Before I take a brief look at many of K-pop’s smaller agencies, there are a few that I have more to say about. Consider these “bonus” write-ups — shorter than the “big four” but longer than a paragraph or two could cover.
As usual, the thoughts below are my own and aren’t privy to any insider information. The purpose of these articles is to determine how well K-pop agencies are serving their artists and fans. There will be plenty of subjective critique.
The Good
Though they didn’t have a particularly noteworthy year, Starship Entertainment continued to chug along with their already-successful groups leading the helm. Bright spots were IVE and CRAVITY.
IVE didn’t release as much material as they did in 2023, but their single HEYA enjoyed long-running success and they branched out further into the Japanese market. Meanwhile CRAVITY released a mini album before participating in (and winning) the newest series of Road To Kingdom. I didn’t watch the series so I can’t comment on how they came across, but winning a competition show is never a bad thing! Smartly, Starship seems poised to capitalize on this success with the impending release of a new single.
The Bad
While it was solid enough, Starship’s 2024 was also strangely unambitious. Releases were few and far between and never represented the best music that’s come from the agency. IVE’s work feels a bit directionless at the moment and their English-language push into global markets landed with a fizzle. They’re still very popular, but the spark of their debut era dimmed this year.
Similarly, CRAVITY seem to have hit a natural peak. With Monsta X on hiatus due to military enlistments, CRAVITY are Starship’s flagship boy group of the moment. They’re doing fine, but are certainly not driving trends or conversation in the way that you’d hope. We’ll have to see if Kingdom can give them a boost.
Sadly, WJSN seem all but forgotten at this point. They also won an MNET series in 2022 but Starship failed to capitalize on this and the group hasn’t released material since then. A quiet disbandment feels more and more likely. I hope I’m wrong.
As far as soloists go, the agency lost Jeong Sewoon and most other artists didn’t release any new material.
There are rumors of a new group debut next year, and Starship could really use the boost. Right now, their roster is as small as it’s been in years and it doesn’t feel like there’s all that much room to grow given their current situation. This agency has occasionally competed with the “big four,” and to keep that possibility alive they need to find another monster hit (most likely from IVE) or a buzzworthy debut that gets the industry talking.
2024 Grade: C-
What I’d like to see in 2025:
- A return to form for IVE
- A new boy group whose music is in the vein of past Starship acts like Boyfriend or Sistar
Previous years: 2023 // 2022 // 2021 // 2020 // 2019 // 2018 // 2017
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Well… Starship is like JYP, though JYP had some memorable moments and songs. Starship just happens to exist. IVE are doing well, but not as strong as last year. I don’t have any comments on the rest and lowkey sucks seeing WJSN in limbo like this.
C- is the perfect grade. Starship happens to… exist, just minding its own business, nothing remarkable, passing like a breeze.
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My thoughts on Starshit in 2024 really just boil down to WJSN being dungeoned and for that they get an F…
In all seriousness, I’m glad the members themselves are employed and active in the entertainment industry, whether that be in acting, musicals, or variety show appearances, but I just miss their music 😭 they just released seasons greetings teasers about a week ago and none of the members were even in the same room together….
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No seasons greetings group photo is just painful 😭 and that’s gotta be the bare minimum
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The quality was there, but the releases were so few
C for me
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As a luvity, I’m fully content with Cravity’s popularity where it stands. Don’t get me wrong, if they were to grow more popular it would not be a bad thing, but I think it’s evident that Cravity’s discography hasn’t hit the GP (despite the high quality speaking for itself).
Crossing my fingers that the new single album maintains what they achieved with Evershine.
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The reason IVE’s output has been so sparse this year is because they embarked on a sprawling world tour that lasted almost a year. They took a break in April and May to promote that one EP, but otherwise the girls were busy globetrotting until (apparently) early September.
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I saw them on that world tour and it was…just ok!
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are newjeans disbanding
i followed the speech they gave, but im wondering if it has been fully confirmed
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sorry to write about something other than the article
just i luv newjeans and would be dissapointed if they disbanded
also i agree, IVE has been out of sync with the rest of the kpop world, only releasing a couple comebacks a year. i love their concept, and can count on them to produce something a least slightly interesting
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I love IVE and have no problem with their release frequency, it’s actually perfect. People are here telling they only had one comeback this year, NO they actually did TWO. They just released a Japanese EP few weeks ago and they made the Intro song for Pokemon! That’s HUGE! You can’t get more than that. Plus the Switch EP has been their most critically acclaimed Album to date and people generally think Heya is one of their best songs and videos. So what are you all on about?
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This does not adequately convey the failure that is Starshit 2024.
IVE has completely fallen from relevance and they failed to capitalize on Cravity winning Kingdom.
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This does not adequately convey the failure that is Starshit 2024.
IVE has completely fallen from relevance and they failed to capitalize on Cravity winning Kingdom.
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How have IVE fallen from relevance? They sold almost 2 Million of the album and Heya was one of their biggest hits. If you don’t like their new music, that’s fine. But how are they irrelevant when most groups can only dream of selling so much as them? babymonster literally just sold 700k.
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How was Heya one of their biggest hit?
Literally their worst performing single yet. 6 months in and its barely top 50 on Melon.
IVE are not in the running for -any- awards and Heya couldn’t even eke out a music show win. Christ, we failed to qualify for top 10 GG on Mama.
No group has ever gone from Daesang and Circle records one year to 0 wins and nominations the next one.
They had the biggest UL drop off in the history in kpop.
Not to mention their laughably poor English releases.
Obviously IVE are still a big group, and Babydive still buy a ton of albums/merch. But they were THE top GG in 2022 and together with NJ in 2023.
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The thumbnail. Tarshi. Who is Tarshi?
Oh right, Cravity, wait who are Cravity? It seems I would buy one single each year from Cravity and listen to it moderately, but I have no idea who they really are.
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Actually 🤓☝ Cravity is doing fine. They will get more music show wins. They want to promote for a long time. Because they care. If you underestimate them you are laughing at their hardwork.
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