Struggling to hold on

Over the past 2 days, information about member Ahyeon’s absence from Baby Monster’s debut caused a stir in public opinion. Ahyeon is one of the group’s biggest fans, known as Baby Monster’s trump card because of her ability to sing, rap, and dance comprehensively.

The female trainee is considered Baby Monster’s Jennie because of her charm and beautiful face. Her absence from the debut song will be a big loss for the group, while the possibility of her returning to activities is still open.

Meanwhile, YG has not yet announced the results of the renewal negotiations with Blackpink even though the exclusive contract has expired in August. Korean media said that YG did not clearly announce Blackpink’s future because it wanted to attract controversy. Pay attention to the new girl group.

YG – the company that has always been slow in promoting and releasing products – is now rushing and speeding up the process of launching new recruits. This makes the public believe even more in the possibility of Blackpink not re-signing.

Financial reports for the past 3 years show that BlackPink accounts for more than 80% of YG’s operating profits. According to International Business Times, some investors have expressed concern and said they will reassess the company’s value after the announcement of the contract extension.

It can be seen that the four girls’ contracts greatly affect the company’s business prospects and future investment decisions.

In September, YG Entertainment shares fell 13.28% on September 21 and continued to fall 4% the next day, recording the lowest level YG shares traded in nearly 5 months.

The falling stock price “blew away” about $100 million in company capitalization in just one day.

The Korea Times assessed that in the context of Blackpink’s uncertain future, YG Entertainment seems to have carefully prepared and methodically planned to create a new girl group to replace Blackpink.

Currently, Baby Monster’s YouTube channel has exceeded 3 million registrations, and the MV “Dream” to thank the audience has reached 54 million views. However, Ahyeon’s mysterious absence will cause YG to recalculate, because she plays an important role in creating the color of Baby Monster.

Without the trump card Ahyeon, it will be difficult for Baby Monster to explode in their debut to continue the success of Blackpink. Photo: YG

YG’s difficult position

Recently, YG has continuously made vague announcements about Blackpink and Baby Monster. If the new girl group is not successful and loses Blackpink, YG will lose its position in the Big 4 (4 largest entertainment companies in Kpop).

YG used to have many famous artists like PSY, Big Bang, 2NE1, iKON but they lost them.

The consecutive scandals of TOP and Seungri caused Big Bang and YG to stagger. In 2019, President Yang Hyun Suk’s drug scandal and BI member leaving iKON caused the company to decline.

YG lost 60 million USD due to the stock price plummeting and in the third quarter of 2019, YG’s operating profit ended at negative 1.3 billion won.

In 2022, 6 iKON members simultaneously left YG after 7 years of association. Even G-Dragon has left the company, although he is considered one of the legendary idols trained and developed by YG.

After “How you like that”, Blackpink became YG’s savior when bringing in huge profits from album sales, world tours, other contracts and schedules.

Previously, YG Entertainment announced operating profit in the second quarter of 2023 of 28.9 billion won, an increase of 209.3% over the same period last year.

YG has lost a large number of “key” artists under its management. At the present time, Baby Monster can be considered the last hope of the once famous “giant” of Kpop.