Hi everyone! I wanted to gather my thoughts here as X seems pretty inflammatory right now. I do want to start off by saying to please read the whole thing before anyone jumps me. I hope that we can all be cool-headed about the recent news. Anyway...
I think it's time to drop the outrageous conspiracy theories and look at it at face value. Heeseung, no matter if there was an ultimatum or not, did choose to leave ENHYPEN. As someone who works in marketing/public relations and has been a fan of K-Pop since 2009, I don't believe it was BELIFT's choice or best FINANCIAL interest for Heeseung to leave the group at all. He is a popular member internationally, he sings so many parts in their songs, and has many center parts in their choreogeaphy. They would have tried their hardest to keep him, no matter what. I think this was their best case scenario to keep both ENHYPEN and him (with his dreams and ambitions beyond the group), and still make money from both.
This situation reminds me a lot of Hyunseung's departure from BEAST. A few months before BEAST's contract was up, pivotal member Hyunseung left the group "due to differences of opinion between him and the other members concerning their music." He even won a solo "Best Male Artist" award while promoting with BEAST just before he left, which unironically mirrors Heeseung's UPICK Global Choice award win. The 6-member group later left the company together and formed a new group as HIGHLIGHT. The parallels are uncanny and I recommend you all read up on that situation to learn how to navigate Heeseung's departure. I'm not saying that this is the direction the boys are headed, but I just wanted to let you all know that this has happened before. It is not as unprecedented as people say. This happens in K-Pop! We will be okay! Be happy for Heeseung and please be there for the rest of them.
With the immense responsibility that falls on the remaining members, I hope we can support them without a need to be so reactive. Boycotting, historically, does not work in K-Pop UNLESS your intentions are for the group to fail. ENHYPEN are human beings with idolhood as their JOBS. You stop buying their merchandise, you stop attending their concerts, you start talking about how ENHYPEN is nothing without Heeseung... you cut off their resources and money and the ground they stand on with BELIFT. While you might think it's temporary, losing Heeseung has already caused people to leave the fandom. Do you think furthering that by decreasing support will actually lead BELIFT to take action and bring back Heeseung, who stated that he WANTED to pursue a solo career? This would probably embolden them into thinking that ENHYPEN can no longer be a sustainable group for them to keep.
This is not Mark's situation where the graduation system in NCT Dream was already set in place and people knew he would leave eventually. There was always anger and uproar even up until his graduation date that led SM to overturn their decision. This is not Seunghan's situation where a massive scandal blew up his career in an idol group. Fans were boycotting RIIZE for him to be in or out of the group. It was a lose-lose situation.
On the other hand, this feels a lot more decisive. Belift or HYBE does not flip-flop around like SM does. Please read Heeseung's statement with a more level headed lens. He says "I made a big decision to approach ENGENE in a better way according to the direction the company suggested." I don't read this the same way other people on X have. To me, this is textbook damage control (no negative connotation here, but just as a fact).
BELIFT read through this statement and made sure it was good to post. That's how PR is handled. In fact, I think this was added in to specifically take the heat off of himself and the other boys and make sure the blame is shifted to the company. At the end of the day, BELIFT will always be hated. They know that. They are okay with that. I think this was included so that there is no insinuation of ill-will on either ENHYPEN or Heeseung's side. What I dislike is people overanalyzing this part of his statement and making it seem like he had no choice in the matter.
Please don't infantilize Heeseung's decision-making capabilities. If he hated the company, he would have terminated the contract. That's been done plenty of times before in K-Pop. In fact, there's been scenarios where people leave their agency but stay in the group itself! Heeseung, based on his statement, just had a different vision for his music. We need to learn how to be okay with that as fans.
Belift is a shitty company, but they aren't stupid enough to create a financial burden on themselves to force out a pivotal member to leave their highly successful group. I don't think that's what happened. They wouldn't risk brand deals, upcoming schedules, fan backlash, etc. This departure seemed like it would have saved them the most money, which is ultimately their number one priority.
This is just the reality we need to accept and face without being in denial.
And I know Heeseung has talked about future plans with the group, I know the timing is off, I know it seemed like things were headed in a good direction. But that few weeks break, Jungwon's messages in WeVerse, and Heeseung teasing his upcoming projects aren't to be ignored either. This has been in the works, even if it came earlier than we might have all expected. It might feel like a sudden decision to us, but I'm sure it must've been a lengthy conversation for them. The boys, of course, have to put on a brave face in front of the fans. I don't doubt that they've all been hurting and dealing with so much behind the scenes during this decision and did not show us.
There's a lot of things we don't know and I hope we can learn more as time goes on, but we need to know our limits as fans. I will continue to support ENHYPEN, who I've loved since the start of I-Land. I also can't wait to see what Heeseung (or EVAN) has in store and I will also be supporting him as well. Though I understand the anger and resentment, please do not spread any harmful theories or inflammatory sentiments. They will not help ENHYPEN or Heeseung.
Anyway, thank you for sticking around if you read the whole thing. I know this is sad, but we will be okay!!! Let's support them right now. The boys really need it ❤️
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