Can you believe that sometimes, a company can treat one group like a loving baby and
another like trash?
While that sounds counterintuitive because the preparation and introduction process for
a K-Pop group would cost a fortune, many agencies are still said to follow this practice because
according to netizens, idols are just like products to companies and when one product
doesn’t make profits, investing in another is more lucrative.
TXT vs. BTS and LE SSERAFIM
Officially debuting under HYBE rather than any sub-branches of the company, many once
predicted that TXT would soon make it just as big as their BTS brother.
However, as time passed, many gradually realized that their anticipation could hardly come
true and a huge part of it came down to the fact that HYBE seemingly had lost interest
in making the group their next big star.
Things all started after news about TXT being bombarded and mobbed by sasaeng fans at the
airport surfaced on the Internet more and more.
In the past year or so, the group has struggled so much with saesangs to the point that they
just gave up at one point, awkwardly sitting still as if they were exhibits for obsessed
fans to take pictures.
Until now, there have still been only 1 or 2 managers being with TXT at dangerous places
and sadly, these managers not only couldn’t protect the boys but also did harm to them
at some point as one manager was once seen pushing Soobin into a car, causing him to
hit his head hard onto the roof.
Besides doing nothing to physically protect TXT, HYBE also took no actions to prevent
them from being sexually harashed on the Internet.
In January, Yeonjun was bombarded with lots of xenophobic, transphobic, and sexual remarks
on Twitter but HYBE just indifferently warned people to stop and didn’t even care if it
would ever stop.
Meanwhile, BTS is equipped with tons of bodyguards, so many that when asked which Kpop group has
the most bodyguards, Jeong Seung Min and Yang Tae il, 2 bodyguards working in the industry,
immediately answered "BTS" without hesitation.
According to Seung Min and Tae il, there are at least 150 to 200 security staff working
for BTS.
As if these things weren’t bad enough, HYBE also said to mess up the promotion schedules
of TXT, causing them to hardly ever win on music shows because their comeback clashed
with so many digital monsters.
The peak of this was that 2 of TXT’s comebacks were somehow scheduled to overlap with BTS’s
Boys With Luv and Butter, while HYBE only had 2 groups and 1 solo artist for their own
company.
What’s even worse was that, BTS wasn’t even promoting this song domestically and
HYBE still arranged TXT’s schedule to be like that.
Many people expressed their confusion, saying they don't even understand what HYBE was thinking
when letting their 2 groups compete with each other like that.
The third sign MOAs noticed is that TXT was treated like a blacksheep just for HYBE to
pour all the investment into LE SSERAFIM.
This allegation came down to the fact that TXT has been overworked despite just being
a two-year-old group.
In 2021 alone, they had already released a full album, a repackaged album and a Japanese
comeback.
They also had to attend many variety shows, music shows, and countless personal content.
Despite the packed schedule and the whopping amount of money generated for HYBE, fans noticed
seemingly that the group could only do their content at the most basic places.
In contrast, when LE SSERAFIM recorded their content most recently, some noticed that HYBE
had rented two highest floors of an expensive building in Namsan for the girls to film.
This immediately garnered negative reactions because according to many, the money generated
by TXT was being taken advantage of by a controversial group who had yet to even add profits to HYBE.
MOAs also asked the company to also record TXT’s content at such expensive places because
that’s what they deserved.
However, there are still defending opinions, saying that netizens were being professional
mourners in both cases.
One, since LE SSERAFIM was a very potential girl group and that’s not even an assumption
because their sales as well as digital figures said it all, it’s natural for HYBE to pour
money into the girls.
About BTS’ case, many including some MOAs said that it was incomparable to put on the
scale what BTS got to receive and whether TXT should get the same thing because BTS
made lots of money, actually an unimaginable amount of money enough for building the whole
company and thus, things they got must apparently be more than what a rookie like TXT could
get.
Plus, TXT was also provided with lots of opportunities to collaborate with Western artists, helping
them promote better in the Western market.
Thus, they said that some people should stop crying all over the place because HYBE know
what is best for their artists.
WJSN vs. IVE
If you just look at the way WJSN is managed and the bare minimum investment poured into
the group over the past few years, it's certain that you wouldn't believe they are actually
under the same roof with IVE.
