Fans are worried ITZY will get the short end of the stick once JYP’s new girl group makes their debut.
JYP Entertainment has always been known for their power when it comes to scouting and debuting the most outstanding female idols. JYP girl groups always have top-notch visuals, catchy songs and once they debut, it never takes long for them to shoot to fame. However, many netizens also raise the question, “Is it possible that having too many excellent female idols has led JYP to waste their potential?”. The prime examples are Miss A and ITZY.
Miss A started off strong but went downhill because of Suzy and TWICE
On June 20, 2010, Miss A officially debuted with a 4-member lineup including Min, Fei, Jia and Suzy. The group’s first album, Bad But Good, and the title track Bad Girl Good Girl quickly became a massive hit, taking over various digital music charts in Korea.
Less than 5 months later, Miss A won their first Daesang for Song of the Year at MAMA 2010. This achievement helped the group become the fastest artist to win a Daesang in Kpop history, a record no idol has been able to break until now.
Bagging “unprecedented” achievements shortly after debut, Miss A earned their solid position in the industry as a formidable rival of SNSD, 2NE1, T-ara and SISTAR among 2nd generation female groups. However, Miss A could not maintain their popularity as the number of group comebacks continued to be reduced as JYP started focusing too much on Suzy’s solo activities and neglecting other members, causing Miss A to be outperformed by other top girl groups.
Back when Miss A was active, the group was constantly labeled “Suzy and friends“. The “Nation’s first love” stood out from the lineup of Miss A after she was given countless solo gigs from MCing, acting to commercials. Meanwhile, the remaining three members, Min, Jia and Fei, were left behind. Not to mention in 2015, JYP debuted and focused more on promoting TWICE.
In 2017, Miss A officially disbanded in the public’s regret. Many fans believe that Miss A had enough potential to become one of the “legends” among Kpop girl groups if not for JYP’s poor management. After the disbandment, Suzy is the only member to maintain her fame and become an A-list star in the industry, while the other three members gradually lost their popularity.
Is ITZY heading down the same path as Miss A?
Debuted 9 years after Miss A, but according to netizens, ITZY shares many similarities with their senior group. On February 12, 2019, ITZY officially debuted with a 5-member lineup including Ryujin, Yeji, Yuna, Lia, and Chaeryeong. They are a rare girl group of JYP to follow the girl crush concept.
Like Miss A, ITZY quickly achieved much success after their debut. The debut single It’z Different and the title track Dalla Dalla charted high in Korea, making ITZY the “monster rookie” of 2019. In the same year, ITZY continuously won Best New Female Artist at different award shows.
Following a successful debut, ITZY’s comebacks with ICY, Not Shy, and WANNABE continued to generate a positive response from the public. The group enjoyed decent digital music achievements and stable physical album sales. Besides, ITZY also proves themselves to be the 4th generation girl group with the best performance skills.
However, JYP making ITZY release new songs with a high frequency comes with the downgrade in quality, as evidenced by the fact that ITZY’s 2 latest title tracks Mafia In The Morning and LOCO performed much worse on domestic digital charts compared to their previous songs.
Many netizens claim that ITZY’s music quality is declining and lacking what it takes to become hits. Moreover, the rise of many outstanding 4th gen girl groups like aespa, (G)-IDLE or most recently IVE also contributes to ITZY‘s problems. JYP also seems to be too “greedy” when promoting ITZY members, typically in fashion, causing the group to get mixed reactions.
Similar to Miss A, ITZY also stumbles into controversy over uneven treatment between the members. The group sometimes gives the impression of “Yeji and friends” to many netizens. In ITZY’s songs, Yeji often gets more lines than the main vocalist Lia and more screen time than the center Ryujin and visual Yuna.
Furthermore, the fact that JYP is preparing to launch a new girl group in 2022 is threatening ITZY‘s position. Currently, ITZY is still one of the top 4th generation Kpop groups. However, netizens still can’t help but worry that the more ITZY goes downhill with their comeback results, the more history will repeat to the group like how JYP did to Miss A after debuting TWICE.
