K-fans are changing their mind as fast as girls changing clothes.
That also explains why an idol can be the most beloved, adored and famous name in one
group yet when she or he debuts once again, the poor idol will easily become a plain,
invisible member for whatever reason.
Here are 3 idols that are said to have their reputation fading after redebuting.
Sakura
Used to be the second-most famous member, and actually the most famous member at certain
points, when still being active as a member of IZ*ONE, Sakura was expected to amount to
even greater things when HYBE confirmed that she would be one of the members in their new
girl group LE SSERAFIM.
In fact, when Kim Garam got caught up in probably the biggest scandals of Kpop 2022, netizens
believed the biggest factor helping LE SSERAFIM still win trophies on music shows also came
down to the extremely big fanbase of Sakura.
Basically, Sakura was thought to be big with her debut in LE SSERAFIM and especially with
the support of HYBE, there was no way she couldn’t be bigger than other version of
her in IZ*ONE.
However, the thought that Sakura would soon blow up everywhere, which initially seemed
to be quite valid, gradually proved itself to be wrong for various reasons.
Now, when people talk about LE SSERAFIM, Sakura is merely mentioned and even if she is, most
of the talk would be about how she seemingly has gone through a real big plastic surgery
despite her naturally stunning visual before.
Explaining the sudden nosedive in Sakura’s reputation, netizens believed the very first
reason comes down to how Sakura is rather talentless compared to other members.
In IZ*ONE, the one and biggest reason everyone fell hard for Sakura was her candy-sweet visual
but because the alleged plastic surgery has taken away that lovely vibe, many of her fans
were believed to have left as soon as her individual teasers for LE SSERAFIM went out.
Then, as Sakura is also said to not be the best at any specific field because when it
comes to singing, LE SSERAFIM has already had Yunjin and Chaewon, when it comes to dancing,
the act has already had Kazuha and when it comes to the unique personality that creates
the dynamic for LE SSERAFIM, there is also Eunchae, Sakura suddenly becomes the filler
member of the act.
That is not to mentioned how she is often talked about in a negative light for the slightly
old age compared to most idols active in gen4 and on Pann, some even blame her for increasing
the average age of LE SSERAFIM, making the group less popular than younger groups like
NewJeans or IVE.
Some believed HYBE also realized the plummet in Sakura’s reputation so in literally all
songs of LE SERAFIM, they would hardly ever let her take on highlight or crucial parts.
However, there are many people who believe netizens were just trying to bring Sakura
down with all those claims because in the most recent comeback, despite not being given
the center parts to shine, her fancam still had the most views and likes out of the five
members.
Even with the top five most viewed and liked fancams of LE SSERAFIM, Sakura’s videos
also took up to three spots and according to many people, if all these stats still weren’t
enough to prove the reputation of Sakura, for sure those who called her the invisible
member of LE SSERAFIM were jealous haters.
Lee Chaeyeon
Once being called the most promising dancer idol of Kpop and even managing to get tons
of flattering compliments for the very first performance on the bloodily competitive show
Produce48, Chaeyeon’s reputation after her second debut as a soloist was said to be nothing
but a mess.
Looking at what Chaewon is doing right now, netizens couldn’t imagine how she used to
have such a glorious past being one of the most famous member in IZ*ONE just to flop
right to the ground when making another debut.
Back in the day, Chaeyeon was always complimented as the irreplaceable member of IZ*ONE as had
it not been for her top-notch dancing skills and the amazing capability to control body,
the act would just be another gathering of pretty girls knowing how to sing and dance
decently rather than a girl group that was something special.
Just in the beginning of last year, netizens still praised Chaeyeon for being the unique
center who could made the whole IZ*ONE line-up looks energetic and dynamic thanks solely
to her dancing skills and stage presence.
Even when the idea of solo dancing without back-up dancers is quite against among Knets
as they find it awkward for one person to move around the stage alone, when Chaeyeon
did the 16 Shots dance cover on STUDIO CHOOM, her video still received up to 14 million
views and about 690k views, an extremely impressive performance considering it was done by only
one member.
