Currently, 3rd Generation K-pop boy groups are entering an important phase as Korean members have to pause their careers to fulfill mandatory military service. For instance, all members of BTS have enlisted, taking an extremely risky move as this means the group will have no new activities for around 2 years.
All 7 members of BTS have enlisted, but only after careful considerations about their careers and various solo releases
Meanwhile, 2023 has been a year of great success for SEVENTEEN, a fellow HYBE boy group. In particular, SEVENTEEN’s mini-album “FML” has become the best-selling Korean album in history with a total of 6.2 million copies sold. They also swept award ceremonies with various Grand Prizes, and is the best-selling Korean artist in 2023 in Japan, according to Oricon.
Additionally, SEVENTEEN has also entered the “Billboard 200” chart, and their songs, “Super”, achieved great results on Korean charts, at the same time highly praised by media sites such as “Rolling Stone”. Their world tour “Be The Sun” and Asia tour “Follow” have also received astounding results, making them one of the best-earning artists in Korea.
However, with several members approaching enlistment ages, concerns have been raised that putting their activities on halt can negatively impact SEVENTEEN’s momentum.
Regarding this, Han Sung-soo, the CEO of HYBE subsidiary Pledis – the agency of SEVENTEEN, was shockingly calm.
“SEVENTEEN will continue to be active even while several members enlist”, he simply said, “There’s no down time due to enlistment in this group, thanks to the advantage of having a large number of members.”
Han Sung-soo’s affirmation has greatly excited K-netizens, who find it interesting the HYBE boy group is not worried about being absent due to military enlistment. In fact, SEVENTEEN has 13 members, so even with military services, there will always be at least 8 members promoting.
Moreover, SEVENTEEN has three members not subjected to Korean’s enlistment laws, due to their foreign nationalities, has a large fanbase both in and outside of Korea, and is active in other fields other than music.
Currently, members are actively taking up advertisement gigs, and their self-produced show “Going Seventeen” are popular even to non-fans.
Below are some comments from Korean netizens:
- Oh, it’s true that even with enlistment, there will still be around 8 members left. This is the beauty of having many members
- SEVENTEEN is on the rise, so people can feel regretful, but in reality, it’s the same for any group. The fact that they are a large group is a great advantage
- This group is able to operate for many years already without losing any member despite their size… That’s admirable
- Still, it will take forever to see the full group again
- Isn’t this the exact opposite from BTS… BTS really took a huge gamble to have all 7 members enlisting at once
- If they go all at once like BTS, it’s very difficult to maintain their popularity. It is only possible because BTS is BTS.
Source: K14, Instiz
