2023 is a year of brilliant development for Kpop groups. If before, Kpop groups mainly won international awards voted by fans, now they have names in many other categories. Not only have they become famous in the music industry, Kpop artists have also become ambassadors or representative faces of important promotional campaigns of major fashion brands.

But also because Kpop groups receive a lot of favor and recognition from the world, helping to create fans that raise the question that it seems that one of Korea’s leading entertainment companies – YG Entertainment has seems to be going backwards. Because the company continuously loses bright stars in its lineup.

At YG Entertainment, old people left one after another

Source: BLACKPINK

It is not an exaggeration to say that one of the most successful music groups in 2023 is BLACKPINK, the warhorse of YG Entertainment. Even though they haven’t released a full album this year, the girls’ media indexes are still at the top. The most outstanding event of the year was the event that this band was honored to receive the Order of Merit from the British Royal Family.

>>> READ MORE: BLACKPINK GOES TO BUCKINGHAM PALACE TO RECEIVE MEDAL OF MERIT

However, BLACKPINK’s management company is constantly criticized by fans for not doing their best for the girls.

From BLACKPINK’s debut until now, fans have always said that the company manages the girls’ time appropriately. At times, there were no group activities, causing BLACKPINK to be called “four fashionistas singing”. Sometimes they fly around the world because of the BORN PINK world tour and music activities, making the girls extremely tired. Besides, when the members got into scandals, the company did not offer any protection or solution but just silently waited for things to calm down.

Not only BLACKPINK, G-Dragon was also “ignored” when YG Entertainment did not protect the male idol when he was caught up in a scandal accused of using illegal stimulants. Therefore, fans think it is not surprising that these top idols in turn confirmed not to renew their individual contracts with YG Entertainment. Even though it is the cradle that nurtures these talents, YG cannot hold on to them, like SM did with Girl’s Generation or HYBE with BTS.

Source: allkpop

That is also the reason why YG Entertainment’s shares continued to decrease continuously as of December 22, after G-Dragon officially confirmed that he is no longer an artist under this company.

New people face an uncertain future

The departure of BLACKPINK and G-Dragon is not the only reason why the fan community is worried about the future of this Big 4 company. Because, when looking at the future of other artists under YG Entertainment such as WINNER, AKMU, TREASURE, or BABYMONSTER, the fan community cannot help but worry.

TREASURE was said to have failed to make a breakthrough; Fans believe that YG did not properly exploit the boys’ talents, letting them work mainly in the Japanese market instead of directing them to the world like BIGBANG and BLACKPINK did.

Meanwhile, the debut of rookie BABYMONSTER was somewhat disappointing even though it was predicted to be a monster rookie when it had a large fan base even before its debut. Not to mention, the group has absolutely no promotional schedule during this debut.

The future of YG in the coming years. Source: YG Website

Many comments surrounding the quality of YG’s music recently are related to the scandal of changes in positions in the board of directors and the key figure in training stars, Yang Hyun Suk. However, after the reforms and departure of top stars, hopefully YG will reconsider its strategies and regain its former top position.