INFINITE Reveal Which Members Were Advised to Leave the Group

[theemii.livejournal.com]

Turns out that it hasn’t been a smooth ride to the top for all the members of INFINITE.

On the January 14 broadcast of MBC Every1′s “INFINITE’s Showtime,” the members play the Never Have I Ever game to reveal interesting stories and facts about themselves.

When it’s Sunggyu‘s time to ask a question, he says, “Those who have been advised to leave the group by our agency CEO - put a finger down.”

Immediately, Woohyun and Dongwoo drop their fingers, and Sunggyu goes on to joke while facing Woohyun, “So you managed to make it?”

Dongwoo explains about his past struggles, “I’ve been told that a lot. Even before our debut.” Hearing this, Sunggyu himself puts down a finger and says, “I almost failed to make it as well.”

The members then turn to Hoya, expecting him to share about similar experiences. But Hoya says, “You’d think that I’d have something to tell, but I don’t.”


Article: 'Show Time' INFINITE, Woohyun and Dongwoo reveal, "We were once advised to leave the group"

Source: OSEN via Naver

1. [+4,164, -53] If Woollim had gone through with that, their company could've failed...

2. [+2,949, -29] Today it's something to laugh about on varieties but I can't imagine how upset they must've felt as trainees ㅜㅜ I congratulate them on working even harder and finding the strength to train and become a singer

3. [+2,111, -29] Meanwhile Hoya, "You'd think I would've been advised that but I wasn't" ㅋㅋㅋ

4. [+1,865, -39] Hul... I'm glad they didn't leave, INFINITE is forever 7

5. [+1,635, -58] Admirable of them. I would've gotten my pride hurt and probably left while swearing at Woollim. INFINITE's such a good group now;

6. [+288, -1] Woollim probably wouldn't be around if not for INFINITE

7. [+284, -8] I don't understand why they would've said that to Woohyun.. he's a vocalist and handsome to boot...?

8. [+250, -1] INFINITE's the group that helped Woollim afford their building~

9. [+249, -2] That would've been a decision to hit the floor in regret over ㅋㅋㅋ

10. [+229, -3] They were advised to leave even after debut...? How upsetting it must've been!! INFINITE is forever 7!


source: Soompi & Netizenbuzz naver

Comments

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

Here's the more complete/detailed conversation where we learn that Dongwoo has been asked a couple times to leave before and after debut, and Sunggyu almost was kicked out during NOTHING'S OVER era.



Why would they even do that though? I know sunggyu is not good-looking by SK standards, but his vocal skills, charisma and personality makes him one of the most popular member? Half of Infinite's popularity is thanks to him, I don't get it.

And Woohyun certainly is not lacking in the singing, dancing or visual department. He is the most well-rounded member so what is there to disapprove? And the precious angel Dongwoo can't leave, he looks harmless and then sets the stage on fire everytime he steps on it.

Seems like a pretty dumb idea to kick out the power vocals of your own group, the two guys who literally carry Infinite on stage. lol Good thing the boys pushed through and stayed, cause Infinite helped them rise from ashes.

[aeries-amethyst.livejournal.com]

I can't understand why on earth they could possibly want to kick out the two power vocals of the group. I mean WooGyu literally carry every single Infinite song. Thank god they're still in the group! I can't imagine Infinite without them T_T

[phililen3.livejournal.com]

Damn... How do you not be two faced when it comes to your relationship with your CEO after this. Smile infront of him and curse him when you get home.

Y'all reading to much into this

[tungatunga.livejournal.com]

If their CEO would really "asked/advised" them to leave they wouldn't have choice but to do so. And Infinite did really bad for sometimes after debut, so I read it as more as an offer to let them go off the contract free of charge so they can look for opportunity elsewhere, whereas tell them to drop off before debut, I'm pretty sure every trainee in every company heard that at least once.

