Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
While there had been a lot of hope among fans that IZ*ONE, the group spawned out of Produce 48, would transform from temporary into permanent as the group’s popularity swelled, it has recently been confirmed by Mnet that they will disband next month in April.
Hello. This is Mnet.
Ahead of the conclusion of the “IZ*ONE” project, Mnet, Swing Entertainment, and Off The Record have held discussions and listened to the opinions of each agency for the best activities the 12 members can carry out.
The activities of project group IZ*ONE, which debuted in 2018 with the album “COLOR*IZ” and grew into a girl group that represents Asia and is loved not only in Korea but also around the world, will come to a close in April as planned.
A two-day online concert “ONE, THE STORY” will be held on on March 13 and 14 with the fans who love IZ*ONE.
Mnet, Swing Entertainment, and Off The Record express our gratitude to the 12 members of IZ*ONE who showed their best, and we will continue to support them as artist so that the fantastical story they created together can continue on.
Please anticipate and support the new sides they will show from now on.
The odds were always against them, obviously not because of a lack of interest or any discord but because of the companies of the members. Much like established groups who disperse to different companies and struggle to fully reunite later, IZ*ONE was in a similar situation since formation with all members being “assets” of separate companies. Those companies inevitably have different interests, usually competing interests, and will generally want their idol to have more of something than they already have in the current setup (usually money).
As we’ve seen with many groups that had IOI members, in many cases (and in my opinion) the most logical move is simply to accept the mega-popular group already established and hammer out a fair way to share the profits. However, having so many companies at the negotiating table complicates things, as they all likely think they can do better for their own company somehow, and thus IZ*ONE will be breaking up.
The fact that I’m even bothering to cover the future disbandment of a group is a testament to their relevancy, as they’ve skyrocketed up charts and have found themselves at or near the top of girl group year-end rankings now. However, them remaining together was unfortunately always going to be difficult.
