There have been many rumors as to the reason for the dissolution of 4Minute, and why only Hyuna renewed her contract with Cube Entertainment while the other members decided not to renew theirs. Let’s look at the reasons behind 4Minute’s disbandment!
4Minute’s Disband Date
A representative for 4Minute explained the situation, saying “As the contract end date approaches, the members have been in discussions for renewal, but while the agency tried to persuade them to continue the group, it ended up accepting the decision by the five members that they will not continue as a group. Due to the different opinion of the members, for all intents and purposes, the group will disband.” They debuted with their electronic-hip-hop album Hot Issue in June of 2009. They began trying experimental sounds, such as the saxophone-led dance cut Volume Up. They also added quirky electro-pop in What’s Your Name?, Is It Poppin’?, and Whatcha Doin’ Today?, before gaining an even more confident and powerful image with the aggressive bangers Crazy and Hate that marked their last singles released as a group. An insider said, “All the members have a different future in mind, such as singers or actors. After months of consideration, they decided that it would be hard to maintain the team. HyunA renewed her contract, and some of them are talking about renewing as well, but some will leave the label.” Cube Entertainment confirmed that 4Minute disbanded on June 15, 2016 and that it has only renewed the contract with HyunA so far, while the other members are still in discussions for renewal. Apparently, other members of 4Minute wanted to re-sign with CUBE Entertainment, but nobody was able to help them. Hong Seung-sung (Simon Hong), the CEO and co-founder of CUBE Entertainment, loved 4Minute and saw them as his own. An exposing report even stated that many CUBE Entertainment personnel believe the outcome for 4Minute would be a lot different if CUBE was controlled by CEO Hong and not iHQ. Fortunately for Gayoon, Jihyun, Jiyoon, and Sohyun, they are well known enough in the industry to find another agency to work for. Gayoon and Jihyun are looking into acting careers, while Jiyoon wants to continue singing and also producing. Sohyun is probably the one who is the best well off, as she is part of the fixed cast of My Pet Laboratory on skyTV. As for Hyuna’s next solo career project, nothing has been announced, but it will most likely drop before the end of the year. Jiyoon, a now ex-member of 4Minute, talked about 4Minute’s disbandment, “Even before we started thinking about the individual paths we wanted to take, our contracts ended and it was pretty chaotic. Honestly, it felt like we were finding out about our disbandment through the reports. We weren’t thinking about disbanding and when we saw the reports of disbandment, we thought, ‘Ah, so that’s what happened,’ and calmly started tidying things up,” she said. When asked how she felt towards her fans during that time, Jeon Jiyoon commented, “I felt so bad because it happened so suddenly and there were no talks of disbandment. What really makes me feel apologetic is that while we were promoting as 4Minute, we didn’t have any kind of content that our fans would have really liked.” “Even now I keep feeling sorry because I feel like I should be creating that kind of content but I haven’t been able to. Starting with these promotions I’m planning on continuing to release music. It doesn’t matter if they succeed or fail. For the fans who like me, that’s what I can do to repay them,” she continued.
The Reason Why 4Minute Disbanded
Netizens revealed some of the reasons behind the dissolution of 4Minute. They concluded that the breakup of the group came about because Cube Entertainment was too focused on taking care of HyunA’s solo career. The truth is that, among all the members, HyunA is the most prominent. In 2010, HyunA started her solo career in addition to her status as a member of 4Minute. Even HyunA is now better known as a soloist rather than a 4Minute member. While she was joining 4Minute, HyunA had also released several popular solo songs such as Ice Cream, Bubble Pop, and Red. This is what makes fans feel Cube Entertainment is more affectionate towards HyunA than thinking about the fate of 4Minute as a group. “I think they’re just going to renew the group, but it’s all going to leave. But again, the Cube is always just promoting HyunA,” said a netizen. “They have been promoted for 7 years but the only person I remember is HyunA.” “HyunA’s imagery is too strong for this group,” another netizen replied. In fact, after Hyuna renewed her contract with Cube Entertainment and the other members decided not to, Jiyoon, Gayoon, Jihyun, and Sohyun officially un-followed Hyuna on Instagram, even though 4Minute has been known to have a very strong friendship. “I think the root of their problem is with the agency, not because of personal problems with HyunA. But apparently they are expressing it in this way,” a netizen said. Another netizen asked, “Heol, there are four other members who are still following each other. Actually, what is happening?” “They should know un-following HyunA will be a controversy. They should not do it this way,” regretted another netizen.
