In 2012, Hello Venus debuted with a fresh, bubbly sound and cutesy charm. Although their name had people snerking at first, with the release of "Venus" they proved to have potential in the K-Pop market. With Ara's lullaby voice, Nara's model-like visuals, Yoonjo's baby face, Yooyoung's aw-inducing aegyo, Alice's cottoncandy vocals, and Lime's mindblowing 3-in-1 talent as the group's main rapper, dancer, AND vocalist, the six girls made for a nicely packaged ensemble, complete with a cute bow on top.

And yet two years later, the group is splitting. As the group was a joint project between Pledis Entertainment and Fantagio, Ara and Yoonjo are going back to Pledis and the rest are staying with Fantagio to continue promoting as Hello Venus. With this sudden development, fans can't help but wonder how one of the most anticipated girl groups of 2012 are parting ways so suddenly in 2014. Among the fan speculations that have been making circles so far, there are a total of six rumored reasons behind Hello Venus's split.

1. Disorganized promotions

When a group splits, it's always a bit messy and disorienting for fans. Despite the lessons that TVXQ, Super Junior, and more recently EXO and KARA, should have taught us, when an idol group debuts, we expect it to stay together through thick and thin. We expect to see the same faces over and over again; we believe that they're part of a team of indestructible bonds, "13 is 1" mottos galore. But ever since the beginning, Hello Venus hasn't always come out as a set of six.

Right before Hello Venus debuted, member Yoonjo had an unfortunate accident and injured her leg. Yet instead of delaying the music video shoot and debut date, the agencies went right ahead and filmed the dance shots and had the group promote without her. Non-fans and insta-fans alike were confused seeing a six-membered group promoting as five. Even when Hello Venus released their repackage album and started performing "Like a Wave", Yoonjo was still nowhere to be found. Furthermore, for one of the lead vocalists of the group, Yoonjo wasn't given much to sing in the title singles. It's almost as if she wasn't really a part of the group or even really needed.

2. Lack of promotions

In the span of two years, Hello Venus has only released and promoted three singles, excluding follow-ups. In a fast-paced K-Pop scene, it's important for rookie groups to constantly release new songs in order to establish their presence and sound to the public. Fellow 2012 rookies, AOA and SPICA, for example, have promoted five singles since debut, and EXO released four. These three examples are regularly seen throughout the K-Pop seasons and years, but Hello Venus hasn't been releasing any new singles since "Do You Want Some Tea?", which they promoted over a year ago in May 2013. Fans have been asking, "What's the deal?" and inquiring after Hello Venus for a while now. A whole year of missed opportunities, promotions, and variety show appearances has passed, and it hasn't done the group any favors.

3. Missed Opportunities with Pledis Entertainment

Speaking of missed opportunities, what was up with Pledis and 'Music Bank' last year?

Last time Hello Venus promoted, it was for their single "Do You Want Some Tea?" During that time, fans noticed that the group never appeared on KBS's 'Music Bank.' It's speculated that this is due to Pledis Entertainment's rumored conflict with 'Music Bank,' as both Pledis label mates After School and NU'EST didn't appear on the show either with their singles "First Love" and "Sleep Talking" respectively.

This is a pretty big disadvantage for Pledis artists, especially for the newer groups Hello Venus and NU'EST, as they get less air time and fewer opportunities to show themselves to the public. Although more recently, Orange Caramel was able to perform "Catallena" on Music Bank, it's probable that Pledis' past conflict with the program hurt Hello Venus's chances of having a successful run with "Do You Want Some Tea?" Maybe even hurt Hello Venus in the long run. 

4. Half-assed concerts

Even when Hello Venus took their opportunities to promote, their agencies did not make the most of them. 

Hello Venus held their first concert at Seogang University on June 22, 2013. It was pretty successful, but Hello Venus's fans were disappointed with the low quality of service. The agencies promised the fans goodies, but failed to deliver. Although the entire concert video was supposed to be released via the website AfreecaTV as a live stream, it was edited too much. Half of the concert was not shown in the video; even the songs they performed live were not shown. Furthermore, the agencies promised to release a photo book following the concert, but fans have yet to see it for a year now.

Fans felt cheated as a result, and once again, Hello Venus missed an opportunity to sell and spread their merchandise goodies for fans and interested bystanders alike. An agency half-assing things with its rookie groups, or any of its idols, is never a good sign.

5. 'I'm Your Venus' second season WTF-ery

Hello Venus's first season of 'I'm Your Venus', like any other idol show, displayed the members' personalities and their hard work behind the scenes. It was pretty successful, enough for the producer to announce a season two back in October of 2013. Season two, however, turned out to be a completely different show. Renamed 'Hello Beauty School', the show went from focusing on the girls' journey to K-Pop stardom to focusing on makeup products and their origins. Wat?

Perhaps this was meant to attract viewers who weren't necessarily Hello Venus fans, but potential fans who could fall for Hello Venus's bright and cute charms on screen. Unfortunately, the tactic didn't really work. The concept fell flat to the audience, disappointing the fans once again.

6. Pledis has given up

Over the past few years, Pledis has been suffering major losses in terms of finances. While in 2012, Pledis lost 940 million won (~ $917,000 USD), in 2013, the company lost 260 million won (~ $254,000 USD). They showed improvement thanks to money earned from their star players UEE and Son Dam Bi, but still not enough to turn a profit.

Yet rather than focusing on the idols it's promoting now, Pledis Entertainment has announced that it will be coming out with a brand new group called Seventeen. Public opinion is mostly negative, as fans feel that Pledis should continue to cultivate its current groups After School, NU'EST, and Hello Venus instead, especially since the latter two are still new to the K-Pop scene. It's possible that Pledis is creating this new group, however, because NU'EST and Hello Venus aren't doing as well as they had hoped. Their recent move to withdraw Ara and Yoonjo from Hello Venus is a sign that they have given up on making profit off the girl group altogether, and are saving their funds and energy to focus on the upcoming new boy band. Perhaps the label believes that Seventeen will be their saving grace, but this certainly does not sit well with fans of current groups, not to mention the hardworking group members themselves! 

Now that the joint project of Hello Venus has ended, what do you think will be the fate of the girl group? Is Pledis right in thinking that Hello Venus doesn't have a chance or can the group blossom with better marketing and bigger drive? 

Whatever the future holds, I hope it's a bright one for Hello Venus. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.