Re: Y'all reading to much into this

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

That makes sense since Woohyun and Sunggyu are good enough vocalist and thus have the most chance of finding another companie willing to take them. But it makes me wonder why Woollim would keep Hoya. I mean, his dancing is on par with Dongwoo's, AND got the good-looks to go with it. His chances would be high too.

Re: Y'all reading to much into this

[kary1591.livejournal.com]

I was thinking this at first because it doesn't make sense to me for him to want to drop the most talented members and keep certain other ones but idk, the guys reacted like they were kind of embarrassed about it. And Sunggyu saying of course Myungsoo wouldn't have been asked to leave since he has that face makes me think otherwise. Although maybe their CEO did mean it this way and the guys took it differently.

Re: Y'all reading to much into this

[merely-a-facade.livejournal.com]

i agree that we're probably reading too much into this and/or it's not what it seems. i don't think WOOLIM or any other entertainment company is that nice - that'd they'd just willingly let someone whom they have invested a lot of time & resources & money & energy to get out of a contract easily. i don't think that's it.

i think it's probably said during the heat of the moment / when the CEO is venting or is unhappy about a situation but without really meaning to kick someone out of the group. (also think about the PR nightmare / losing fans, etc). in my head, it's similar to how my parents would tell me to leave the house (aka stop living with them) if i don't want to abide by the house rules/curfews/etc. hopefully that makes sense.

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

I don't think Infinite's promotion strategy last year was particularly bad tbh. End of 2014, F promoted in korea, soon followed by H, then Sunggyu. It all built up to Infinite's full comeback, two japanese releases, Japan Dilemma Tour, and IE. Their schedule was pretty packed and one can't really say they weren't in the public eye. While I agree 4 weeks is rather short compared to last romeo's 6 weeks promo, 4 weeks is pretty standard, no? Besides, they promoted Destiny barely three weeks before departing for their world tour, so I guess it's an improvement? lol

It's true they didn't attend MAMA and the SMA but.... considering the shit fest that the MAMAs were, I'm GLAD they didn't attend, especially if they weren't gonna win something. At least they attended all the Gayo Daejuns. And while MAMA and SMA is good for exposure, we all know overseas activities and concerts is how you make bank, so I can't really disagree with their strategy. And touring every 2 years seems a pretty reasonable compromise? 2014 they promoted a full album and a repack, F debuted, Toheart debuted, and they released Dilemma. They basically follow the same pattern of national promotion and oversea activities, but they had more activity in korea in 2015 than 2014 despite the world tour.

#Woohyunsolo2k16

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, it would definitely be better if they gained more popularity ITA, but they didn't unfortunately. Their fanbase and public recognition has been around the same whether they promote two or one album in korea, so they might as well promote overseas to get the big cash, I guess.

H didn't do as good as their first album, it might have to do with them waiting too long to comeback, losing the hype from reply 1997, I suppose? Bad might not have done amazing (but decent), but if you look at the digital sells for the whole album, they actually did pretty good for a boygroup. Like, Suju might have sold more albums but their digital sells for their whole album is less than the digital points Bad as a single track did. I know they could do better, but I am not placing too much hope into them suddenly selling like Shinee or BTS, keep my expectations low so that I'm not disappointed. lol

What do you think they could do to have more recognition? I mean, since promoting one or two albums doesn't really make their album sells shoot through the roof and stuff. Looking at it, this year will be pretty packed too. They have their own variety show after 2 years without any. I've read somewhere Dongwoo had been invited to King of Masks but declined. Maybe Vocal-line will attend? Myungsoo is lead chara in a movie, Hoya too. Woohyun might finally pull out his solo album. Infinite F is supposedly working on a comeback too.

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

I personally find Showtime more enjoyable than ranking king or Diss is Infinite. Some moments were wayyyyy too scripted to the point it was downright cringe-worthy, but that's my personal opinion. I do agree it's better if the show has a set format, but Showtime has always been pretty random in the first place. I prefer to think this is a good opportunity for them to go more out. And all the previous groups that appeared were all groups that are popular or were in the midst of rising to fame: Exo, Beast, Apink, Sistar, and Exid, so I take it as a good sign (that they're still relevant despite being 6 years old). I wouldn't be surprised if next season we see GOT7, BTS or Gfriend on it.

