In 2012, Hello Venus debuted with a fresh, bubbly sound and cutesy charm. Although their name had people snerking at first, with the release of "Venus" they proved to have potential in the K-Pop market. With Ara's lullaby voice, Nara's model-like visuals, Yoonjo's baby face, Yooyoung's aw-inducing aegyo, Alice's cottoncandy vocals, and Lime's mindblowing 3-in-1 talent as the group's main rapper, dancer, AND vocalist, the six girls made for a nicely packaged ensemble, complete with a cute bow on top.

And yet two years later, the group is splitting. As the group was a joint project between Pledis Entertainment and Fantagio, Ara and Yoonjo are going back to Pledis and the rest are staying with Fantagio to continue promoting as Hello Venus. With this sudden development, những người hâm mộ can't help but wonder how one of the most anticipated girl groups of 2012 are parting ways so suddenly in 2014. Among the người hâm mộ speculations that have been making circles so far, there are a total of six rumored reasons behind Hello Venus's split.

1. Disorganized promotions
When a group splits, it's always a bit messy and disorienting for fans. Despite the lessons that TVXQ, Super Junior, and thêm recently EXO and KARA, should have taught us, when an idol group debuts, we expect it to stay together through thick and thin. We expect to see the same faces over and over again; we believe that they're part of a team of indestructible bonds, "13 is 1" mottos galore. But ever since the beginning, Hello Venus hasn't always come out as a set of six.

Right before Hello Venus debuted, member Yoonjo had an unfortunate accident and injured her leg. Yet instead of delaying the âm nhạc video shoot and debut date, the agencies went right ahead and filmed the dance shots and had the group promote without her. Non-fans and insta-fans alike were confused seeing a six-membered group promoting as five. Even when Hello Venus released their repackage album and started performing "Like a Wave", Yoonjo was still nowhere to be found. Furthermore, for one of the lead vocalists of the group, Yoonjo wasn't được trao much to sing in the tiêu đề singles. It's almost as if she wasn't really a part of the group hoặc even really needed.

2. Lack of promotions
In the span of two years, Hello Venus has only released and promoted three singles, excluding follow-ups. In a fast-paced K-Pop scene, it's important for rookie groups to constantly release new songs in order to establish their presence and sound to the public. Fellow 2012 rookies, AOA and SPICA, for example, have promoted five singles since debut, and EXO released four. These three examples are regularly seen throughout the K-Pop seasons and years, but Hello Venus hasn't been releasing any new singles since "Do bạn Want Some Tea?", which they promoted over a năm cách đây in May 2013. những người hâm mộ have been asking, "What's the deal?" and inquiring after Hello Venus for a while now. A whole năm of missed opportunities, promotions, and variety hiển thị appearances has passed, and it hasn't done the group any favors.

3. Missed Opportunities with Pledis Entertainment
Speaking of missed opportunities, what was up with Pledis and 'Music Bank' last year?

Last time Hello Venus promoted, it was for their single "Do bạn Want Some Tea?" During that time, những người hâm mộ noticed that the group never appeared on KBS's 'Music Bank.' It's speculated that this is due to Pledis Entertainment's rumored conflict with 'Music Bank,' as both Pledis label mates After School and Nu'est didn't appear on the hiển thị either with their singles "First Love" and "Sleep Talking" respectively.

This is a pretty big disadvantage for Pledis artists, especially for the newer groups Hello Venus and NU'EST, as they get less air time and fewer opportunities to hiển thị themselves to the public. Although thêm recently, trái cam, màu da cam caramel, kẹo caramel was able to perform "Catallena" on âm nhạc Bank, it's probable that Pledis' past conflict with the program hurt Hello Venus's chances of having a successful run with "Do bạn Want Some Tea?" Maybe even hurt Hello Venus in the long run.

4. Half-assed concerts
Even when Hello Venus took their opportunities to promote, their agencies did not make the most of them.

Hello Venus held their first buổi hòa nhạc at Seogang trường đại học on June 22, 2013. It was pretty successful, but Hello Venus's những người hâm mộ were disappointed with the low quality of service. The agencies promised the những người hâm mộ goodies, but failed to deliver. Although the entire buổi hòa nhạc video was supposed to be released via the website AfreecaTV as a live stream, it was edited too much. Half of the buổi hòa nhạc was not shown in the video; even the songs they performed live were not shown. Furthermore, the agencies promised to release a bức ảnh book following the concert, but những người hâm mộ have yet to see it for a năm now.

những người hâm mộ felt cheated as a result, and once again, Hello Venus missed an opportunity to sell and spread their merchandise goodies for những người hâm mộ and interested bystanders alike. An agency half-assing things with its rookie groups, hoặc any of its idols, is never a good sign.

5. 'I'm Your Venus' một giây season WTF-ery
Hello Venus's first season of 'I'm Your Venus', like any other idol show, displayed the members' personalities and their hard work behind the scenes. It was pretty successful, enough for the producer to announce a season two back in October of 2013. Season two, however, turned out to be a completely different show. Renamed 'Hello Beauty School', the hiển thị went from focusing on the girls' journey to K-Pop stardom to focusing on makeup products and their origins. Wat?

Perhaps this was meant to attract viewers who weren't necessarily Hello Venus fans, but potential những người hâm mộ who could fall for Hello Venus's bright and cute charms on screen. Unfortunately, the tactic didn't really work. The concept fell flat to the audience, disappointing the những người hâm mộ once again.

6. Pledis has được trao up
Over the past few years, Pledis has been suffering major losses in terms of finances. While in 2012, Pledis Mất tích 940 million won (~ $917,000 USD), in 2013, the company Mất tích 260 million won (~ $254,000 USD). They showed improvement thanks to money earned from their ngôi sao players UEE and Son Dam Bi, but still not enough to turn a profit.

Yet rather than focusing on the idols it's promoting now, Pledis Entertainment has announced that it will be coming out with a brand new group called Seventeen. Public opinion is mostly negative, as những người hâm mộ feel that Pledis should continue to cultivate its current groups After School, NU'EST, and Hello Venus instead, especially since the latter two are still new to the K-Pop scene. It's possible that Pledis is creating this new group, however, because Nu'est and Hello Venus aren't doing as well as they had hoped. Their gần đây di chuyển to withdraw Ara and Yoonjo from Hello Venus is a sign that they have được trao up on making profit off the girl group altogether, and are saving their funds and energy to focus on the upcoming new boy band. Perhaps the label believes that Seventeen will be their saving grace, but this certainly does not sit well with những người hâm mộ of current groups, not to mention the hardworking group members themselves!


It's unfortunate that Hello Venus has come to this point--that they missed many opportunities, weren't promoted to the fullest, and now have Mất tích the support and funding of Pledis Entertainment, an established label despite its flaws.

Now that the joint project of Hello Venus has ended, what do bạn think will be the fate of the girl group? Is Pledis right in thinking that Hello Venus doesn't have a chance hoặc can the group blossom with better marketing and bigger drive?


Whatever the future holds, I hope it's a bright one for Hello Venus. Let me know your thoughts in the các bình luận below.