Surprising news from Tricell Media, the partnership set up by Pledis Entertainment and Fantagio Entertainment, today, which announced via Hello Venus‘ fancafe that vocalists Yoon-jo and Yoo Ara (also the leader) will be leaving the six-member group and returning to their original company, Pledis.
To join the Pledis trainees to create Hello Venus, Fantagio brought in Lime, Nara, Alice and Yoo-young. The group debuted in 2012 with “Venus,” and had comebacks in late 2012 and 2013.
With the departure of Yoo Ara and Yoon-jo, we are now left with yet another four-member girl group in K-pop, which Fantiago will now manage on its own. The group is also without its two best singers, though Alice and Lime have proven themselves to have decent voices. It’s stated that Hello Venus will continue in their new configuration, but we’ll have to wait and see how the group and its management will fare going forward.
Though the group was technically under a different agency, Hello Venus has been considered a Pledis group — Pledis being a more established name in the idol industry than Fantagio, which focuses more on actors — and enjoyed the benefits of such, like collaborative opportunities with other Pledis artists. Hello Venus will no longer have that connection.
As for Pledis itself, it has stated that Yoo Ara and Yoon-jo will be embarking their own musical activities, though what these are remains to be seen. After going AWOL on its rookies, Pledis finally seems to be making attempts to rectify this oversight. And while it seems to be doing all right with Nu’est now, it’s not clear yet how Pledis’ actions will benefit Yoo Ara and Yoon-jo.
Hopefully, everything turns out for the best for the members. Readers, what are your thoughts on this revelation?
(Daum, Tricell Media)
