7 years of contract and time to choose a girl group.
In South Korea, girl groups usually have a contract period of seven years. This is because idol groups can sign contracts with entertainment agencies for up to seven years under the standard contract set by the Fair Trade Commission.
When the seven-year contract period expires, it is common to push for a renewal or find another agency depending on team activities. This is also when team activities went well.
Raising a girl group usually costs a large amount of about 900 million won, but the amount is recovered and the girl group that makes a lot of profits will naturally seek to renew its contract. As in any field, if the conditions that the contracting parties want are not met, they will go their separate ways.
If the members in the team did not get along well, each member may sign a separate agency. It is a case of finding one’s way through solo activities.
In 2021, Mamamoo’s seven-year contract has also expired. The three members renewed their existing agency with RBW, but ‘Whine’ signed with another agency. However, he expressed his willingness to continue his activities as a team called Mamamoo, as if there were no problems between the team members.
But things don’t seem to work out the way you think. There was no song that Whee In participated in the album “MICON” released after Mamamoo renewed its contract. My album is constantly being released. Of course, with a new agency.
Personally, MAMAMOO seems to have been organized neatly. Other groups often have various noises during the withdrawal and dismantling process. There are many bad examples, but I don’t want to give examples on purpose, so I’ll move on.
Monthly girl group activities in 2019
January
- January 7 – Apink released their 8th mini album “PERCENT”.
- Jan. 8 – WJSN released their sixth mini album, “WJ STAY?”
- Jan. 9 – Gracie released her third single, “Candy.”
- Jan. 14 – GFRIEND released their second full-length album, “Time for us”.
- Jan. 15 – FAVORITE released its third mini album, “LOCA.”
- Jan. 17 – Neon Punch’s Terry has officially withdrawn and new member Do-hee has been unveiled.
- January 21 – Cherry Bullet released their debut single, “Let’s Play Cherry Bullet”.
- Jan. 26 – Pierce’s Kim Eun-bin and Kim Chae-yoon left the team, and new member Kwak Do-ha was recruited.
- Jan. 30 – Neon Punch released its first mini album, “Watch Out.” CLC has released its eighth mini-album “No.1”.
February
- February 8 – Pierce’s second single “Shadow” was released.
- Feb. 12 – JYP Entertainment’s ITZY released their debut single, “IT’z Different.”
- Feb. 13 – Dreamcatcher released its fourth mini album, “The End of Nightmare.” Ceraday released her second single, “Follow SATURDAY”.
- Feb. 14 – Nine Muses released their fourth digital single, “Remember.”
- Feb. 15 – Bad Kids changed their team name to Hot Place, in which Ha-young left and new member Tari joined. Subsequently, on March 11, it was revealed that it was not just a change in the team name, but a “re-debut.” Under the name Hot Place, it made its debut on Music Bank on March 29.
- Feb. 19 – LOONA released their first mini-album repackage album “XX.”
- Feb. 20 – Wanna Be, a five-member group, released its fourth digital single “LEGGO.”
- February 26 – (G)I-DLE released their second mini album, “I made.”
- February 27 – Roses are recruited by Lime Soda.
March
- March 8 – S.I.S. released its third single, “I’ll Be Your Girl.”
- March 12 – DreamNote released its second single, “Dream:us.” Hael, a first-generation member of WeGirls, has withdrawn.
- March 13 – GWSN released their second mini album “THE PARK IN THE NIGHT PART TWO.”
- March 14 – Mamamoo released the last album of the Four Seasons Four Color Project, “White Wind.”
- March 18 – EVERGLOW released their debut single “ARRIVAL OF EVERGLOW”.
- March 19 – DIA released its fifth mini album, “NEWTRO.”
- March 20 – MOMOLAND released their fifth mini album, “Show Me.”
- March 21 – EVERGLOW released their debut single “ARRIVAL OF EVERGLOW”.
April
- April 1 – IZ*ONE released its second mini album “HEART*IZ”.
- April 4 – Sunny Hill signed with BOD Entertainment. At the same time, Eun-joo and Gun-hee joined.
- April 5 – BLACKPINK released their second mini album, “KILL THIS LOVE”.
- April 10 – BVNDIT released their debut single, “BVNDIT, BEAMBITIOUS!”
- April 16 – Hashtag released its second mini album “#Aeji #paaSion”.
- April 18 – Ho1iday released their debut single, “Fantasy.”
- April 22 – TWICE released their 7th mini album “FANCY YOU”.
May
- May 2 – Pierce released his third single, “Change”.
- May 8 – OH MY GIRL released their first full-length album, “The Fifth Season.”
- May 14 – Weki Meki released their second single, “LOCK END LOL”.
- May 15 – BVNDIT released its second single, “Dramatic”. EXID has released their fifth mini album “WE”.
