Considered the successor to Blackpink and Baby Monster, this new group has only announced 2 out of 4 members, but has been pushed straight to the eye of the storm of controversy.
The focus of the debate revolved around an increasingly sensitive issue in the Kpop world, which is the nationality of the members.
Through the "YG NEXT MONSTER" project, the company introduced two 15-year-old members: Evelli from Australia and On Chanya from Thailand. It was this 50% foreign member ratio that sparked the outrage of a part of Korean netizens.
On the Nate Pann forum, a post criticizing YG for "continuously debuting Thai national trainees" quickly spread, pushing the company into the center of criticism with accusations that YG is "building a Kpop group without Koreans".
Behind this wave of controversy is the "counterproductive effect" from Lisa's (Blackpink) huge success. Some opinions point out very frankly: "It is because of Lisa that Thailand has exploded like this. If she was just a member of an ordinary group, she would not be able to evoke such strong national pride".
Lisa's miraculous commercial success has made YG see the enormous potential of the Southeast Asian market, but this strategic inclination raises concerns about domestic cultural identity.
The discussion quickly spread, attracting clear mixed reactions from the online community.
The comments ranged from complaints about the increasing number of foreign members in Kpop groups, to broader criticisms of the company's management structure and slowness in adapting to industry changes.
However, amidst countless doubts, there are still fans who place expectations on the rookies. Anyway, YG is still a company with outstanding achievements in creating leading girl groups.
Whether the new group can continue the legend is still a question mark. But it cannot be denied that the controversy surrounding this nationality may be an obstacle on the group's debut path.
This is no longer simply a regular "warming up" before the debut of a new group, but has become a public debate about the boundary between "locality" and "internationality" in the globalization process of Kpop.
As the Korean entertainment industry becomes increasingly dependent on the global market and transnational human resources, balancing cultural roots and expanding trade has become a problem that every large company faces.
