In the spring when everything comes back to life, several artists restart their activities, which were suspended due to various controversies.
The group (G)I-DLE, which encountered controversy over member Soojin‘s school violence past, will be reorganized into a five-member group. (G)I-DLE will release its first full album “I NEVER DIE” on the 14th of next month. This album is their first album in about a year and two months since January last year and the first regular album to be released in more than four years since its debut.
In particular, more attention is drawn to (G)I-DLE as it is its first activity after becoming a five-member group. In February of last year, a number of revelations were posted on the online community that Soojin was a perpetrator of school violence. At the beginning of the controversy, Cube Entertainment, the group’s agency, claimed they were groundless rumors. However, about six months after actress Seo Shin-ae and Soojin’s other elementary and middle school alumni continued to accuse her, Cube announced Soojin’s withdrawal from the group in August last year.
(G)I-DLE didn’t resume their activities as a whole group last year. Its suspension of activities for more than a year in a music industry, in which idols’ general comeback cycle of about three to five months, shows how big the controversy was. The album title “I NEVER DIE” strangely coincides with the current situation of (G)I-DLE, drawing keen attention to the comeback.
Red Velvet is also scheduled to make a comeback next month. The group’s next album will mark their first release after about 7 months since the 6th mini album ‘Queendom’ came out in August of last year. ‘Queendom‘ was Red Velvet’s first album after Irene got involved in a power trip controversy, and the Korean public was divided over her activities being resumed. Many netizens welcomed the comeback, as shown by the top rankings of ‘Queendom‘ on domestic and foreign music charts, but there were still those who were uninterested. This explains why Red Velvet somewhat refrained from promoting as a whole in 2021. However, with the release of the upcoming album, Red Velvet will also hold a concert ‘2022 The ReVe Festival: Prologue’ at Olympic Park in Seoul on March 19th and 20th.
Big Bang is set to make a comeback after going through various controversies. This spring, they plan to release a new song for the first time in four years. With the exception of Seungri, who left the group and withdrew from the entertainment industry, 4 members, including T.O.P, whose contract with YG Entertainment has expired, will return together as Big Bang. Although Big Bang has been recognized as a top idol group both domestically and internationally, attention is being paid to what kind of reaction their new song will get as they announced their comeback while the group’s image has plummeted due to the members’ scandals, such as smoking marijuana and fatal car accident.
Meanwhile, rapper Dok2 released his new song ‘First Rollie’ on February 23rd. The song contains his thoughts on recent issues such as the dissolution of the label Illionaire Records he founded and the lawsuit over the unpaid jewelry complaint filed against him. Dok2 was embroiled in controversy last year. Starting with his mother’s debt problem in 2018, followed by being accused of not paying for jewelry, he suspended his activities in Korea. After winning the lawsuit against a jeweler last year, he recently signed an exclusive agent contract with 143 Entertainment. He is staying in the States and not doing any domestic activities, but has been drawing attention in Korea lately by confessing his feelings about the controversy through his new song.
