HYBE Labels is the corporation that “bossess” Kpop today, owning the “fighting chickens” BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT… However, if HYBE is cool with promoting boy bands, this company is not. so much affinity with girl groups.
The girl groups under HYBE Labels all have not had a smooth journey. This makes many netizens call this “the HYBE girl group curse”.
GLAM: The first girl group failed due to a member blackmailing Lee Byung Hun, leaving BTS with a debt of 51 billion
GLAM is the first girl group of Big Hit Entertainment (predecessor of HYBE Labels). Big Hit was established in 2005 and is just a small company, operating stagnantly, many times on the brink of bankruptcy. In 2012, Big Hit and Source Music cooperated to launch the girl group GLAM and this was a turning point for the company, but not in a positive direction. Not long after, member Trinity suddenly left the group due to personal reasons.
However, many netizens have found evidence that Trinity is a saseang fan (an overzealous fan who follows and harasses idols) of Leeteuk (Super Junior). Before debuting, this female idol repeatedly harassed and violated the privacy of Super Junior’s leader. GLAM continued to operate with 4 members but quickly “sunk” in the competitive Kpop market.
In 2014, actor Lee Byung Hun reported to the police that he was blackmailed by two girls, one of whom was GLAM member Dahee. After the investigation, Big Hit’s “favorite chicken” was sentenced to 2 years of suspended prison sentence.
Because this scandal was so big, Big Hit was forced to disband GLAM, causing a loss of 2.8 billion won (51 billion VND). The whole company has only 30 employees, working in a small space and total assets are only valued at 6 million won (111 million VND). BTS – a rookie group that just debuted, had to take on the responsibility of “plowing” to pay off the company’s debt.
GFRIEND disbanded in regret
The incident with GLAM made CEO Bang Shi Hyuk afraid and decided to only focus on training and managing male artists. All female trainees at that time had to leave the company to find a new path. Among them are the duo SinB and Eunha. They joined Source Music, debuted with GFRIEND in 2015 and achieved much success. In 2019, Big Hit Entertainment grew, acquired subsidiaries and established HYBE Labels. Source Music was also acquired, GFRIEND officially joined BTS and is the first girl group to be on HYBE Labels.
Thinking that joining HYBE would be a step forward in the career of the “girlfriend group”, suddenly in May 2021, the company disbanded the group. This decision was so unexpected that the members only knew 1 month in advance that many scheduled events had to be canceled. SinB revealed that the group cried a lot, “crying enough to last a lifetime in just that time”.
Fans were stunned, hurt and filled with anger at the sudden decision to disband. Up to now, the reason why GFRIEND disbanded is still unknown. Many sources believe that HYBE Labels’ acquisition of Source Music is related to this, the group directly eliminates music groups that do not generate much profit. However, the financial report showed that Source Music lost money because it spent money training new girl groups, not because GFRIEND did not make a profit.
fromis_9 is involved in fraud scandals and has moderate operations
After HYBE Labels “acquired” Pledis Entertainment in 2020, fromis_9 is the next girl group of the group. In the period 2021-2022, fromis_9 is the only girl group of HYBE Labels because GFRIEND has disbanded.
This group came out of the survival show Idol School in 2018. However, the show Idol School was investigated by the police for accusations of cheating and arranging the debut lineup. The group still released many products, worked hard on shows but did not receive significant success, was shunned by the public and called a “fraud group”.
LE SSERAFIM lost members due to school violence scandal, performed so poorly live that it was called a “national shame”
GFRIEND, fromis_9 returned to HYBE Labels after the company merger, while LE SSERAFIM is truly the group’s second “offspring” after GLAM. In May 2022, LE SSERAFIM officially debuted with a 6-member lineup. This girl group was personally founded by Source Music under HYBE. As soon as they debuted, they became famous as “BTS’s little sister”. The group’s lineup is also “not average” when it brings together two extremely hot former members of IZ*ONE, Chaewon – Sakura, Produce 48 contestant Huh Yunjin and professional ballet dancer Kazuha from Japan.
However, as soon as LE SSERAFIM debuted, member Garam’s school violence scandal was exposed. “BTS little sister” was exposed to a series of evidence of level 5/9 school violence, drinking alcohol, smoking, taking offensive photos… The scandal was so big that HYBE couldn’t “save” it, in the end it was left to Garam leave group.
LE SSERAFIM has been active with a 5-member lineup since then and has achieved much success, being one of the leading girl groups in Kpop generation 4. However, in April 2024, the performance was a disaster at Coachella caused LE SSERAFIM to face the biggest noise of their career. On the stage of the biggest music festival on the planet, “BTS sister” sings loudly, is out of breath, and dances haphazardly. LE SSERAFIM’s poor performance caused Korean netizens to constantly criticize the members, saying that the group is a “national shame”, tarnishing the image of Kpop with international audiences.
NewJeans – ILLIT “fight” each other over accusations of plagiarism
NewJeans debuted in August 2022 and is a “new breeze”, immediately breaking Kpop, breaking a series of records. The group was personally created by Min Hee Jin – former Creative Director of SM Entertainment. HYBE Labels has empowered and poured money into Min Hee Jin to establish a subsidiary company ADOR, freely orienting and managing NewJeans. Over the past year, NewJeans has become the leading “force” in Kpop generation 4.
It was thought that the curse of HYBE Labels’ girl group had been resolved, but now, NewJeans is caught up in the “family war” of Min Hee Jin and HYBE Labels, directly confronting their juniors of the same ILLIT group. ILLIT is the newest female rookie of HYBE Labels (under subsidiary Belift Lab), debuting on March 25 with the single Magnetic. Immediately, Magnetic and ILLIT broke the charts and became an extremely hot trend.
On April 22, the drama of a dispute over management rights between ADOR – the management company of NewJeans and HYBE Labels broke out. Accordingly, HYBE accused ADOR of leaking business and personnel secrets to the outside, intentionally creating negative public opinion with the aim of taking over management. In response, CEO of ADOR – Min Hee Jin said she was dissatisfied because ILLIT plagiarized NewJeans. Min Hee Jin complained to HYBE Labels about ILLIT but HYBE ignored it. Instead, HYBE took this opportunity to kick Min Hee Jin out of the group.
In response to this, HYBE said it sent a 6-page A4 email explaining the suspicion that ILLIT plagiarized NewJeans at 10:00 a.m. on April 22. Min Hee Jin even confirmed receiving this email. The “mother” of NewJeans requested HYBE to convey its position before April 23 and the group responded on the 22nd, 1 day earlier than the deadline. This is completely different from the accusation that HYBE did not respond to Min Hee Jin’s plagiarism accusations.
This “family turmoil” drama has not yet ended, so the two music groups NewJeans – ILLIT are both put on the table for comparison. Netizens have “unearthed” a post by Hyein (NewJeans) from March 25. In the photo she posted, people saw the words “Stop Copying”. More worth mentioning is the photo updated by Hyein on March 25, 2024 – the day ILLIT officially debuted with MV Magnetic and E.P Super Real Me. This was said to be a move of “old ghosts bullying new ghosts”. But many posts exonerated Hyein and said this was just a joke between the NewJeans member and his teammates.
NewJeans members and their families are currently on Min Hee Jin’s side. This makes netizens extremely worried about the future of the group, afraid that the group will become a new version of FIFTY FIFTY. If they leave with Min Hee Jin, NewJeans will have to face huge contract compensation for HYBE Labels, as well as being blocked from all activities because this group holds the copyright to the group’s name and songs.
