aespa Official Thread | #GIRLS

[AstroBaby]

Controversial opinion but I don't think Hina or NingNing are going to be in the group. I think the only girl that we know of who'll debut is Jimin. I'm not saying I want this, because if it were up to me I would've wanted the girl group 2 years ago, but I just see this being the case.

idk despite the jokes about it being crumbs Haechan showing the clip with Hina actually made me feel decent about her chances (or at least better than before) it feels like him shouting out his friend albeit in a subtle way I also feel we would heard or seen something if she'd left. Ning I'm not as sure of atm especially w her being considered 'controversial' for her weibo but as I mentioned previously I don't think she's left SM yet. Jimin I'm almost certain will debut barring major changes in plan and her personal life.

 

[AstroBaby]

Am I the only one that thinks that sm might debut a 4-7 member girl group as opposed to a 9-12 member one? There are already two well known girl groups in the kpop industry with 9 members, which are SNSD and twice; i feel like if sm did another 9 member girl group, they would get compared way too much to their seniors. People originally thought Red Velvet was going to be a large group as well, and if if you go back to the old onehallyu thread for Red Velvet, there was apparently a rumor that they were going to be 14 members, which was far from accurate. Also I don't think the group is going to be more than nine members because its doesn't seem like sm debuts a really large group without reason. Super junior was originally supposed to have a rotational concept like nct, that' s why I think they debuted so many members at once so they could introduce as many people to the public as they wanted, but that kind of backfired on them when super junior fans got really mad and sm decided to keep the original thirteen. Sm also debuted exo with the intention of having two different units, exo-m and exo-k, one that would promote in Korea and the other that would promote in China, and but that also kind of backfired on them and sm sorta combined them. If you look at th exo's earlier mvs from their debut, exo-k only sang and mostly appeared in the Korean version, while exo-m only sang the Chinese version. I don't think sm is going to the multiple unit thing with the girl group because i don't think it works that well and it took Nct quite a while to get some recognition, and yet I don't consider them as popular as their predecessors (no offense). Also, when you think about sm could of added more members into 127 and made it into a 11-12 member group. Kun and Ten were basically doing nothing for a while and before no one knew about renjun and chenle, so they actually could of added Jaemin and Jeno into the group, both who were the same age as Haechan. Jisung could of been added to the group as well because even though he was 14 at the time of their debut, so was Taemin from Shinee. Nct 127 a;ready have a problem with line distribution as it is (although it has gotten a little better), but more members would have mad it worse. I don't think that the group will be five members because that would mean to five member girl groups back to back, so I have feeling that it either might be 4,6, or 7, or I could be completely wrong making this whole post unnecessary. Sm could actually do a four member group when you think about it, all their four member girl groups flopped when you think about it (ex: MILK, Sugar, and the Grace), and Red Velvet was initially 4 a member group, so it may be something that they really want to work. I mean as long as they have a completely different concept, I don't think that they'll be compared to blackpink. The members might also have more individual recognition in an already saturated market. Again this is my opinion and I could be completely wrong, and also sorry for the extremely lengthy post. Also, I don't know if anything I wrote makes any sense, so sorry if anyone loses brain cells from reading this.

To be frank, I just don't think SM puts as much thought into the number of members as we do, as you can come up with a variety of justifications for any number (and there are many ppl who agree with you). I think they are much more focused on the right concept, tracks, and which members debut rather than how many debut.

The point about SM usually having a reason for large groups is interesting and not something I've seen brought up, although I will point out that snsd was going to be 11 members up until the last minute and I don't believe there was any special unit or rotational concept planned. As for why SM didn't debut or combine NCT units I think Sooman wanted to stick to his guns and go through with his unit concept after the botched attempts you previously mentioned and putting all the most popular members into 127 would give ppl no reason to stan the other units (also the 1+2+7 thing was p cool) . Ultimately I think NCT will be remembered fondly by their generation even if they aren't the nations darlings.

As for comparisons I would say that SM only rly cares about how many members the other groups under them have currently; when F(x) was 5 Red Velvet was 4 and when F(x) became 4 Red Velvet became 5. SNSD hasn't been ot9 for a hot minute and the members will get compared to them regardless how many there are (I mean they were already calling Lami the next Yoona). When it comes to Twice they're kinda in a different category since they are from a different generation so while they are competitors they aren't direct competitors if that makes sense. Like SM knows that the gg isn't going to beat Twice's records or snatch away all of Twice's fans on debut but rather fill a Twice-like spot for a new generation of fans and for onces as Twice begins to slow down activity/shift their image. Just as JYP wasn't trying to directly compete with SNSD when he debuted Twice in 2015 neither would SM be trying to directly compete with Twice if they were to debut a 9 member gg now.

Spoiler

although personally I don't think it'll be ot9 either lol

My argument for a bigger group would be that looking when looking their direct 4th gen competitors most are in that mid-sized 5-7 range: Itzy (5), Everglow (6 going on 7), Weeekly (7), GWSN (7), Cherry Bullet (7), Purple Kiss (7), Rocket Punch (6 going on 7), Mystic ngg (6/7), WM ngg (6). The exceptions being Izone and Loona (12) the more popular of which is conveniently disbanding in less than a year.

