K-Pop World Records Throughout 2019

Red Velvet (Twitter @RVsmtown)

JAKARTA - 2019 is a year that can be considered mixed up for K-pop fans. Starting from happy to sad news adorning the universe of one of the most successful music industries today. With the growing development of Hallyu, the State of Ginseng has begun to spread its seeds through countries in Southeast Asia, one of which is Indonesia. This is what inspired VOI to summarize what has happened in the world of K-pop over the past year. Let's watch together!

Ending the Decade with a Debut

This year, more than 20 K-Pop groups have joined the music industry for the first time. Among them are AB6IX, Cherry Bullet, CIX, ONEUS, ONEWE, ITZY, TXT, TREII, EVERGLOW, Hinapia, JUS2 (sub unit of GOT7), EXO-SC (sub unit of EXO), SuperM, Wooseok x Kuanlin, and X1.

Some have indeed invited enthusiasm so that the road to their debut has become smooth. ITZY, for example, is a place for JYP trainee Ryujin to become the idol of the waiters. Then TXT, known as BTS's first younger brother, became a group that ARMY (as BTS fans) are also waiting for. Hinapia - the group where some of Pristin's former members - returned to being idols after Pristin's disbandment.

Then EXO-SC (short for Sehun Chanyeol) became the sub-unit that EXO-L (as EXO fans) had been waiting for after they were always given a stage together in EXO concerts. SuperM, the project of SM and Capitol Records which is predicted to be the Avengers of K-pop and X1, is the winning group Produce x 101 that the audience of the event has been waiting for.

The crowd of idols leaving the agency

A lot of pressure and conflict accompany an idol's journey. Evidently, this year, many idols decided to leave the group that took him to become idols, including Yeonwoo and Taeha Momoland, Luna and Amber f (x), Mina AOA, and CL who left the YG Entertainment agency last November.

Not only that, some idols who were affected by cases also decided to resign from the group. Kang Sunghoon of Sechskies due to a scandal with his girlfriend, Junhyung HIGHLIGHT - FT Island Jonghoon - CNBLUE's Jonghyun left the group due to a scandal related to his illegal video recording and group chat case, and Wonho who left Monsta X because he had not paid his debt but his friend wrote on Instagram. A few days ago, Seunghyun left the group FT Island to pursue his acting career.

Performing Solo Skills through Debut

This year, many group members were given the opportunity to show off their solo skills. Most of them are alumni of the Produce competition such as Jeon Somi, Yoon Jisung, Bae Jinyoung, Ha Sung Woon, Kang Daniel, Kwon Hyun Bin, Lee Jinhyuk, Luri, Park Jihoon, and Roh Taehyun.

In addition to dropping out of Produce, several members who have had quite a long career also have the ability to show off with their solo debut this year. Among them are Hwasa MAMAMOO, Nickchun 2PM, Chen and Baekhyun EXO, U-Know TVXQ, Hayoung Apink, Kei Lovelyz, Minhyuk and Hyunsik BTOB, Hyuk VIXX, and Super Junior's Sungmin.

The Return of Music Idols

Talking about a comeback, it seems impossible to mention all of them on this list. However, VOI would like to mention female soloists Park Bom, Lee Hi, and Baek Yerin who have again captured the attention of music lovers with their songs. The three of them even made it onto the charts during the promotional period. Super Junior also finally returned to full promotion after Kyuhyun's return from military service.

AOA and Red Velvet have also caught the attention of the public. After appearing on the Queendom program, AOA again received attention from fans with the song Come See Me so that fans said they had just realized AOA members had qualified abilities as a second generation group. Red Velvet, which started the album series The Reve Festival this year, has attracted attention with its unique concept. Psycho, the closing of this series immediately won 'All Kill' number one on various South Korean and international music charts.

Sure Success, Set Up Your Own Agency

Although they are not completely out of the group, some of these idols are convinced of their independent path by setting up their own agencies. Zico of the group Block B founded Koz Entertainment as a medium for channeling his art. However, he did not leave the group. Then there was Singer PSY who left the YG Entertainment agency and made the P-Nation agency and immediately pulled Edawn, Jessi, HyunA, and Crush.

Besides them, Baek Yerin immediately created the Blue Vinyl label for her solo career. This follows Ravi VIXX who has created the GROOVL1N agency but is still counted as a VIXX member.

Military Service as Respect for the State

It's no stranger to hearing about conscription in South Korea. Every boy is required to join the military when he is 28 years old, but this does not close the opportunity for those who want to start military service first, such as EXO's DO. He entered the military in July at the age of 26 and took a break from the entertainment industry. DO followed Xiumin's steps, who had already entered military service since May.

In addition, SHINee's Key, Hoya, BTOB's Changsub, SHINee's Minho, Infinite's Sungyeol, and FT Island's Hongki are also enlisting this year and are predicted to be discharged in 2021.

Finish here

Some groups have been forced to end their careers. Wanna One, who disbanded at the beginning of the year, completed their one year and six month contract period. Even though there were many requests for contract extensions but each agency (which houses Wanna One members) rejected the request.

