“Why are we the only ones”— fromis_9’s Chaeyoung opens up about her feelings on the group’s inactive status, sparking fan fury

On May 7, 2024, fromis_9 member Chaeyoung came live on Weverse to meet her fans. The girl group debuted in 2018 under Stone Music Entertainment with their extended play (EP), To. Heart, before they got transferred to Pledis Entertainment (operated under HYBE) in 2021.

During her Weverse livestream, the singer expressed her disappointment about the group's delayed activities:

“Why are we the only ones who have to wait a long time to be active? Why only fromis_9? It’s so sad,” she said.

It is important to note that group members Baek Ji-heon, Lee Sae-rom (leader), and Lee Seo-yeon went on a hiatus in 2022 due to declining health problems. Before this, on January 17, 2022, the girl group dropped their fourth EP, Midnight Guest, and on June 27, they released their fifth EP, From Our Memento Box.

Then, in 2023, fromis_9 released their debut studio album, Unlock My World, on June 5 via Pledis Entertainment. The group's song, Love Me Back, dropped on October 11, 2023, as a part of the soundtrack for Naver webtoon, Operation: True Love. However, since then, the group has been radio silent regarding their further activities.

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More about Pledis Entertainment's girl group fromis_9 and its inactivity

The group won the Rising Award in the 2018 Asia Artist Awards, followed by the Asia Model Awards in 2018 for the New Star Award (Singer).

They also won the Brand Customer Loyalty Award in 2021 for Hot Trend Female Idol Group, and the Hanteo Music Awards in 2023 in the Post Generation category. The group went on to win the Best Performance and Best Music Video awards at the 2022 K Global Heart Dream Awards.

Despite being a promising new group, their discography consists of a single studio album, 5 extended plays (EP), 4 single albums, and 3 original soundtracks (OST) for shows. Given that they debuted over 6 years ago, the talented and versatile girl group's musical repertoire falls tremendously short, when compared to other groups.

Comment byu/OldFashionedJack from discussion inkpop

It was revealed in March 2017 that Mnet would be forming a new female group with the introduction of a reality survival program called Idol School. Jisun, Hayoung, Saerom, Chaeyoung, Nagyung, Jiwon, Seoyeon, Jiheon, and Gyuri made the final nine members of this group, named fromis_9.

On October 19, 2017, the girl group aired its first reality show, Fromis' Room, which followed the journey to debut. Then they made their pre-debut performance of Glass Shoes at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Japan on November 29. The group made its debut in 2018 under the direction and guidance of Pledis Entertainment CEO, Han Sung-soo.

However, Gyuri departed from the group on July 28, 2022, and Pledis Entertainment announced in its press release that the group would remain active as an eight-member team.

Meanwhile, the girl group's single studio album, Unlock My World, was released in June 2023. It included 9 tracks: Eye Contact, Wishlist, Don't Care, In the Mirror, Prom Night, What I Want, Bring It On, My Night Routine, and Attitude. The songs ranked in the Top 50 of the Circle Chart (formerly known as the Gaon Music Chart).

Unlock My World's lead single, #menow achieved around 117,000 sales in 2023 and even brought in one music show award. However, compared to SEVENTEEN under Pledis and HYBE's other girl groups like LE SSERAFIM and NewJeans, fromis_9 have a long way to go.

Fans claimed that Pledis Entertainment has been intentionally ignoring its girl group since they haven't had any album sell a million copies like SEVENTEEN—the company's star band. Then three members, including group leader Lee Sae-rom's hiatus due to health issues, didn't help matters either.

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fromis_9 has not had any releases post Unlock My World and their management agency has not announced anything regarding the group's comeback release or future activities even after a year-long hiatus.