- May 16 – Ladies Code released its fifth digital single, “FEEDBACK”.
- May 20 – Lovelyz released their sixth mini album, “Once upon a time.”
- May 21 – Applebee’s Yuji, Haeun, and Yurim re-debut with 3YE, releasing their debut digital single “DMT”, and Applebee disbanded.
- May 22 – Cherry Bullet released their second single, “LOVE ADVENTURE”.
- May 25 – Berry Good released its third mini album, “Fantastic.”
- May 29 – CLC released its digital single ME.
June
- June 4 – WJSN released their special album “For the Summer.” fromis_9 released the single “FUN FACTORY”.
- June 19 – Red Velvet released its sixth mini album, ‘The ReVe Festival’ Day 1.
- June 24 – Purpleback released their debut single, “Crystal Ball.”
- June 26 – (G)I-DLE released their digital single “Uh-Oh.” Rusty has released her debut digital single, Thirsty.
- June 27 – Pierce’s Park Ryeo-won withdrew and Koo Min-sol was recruited.
July
- July 1 – GFRIEND released their 7th mini album “FEVER SEASON”.
- July 10 – NATURE released its first mini album, “I’m So Pretty.”
- July 11 – Busters released their pre-released digital single “Night of Counting the Stars.”
- July 19 – Yubin of Pink Fantasy is temporarily suspended and Sang-a is recruited.
- July 23 – GWSN released their 3rd mini album “THE PARK IN THE NIGHT PART 3”.
- July 29 – ITZY released their first mini album “IT’z ICY.” Source Music, GFRIEND’s agency, has been acquired by Big Hit Entertainment (HYBE).
- July 31 – Busters released their first mini album “Pinky Promise.”
August
- Aug. 5 – OH MY GIRL released their summer special package “Fall In Love.” Pink Fantasy has released their first single, “Fantasy”.
- August 6 – FANATICS released their debut mini album “THE SIX”.
- August 7 – Rocket Punch released their debut mini album “PINK PUNCH.”
- August 14 – Weki Meki released their second single repackage “WEEK END LOL”.
- August 15 – ANS released their pre-debut single “Wonderland”.
- Aug. 17 – Pierce’s new member Kim Garin is recruited.
- August 19 – EVERGLOW released their second single, “HUSH”.
- August 20 – Red Velvet released their 7th mini album ‘The ReVe Festival’ Day 2.
- August 24 – Gracie released her fourth single, “Bravo My Trip”.
- August 26 – Raon is recruited by the ANS.
- Aug. 28 – Girlkind’s Jigang released her solo digital single “SPLIT”.
- August 29 – Mnet’s Comeback War: The Queendom has begun. If debuting in the music industry after trainees’ audition program competition in the past was a 3rd generation girl group trend, the big difference is that Queendom was a competition between existing girl groups (AOA, (G)I-DLE, Lovelyz, Mamamoo, Park Bom, and Oh My Girl). Regardless of the ranking, the girl groups participated in this greatly expanded (and even revived) their popularity immediately after the end of the show.
- August 30 – Ji-eun, Ji-yu, and Ddabo of Rania were confirmed to leave, and Young-heun, Seung-hyun and Larissa from Stella, joined in their vacancies.
September
- September 6 – CLC released its digital single “Devil.” WeGirls released their second mini album, “Ride.”
- September 11 – Pierce released his fourth single, “Villain”.
- September 16 – ANS’s official debut digital single. “BOOM BOOM”.
- September 17 – 3YE released their second digital single “OOMM”.
- September 18 – Dreamcatcher released its special mini “Raid of Dream.”
- September 19 – Laboum released its first full-length album, “Two Of Us.” Ceraday has released its third single, “IKYK.”
- September 23 – TWICE released their 8th mini album “Feel Special”.
- September 30 – Purpleback released their second single, “Dream Line.”
October
- October 4 – Lime Soda released its third single, “WAVE.”
- October 6 – ANS’s Bian and Lo-yeon released their special single “Lean On Me”.
- October 8 – NATURE’s Gaga has left and Sohee from Produce 101 has joined.
- October 10 – Ladies Code released its fourth mini album “CODE#03 SET ME FREE”.
- October 25 – MUSKY released their third single, “Fire”.
- October 28 – Brown Eyed Girls released their first remake album “RE_vive” in three years and 11 months.
November
- Nov. 1 – Pink Fantasy released its second digital single, “Playful House.”
- November 3 – HINAPIA debuted with their digital single “New Start”. Four of the members were former members of the disbanded Pristin.
- November 5 – BVNDIT released its first mini album “BE!”
- Members of the upcoming debut girl group C9 GIRLZ, which was unveiled on C9 Entertainment from Nov. 11-14, included Good Day members Jiwon, Chae Sol, Viva, Lucky, and Ha Eun. As a result, Good Day, which had no official activities after participating in the idol reboot project – The Unit, was virtually disbanded.
