It’s only been a few days since SM Entertainment announced their newest girl group, Hearts2Hearts (하츠투하츠). While netizens still don’t know much about the members, many recently dug up HYBE Corporation’s past comments about the girl group.
In 2024, documents from HYBE’s “Music Industry Weekly Trend Report” were leaked to the public, showing the agency’s comments about rival K-pop idol groups. The employees’ comments in the internal document are critical, to say the least, with groups like BLACKPINK (블랙핑크) and aespa (에스파) receiving criticism about their looks and personal lives. HYBE would later receive backlash from netizens for the shocking comments in the documents.
While it’s been a while since the internal reports made headlines, HYBE’s comments on Hearts2Hearts recently resurfaced after the group’s debut announcement. On 14th June 2024, the entertainment agency reportedly spoke about the girl group, saying, “There seems to be some talk about SM’s new girl group, maybe because of the talk about HYBE’s rookie team from <R U NEXT> (ILLIT/아일릿)”.
The comments continued, speaking ill about the yet-to-debut-girl group, “It seems like eight candidates have been chosen, but surprisingly, none of them are particularly pretty. Wonder if they are working with a totally inexperienced trainee lineup. Considering the shock over the visuals when {REDACTED] debuted, maybe SM’s aesthetic style has changed.” Netizens have since reacted to the comments, slamming HYBE employees for criticising Hearts2Hearts.
Many expressed shock at the employees making ignorant comments about the young idols, especially when they had yet to debut. Others mocked HYBE for speaking about aesthetics, pointing at the allegations of HYBE artists’ plagiarism of SM Entertainment artists. On the other hand, some were shocked that HYBE employees could obtain information about their rivals’ trainees.
HYBE previously apologised for the comments in the internal documents, but it’s unknown if they would issue another apology for these resurfaced comments about Hearts2Hearts. Meanwhile, the girl group is set to debut in late February 2025 and has already received a lot of interest.
Source: instiz