In the comment section, the one complimenting Chaeyeon for being so captivating on stage
despite having no back up dancers also received the most likes, proving that she was not only
famous for the aura but also for the undeniable talents.
However, things quickly went sour for Chaeyeon after IZ*ONE disbanded and it has been the
worst of the worst after Chaeyeon made her recent solo debut.
When only her debut teasers were released, Chaeyeon had already received lots of negative
reactions due to her plagiarism scandals.
According to netizens, there was a striking resemblance between her concept and Key’s
GASOLINE.
From the letter fonts, color theme to even the design style, it seemed like she borrowed
everything and just changed a little bit for fear that someone might figure it out.
Even for those who initially tried to defend her, saying coincidences in the creative field
were super-duper common and big minds might think alike, they still had to back down when
seeing the DVD because the design of Chaeyeon was too similar to Key’s.
For such a bad impression, her debut ended up suffering from real bad effects and because
Chaeyeon’s management company, WM Entertainment, also failed to leverage her top-notch dancing
skills in her debut, Chaeyeon came across as just another idol whose visual, singing
and dancing capabilities were just acceptable.
Of course, Chaeyeon's talent is still the same, but many netizens believe tha her reputation
has dropped significantly because of choosing the wrong direction and also the wrong company
to continue her idol career.
Chen
Used to be one of the most beloved members in EXO not only for the impressive vocals
but also the heart warming personalities, Chen is now nothing more than “a former
member of EXO” when he debuted once again as a soloist.
Back when he was still active as a member of EXO, Chen was so famous that SM Entertainment
allowed him to join multiple units of both the group and the company.
In particular, he has participated in SM's projects SM the Ballad, performing many legendary
ballad songs along with Taeyeon and thanks to the massive fanbase, he has also joined
EXO-M and EXO-CBX.
Probably some may say the fact Chen could join so many units came down to his powerful
vocal capabilities only but considering SM Entertainment’s obsessions with money, it
actually meant Chen was super-duper famous and his fanbase was also big enough for the
company to invest and promote him that strong.
If you don’t believe it then you can take a look at how SM treated Taeil despite his
being one of the most potential vocalists who could pass the entrance exam of the toughest
university in South Korea, Hanyang University.
Particularly, Taeil was hardly ever chosen to be in any sub-units of NCT127 and despite
his capability to kill any types of OST for Kdrama, SM never let him do it for the inconsiderable
size of his hard core fanbase.
Basically, Chen used to prove himself to be among the top famous idols of Kpop back when
he was active with EXO but just a few weeks ago when Chen debuted as a soloist, he has
received the most disappointing results ever.
In fact, his results were so low that even non-fans were shook and except for Bugs, the
easiest music chart to enter where his debut song was ranked 20th, he could barely make
it to the top 100 of other charts.
Also, Chen couldn’t even get into MelOn, the biggest streaming platform of South Korea,
and within one hour, he only got 871 likes on MelOn.
In one thread compiling all the results Chen garnered after his solo debut, most couldn’t
hide their disbelief as to how his reputation quickly flopped after announcing his marriage
and his father title.
Many recalled his peak reputation era with the number of unique listeners amounting up
to 900.000, taking all music charts by storm.
At that time, Chen was even predicted to follow the steps of Baekhyun and became the next
successful soloist of SM Entertainment.
Yet, things quickly went sour and while most were shook, some said that it was fairly predictable.
However, there are still opinions believing it wasn’t that Chen was flopping but it
was more like a natural thing for Kpop fans to move on quickly from all idols gen3 to
idols gen4.
Even big acts like TWICE and BLACKPINK, aka two digital and album monsters of Kpop, are
showing signs of losing heat so it was completely normal for a ballad-idol like Chen to not
get as much attention as he used to.
Plus, many believe he wasn’t flopping but rather on his way to building a stronger and
better fandom because after Chen’s marriage, his fan base was purged and only those who
were there for his talents rather than the boyfriend fantasy would stay.
So, do you think these idols are actually flopping when having a second chance to debut
or it’s just a one-sided view actually stemming from the malicious intention of haters?