On November 1 KST, an individual suspected of being a HYBE Labels employee exposed several new pages of the 'HYBE Weekly Music Industry Trend Report'.
Below are sections from the new pages exposed by suspected HYBE employee 'A':
2023-05-31
BLACKPINK Jisoo
- A member whose fandom is stronger in East Asia - Sinophone regions than in Korea or North America. Like Lisa, the members with stronger fandoms in Asia tend to become wrapped up in issues that cause unnecessary emotional expenditures. Recently, Dior Korea's official Instagram uploaded photos of all its ambassadors, but the first photo was Kim Yuna, which created an issue.
- Jisoo was also included in the photo slides, but people were angry that the thumbnail wasn't Jisoo but Kim Yuna. So the fans filed complaints with Dior, claiming that there are more Jisoo fans who consume Dior than anyone, which caused Dior to upload a separate photo and video of Jisoo to appease the fans.
- There is a tendency for fans from certain regions to pick unnecessary fights over the value of idols over others, and with the involvement of luxury brand ambassador titles, these petty fights have become aggravated so that such information induces stress even outside of the fandom.
- Several problems within Jisoo's fandom have also surfaced online along with the recent information about Jisoo. The suspicions that Rosé's dating rumor and illegal drug rumor were both spread by Jisoo's fans has come up again, and is a topic that crawls back up again every once in awhile so it may be a good issue to bring up around right around the timing of her solo promotions.
2023-10-11
BLACKPINK Lisa
- Her public image collapsed after the 'Crazy Horse Show' in Paris. She may have wanted to emphasize the empowerment message through the act of performing at the show itself, but can't seem to accept the fact that it was a naive decision to just jump into a burlesque show rather than promoting empowerment on a larger stage through background storytelling and production. And the other members even went to cheer on her, resulting in a heavy blow for the team's overall image. Despite everything, the issue is bound to quiet down soon since this team was one that never explicitly promoted themes like girl power or gender issues. The members showed numerous times that they were clearly interested in heterosexual relationships.
2023-10-18
EXO D.O.
- tvN's 'Green Bean, Red Bean' premiered with a rating of 3.4%.
- Good reactions were expected to an extent, considering it was Lee Kwang Soo's return to variety shows with Na Young Suk PD, but on the other hand, it was expected to perform like a relief pitcher for the time slot, so there was pressure.
- In terms of content, there's nothing to suggest that the producers tried to come up with something innovative like 'Earth Arcade', but it's correct to assume that the only person in the variety industry who is currently able to keep people interested in a program for so long without major failure is Na Young Suk PD. He's a key figure in that sense, but that also means that he must be dreading a situation where he runs out of source materials. This is where we need to carefully consider what synnergy effect Seventeen can have with Na Young Suk.
- Unless some unforeseen situation pops up, 'Youth Over Flowers' with Seventeen should proceed well. From here on out, we should make a decision on whether to keep Na Young Suk as an alley card to use when issues arise, for example Seventeen's enlistment plans. Broadcasting station alums still appreciate the 'give-and-take' system. It's a good time to strategize over how Seventeen can offer positive cooperation during decisive situations for Egg Is Coming, so that opportunities can be created for other Pledis/HYBE artists like Baekho to ride along. Oh, for the record, D.O's role on this show is nothing more than a reactor to Lee Kwang Soo's antics. It's honestly Lee Kwang Soo's one-man show.
2023-10-25
IVE
- They couldn't even win #1 on 'Music Bank'. Their scores are so poor that they can't even make it into the nominations. The fans are apparently waiting on the 'AKMU boom' to die down so IVE can climb back up again, but thanks to Seventeen exceeding their expectations, it's become a Monday of despair.
- Noticeably poor performance on overseas charts, with no entry on 'Billboard 200' and a mere #181 on 'Global 200'. Even NMIXX reached #122 on 'Global 200'. Since everyone is aware of the numbers needed for these charts, they're saying that IVE may have sold less than 3,000 copies in North America. The import numbers are low in Japan as well, so people are gradually starting to wonder how they managed to sell 1,600,000 copies. If they want to prove that the numbers were real, they have nowhere else to turn to but the domestic market, but right now, that's looking more and more difficult.