To some Kpop fans, it wasn’t until WJSN’s appearance on Queendom2 that they knew about
the group’s existence and despite being a very capable act managed by an above-average
agency, Starship Entertainment, the group still had to struggle for six years straight
before successfully telling people who they were.
Many believed that the reason behind WJSN’s failure came down to Starship Entertainment’s
ignorance and besides the non-existent promotions, they also put up with an extremely hard life.
The peak of the mistreatment was when Ujungs noticed WJSN had to constantly prepare for
their birthday themselves while as a K-Pop act, this was a very important day and was
an opportunity for the company to show appreciation for their artists.
Because of the limited budget, most of the things WJSN had for their birthday were cheap
props and in one Vlive of Luda’s birthday celebration, the props in the background even
fell down mid-video, creating a pitiful atmosphere on an occasion that was supposed to be filled
with utmost happiness.
In total contrast, Starship has always treated IVE as their princesses and everything, from
the costumes, makeup, hairstyles to even the MVs and music quality, is top-notch.
If you have followed K-Pop for a while, you will know that one of the biggest reasons
contributing to IVE’s successes was their earworm music and somehow, WJSN was never
given any songs near that level to promote.
The discrimination Starship did to WJSN compared to IVE was proven even clearer through the
dorm of each group.
While being a rookie of several months old, IVE was already given a whole luxurious apartment
with legit living room, big sofa, big TV, air purifiers and four bedrooms, which meant
that only two members had to share their space.
Meanwhile, many fans found out that after tiring schedules that would lead to nowhere,
WJSN must return to a small dorm that was meant for a maximum of four people.
Still, while most agreed that Starship Entertainment was treating WJSN like a blacksheep and did
the total opposite to IVE, others believed the company was just giving what each group
deserved.
Reputation-wise, some claimed that the most famous WJSN’s members couldn’t maintain
their heat for long but with IVE, Jang Wonyoung and Yujin have always known how to keep their
name afloat with either the visual or the skills.
Plus, since it’s likely that the profits of WJSN as a whole were said to not even equal
to half of the money Jang Wonyoung brought to Starship, asking the company to treat them
like treating IVE was rather too much.
LIGHTSUM vs. (G)-IDLE
Debuting amid the controversy of Soojin, many once predicted that the group would soon make
it big and replace their seniors because of the promising talents, visuals and concept.
However, time gradually proved the opposite and probably for many of you here, this was
the very first time you have heard about the group let alone knowing that they are under
the same roof with a big act like (G)-IDLE.
While it’s never explicitly said, most people could tell that their debut was purely a disaster
control for Soojin’s scandal.
It came right at the perfect time to cover it up, so they did.
Some would disagree with this theory because who would spend a bunch of money debuting
another group just to crisis manage the scandal of an old one but considering the way Cube
Entertainment easily let go of CLC after the massive successes of (G)-IDLE really made
people believe that they would do everything to ensure the largest source of profit.
As if treating LIGHTSUM as scapegoat wasn’t detrimental to the confidence and ego of the
group enough, according to some SUMITs, Cube even went on to act as if LIGHTSUM didn’t
exist, barely poured investment into producing quality music for the girls, and didn’t
even bother producing group-content for them on Youtube.
In contrast, (G)-IDLE was given all they needed to be a successful girl group and ever since
day one, Cube has always provided the budget for the girls to do whatever they want with
their promotions.
Each member was scheduled to have individual activities and Yuqi was even let to come back
to China and promote there for a long time.
When the members wanted to rest, Cube also let them be and for a very long time, Minnie
was allowed to just stay in Thailand while Shuhua came back to Taiwan.
That’s why on Reddit, some said LIGHTSUM should have never debuted because they weren’t
treated properly and many agreed that the group was such a pity.
However, many said that the mistreatment theory wasn’t true and the failure of LIGHTSUM
came down to their using an overly saturated concept in K-Pop.
They were also unnecessarily crowded and most importantly, didn’t self-produce their music,
which was very different from the success formulas of all big acts under Cube Entertainment
like BTOB, Pentagon and (G)I-DLE.
So do you think there is discrimination here or people are making it up?