Today we are starting a new series on this blog: Obituary. We are going to look at the history of groups who have disbanded. As Jellyfish Entertainment scheduled the disbandment of its long dormant girl group Gugudan for December 31st, they will be the first group to be talked about in this series.
It's impossible to tell Gugudan's story without mentioning "Produce 101". In the late stages of 2015, music channel Mnet announced a new competition show format. A total of 101 female trainees from multiple entertainment companies inside and outside of Korea would compete for 11 spots on a girl group, which would promote for a year. The concept of a survival show to form a group wasn't a new thing in the industry, but was largely restricted to the boundaries of one company, for example, in YG Entertainment's "Win: Who's Next?", which resulted in forming the boyband Winner. Or JYP Entertainment's "Sixteen", which formed girl group Twice. Interestingly, both shows aired on Mnet. In the end, a total of 46 companies, plus five individual trainees accepted the challenge. Although many of them were small companies hoping to land one trainee that would improve their fortunes, many were long consolidated in the scene and had successful girl groups in the past. Cube Entertainment, home of 4Minute sent three trainees. DSP Entertainment, who had legendary girl groups such as Kara and Fin K.L, sent two. T-Ara's MBK Entertainment also sent a couple. Pledis Entertainment, known for its rotational girl group After School, sent a whopping seven trainees, which by themselves could form a group (and they later did). Sistar's Starship Entertainment sent a trio as well. And even though the Big 3 companies (SM, YG and JYP) were largely absent, the last one sent a lone trainee, 14-year old prodigy Ennik Somi Douma. The first release related to the show was the infectious "Pick Me", on December 17th, 2015, featuring 98 of the 101 contestants. The song became a sleeper hit, rising up the charts as "Produce 101" started airing in January 22nd, 2016, eventually peaking in the top 10 in the Gaon charts. "Pick Me" would also turn into the show's theme song, being performed and each of its following three seasons.
Produce 101 introduction press conference, January 21st, 2016
Among the companies not mentioned above, there was Jellyfish Entertainment. Founded in 2007, Jellyfish started its road on the industry by signing established ballad singers such as Sung Si Kyung and Park Hyo Shin. Their first incursion on the idol group business came in 2012 with the debut of boy band Vixx, formed from competition show "MyDOL", which aired, you guessed, on Mnet. Vixx found some success and would establish itself on the scene for their unique concepts. In the same year, Jellyfish hit big with its project "Jelly Christmas", established back in 2010, through the song "Because It's Christmas", featuring its full lineup of artists at the time. The project would score another #1 hit the following year, with "Winter Propose". By the time "Produce 101" arrived, Jellyfish had a longtime relationship with Mnet, which started when Mnet's parent company, CJ E&M, acquired 19% of its stocks in 2013 (later in 2017 it became Jellyfish's majority shareholder, before selling it back to the company's founder, Hwang Se-Jun). However, Jellyfish had no history whatsover when it came to female idols. Matter of fact, it had only two female singers on their roster, "K-Pop Star 4" contestant Park Yoon-Ha and former Jewelry member Park Jung-Ah, who at this point was focused on her acting career following her group's disbandment. Even so, both had been relatively successful, with Yoon-Ha even landing a #1 song from her "K-Pop Star" stint. Maybe such lack of tradition wasn't going to be an issue for "Produce 101" at all.
Jellyfish sent three of its female trainees to the show: Kang Mina, Kim Nayoung and Kim Sejeong. Turns out they had some hidden gems inside the company. The trio quickly emerged among the show's top contenders, with their introduction audition becoming the most watched of the show, scoring over 10 million views as of 2020. For the first 6 episodes of the show, all of their trainees were inside the top 11 debutants, making Jellyfish the only agency to accomplish such feat. Sejeong was the standout, becoming the top ranked trainee of the entire contest by episode 5. as she had stolen the show with her powerful vocals, taking center stage for a cover of Wonder Girls' "Irony". Her battle for 1st place with JYP Entertainment's Somi would become one of the main storylines of the competition. Ultimately, Sejeong came in 2nd. However, by episode 8, the other two Jellyfish contestants had fallen out of the top 11, decreasing the odds of the full trio debuting. In the end, Mina managed to crawl back to 9th place and become the company's second representative on I.O.I, the temporary group formed at the end of the show. Nayoung, on the other hand, barely missed the cut, finishing 14th.
"Produce 101" came to an end on April 1st, 2016. Just four days later, I.O.I dropped its first single, electropop track "Crush", who had been performed by the final 22 contestants in the last episode of the show. Mnet was in a hurry to present the new group to the public and initially intended to release it as the group's debut song. Ultimately, it decided that the song would serve as a pre-debut release, scheduling I.O.I's proper debut to May 4th, with an extended play, whose title, "Chrysalis", came up as a suggestion from Sejeong herself. The album would feature four new songs plus new recordings of the previously released "Crush" and "Pick Me". "Dream Girls" would serve as the title track. The song peaked at #7 on the Gaon Digital Chart. Individually, Sejeong continued to emerge as one of the hottest new idols in Korea, landing a gig on KBS variety show "Tales for Sale", where she once again impressed with her variety skills. Despite being a newcomer, she handed the spotlight on her with ease.
