Hi everyone, sorry for not updating this shots because I forced my brain to update two stories back to back. Plus, I sort of run out ideas so probably I won't have anything to write here for a little while. Anyway, thank you for reading this one shots collection.. it has 5.5K reads now (which is awesome, thanks to you all). Please support my other stories as well.
Anyway.. I've been meaning to write this for a little while, but somehow got forgotten. Please excuse me if I got some facts wrong.
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I've read somewhere about three idol groups that made their exit big. There are 3 groups that made the headlines because of their exit. One for each generation.
First generation: I don't know if any of you remember this group, but back when I was in middle school, they're somewhat famous. The first gen idol to make their exit a big news is Shinhwa. It was quite surprising considering they decided to not renew their contract with SM entertainment. Back then, SM was already a big name in the entertainment industry, so it was kind of shocking when people learn that they decided to not keeping their contract with SM. However, I bet it's must've been hard for Shinhwa since H.O.T who's also in the same agency was more popular than Shinhwa.
People kept talking about Eric Mun, Shinwa's leader. I've heard that even though it was their mutual decision to not renew the contract, it was Eric that reassured everyone in the group. There were even rumours that Eric used his own money from his own pocket to keep the group floating until they signed another deal with another company. Even after they signed with other company and Eric's career took off compared to the others, Eric still promoted the group wherever he went. He also made sure that all members didn't forget about the group activity despite their own activities.
So far, Shinhwa was a legend. They decided to exit from SM (one of the big 3 in the entertainment industry), kept the group intact (all members were all original members from their debut), and they managed to hit 20+ years in their career and even built their own company to manage Shinhwa's activity (at this point, other members signed with other companies as well for their individual activities). Even though they had no activity for the past few years, they were still together. There was no disbandment news about them.
For the second gen, I didn't know much about this group. Actually if we were talking about second gen, the longest running group in this gen would be SNSD and Super Junior, but both of them were still under SM (or most members were still under SM), so there was no surprise there. Anyway, I learnt that there was this group, called BEAST (now, HIGHLIGHT) that made the same exit. After they ended their contract with their previous company (unfortunately, it wasn't one of the big 3), they decided to build a company to manage their group activities.
Again, their leader was the one that was more popular compared to the other members. Unfortunately, compared to Shinhwa, there were several flaws in their exit. One, they didn't exit from a big 3 company. Two, they had to change their name (I didn't know about the trademark issues, whether they could perform their old songs or not). Three, I heard that there was a member or two that exited the group as well, so not all original members were in the group now.
And at last, for the third gen, obviously the one that made the headlines was GOT7. When I wrote this piece, I realized how much work that all members did to keep the group intact. I said all members, which you will learn later why I said that. Anyway, GOT7 made headlines when they decided not to renew their contract with JYP. At this point, JYP was considered big 3 (back then, there were only SM and YG), so their exit was a big news in the industry. To top it off, all members signed with different companies (even though there were some overlapping, like both Jackson and Youngjae signed with Sublime, and even though Yugyeom signed with AOMG and Jaebeom with H1GHR, both companies owned by Jay Park (at that time)). Fans were worried whether they could keep the group intact. Plus the trademark issues.
Another problem for this group was, almost half the members were foreigners. For Shinhwa, even though Eric and Andy were US citizens, they let go their citizenship and did their military duties. For HIGHLIGHT, I believed all members were Korean, so no problem there. But for GOT7, 3 out of 7 were foreigners. And not just from a nearby country. Mark came from US which was wayyyy across the ocean. And Jackson returned to China not long after the contract ended. Only Bambam remained in Korea after signing with Abyss.
That was why people kept saying that Jaebeom got to do the hardest work. He had to find out a way to keep the group intact, while fighting for the trademarks and also kept his career afloat. He himself, wasn't one of the most followed member in the group (the Amerithaikong were the ones that were more popular in the group) while in Shinhwa and HIGHLIGHT, the leaders were the most popular member.
That being said, GOT7 probably set the bar even higher now for several reasons. One, they ended a contract from a big 3 company (just like Shinhwa). Two, they kept all original members (again, like Shinhwa) with a plus, since all members signed with different companies (while with Shinhwa, they were all signed into the same company at first) and some of them even returned to their home country. Three, the leaders wasn't the one with more followings (unlike Shinhwa and HIGHLIGHT). Four, they managed to make a comeback despite all the problems mentioned above, plus keeping the trademarks, including for the group name and songs (like Shinhwa).
So.. back to my reason. This wouldn't happen if not all members had the same purpose in mind. This was not just Jaebeom's hard work, but also other members' willingness to fight for the group as well. Jackson and Mark had to clear their schedule and fly back to Korea in order to make it happen. Bambam had to stay in Korea, away from his family to make it happen. The rest of the Korean members had to put aside their schedule to make it happen (keep in mind that before and after the comeback, all Korean members were also busy as well). So it wasn't easy to make it happen, but they did. Just like Jackson said once, they are not just business. They are family. I wondered though, will there be a gen 4 group that dares to take the same step as their seniors?
On the side note, we will have to wait whether they could make it to 20+ years like Shinhwa or not.