- November 12 – NATURE released its second mini album, “NATURE WORLD: CODE A”. ELRIS has released its first digital single, “Miss U”.
- November 14 – MAMAMOO released their second full-length album, “reality in BLACK”.
- November 18 – Minji of the Busters withdrew. New member Jieun joined his vacancy on Dec. 10.
- November 19 – Nana re-signed with Pledis Entertainment for the second time. WJSN is back with their 7th mini album “As You Wish”.
- Nov. 26 – AOA released its sixth mini album, “New Moon.”
December
- December 3 – WeGirls released their second digital single “Hello, Christmas.”
- Dec. 12 – WJSN’s Dawon announced a temporary suspension of her activities following her diagnosis of anxiety disorder.
- Dec. 13 – Vitamin released its 11th digital single, “Dream of Your Dream.”
- December 21 – Laboum released its third digital single, “WINTER ++”.
- December 23 – Red Velvet released their 6th and 7th mini album “The ReVe Festival’ Finale”.
- December 30 – MOMOLAND released “Thumbs Up”.
News of girl group disbandment and withdrawal in 2019
- Jan. 11 – Sojin of Girl’s Day terminated her contract with her agency as of Feb.
- Jan. 27 – Minjeong of Busters withdrew.
- February 10 – Wa$$up terminated its contract with the agency unconditionally.
- Feb. 11 – Nine Muses announced their disbandment after their February activities.(Official disbandment is February 24)
- March 6 – Mole Entertainment announced the dissolution of Coco Sori.
- March 29 – Seraday’s ship has withdrawn.
- April 26 – Fantagio announces the breakup of Hello Venus. The official dissolution date is May 8th, which exactly marks the seventh anniversary of its debut, and Nara and Alice leave Fantagio, leaving Lime, Yoo Young, Seo Young, and Summer in Fantagio.
- May 3 – At Banana Culture Entertainment, EXID’s Solji, LE, and Hyelin have decided to renew their contracts and break up with Hani and Jeonghwa. Hani and Jeonghwa’s contract officially ends on May 31, and EXID’s group activities (domestic only) will be suspended indefinitely as of this day.
- May 12 – Ishier disbanded.
- May 13 – AOA’s Min-a has withdrawn at the expiration of her contract with FNC Entertainment.
- May 20 – Lip Bubble officially disbanded. Wannabe dismantled.
- May 24 – Pledis Entertainment announced the disbandment of PRISTIN. Except for Kyulkyung, Yehana, and Seongyeon, the rest of the members leave the agency at the end of the contract.
- May 25 – The heroine disbanded.
- May 27 – Taeha of Berrygood has withdrawn.
- June 23 – Hyeni, a first-generation member of WeGirls, has left.
- July 4 – Ga-eun graduated from ‘After School’ due to the expiration of her contract.
- July 6 – Jenny of DIA, who has been inactive since the beginning of the year, has decided to withdraw.
- July 12 – S.I.S.’s Jihae withdrew after the end of her contract with her agency, and Dal went on a break for personal reasons.
- July 17 – Shasha disbanded.
- July 22 – Camilla disbanded.
- Aug. 22 – Ceraday’s Cho-hee and Zion are out.
- September 1 – Amber’s contract with SM Entertainment at f(x) ends. Subsequently, on September 5, Luna’s contract with SM Entertainment ended.
- September 3 – Matilda’s Saebyeol, Dana and Semi ended their contracts with their agencies Box Media, and the team officially disbanded on September 6. Hannah, who appeared to be staying with the agency, also broke up with the agency on Sept. 11.
- Sept. 6 – Dreamnote’s Harbin withdrew from the team and decided to concentrate on treating injuries, followed by Hanbyeol.
- October 18 – Hee-sun of Pink Fantasy, who was being treated and rested for depression and anxiety disorders, was withdrawn for her personal SNS use and inappropriate words and actions as an idol.
- Nov. 6 – IZ*ONE’s planned activities became unclear as producer Ahn Joon-young, who directed the survival program Produce 48, admitted that there was a manipulation in the program’s ranking process, and more specific manipulations were made known on Nov. 8.
- November 30 – Yeonwoo and Taeha of MOMOLAND have left. Yeon-woo remained with the agency and turned into an actor, terminating Tae-ha’s contract.
- Dec. 11 – Eun-ah, a first- and second-generation member of WeGirls, has left.
- December 13 – Cherry Bullet’s Kokoro, Linlin and Mirae have withdrawn and terminated their contracts with their agencies.
- December 27 – Reina graduated from After School at the expiration of her contract.
- December 28 – Gwak Do-ha of Pierce withdrew.