Dismantling? extension? IZONE, 1 month left after contract expiration, what will happen

Is it disbanded as scheduled or is it a dramatic extension?
IZone, a Korean-Japanese joint project girl group, is interested in the expiration of their contract in April.

IZone has 9 Korean members (Wonyoung Jang, Yuri Jo, Yena Choi, Yoojin Ahn, Eunbi Kwon, Hyewon Kang, Chaewon Kim, Minju Kim, Chaeyeon Lee) and 3 Japanese members who entered the top rankings (1st-12th) in the final result of’Produce 48′ It is a Korean-Japanese joint girl group composed of (Miyawaki Sakura, Yabuki Nako, and Honda Hitomi).

Those who made their debut through Mnet’s’Produce 48′ in 2018 signed a two-year and six-month contract in October that year, and the contract period ends in April. If it is as planned, it is time to calmly organize the activities, but there is a story that the music industry is discussing the possibility of a renewal. Here, IZone’s member Ahn Yoo-jin was recently selected as the new MC of SBS’s popular songs, and hopeful observation that IZone’s contract has been extended is leading to fans. There are two main reasons why the news of the renewal of the IZone contract continues.

first. It is a point that’it is unfortunate to end like this.
In 2019, as the ranking manipulation of the’Produce’ series exploded, IZone, who once had a staggering existence itself, has since displayed a powerful fandom.
Last year’s 1st regular album (‘Bloom Eyes’, 353,313 copies) and the 3rd mini album (Oneric Diary, 389334 copies) ranked second and third in the girl group’s initial sales, and Gaon Chart announced earlier this year. In the 2020 girl group overall ranking, it ranked 3rd after Black Pink and Twice. It showed competitiveness against competing groups such as Red Velvet, ITZY, and (Girl) Idle.

In Japan, four albums, including the first single (‘好きと言わせたい’), reached No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon Daily Chart, and achieved as much success as Korea.
In particular, the fact that AKB48, the original group of Japanese members, has actually entered a period of decline, such as a sharp decline in popularity in Japan, which is giving strength to the prospect of extending its activities.

second. It is a possibility of success after dissolution.
The’Produce’ series attracted attention every season, and the formed project groups IOI (Season 1), Wanna One (Season 2), and IZONE (Season 3) were all successful. Not only was it ranked No. 1 in the music program rankings, but both album sales and commercial activities were active.
However, after the project period was over, the move was different.
After the members of IOI returned to their original agency, the girl groups Gugudan, WikiMiki, and Pristine performed poorly below expectations, and in the end, Gugudan (Kim Se-jung and Kang Mina) and Pristine (Lim Na-young and Joo Gyeol-gyeong) were in 3 years. It was dismantled without being able to withstand it. The situation is similar for Wanna One. AB6IX (Dae-Hwi Lee, Woo-Jin Park) and Wanna One did not show as much ripple effect as expected.

However, there are factors that prevent them from resuming their activities.
first. It is a rejection of the excommunication of’produce’ manipulation. An official in the music industry said, “Since the suspicion of manipulation broke after IZone debuted, there was a strong sentiment that IZone would become a victim if it was forcibly disbanded. CJ ENM is also most concerned about this.

second. It is a statue dream according to the popularity of each member.
Although the team activities created after the previous project group were sluggish, there were cases where they succeeded as top performers. These are Cheongha, Somi Jeon, Daniel Kang, and Jaehwan Kim, who have chosen to do solo activities from the beginning. In particular, in the case of Cheongha and Kang Daniel, the songs released several times have risen to the top of the charts, making them the top K-pop stars.

This is why the idea of ​​resuming activities is inevitably different between the agency that judges that the independent activity has sufficient competitiveness and the agency that does not.

CJ ENM said, “Izone’s future activities respect the position of the agency and are listening to various opinions,” and it is known that the opinions of each agency are mixed. In this regard, as a result of synthesizing the messages of officials so far, there is a tendency toward disbanding without resuming activities.
An official who requested anonymity said, “Rather than extending the activities, the conclusions were gathered to complete the activities as scheduled and each activity,” he said. He added, “Soon there will be a clear stance on IZone’s future schedule.”

Reporter Yoo Seong-woon [email protected]