Looking at the famous acts of K-Pop, maybe never once can you think how some of them
had started on a really low note.
The first good impression is one of the determinants of a groups’ success, however, the production
team somehow had the balls to put out some teasers that clearly lacked effort and investment.
The most ridiculous thing was that several groups on the list even came from big companies
and though they would clearly generate a bunch of money with the inherent talents and the
company’s reputation, all the public got about them was a huge disappointment from
the very start.
1.
We’re Le Sserafim - from Le Sserafim
While the race of gen4 girl groups are said to be bloodily competitive as all existing
acts are not only outstanding talent-wise but their visuals are also highly regarded,
the recent debut teaser of LE SSERAFIM has taken people aback and proven that not any
new groups debuting under famous company could amount to great things.
Despite coming from a relatively powerful entertainment company – Source Music, and
that is not to mention how HYBE also plays a role in the training and determining the
final lineup, the teaser introducing LE SSERAFIM’s members has left nothing but a huge disappointment
for the public as the whole thing, from the setup, background, editing to the girls’
makeup and costumes were said to be peasant, boring, and outdated.
Literally right after the teaser was released, multiple threats were posted on famous forums
to discuss the unbearably low quality of the teaser.
Probably part of the reasons also came down to the newtro 2000s concept of the group but
according to most people, the teaser looked like it was recorded by an outdated phone
and edited by a creative crew living in 2022 but still stuck with the aesthetic mindset
of the 2000s.
Besides, the dull white background and the lack of good lighting also revealed the alleged
“real” visual that was said to be disappointingly different from the individual photo teasers
released not long ago.
As if that wasn't bad enough for a start of a much anticipated girl group, the makeup
artists even placed a heavy focus on the aegyo sals of Sakura, Chaewon, and Garam, which
made them look like they had been suffering from insomnia for years.
In fact, these three members were made to be the worst looking ones out of the six girls
because their hairstyles were not only wrongly chosen but also poorly done, making their
cranial extremely flat and hair as greasy as hasn’t been washed for days.
However, that didn’t necessarily mean the other three girls were made to look better
because according to netizens, their visuals were also way too different from the previous
individual photo teasers and probably out of all girl groups gen4, LE SSERAFIM’s visuals
would be ranked last because the girls’ appearance was so homespun and normal.
Some even said Source Music and HYBE were catfishing fans and they felt ashamed for
having compared such a group to NMIXX.
Still, do you know what is the most surprising thing about this teaser?
According to some anti-fans of Kim Garam, the video still had one point they really
loved and that is how the real visual of Garam was revealed to be super similar to the girl
in her bullying allegations, further consolidating the belief that Source Music and HYBE was
bleaching her past and oppressing many teenager victims.
However, there were still defending opinions saying that people were taking things out
of context because as this teaser was just an introduction of the Q&A session LE SSERAFIM
had on the same day, it was totally nonsense to judge the concept and the potential of
the group based on this mere low-budget video.
Plus, the girls’ individual teaser videos were well-invested so people can’t just
say HYBE and Source Music didn’t take care of their rookie.
2.
Debut Big Plan - from SEVENTEEN
Then just turning back the time to around six months prior to PRISTIN, people were also
shook to the root with the debut teaser of SEVENTEEN because despite being under the
same roof with the legendary girl group After School, SEVENTEEN’s very first official
public appearance was still wrapped up in an extremely low quality forty-two-second
long teaser.
The most ironic thing about this video was that, while the title of the teaser was “Debut
Big Plan,” the budget and efforts poured into the final product didn’t seem to be
very big because the whole thing looked like any ordinary dance practices accompanied by
the amateur lighting and recording techniques.
There were even opinions saying that the teaser might have been recorded by a phone because
it lacked so much depth and couldn’t pick up much light to showcase the visuals of the
members.
Even when overlooking such small details to focus on the big picture, netizens still found
this teaser a huge disappointment as it looked more like a video compiling several snippets
of two dance practices together rather than being a legit “Debut Big Plan” teaser
like what Pledis called the video.
Except for several first seconds where the members have close-face shots, most of the
video was about their dancing in two different backgrounds and due to the production quality,
some pointed out that the camera kinda awkwardly picked up the lighting when the boys danced
in the black studio.
However, some fans believed that this teaser wasn’t that bad because back in 2015, producing
such a simple teaser like that was quite normal because of the limited technology.
Moreover, as Pledis was financially struggling at the time and only until SEVENTEEN released
the massive hit Don’t Wanna Cry that they managed to lift the money burden, it also
made sense to see why the budget for their “Debut Big Plan” wasn’t as big as it
sounded.
3.
The Boyz x Dazed Profile Film - From The Boyz
Out of all cases on the list, that of The Boyz is most similar to the debut teaser of
LE SSERAFIM considering the visual, vibe, and even budget.
However, as the scale of IST Entertainment was way smaller than Source Music and HYBE,
The Boyz didn’t get the whole world talking or blowing things out of proportion about
their teaser like what LE SSERAFIM is dealing with.
While the clarity of The Boyz’s video was somewhat better than LE SSERAFIM’s, the
whole thing was still a disappointment for the lack of image depth, good lighting and
worst of all, the overall message of the video.
Maybe the production team also knew that the teaser quality wasn’t good so they had tried
to cover up minor mistakes by changing the video to black and white, but still, there
were major flaws impossible to hide.
As IST Entertainment wanted the teaser to bring up the model-visual vibe, two-thirds
of the video was done with a plain white background, simple fits and natural makeup.
However, since professional lighting, the success determinant of such a shooting style,
was rather lacking in The Boyz’s teaser, the video looked like it was half-heartedly
done at the last minutes.
The most disappointing thing was still that despite being an idol group, The Boyz in the
teaser looked like they were some rookie models and completely unable to show the group’s
color.
Due to the editing style, the members also looked like they were promoting clothes for
a small brand which was trying too hard to be another version of Supreme.
However, some believed the teaser wasn’t that bad because it showed how The Boyz was
an all-visual group and even when everything else was indeed low quality, no one could
deny how the premium handsomeness of the boys had saved it all.
4.
"We Like" - from PRISTIN
At the time PRISTIN debuted, it didn’t take long for netizens to recognize them as the
number one opponent of TWICE as besides the lineup with several famous members from Produce
101, the group was also home to many talented new faces worth the wait.
A bit different from most cases on the list, the debut teaser of PRISTIN was said to meet
the expectations of netizens because instead of going for the usual bubbly image, they
went for the girlcrush concept that was relatively new in K-Pop 2016.
Not only that, as the messages, visuals, outfit and especially the unique color of the act
as pretty empowered girls were all well portrayed through the teaser, it didn’t take PRISTIN
long to make headlines for being such a promising girl group.
However, as soon as their debut MV was released, people immediately changed their attitude
180 degrees and rated PRISTIN’s debut teaser to be one of the most disappointing ones because
it was so misleading compared to what the group initially showcased.
At the time, the industry was super-duper saturated with cute and naive concept because
after the explosive success of TWICE, everyone only followed suit in hope of reaching the
same position as the girls.
However, it also bored the heck out of people as they had literally nothing outside the
bubbly, upbeat songs despite looking left or right.
That’s why when PRISTIN released their girl-crush-concept-inspired teaser, which of course received lots of positive
attention, but ended up releasing a whole cute and colorful MV, many netizens felt extremely
disappointed and complained about how PLEDIS were using tricks to hype up such an ordinary
girl group.
So, out of these five teasers, which one do you think is actually not that bad and you
would rather add others onto the list?