GFRIEND’s Disbandment — What could have been… What happened… Now we have time to reflect.
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What happened…
The disbandment of the group happened overnight.
12 hours prior Umji was doing a 2 hours long VLIVE. Doing covers, talking with fans, sharing her melodies. She even said she would share with us a melody she has done for “Love Spell” in the future.
Fans were expecting a comeback announcement. An industry report was expecting one for June, another for August, while the contract renegotiation was predicted to the Q4 of 2021. Fans didn’t know the discussions were taking place. The members were seen in the HYBE building. Yuju sharing her diary made fans believe they were writing new songs for the next album, “Eye of the Storm” was based on a diary entry… But in the future we would see she was just reminiscent.
On May 18, TenAsia leaked the news that the members were leaving Source Music. Minutes later the Weverse announcement dropped with the disbandment news 4 days prior. The company announced the disbandment 4 days prior… because it was leaked.
A day after that, the members released handwritten letters saying their goodbyes and apologies and corroborating with the Source Music statement that they would go separate ways.
People were shocked not only by how abrupt and cold it was… but because the members never showed a sign that they wouldn’t renew. Throughout their career, they were very vocal about wanting to be a long lasting group. Leaving fans completely in denial with the disbandment announcement.
The company also released another statement regarding membership, refunds, active services and the group accounts, the members will be limited to use them. In this last statement, the company confirmed the contract renewals were being discussed until the very end and they couldn’t reach an agreement. Aside from this everything else is speculation so far.
One week later and fans still confused, without any new information and in denial. The media didn’t share information about new agencies, or even discussions, something very unprecedented. Leading to more speculations that it was an abrupt decision and the members weren’t expecting it or in talks with new agencies.
One of the active services following the termination, aside from Superstar GFRIEND, was the HYBE Insight Museum, leaving the doubt that not even the parent company staff knew about the termination, recently including the group in many of their products and services.
Their weekly schedule was cleared after the announcement as well, making people believe Source Music staff wasn’t aware either.
Speculations… Never ending speculations…
There isn’t an answer. The shared sentiment is how a company could let go of a group that didn’t want to disband. Their only group. The group that built the company from the ground. What contract term the company couldn’t let go? Why they couldn’t do it with antecedence? So the group would have a proper end?
However, the most popular theory blames HYBE. Maybe, for fans, it’s more easy to blame a faceless parent company, the newer addition to the mix, than the company that was together with the group for so many years.
There is a lot of credit given to Source Music thanks to the resentment towards HYBE and the acquisition. Just because Source Music wasn’t one of the worst companies, it doesn’t mean they were good. The company was accused many times of overworking the group, but it’s a given in this industry and it can be overlooked. The group paid debt like any other, the group didn’t have their cell phones until their first win, like many groups as well… And so on.
“When it came to a renewal of my contract, I wanted to put more [clauses] in the contract where it says like [the group] are allowed to have concept meetings together… and that we [would] have some say in what the future concepts would be,” Ryu said. “And one day, I read a news article that says I am leaving the band.”
However, Ryu claimed that her requests might have ultimately caused Star Empire to end their relationship with the singer. “I think my boss thought I crossed a line when I asked [for] too many things — like letting us [decide] what songs and concepts, or what to wear, in the future — and I don’t think he liked it,” she said.
HYBE isn’t a faceless entity. The company funded by BigHit Entertainment with Bang Sihyuk as CEO welcomed the group with open arms. Investing and integrating them in their signature: the storytelling through universes and idol-songwriters. The “回 (hui)” series went through the hands of many creatives, from the mini books and its illustrator, to the in-house team helping them with songwriting. They had then a lot more freedom with their music, not only in writing but also input in concepts, this was all shared through their interviews since Song of the Sirens.
Umji: “We’ve participated in the overall creative process and extensively discussed amongst ourselves and with our staff about the record. In that sense, this EP is about what everyone is going through or may already have gone through.” — ELLE
A needed recap to change the perspective of a confirmation bias, the girls seemed in tune with HYBE, at least the creative team that the CEO is part of.
Additionally, Source Music staff was in love with the girls, many shared heartfelt goodbye letters after the announcement… Which leaves the blame to the management (whether it’s Source Music or HYBE, that owns 80% of the company after all).
What could have been…?
Something I wondered many times throughout their career as a fan. What if “Fingertip” (and The Awakening) was released during the 2017 summer with songs like “Red Flavor” and “Likey”. Would it help one of the top girl groups to ride the international K-Pop “boom”?
The group was coming from two successful hits “Me Gustas Tu” and “Rough”, but in 2017 they tried to follow the bombastic retro from “Navillera” with “Fingertip” and the old school innocent K-Pop from “Me Gustas Tu” with “Love Whisper”. Sadly, the melancholy from “Rough” reflected in “Summer Rain” that came in a repackage is forgotten, being a hidden gem for non fans.
And then I wonder, what if “Rainbow” was their first 2017 comeback and “Fingertip” was the second. A transitional comeback to a more mature GFRIEND, a music video with fantasy elements and darker tones…
However, if we had this… we wouldn’t have the refreshing “Love Whisper” water stage (a huge “look at me now” moment) or “Summer Rain” Choreography version, which is one of my favorite works from GFRIEND ever… It’s like the members bring poetry to life.
