It’s that time of year again! While December is filled with year-end countdowns, I like to take a look back at some of K-pop’s biggest agencies during November. Before reading (especially if you’re new to the blog), it’s helpful to know that my grading focuses most heavily on music releases and how comebacks are managed and delivered to fans. Scandals and non-musical factors can certainly impact an agency’s grade, but the biggest criteria will always be the music itself. Following SM Entertainment‘s analysis earlier this week, it’s time to dive into YG Entertainment.
As usual, the thoughts below are my own and aren’t privy to any insider information. There will be plenty of subjective critique.
The Good
YG Entertainment continues to be buoyed by its established acts. BLACKPINK may not have made a group comeback this year, but its members released solo singles and high-profile collaborations, extending their push into international markets. Rosé’s duet with Bruno Mars is a bonafide global smash, while new efforts from Lisa and Jennie also made waves far beyond Korea. These ladies have clearly established themselves in a variety of media and in 2024 they were able to reap the rewards of that effort. This solo work wasn’t actually managed by YG, but the agency was still able to benefit from the success when it comes to their overall brand.
Much of YG’s focus this year went towards establishing rookie group BABYMONSTER. Their work was a mixed bag musically, but so far they seem to be continuing the agency’s run of successful girl groups, doubling the sales of their first album with their just-released full-length.
Though we don’t yet have any new music, veteran girl group 2NE1 just kicked off a reunion tour, showcasing why they’re the template that both BLACKPINK and BABYMONSTER were built from. And the always-reliable AKMU continued to do their own thing, both as a duo and soloists.
The Bad
As far as I can tell, YG Entertainment have become creatively bankrupt. Nothing they release feels new or novel. Each new girl group follows the same sounds and concepts that have been successful in the past. BABYMONSTER’s burgeoning discography is pretty much a xerox of 2NE1/BLACKPINK, but we’ve been down this same road for so long that the copies begin to fade with each passing generation. The agency seems unwilling (or unable?) to switch things up. This might capture new fans for a moment, but there really isn’t anything for those of us who have been listening to YG artists for years.
While BABYMONSTER received a fair amount of promotion this year, YG’s boy groups languished. Treasure released a digital single and Winner was nowhere to be found (to be fair, some of its members are currently enlisted). With iKON and Bigbang gone from their roster, YG doesn’t seem to have much interest in developing this side of their line-up. The agency has never been able to multi-task, but it feels like they’ve placed all their hopes on a narrow sound that’s becoming narrower by the year.
One way to expand this sound is through subsidiary The Black Label. Unfortunately, this label seems to be following YG’s worst instincts. They continue to have no idea what to do with Jeon Somi‘s music even though the answer (judging by Fast Forward‘s success last year) is obvious. New girl group MEOVV came and went with little promotion and no distinct identity. We’ll be lucky if we get one or two songs from them next year, judging by The Black Label’s meager track record.
Apart from one or two exceptions, music does not seem to be YG’s focus any more. The agency feels more like a brand, churning out endorsements more often than new albums. The music exists to support its artists’ cachet, as evidenced by all the global collaborations YG pushed this year. They so desperately want to be in the room hobnobbing with a-list celebrities that they’ve forgotten the artistry that got them into that room in the first place. I can’t remember the last time I was genuinely excited about a new release from a YG artist. The agency itself doesn’t seem excited about the music, so why should we?
2024 Grade: D+
What I’d like to see in 2025:
- A newly-debuted group with a sound we haven’t heard from YG a million times already
- New producers with new ideas
- Less focus on global collaborations
Previous years: 2023 // 2022 // 2021 // 2020 // 2019 // 2018 // 2017 // 2016
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
What I’d like to see in 2025, you mean?
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just watch BABYMONSTER go on hiatus because the agency has no idea how to release music
C- for me
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The Good: Forever, King Kong. Since Blackpink are partially no longer under YG (at least for solo activities), I’m not gonna mention their solos.
The Bad: Baemon being a BP 2.0. These girls definitely suit the Forever sound or concept a lot more. Meovv also following in their footsteps. Judging by the vibes, I see Meovv suit Le Sserafim’s 2022 output.
Also, the lack of Treasure music this year frustrates me as a Teume. YG also promised a fall comeback, but it didn’t happen (and doubt it’ll happen any time soon), so negative points for that. I hope we get a comeback early next year at least, cause the lack of promos besides tours is frustrating.
Grade: D+
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YG just doesn’t have the money to support any other groups at the moment. Part of me wonders if they might just quietly disband Treasure or sort of leave them inactive in the dungeon. YG’s revenue YTD has barely crossed the $20mil US mark, and that’s throwing 2NE1 doing the favor of reunion concerts in the most low budget way YG could manage and even getting the remaining 3 BigBang members to reunite onstage for Taeyang’s solo concerts. YG can’t afford to support and develop Babymonster and Treasure simultaneously, and if they do follow through with plans for BP, it will get even worse. The upfront costs for putting a tour together is nothing to scoff at, and the piece of the pie they’ll walk away with at the end will be much smaller since they no longer have the exclusive contract for a single member. Part of me doubts they will follow through with at all and instead just offer the option for the girls to buy out their individual group contracts or sell the BP IP altogether. If they are looking towards the future, that would probably be the better financial choice to make, since they could freely pour that money back into developing their current artists rather than sacrificing their growth, most likely putting them under a hiatus in all but name, while they wait to eek out enough revenue from BP to be able to afford to focus on their current artists again.
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It’s crazy how YG only gave us ONE good song this year (that being Baemon’s Forever), not counting the BP solo music.
