The ‘messiness’ ends here. The group (G)I-dle, which has been surrounded by various rumors about their future plans after seven years, has declared that they will ‘renew their contract’ with their agency Cube Entertainment. This year, ahead of the end of their seven-year exclusive contract, (G)I-dle has been unintentionally caught up in various rumors that are proportional to their popularity about ‘staying, leaving’.

Announcing the contract renewal at an official event at the end of the year was also an ‘unique icon of unconventionality’. (G)I-dle won the ‘Record of the Year’ at the Melon Music Awards (MMA) held at Incheon Inspire Arena on the 30th of last month, and as their exclusive contracts were about to expire, there were talks of “the group disbanding, but all members have decided to renew their contracts.” As a ‘complete group’, the five-member group declared that they ‘confirmed the re-signing’ with their current agency Cube Entertainment (Cube).

The following day, on the 1st, group leader Jeon So-yeon once again announced her intention to ‘renew her contract’ with her current agency Cube through her personal SNS.

She mentioned the individual backgrounds of each member of (G)I-dle as a multinational group, and said, “It seems it took a while for me to say this because we grew up in different countries and met as adults. (In the future) we all thought that the five of us would stay together,” they said, unanimously.

Before another beginning that resulted in a contract renewal, (G)I-DLE had been embroiled in various rumors, including transfer rumors and even disbandment rumors that focused on each member’s individual actions. In relation to this, during their world tour in August, leader Jeon So-yeon rapped the line, “My contract ends in November. Who’s stopping me?” which became known to the public, further adding to the confusion.

Whether or not they will renew their contracts also had a considerable impact on the stock price of Cube Entertainment, their current agency and a KOSDAQ-listed company. In particular, Cube’s stock price caught attention when it hit a 52-week low of just over 10,000 won per share right after the “Jeon So-yeon’s impromptu rap” incident.


Reporter Heo Min-nyeong mignon@donga.com