#ryeongchae

yuna: soft launching her girlfriend

lia: soft launching her girlfriend

yeji: soft launching her girlfriend

ryujin: soft launching her girlfriend

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

and I know we love to say itzy should leave jype, but once you’re in it’s so difficult to get out. if they do leave, they will probably have to undergo a long arduous legal process for just their name (which the company owns) and the right to perform their songs. never mind finding a company that will actually sign them and promote them well. the probability of itzy getting even less attention or being locked away in the basement after leaving the company is extremely high (see got7, nwjns, loona, etc.)

I really think the best option here is for them to negotiate for better terms in their contract renewal. and I really fucking hope it happens because I’m tired of seeing the girls get overworked AND underpromoted/mismanaged (and honestly sabotaged). they have so much potential and already have a solid fanbase and international fame, but the company acts like they’ve already given up on them. if itzy had just a fraction of the promo hybe and sm groups get they would dominate absolutely everywhere. I’m hopeful since twice’s contract renewals ended going really well so I hope the same is true for itzy.