Sometimes I wonder how much of their lack of effort can be attributed to the fans and stan culture. With some fans willing to stream whatever their faves put out, is there any incentive to try something different? We can complain about the YG formula all we want, but they’re still making money from it and that’s what they care about. Although recently, I think this can apply to another company as well…
What I’d like to see in 2025: YG making their girl groups more distinct from each other. Probably not going to happen, but a girl can dream.
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I al so disappointed by the use of BM. Tbh, I think BP were doing their best. Even with other sounds, having now experienced all their solos, I am not sure the girls have much more to offer vocally than what they have, but they have big personalities that fit the badass YG template. However, there are some legitimately interesting vocalists in BM, and to see them limited by the music they are given, when they could be growing like, say, NMIXX, is just sad.
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I would also add the following criteria to what I want to see (less (?)) from YG in 2025:
• Less attention focused on lyrics and promotion strategies in English.
Seriously, this is getting boring. Why does a K-Pop company do non-Kpop things? I can see BLACKPINK and BABYMONSTER releasing full albums in English in the year 2025. There are so many discouraging things happening at YG in terms of choice of promotion and regency that it makes it difficult for me to consider them one of the big three entertainment companies nowadays
TREASURE and AKMU are oblivious to what YG does right, the company obviously doesn’t seem to care about them. And in terms of giving solo work to its artists, the company didn’t show me much either, in fact it even reminds me of JYP Entertainment from a few years ago in these terms
Basically, 2NE1 has to be your big bet for next year
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It looks like MEOVV are coming back before the end of the year: https://www.allkpop.com/article/2024/11/meovv-hints-at-their-first-comeback-with-mysterious-teaser
It will be interesting to see how YG is going to leverage Blackpink members’ solo success in 2025 with a full group comeback (i.e. a 3 songs mini-album of wasted BABYMONSTER demos to launch a world tour priced no less than 200$ per ticket)…
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I have a feeling that fans aren’t going to be getting the reunion they expect from BP. Of course some of it will be dependent on what was signed contractually, but looking at the individual release and solo plans, I can’t imagine anything from BP as a group before Q4. What could also be tricky is if any of the members are doing well enough on their own, there might be enough incentive to buy them out of the group contract either individually or by their major labels. The profit distribution for any tour they do together is going to be a nightmare, especially if it could be potentially damaging to or place a hold on any of their solo careers at a critical moment. And considering YG is mostly just skating by on YG Plus (their distribution company) and their earnings (not revenue, just earnings before tax deductions, etc.) this year is barely over $20mil USD (ie. the lowest they’ve reported outside of Burning Sun’s 2019) in well over a decade, I don’t think they’d be in the position to really say no if one of the members wanted to buy out their part of the group contract. Outside of loans, which they don’t appear to be in the best financial position for as well, they just don’t have enough cash flow to support or build all their current groups. With BP, even if the opportunity for profit is there with new music or a tour, financially supporting it, especially the upfront costs of a large tour, is a completely different story, especially when they will be getting a much smaller share of the pie than BP’s previous activities (you can see the foreshadowing for it in their choice of venue for 2NE1’s reunion or even Taeyang’s domestic concerts which included reuniting the 3 remaining BigBang members on stage). Fans expecting something like the Born Pink tour, a new album (or even just songs where the individual parts aren’t just phoned in), or anything resembling BP’s glory days are going to be sorely disappointed. And fans of their current groups will probably have to put up with even less content and expenditure towards them since it’s highly improbable YG will have enough cash flow to facilitate both at once.
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I’m amazed at how many fans Baby Monster debuted with, and kept despite their microwaved Blackpink leftovers. I was at a Kpop night in Chicago this year and the entire room sang along to Sheesh! But like with NMIXX’s first year, I think people are stanning BaeMon’s talent and potential right now.
In 2025 I’d like to see YG groups finally learn how to lip sync, which has been a problem in their music videos since 2NE1.
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Small correction: The Black Label isn’t a subsidiary of YG anymore and hasn’t been for awhile now! They’re technically an “associate company,” but actually like.. 1% of ownership away from being considered an independent company (21% YG owned right now; 20% and under is independent), which is likely the goal for TBL over the next year or two.
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I am all for having a strong identity as a music company, but YG is taking that concept so far that I haven’t hear anything unique from them in years. I’d be more forgiving of that if the quality of releases was good and consistent.
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YG is basically a sham company, resting on its past laurels and glories with no actual attempt to build on that legacy. Some twenty years ago, someone made a power point with a vision to have more “swaggy acts” but this was backed by music and talent to boot. Decades later, that power point is still in circulation with a “copy-paste” approach that would be amusing if it was not so insulting to fans and the general audience. If anyone at YG says “Quality over Quantity”, they need tomatoes thrown on them.
My rating: N/A (because a con-man don’t deserve to be in the same leagues and be rated).
(Still angry about the election, if you cannot tell).
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With the members ages, image, and what they have sounded best on, I just don’t understand why YG wants to keep pulling from a very limited part of BP’s output for Babymonster. Getting the same drivel for over 10 years, I think it’s easy to forget that 2NE1 was releasing music from a much broader range of genres, and there are plenty of songs in their back catalogue that would fit Babymonster better than 99% of what they’ve been given. The fact that 2NE1 never promoted a soundalike to IATB, even though it was their most widely known song internationally, says everything to me about YG’s creativity and willingness to take some risks with their musical output. They’d rather give nothing and build hype through scarcity than take a risk.
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“They’d rather give nothing and build hype through scarcity than take a risk.” Exactly!! You hit the nail on the head!
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