One of the things that was horrendous was also Pristin, a girl group from Pledis Entertainment which disbanded last May after debuting for two years. This decision was unfortunate for fans considering that they had won the Rookie of the Year award. Currently, some members have joined the Hinapia group and some have joined other agencies.

International Stage

It's not enough to not mention K-pop's redeeming achievements internationally. The first half of this year was confirmed with Hyukoh and Blackpink who filled the Coachella stage. Still from the YG Entertainment agency, the iKON group filled the SXSW festival in America. The Grammy competition also invited BTS to its main event. Television shows have also become promotional platforms for K-pop groups such as Monsta X with iHeart Radio and SuperM with The Ellen Show.

The Scandal That Became An Industrial Missile

Along with the achievements and accomplishments that the Korean music industry has, we cannot forget the scandals and conflicts that stand beside it. Starting with the 'Burning Sun' case - a club owned by Seungri, which brought him to a pornographic chat group case and illegally recording with Jung Jun Young and several other artists. The case of illegal recording by Choi Jong Bum, Goo Hara's ex-girlfriend ended in the first half of this year in which Jongbum was sentenced to probation.

Conflict with the agency has also been a busy one this year. Kang Daniel and Lai Guanlin who wanted to leave their respective agencies had a different path. If Daniel succeeded in winning the lawsuit and establishing his own agency, it would be different with Guanlin who was rejected even though he sued because his contract was sold to a third party in China. Minzy, a former member of 2NE1, also rejected her demands to leave the agency.

The TS Entertainment agency was also sued by the TRCNG group for persecuting young members. This is not the first time TS Entertainment has been sued by its own members. Previously there was Hyosung, a former group Secret who wanted to terminate the contract because TS Entertainment had not paid Hyosung for three years.

On the other hand, TWICE's Mina had to take a break from promotions because of her mental health as well as Kang Daniel. Last week, Wendy was declared to have a complete break from activities with Red Velvet due to fractures in several parts.

Meanwhile, the Produce cheating case from the first to the fourth series made Mnet officially stop the continuation of the Produce program. The cheating made by program director Ahn Joo Young stopped X1 and IZ * ONE from appearing, but as of Monday, CJ ENM confirmed that the two groups will continue to perform and their earnings will not be shared with Mnet but for members and supporters of the music industry.

Progress Internationally

The name BTS will still be the topic of conversation for the next few years. There is no end to mentioning the achievements they have achieved this year, even if only with the album Map of the Soul: Persona, starting from Billboard, Grammys, hundreds of magazine covers, sales reaching millions and many more. Until the end of the year, the song Boy With Luv was still perched on the foreign charts. The group NCT 127 and SuperM made by SM Entertainment have also begun to penetrate the international stage with a concert tour and debut in the United States.

Korean Collaboration with Abroad

The development of the music industry also combines foreign and South Korean musicians in music projects. Although different languages, this does not interfere with the collaboration. Many singers filled the remixes of other people's songs, namely RM BTS who filled the songs Lil Nas X and Honne, Jackson Wang with Stephanie Poetri, BTS with Lauv, Ava Max and NCT 127, AB6IX with Lizzo, and Jonas Blue with IZ * ONE.

Apart from the row of singers above, there are singers who also fill in foreign artist projects, such as J-Hope BTS with Becky G for Chicken Noodle Soup, MONSTA X with French Montana for Who Do u Love, Suga BTS for Halsey's song SUGA's Interlude, PRETTYMUCH group with NCT Dream for Up To Love, Chungha with Rich Brian for These Nights, and rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie with Park Woo Jin for Look Back At It.

Park Kyung and 'Lucky' Sajaegi

Park Kyung, a singer and member of Block B, received appreciation from fans for daring to voice the issue of Sajaegi through Twitter tweets that were allegedly created by a number of singers and their agencies. Despite being sued by the singer he mentioned, Park Kyung still insisted on following the process.

He claims, this was done for a better music industry. Because of her courage, the public supported Park Kyung by listening to her songs again and making Park Kyung's songs return to the music charts.

K-pop Idols departure

The sad news came from the departure of Sulli, a former member of f (x) and Goo Hara, a former member of KARA in one month of vulnerability. In October, Sulli was found lifeless by her manager in her apartment. A month later her best friend, KARA, was found in the same situation in her apartment. Even though after Sulli's departure, Goo Hara had revealed that she would continue to live for Sulli's sake. The departure of these two second generation members left deep sorrow for fans as they are one of the two talents in this industry.

At the SBS Entertainment Awards held on December 28, Yoo Jae Suk was asked to win the Grand Prize. Through his victory speech, Jaesuk gave his appreciation to Sulli and Goo Hara, who during his life often appeared on variety shows with him. Many are grateful because only Yoo Jae Suk mentioned the names of the two singers. Have a good rest, Sulli and Goo Hara.

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That's what happened in the K-pop industry over the past year. Hopefully next year the South Korean music industry will be healthier and better at managing and launching new singers and groups.