i've said this before and i'll say it again: jype do NOT know how to manage itzy
they seem to think the group is smaller than they actually are, constantly underestimating them because of their "bad" numbers when those are literally all due to BAD MANAGEMENT AND PROMOTION.
they're giving them small company treatment when it comes to their activities, giving them the absolute minimum of promotion and rollout planning and then being surprised when people don't tune in
and i personally don't care (and have never cared) about numbers on social media or streaming, but obviously the company does and the results are affecting their treatment of itzy. i appreciate the company's efforts to keep every achievement organic (and this is very important!) but being organic and still promoting the group you're supposed to be managing aren't diametrically opposed concepts.
i love everything they've done sonically and conceptually with itzy but there is such a thing as oversaturation and, more importantly, overworking your artists.
we had WAY too many back to back comebacks last year (gold, yeji's solo, gwbg, rocknroll, tunnel vision), not including all the extra brand and fashion week appearances + ryujin and yuna's acting debuts, and it hasn't slowed down even now with yuna's solo being announced and 2 more acting projects for 2shin. also more fashion week appearances this year and another group comeback AND another tour
i know that kpop's fucked ecosystem is partially to blame, where you need to have a comeback every 2 weeks to feed the dopamine-addicted fans but come on. FIVE whole comebacks (including a solo debut) in the span of 12 months is excessive, even for kpop
edit: AND DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE FANSIGNS I SWEAR THEY HAD LIKE 30 IN 6 MONTHS ENOUGHHHHHH
my personal opinion is that born to be should never have been ot4. they should have gone on hiatus with lia and come back stronger as a whole group, which would also have gotten more eyes on btb and no boycotts from subfandoms. born to be deserved what gold got. sonically it's one of my favourite itzy albums and conceptually its sick as fuck. also way more gp friendly than gold (even tho i love gold) as an ot5 comeback. born to be also should have been the title track instead of untouchable but thats a different topic
jyp also should have spaced out their comebacks more. exposure fatigue is a real thing, and nobody aside from midzys are going to tune into a comeback from a group that has one every week, because it isn't special. i would have preferred for them to keep it to 2 comebacks a year maximum, and give each EP the promotion it deserves. the 2-week promotion period is fucked and should be scrapped entirely. an entire release's rollout shouldn't be reduced to how long a music show will let them perform on their platform. also, promotions in europe and the us shouldn't be limited to just when they go on tour. a lot of fans live outside of korea and jyp seems to forget about them a lot
and another thing. their last full album (their 1st) was in 2021. stop hitting us with mini 4-track albums and give us a fully fledged album already, it's been long enough
they still have time to change their strategy but i honestly doubt they will, judging by the way they manage their other groups. i just hope they slow down a little with the comebacks and stop overworking the girls. they deserve so much more for the amount of work they're putting in
