As Cha Eun-woo is still a member of ASTRO, him having an individual fanclub evokes mixed reactions
On December 1, Fantagio, the agency of Cha Eun-woo and his group ASTRO, announced the recruitment of an official fanclub for Cha Eun-woo. In addition, an official Twitter (X) account for Cha Eun-woo, which is separate from ASTRO’s, was also opened.
However, since Cha Eun-woo is still a member of ASTRO, and ASTRO is still an active boy group with an established fan club (AROHA), the former having a separate official fanclub may cause a divide between group fans and solo stans.
On top of this, Cha Eun-woo’s fanclub will have the same name as ASTRO’s fanclub, AROHA, causing even further dissatisfaction.
In fact, a topic regarding this decision has gained huge attention on the Korean forum “theqoo”, with the original author saying, “ASTRO has been on a long hiatus since their third full-length album in May of last year. Meanwhile, Rocky left the team due to the expiration of his exclusive contract, and member Moonbin sadly passed away.”
“Fans who have experienced great pain during the team reorganization process will inevitably be surprised by the sudden news that ASTRO is recruiting a fan club for one member without any explanation of its future activities. Accordingly, some fans are requesting that the agency express their position through ASTRO fan cafe, saying they would like to hear an explanation about future activities”, it was also added.
As a result, various fans have been voicing their disappointment and frustration, claiming that Fantagio is being impolite to group fans. However, some agree with Fantagio’s decision, explaining that Cha Eun-woo is in dire need of a separate fan club.
Below are some comments from netizens:
- If the group is not disbanding or changing its agency, why bother recruiting individual fans? And if they are going to open recruitment, they have to do it separately. Why do it on the group’s official website?
- The group itself is not disbanded, but we all know that its activities are unclear due to various reasons. In fact, when the contract renewal was announced, the agency announced that all members would focus on individual activities… Cha Eun-woo in particular needs a fan club because he has a large fan base and is active in various activities. It is rather late that it is only now being created.
- The company has a problem
- But they didn’t even come up with a new name, and are still using AROHA….
- I don’t know. Recruiting an individual fan club sounds strange to me. It would make sense if this is after ASTRO disbands or after Cha Eun-woo announces his departure from the group for solo activities
- Can’t everyone just be supportive? This is not that much of a big deal, just a fanclub.
Meanwhile, against these conflicting reactions, FANTAGIO simply told xportsnews that they are reviewing the details and will reveal them later.