Jellyfish knew that too, they had a gem on their hands and wanted to capitalize on Sejeong's quick rise themselves. If Mnet rushed I.O.I as quick as they could, Jellyfish followed the same strategy for its new girl group and be the first company to capitalize on I.O.I's success. On June 7th, just a little over a month after I.O.I's debut, they revealed that their two members from the group would indeed be part of a new group. Two days later, Nayoug, their 3rd "Produce 101" contestant, was announced to also be a part of it. On June 13th, they first teased the group, under the name of "gx9", a reference to them having nine members, then the following days rolling out teasers introducing the members. Joining Sejeong, Mina and Nayoung would be members Mimi, Hana, Haebin, Sally, Soyee and Hyeyeon. The group finally debuted on June 28th, under the name of Gugudan, with their first EP, "Act 1: The Little Mermaid", with track "Wonderland" serving as their debut song.
To say "Wonderland" wasn't well-received is an understatement. The song was quite criticized for being a very generic track, being just another typical cutesy, high-pitched and aegyo infused song many groups had tried in that very same year: Gfriend, Twice, Oh My Girl, April, and obviously I.O.I themselves. Jellyfish clearly put their two I.O.I members front and center on the promotions, but it was of no avail. Gugudan was the ultimate generic group and that was its biggest problem. Also, by occupying Mina and Sejeong with its debut preparations, it created a headache for I.O.I, who wanted to continue promoting but had to do it under an incomplete formation. Their way to work around it was launching a 7-member subunit in August, which promoted the single "Whatta Man", sampling a 1968 song by soul singer Linda Lyndell, which also had been sampled by a girl group in the past, when Salt-And-Pepa did so in 1993. Missing from the unit were obviously the Gugudan duo, plus other two members who returned for promotions with their groups: Chaeyeon, who debuted for DIA in 2015, and Yeonjung, who had joined Cosmic Girls as their new member.
Gugudan spent the rest of 2016 largely dormant, as Sejeong and Mina went back to I.O.I. In October, the 11-member group released its last fully promoted comeback, the cutesy and fast-paced "Very Very Very", produced by none other than JYP Entertaiment founder Park Jin-Young. The song was very very very successful, giving I.O.I it's sole #1 hit and three of its four music show wins. Meanwhile, Sejeong kept bulding her popularity, landing a solo hit on the following month with "Flower Way", a ballad produced by well-known rapper and Block B member Zico, which peaked #2 in the Gaon Digital Chart and gave her a music show win at debut. She also closed the year with a participation on KBS' "Immortal Songs", showcasing her top-notch vocals once again. As expected, I.O.I disbanded in January 31st, 2017, releasing its final song, the farewell ballad "Downpour". Following the disbandment, Jellyfish acted quickly, announcing the release of "Act 2: Narcissus" for February 27th, with new single "A Girl Like Me", a girl crush concept with a retro beat.
The new song was a big step up from "Wonderland" and a better fit to the group's members, playing to its strengths, particularly its abundance of good vocalists. It also fully embraced the group as being Sejeong and Mina's, considering both sing over 1/3 of the song. However, the negative impressions from the debut were a tough hurdle to come. Sales wise, Gugudan improved from its debut, going to 29 thousand copies, up from 22 thousand, but on the singles chart, the group essentially remained in the same position, as "A Girl Like Me" peaked at #38, down 3 spots from "Wonderland". In fairness, out of the groups with I.O.I members, Gugudan were the ones posting the best results, as Pristin, which debuted on the month after Gugudan's first comeback, and Cosmic Girls were charting around top 50. DIA themselves were charting top 80. Even as the hype from "Produce 101" started to wear out, Gugudan were still well-positioned as a mid-level girl group who could eventually rise with later comebacks, after all "A Girl Like Me" charted roughly similar to Oh My Girl's sole 2017 comeback, "Coloring Book" (which peaked at #37). However, considering we are writing a post about Gugudan's disbandment and currently Oh My Girl are one of the most popular girl groups in Korea, it's safe to say their careers went in quite opposite directions since. And indeed, "A Girl Like Me" would be the highest point of Gugudan's short lived history.
However, Jellyfish seemed to start giving up on the group, as Gugudan only had one activity on the following 9 months, the debut of subunit Gugudan 5959 (or Ogu Ogu), featuring members Mina and Hyeyon. Probably no one saw the writing on the wall better than its most popular member. As the group started to crumble, Sejeong knew she was at risk of becoming just an afterthought, long removed from the days of success at Produce 101, and started to take every possible opportunity. Even before the group's first comeback, she already had lined up a "King of Masked Singer" performance, a participation on the soundtrack of massively popular drama "The Legend of The Blue Sea" and joined reality show "Get It Beauty". A month later, she took part on variety show "Law Of The Jungle", partnering with BTOB member Sungjae. She also appeared on "Battle Trip", alongside fellow member Nayoung, with the show even taking a visit to Gugudan's dorms. Finally, she made her acting debut in July 2017 in the drama "School 2017", to which she got four nominations for "Best New Actress", winning one of them at the KBS Drama Awards. Mina also followed suit, debuting as an actress in October as the young version of the protagonist of "Children of the 20th Century". As its main members started to thrive outside the group, Gugudan finally made its comeback on November 8th, with their first single album, "Act 3: Chococo Factory", missing member Soyee, plagued by a longtime shoulder injury. "Chococo" was chosen as their main single.