Spoiler

also the fact that Sooman personally reached out to Loona is interesting although I think it was just cause he wanted to see girls perform a nct song

.
Although this argument could also be used to justify a proper small group 3-4 which I also wouldn't be against. I just don't think 5 is a possibility given RV is still 5 and their biggest competitor Itzy is also 5 and although SM could crush the smaller company groups with 7 I'd rather they not. I acknowledge that line distribution is more of a problem with big groups but in my mind more girls are having the chance to perform than otherwise and even in smaller SM groups if the producers think your voice doesn't fit you still won't get lines (early days Taemin and Yeri).

But in conclusion SM doesn't care as much as me and will do whatever the hell they want so...

 

[dayeon_you]

if hina and ningning knew they wouldn't debut they would've most likely left the company like koeun and lami did. i think there is a reason they are still there.

unrelated but any thoughts on whether helen will debut?

 

[yerm]

if hina and ningning knew they wouldn't debut they would've most likely left the company like koeun and lami did. i think there is a reason they are still there.

unrelated but any thoughts on whether helen will debut?

I hope she will

 

[Coraline123]

This is kind of off topic and probably old news, but I don't know too much about the NingNing incident, I just heard that she said some controversial things on weibo. If it isn't a bother, does someone mind posting about it again?

 

[yerm]

This is kind of off topic and probably old news, but I don't know too much about the NingNing incident, I just heard that she said some controversial things on weibo. If it isn't a bother, does someone mind posting about it again?

I think people said she bought things for fans? I'm not entirely sure but some people were also annoyed that she would try and interact with fans on Weibo.

 

[AstroBaby]

This is kind of off topic and probably old news, but I don't know too much about the NingNing incident, I just heard that she said some controversial things on weibo. If it isn't a bother, does someone mind posting about it again?

basically Ningning had an semi-active weibo until a few months ago when she deleted. During 2018 was when she was most active and she would answer DMs from fans this is where we learned a lot of the little fun facts we know about her like: she's a Jennie-biased blink , Mulan is her fav princess, etc. so mostly cute and harmless stuff. One time when she was answering yes/no questions someone sent her a bunch of pics of rumored trainees and she indicated no/hadn't seen them for all except Deyi (which I think she just liked or smth). Now I have seen ppl saying this was the result of glitch that was happening at the time but idk enough about weibo to confirm that. At the time there didn't seem to be much fuss made about it but now with debut approaching ppl have brought it up again and are saying she's unprofessional.

She also liked a post saying Renjun is cute which is what I suspect where a lot of pann girlies hate is really coming from. There are also ppl claiming that she asked for $ from fans and spilled additional info on existing SM artists although I haven't seen evidence of either of these claims (the most I think she did was say if she'd met them).

 

[AstroBaby]

if hina and ningning knew they wouldn't debut they would've most likely left the company like koeun and lami did. i think there is a reason they are still there.

unrelated but any thoughts on whether helen will debut?

I think she has a decent chance. She's a good dancer and she's been training for almost a year now so we can assume she's gotten better, more importantly she has a lot of natural charisma which is important in any group. Her chance of debuting relies mostly on her singing/rap skills and what hidden cards she's competing with which... are both things we don't know so it's hard to feel strongly about her one way or another.

 

[SwolMingyu]

if hina and ningning knew they wouldn't debut they would've most likely left the company like koeun and lami did. i think there is a reason they are still there.

unrelated but any thoughts on whether helen will debut?

I'd say at this point Helen is one of the more likely, with Jimin Hina and Ningning being the only ones above her in likeliness.

 

[AstroBaby]

so... do we think they'll debut before or after this meeting?

 

[dayeon_you]

place your bets on what they're gonna say... "a new girl group is expected to debut this year".... with no new info... just like the last 104376432 times...

 

[dnb]

place your bets on what they're gonna say... "a new girl group is expected to debut this year".... with no new info... just like the last 104376432 times...

Yes, you're probably right. But I'd rather hear "a new girl group is expected to debut this year" than hear nothing related at all.

This is almost grasping at straws, but what else is new.

 

[punknight]

so... do we think they'll debut before or after this meeting?

Right now I've been thinking maybe a September debut
August.. I don't see it happening, hope I'm wrong.
October is going to be a mess, lots of super popular groups coming back
So I think September is the best right now (but hopefully a miracle happens and August is it)

 

[Hara]

omg
​

 

[punknight]

omg
​

That's awesome news, since it means they have the lineup for sure ready... So I'm guessing they are really coming

 

[AstroBaby]

some ppl are saying this is the gym trainer in question but the original post said he so.....idk

 

[102]

honestly i hope the debut is september. ssak3 is dominating the charts rn, bts and bp have releases this month, and treasure is debuting soon. it doesn't feel like the right time, unless sm want the debut to be eclipsed by other artists.

also does anyone know if there are many chinese smngg fans left? or did they give up on the group when lami left? treasure already has 100k preorders for their first album, and if smngg still has their predebut fanbase i can see them achieving something as impressive

 

[Bellamy]

Rumors is the only thing we have (for now...)

 

[AstroBaby]

Rumors is the only thing we have (for now...)

I have a feeling that these first weeks of August will be the final drought before a September 1st debut

Spoiler

if not I may lose hope for 2020 tbh

 

[Bellamy]

I have a feeling that these first weeks of August will be the final drought before a September 1st debut

Spoiler

if not I may lose hope for 2020 tbh

Yes, this!!!!...if they debut in September, we need at least a name, number of members and photos (maybe)