Published on MacGMagazine, March 2nd 2020
When last we left YG Entertainment, Yang Hyun-suk and his brother had stepped down as CEOs due to criminal investigations. K-pop fans rejoiced his departure because, frankly, he was a thug pretending to be a CEO. Still, we hoped things would get better in this new Yang-Free YG. We no longer need to fight this company!
Oh, sweet summer child …
Yes, dear readers, we are here again because despite Yang’s absence, we back on this YG nonsense. Let’s take this blow by blow, shall we?
TREASURE/MANGUM/TREASURE13?
After Yang left, we finally got more news about Treasure! Mostly just new pictures of the young men and news of a variety show. But hey, baby steps, right? Unfortunately, news came in January that one trainee, Ha Yoon-bin, decided to leave the group in hopes of becoming a soloist.
Along with the announcement of Ha’s leaving came the news of none of the members writing or producing any of the music, as previously told. Also, the group would be more like two brother groups who occasionally collaborate rather than the originally planned one group. When all 12 combine, they’ll be Treasure13, although I hope they’ll tweak the name. Also, we still have no debut date and one of the groups is named (thus far) Magnum! I’m both really glad that Ha left when he could and saddened he could sneak the other ones out too.
Don’t get me wrong, I wish the best for the group. They’ve worked hard to get where they are. But I don’t trust this company. YG Entertainment has burned a lot of artists and fans. Speaking of people they burned …
B.I DESERVED BETTER
In June 2019, allegations came forth about iKON‘s leader, B.I. According to reports, he contacted someone about buying some drugs due to his then anxiety problems. B.I claimed he never actually purchased the drugs but decided to leave his group regardless. Nonetheless, what hurts the most was YG Entertainment’s poor handling of the situation.
The whole thing happened in the span of hours. I remember waking up to the news of the allegations, B.I’s removal and YG’s statements that morning. They handled with efficiency we’ve never seen from them before. Yeah, I went there. I’m still mad. What makes this frustrating is on Feb. 27, 2020, B.I tested negative for drugs.
YG is hardly a stranger to drug scandals, even before last year’s drama. BigBang‘s T.O.P and G-Dragon on separate occasions have been caught using drugs, as well as in-house producer Kush. Park Bom was signed with YG when her murky drug scandal hit the public. So why did B.I leave? Why didn’t the company protect him by at least putting him on hiatus while the investigations went on? Why is it that both T.O.P and G-Dragon are still with the company, despite admitting to drug use, but B.I isn’t?
It’s bad enough that they’re still using B.I’s songs and arrangements on iKON’s latest album. Why couldn’t they have waited for him? They only needed to wait six months for this to clear up. Trust me, it’s hardly the longest time we’ve waited to hear more from a YG artist or group! Speaking of the terrible YG waiting game!
THEY’RE ABOUT TO DO ANOTHER ONE
On February 26, YG Entertainment announced they’re forming a new girl group and hoping for a late 2020 debut. Remember how I mentioned earlier how we still don’t know when Treasure13 will debut? The group that’s been waiting for debut since January 2019? Yep!
This is especially frustrating as BLACKPINK, who is currently YG’s only girl group, still doesn’t have a full album. I honestly search for words, but all I can form is “Why is this garbage?!” I’m not a fan of theirs, but they deserve more than this. Granted, YG has mentioned an upcoming secret project for the group. But goodness only knows what it’ll happen or when we’ll see it.
If they move forward with this girl group while they continue to neglect BLACKPINK, this is only going to lead to animosity between the groups and their fans. Yes, the company desperately needs to rebuild its image and artists. But as we can see, they’re doing so at the expense of others.
Yang Hyun-suk might be gone, but it seems this fight is far from over.
(Soompi, Korea Times, Billboard.)
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