- The song itself is gaining significantly less attention. They were never a strong team performance-wise so their challenge videos aren't grabbing attention either. Ahn Yu Jin doing the 'Smoke' challenge before the comeback absolutely did not work in their favor, and now, the team's critical weakness is coming to light, of relying too heavily on that ambiguous foothold of 'popularity with the masses'.
- The company must have felt desperate, because they went on Na Young Suk PD's live broadcast at 10 PM, but rather than going with the more casual concept of 'Father and Daughter' with Na Young Suk and Ahn Yu Jin, they actually had all of the IVE members go on the live to talk about their comeback, which made the atmosphere awkward. It's not like Na Young Suk PD knows much about idols, so the quality of the questions asked was just too pitiful. The members were trying so hard to liven up the atmosphere with an ahjusshi they barely know, and it was a risky situation because one mistake could have made them look bratty.
2023-06-21
EXO-CBX
- Raised the white flag for surrender. It's a wonder if they thought they could just get away with betrayal without any preparation or planning. Maybe they just hired a bad lawyer. It just ended with Baekhyun's image taking a huge downfall. Hardly anyone is interested in Chen or Xiumin. Realistically, the core fandom was most likely divided into Baekhyun vs. D.O, and this incident probably landed a blow to the Baekhyun side. Meanwhile, Baekhyun is trying to suck up again on Bubble, writing, 'Thank you for believing in me.. I'm sorry for making you confused and worried. I'm still Baekhyun'. He's smart, but this incident itself proved that people like him who lack depth can go so far.
2023-07-26
EXO
- Initially, there were some complaints from fans that their promotions were too short, but they died down soon enough once it became clear that there was no need for fans to worry that 'there would not be enough opportunities for EXO to do encore performances and repay the fans for sweeping #1 on music programs', because it didn't happen. For a group comeback after so long, the disappointment over the promotions wrapping up quickly would have been a good place to establish empathy, but because the company tried to find other reasons to blame the lack of promotions, such as on the EXO-CBX conflict or on D.O's film promotion schedules, the fandom is wavering.
2023-07-26
Baekhyun
- The team wasn't revived as fully as expected, and he himself must have realized that his own position was being threatened, because he seems rather anxious. He went live on Instagram at 7 in the morning to do stretches on the foam roller. He was always known to be good at communicating with fans, but it's difficult to deny that he probably thought of going this far as to show his 'natural side' to fans after referencing Jungkook.
- The fans apparently wanted to make this go viral, but weren't seeing the results in the realtime hashtags. This information is unverified, but some said that upon inquiring with the company, it was revealed that hashtags involving Baekhyun's name were getting blocked due to an influx of hatred acts including slander, cursing, harmful and violent images, etc.
- At the beginning of the comeback, some of the fans expressed their great ambitions to revive the strength of the team through the union of the Baekhyun supporters and the D.O. supporters.
- But in the end, the fandom went right back to the old formation of the Baekhyun fans and D.O. fans fighting against each other for recognition.
2023-10-25
EXO
- After Baekhyun caused all that ruckus, the one to leave first is D.O. Looking back on how harshly the D.O. fans attacked Baekhyun during that incident, it's clear who's the bear and who's the fox in the relationship.
- When his film flopped, he stayed quiet, but when things mellowed out with 'Red Bean, Green Bean', he went with the cozy concept of 'independence with a long time manager', setting up a comparison with another certain member who coerced some of the other members to his side and met up with MC Mong. While all that was going on, Suho went on Bubble to assure the fans that he would guarantee EXO's group promotions. But the truth of the matter is that EXO's group promotions have become all but impossible, not to mention it's a mystery if a group comeback is something desired by fans...
- Chen is just now holding his wedding ceremony, when he already has two kids. He seems to have spent an unbelievable amount on flower arrangements. Sure, he probably wanted to make it the most extravagant event for his wife, but that 'best husband' image is exactly what triggers the fans, so it's probably that those two sides will never reconcile.
- The photos of the members at the wedding garnered positive reactions from fans at first, but when the ceremony's host was revealed, they were disappointed again. There was also quite some anger over 'Don't Go' being played as the background music at the wedding. In the end, this issue is the result of conflicting views over who owns the 'idol-ego' and when does that ownership expire, so it would just be best for EXO to put an end to their group promotions.
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