The long hiatus clearly hurt the group, who went from charting top 30 to outside the top 100, with "Chococo" only charting in the domestic Gaon Digital Chart (where only Korean songs are included), at #95. It was the last time they charted on any Korean digital charts. Gugudan had lost any hype from "A Girl Like Me". The song in itself has its catchy moments, solid but not spectacular. Sales also went down, with the album selling 20 thousand copies. The music video definitely stands out for its rather bizarre nature. Interestingly, Jellyfish acted quickly this time and brought the group back less than 3 months later, with another single album, "Act 4: Cait Sith", dropping on February 1st, 2018. Soyee returned to the lineup. The new title track was the electro whistling "The Boots". The song is rather infamous for its line distribution, which sees Sejeong singing over 40% of it. Gone were the colorful outfits of "Chococo", replaced by black outfits and another 180 degree concept change. This time, it didn't move the needle, the song only managed to enter the Gaon Download Charts at #48, but didn't make the top 100 for the digital charts. The sales remained around the same number as the previous album, around 20 thousand copies.
In the following months though, the same pattern of 2017 repeated itself in 2018. Gugudan remained a dormant group, only releasing a subunit song, this time with their popular trio of Sejeong, Mina and Nayoung, called SeMiNa in reference to each member's first syllable of their names. The sassy and summery song, which carries the same name as the unit, clearly has Nayoung as its standout performer, between her high notes and her blonde hair and music video outfits. On the individual front, Sejeong continued her activities, becoming part of Netflix show "Busted", where she remains to this day, as the show is already on its 3rd season, which is expected for 2021 and once again she took part on a soundtrack of a popular drama, this time "Mr Sunshine". However, she wasn't the only member to enjoy a good year regarding solo activities, with Mina also rising as 2018 progressed. First she landed a gig as an MC for MBC's "Show Music Core". Later, she also landed her first main role, at drama "Tale of Fairy", including a kissing scene. She also appeared on the show's soundtrack.
Meanwhile, Gugudan's situation continued to deteriorate. Hyeyeon, who had been on hiatus since May, announced her departure on October 25th. In spite of this news, the group finally made its return on November 6th, which was, coincidentally, the day after Mina's new drama premiered. "Act 5: New Action", with the dancehall inspired "Not That Type". It would be the last time Gugudan made an appearance as a group.
They indeed saved the best for last. "Not That Type" has an addictive beat and does an excellent job in building up tension. The chanting chorus was something many girl groups have adopted since, but failed to come up with something as addictive and explosive as Gugudan. As girl crush has become the dominant concept for the past two years, "Not That Type" gets better, as it remains one of the last great songs tied to such concepts. Every new generic girl crush track that drops enhances it, which is quite funny when you consider Gugudan were the ones who started their careers being labeled as a generic group. Its disbandment was a quite obvious outcome, considering their hiatus had already lasted for over 2 years, and especially following the news from member Sally, saying Jellyfish told them to leave their dorms. It closes another chapter in the history of "Produce 101", alongside Pristin's disbandment last year. It leaves Weki Meki as the last remaining group with I.O.I members who debuted following the show's ending.
However, not everything on their history is sadness and the feeling that they were just another girl group who couldn't make it and fell due to negligence. In the end, three of its members managed to build careers who will allow them to remain active for some years. Sejeong is the obvious example. Becoming bigger than the group (which was probably true from its start) ended up being a blessing for her. She resumed her singing career, first with a new single, "Tunnel", in December 2019, then releasing her first album, "Plant", on March 17th, 2020, followed by another single in "Whale". Simple ballads that display her same great vocals that made her popular in the first place are her bread and butter. But her last successful venture is a fairly recent one, as she is currently acting in the drama "The Uncanny Counter", which has become a sleeper hit, seeing its ratings rise every week. And yes, once again she participates on the soundtrack. Mina stayed for over two years on her gig as a MC for Music Core, parting ways with the show only May 30th, 2020, ending the final link between the group and the idol scene. She also followed the footsteps of Sejeong, participating in a season of "Law of the Jungle" in 2019, which was followed with a supporting role on top drama "Hotel Del Luna" (and another kissing scene). Mina is still only 21-years old, which means she has time to build on her acting career. Last, there is Sally. The Chinese member, which was largely forgotten when part of the group, returned back home, where she joined competition show "Produce Camp", placing 6th and debuting on new group "Bonbon Girls". It is the end of the line for Gugudan, but definitely not for its former members.
Gugudan: June 28th, 2016-December 31st, 2020.
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