The uncertain future of Nancy and Momoland after MLD Ent launches new girlgroup, Lapillus
In recent years, Momoland has gradually lost its position in the hearts of fans due to unremarkable music products and the ineffective operation of the management company.
Recently, MLD Entertainment announced the launch of their new girl group, making Momoland‘s fans even more worried about the group’s future when in recent years, its reputation has seriously declined. It is currently difficult for the group to regain its competitiveness in the midst of the Kpop market with so many attractive competitors.
Poor music products, the management company continuously cause controversies
Momoland was formed through Mnet’s survival show Finding Momoland. The group struggled from the very beginning when debuting in a small, obscure entertainment company. Finding Momoland’s final mission for the girls was to attract 3,000 audiences to their musical event, but in the end, only 2,000 people showed up to see them perform. This failure caused the group’s debut plan to be delayed.
After that, to cover the album production costs and prepare for their debut, Momoland raised about 10 million won, far exceeding their original goal of 7 million won. In addition to the local fans, fans from all over Asia and countries like the UK have donated a lot to the group in order for them to have a successful debut.
Momoland then had an extremely successful debut with the song “Bboom Bboom” with a vibrant and catchy melody in January 2018. The song’s MV currently has 565 million views. At the time of its debut, Bboom Bboom became a hit in Korea. The choreography of the song became a cover trend for both fans and celebrities in this country.
In addition to the catchy melody and lovely choreography, one of the other reasons for Bboom Bboom’s resounding success is JooE‘s promotional videos. Despite being constantly criticized by the public for her appearance, JooE confidently performed unique dances in her promotional videos has helped her gain more attention. Since then, the public has gradually become interested in Momoland as well as the group’s products.
Unfortunately, the success of Bboom Bboom has left a shadow too large to pass for Momoland. Recent songs of the group such as Baam, I’m So Hot, and Thumbs Up… did not achieve any outstanding achievements. The group’s later musical products were considered too stereotypical when they were mostly electronic, heavy auto-tune songs.
Not only the melody but also the choreography of Momoland’s later songs are shown to be similar to Bboom Bboom. In recent songs, despite trying to change the concept and even incorporating Natti Natasha in the song “Yummy Yummy Love”, Momoland still can not regain the attention of the public.
In addition to the music issue, the controversy surrounding the management company and the members also affected Momoland’s reputation.
In 2019, the company suddenly announced the departure of Yeon Woo, one of the most prominent members of the group. The main vocalist Taeha also left after Yeon Woo’s leaving. The loss of fan-attracting members like Yeon Woo and Taeha made Momoland struggle for a while after that.
At that time, the company said that Yeon Woo wanted to focus on her acting career. However, according to the Korea Herald, through a post in July 2020, the female singer hinted that she was forced to leave the group.
“How many people out there are brave enough to give up what they spent their youth pursuing and find something new. I’m not that bold. I didn’t have the willpower to do that, either in the past or in the present. What I did was suffer alone, but it didn’t work,” she said.
Yeon Woo emphasized, “I have been enduring and holding on, but it was no use. I did not betray you guys because of my personal ambition to try something else? Please stop. You know I can’t explain everything. Why do some people continue to fabricate words that don’t come out of my mouth or my thoughts? I don’t want to stop with what I’ve been through. How difficult that time was. I don’t want to cry anymore. I just want to draw a new future with the people I love and be happy with.”
Yeon Woo, Taeha, and Daisy are three members that have left the group
A year after the two members left, Daisy also left Momoland and the group continued to work with 6 members. Daisy then filed a lawsuit against MLD Entertainment. Accordingly, in July 2016, MLD Entertainment conducted the program Finding Momoland to select members for Momoland. At the end of the show, Daisy was eliminated. However, in September 2016, Daisy signed an exclusive contract with MLD Entertainment and joined the group Momoland in April 2017.
After that, MLD Entertainment deducted $55,238 from Daisy’s earnings and claimed she had to pay one-tenth of the total production cost of Finding Momoland. At that time, the management company explained that this was a contract term and also a common practice in the entertainment industry.
In October 2021, Edaily reported that the court had announced that MLD Entertainment lost the case. The Seoul Central District Court ordered the management company MLD Entertainment to pay Daisy $77,509.
As for Nancy – the most famous member of the group – she also had a long hiatus because of mental pressure. In early 2021, pictures illegally taken of Nancy in the Asia Artist Awards 2019 spread on social networks. On January 15, 2021, the management company said that Nancy had filed a lawsuit against netizens who spread sensitive photos. Not long after, the company announced that police had found the person who spread the photos.
The company is about to launch a new girl group
Recently, MLD Entertainment – Momoland’s management company – introduced the members of the new group Lapillus. Lapillus is MLD Entertainment’s first girl group after more than 6 years since Momoland’s debut. They will officially debut in June.
The group consists of 6 members, Shana, Haeun, Seowon, Yue, Bessie and Chanty. In which, Chanty born in December 2002, is receiving attention as having beautiful beauty. She has even been called the “next Nancy”. Before becoming an idol, she was known as a Filipino-Argentine teen star.
Previously, MLD Entertainment released the boy group T1419. The group was formed in 2021 and consists of 9 members. It is reasonable for fans to worry that MLD Entertainment will ignore Momoland when the company introduces a new group.
In a program of The Korea Times, Nancy said that she and her group members were treated unfairly by the company compared to boy group T1419.
The female idol expressed: “I want to complain a little. The company just introduced a boy group. I asked the members of T1419 if they had ever had dinner with the company’s manager. They answered yes. They went out to eat many times, even luxury food. But we have never been treated like that. I want to be treated fairly like them.”