Some people think the company backtracked, but the group (or company) always had the intention to come back to their original concept even before “Fingertip”:
Sowon: “Just because we changed, it doesn’t necessarily imply ‘we are no longer young girls’. There is a lot we can show, and we wanted to show everything. During the earlier stages of debut, I once said ‘I would like to try whatever fits us at that moment’, and I would like to try this and that. Perhaps we can go back to our innocence, and have variety like that.” — GFSquad
However, the girls have showed a growing wish to try concepts never tried before. They love their signature and their music, but they wanted to always evolve and to show they could do anything. Yerin even complained to a fan about being limited in the “powerful innocent” box and they don’t like it.
When asked what kind of concept they were interested in tackling next, they replied with a laugh, “We’d like to try ‘power [girl] crush’ next time. We’d like to show a different side of GFRIEND through a cool concept.” — Soompi, 2018
She added, “We worked hard to prepare for this comeback, so I think we’ll be able to promote happily if we receive a lot of love. Our main goal is for GFRIEND to develop another musical style and color [as an artist], and we hope that by showing [a new style through this comeback], many people will think more broadly of GFRIEND as a group.” — Soompi, 2018
Hinting at what fans can expect from GFRIEND’s upcoming transformation, Yerin and Eunha remarked, “Up until now, our songs have mostly been from the perspective of an innocent girl, but now, we think we might be able to tell the story of a slightly more powerful woman”. They went on to add, “Just as we have up until now, all of our members want to keep showing growth as artists.” — Soompi, 2020
There is a misunderstand from non fans that GFRIEND wouldn’t like their concept (just girl crush is empowering, right?), but they love… “Time for the Moon Night”, one of their late hits after their 2016 peak, was chosen by the members. They gave an ultimatum to the company, “if we don’t come back with this, we won’t come back at all”.
Sadly, the company chose “Sunny Summer” as a special era after that new momentum was built with a fresh hit. A song offered to them from a hitmaker, Duble Sidekick, and maybe because of that, they thought it would be a good and safe choice.
A what if moment that came from a member, Umji said years later on Weverse that “Vacation” (a bside from the same album):
Is more addictive… Fun... Choreography is good too… Personally, it’s just unfortunate that… Anyway, it’s all past!
Yerin, a member who missed an era where she could be smiling on stage pre-“Mago” said in a 2021 interview:
I prefer the “innocent” concept, but as each person may have a different image, we are all drawing and capturing contact points to harmonise with different charms. — Pilates S Interview with Yerin (March 2021)
That shows they are six completely different individuals that were open to try many things. Her cute unit with Sinb “Secret Diary” shows this. Additionally, Sowon’s mature unit with Umji “Better Me” reflects her own personality:
You evolved from Powerful Innocence into a Witch concept. Do you like it?
Sowon: I like it. Personally I don’t think I’m 100% suit the Powerful Innocence concept. So I wanted to find a concept that suits me. The witch concept was easier for me to express and was more fun.
Umji: I think so too. I know what it is. If you wear clothes that suit you, you’ll be a completely different person.
Sowon: I was intimidated at the beginning of our debut.
— Arena Homme+ Interview with Sowon and Umji (May 2021)
Another pet peeve of mine after their 2017 choices was “Crossroads” as the first installment of their new series after the acquisition. GFRIEND dominated a melancholic orchestral pop niche and built a loyal fanbase enamored by their sound. I’m one of them. However… We had “Time for the Moon Night” and ‘Sunrise”, one of their best eras for sure, and “Memoria” and “Fallin’ Light” from their Japanese discography. After “Fever”, the company decided to go with “Crossroads”, yet again another orchestral and melancholic track as the representative of an era.
Even the members shared in an interview that they were confused with the choice, because they were expected to go forward after “Fever” and keep evolving their image. They accepted “Crossroads” because… is a good song after all.
The receipt for disaster was when the sidetrack “Labyrinth” was more well received between fans and non fans.
What helps my suspicious that “Labyrinth” was supposed to be the title track was the song being the first from the album just like “Apple” and “Mago” and produced by in-house BigHit (and Source Music) producers, being also outstanding in the album soundscape.
The stages end up being more watched than “Crossroads”, the company even extended the promotions for the track specifically and fans were curious with how many different outfits the choreography had, showing more diversity than the “Crossroads” stages.
Sinb said the lyrics were confusing when she first listened to it, but her mind changed after the choreography. I believe the girls trusted Source Music’s choice, a little more conservative than BigHit… It would be a unique track for a girl group, heavy in its storytelling. A maze-like world where they are being deceived by a shining fake… so they need to get out of there.
Sowon: If we continue to do a similar concept, people say we never change. If we do a new concept, people say we've changed too much
They released a well produced performance video that made me believe “Crossroads” could have been a B-side with music video or a pre-release to “Labyrinth”. The two tracks have important roles for the series and its storytelling.
The “Fever” > “Labyrinth” > “Apple” transition can exist only in our imagination as a what could have been…
