you can see how light her skin is in Lightsum.
Personally, I think Chowon could have fit as well in IZone as Eunbi - both had a more sexy, girl crush aura - and fit better than a number of other IZone members.