For albums, it seems kinda complicated? I mean, they already diverged from their original 80-90s european pop song to be more modern. Some people are unsatisfied with the change, others kept complaining their previous stuff all sounded the same pop stuff. lol At least, musically they tried to branch out a bit with H's more hip hop-ish concept (although it's pretty tame, but the rest of their album is more in the vein), and F is so... flower boy anime pop. lol Sunggyu is more indie-rock. And Woohyun will probably go into ballads, or maybe something jazzy? So we've basically covered all the genres that appeal to people... Except trot. XD

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

Ah, my bad, I misread. in my defense, it's almost 4am here. I also just noticed I missed the part about SNS. lol

I don't know how many videos other groups release on a weekly basis, but I'm sure once they are done with the world tour, they'll start doing more videos on V App. Hoya so far is the only one that is really active on sns and his youtube channel. To be fair, Dongwoo, Sungjong, Myungsoo and Woohyun updates from time to time too. Meanwhile, Sunggyu........ XD

I wasn't really impressed with Bad's MV either (although I did find it super creepy), especially them being in lavatories lmao. But they tried something new with the 360 camera thing at least. I don't think we can really expect more for H's mv for the type of title track they had though. Sunggyu's MV was so pretty. I hope they'll try to explore in this direction some more. But to be fair, his music style makes it easier. Also, I don't really know what they could have done for an MV with a song like Bad. It's kinda hard to have a storyline because of the fast-pace, Idk, I lack imagination. still waiting for the dance version though

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

I'm under the impression every company's media play is just fucking terrible. Everybody's so done with YG's media play (at least on omona lol, even though the groups, especially Winner and Ikon didn't really do anything to warrant such vitriol). The Oh My Girl thing. JYP kneeling in front of chinese haters. Everybody sucks so much at media play. SME and the betraydols. The more they talk, the worse it gets, so maybe it's for the best?

The ironic thing is that Infinite themselves might be better at garnering attention. Whenever they say someting on twitter or instagram, it ends up trending one way or another. lmao

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

lol who knows. I honestly don't pay enough attention to Winner or Ikon. I only recently started listening to Winner's first album, can you imagine. lol I don't understand why people are so salty about Ikon. I mean, there's the whole Hanbin might be bullying Chanwoo, but omona hated their guts way before this rumor started. It's like people are projecting their hate of YG's bullshit on the boys. That's just... Weird and petty. And like, people complaining they're overrated and can only do well cause they're under YG and had the competition show. But like, Twice is also part of a big3 company, and had a variety show and i don't see people complain about them being a fad? The double standard lol.

Every time Hoya updates his insta, it's such a delight. I understand that as fans, people want to see more and more content, but they're basically already under constant surveillance, scrutinized everywhere. It would be nice if they had a bit of free space for their private life, instead of having to report everything they do, or have a set schedule where they will film a daily/weekly vlog (like real GOT7 or GOT2DAY). That's gotta be draining after a while.

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

Idols from other companies also dissed idols (which is laughable and ironic) or dissed Bobby back, and I don't see them get the same amount of hate, if NONE tbh. Besides, Bobby said a lot of problematic shit, but the entire group gets bundled with him, that's not fair. It's very hypocritical especially when other idols say the same problematic shit (if not worse) but get either a free pass (even when THE ENTIRE group does something problematic), or the problematic member is held accountable for it without dragging the rest of the group with him. So yeah, I definitely thing there is a huge bias, even if the dislike has some basis.

They had this Days in America and Days in Japan videos subbed in 2013, that was really nice. They released their movie for their OGS Tour, so maybe they'll do the same for IE?

Surviving is kind of a strong word though, I mean, they're beyond surviving, if the numbers I saw a couple years ago about how much the company and the boys earned is true, they're doing more than just fine on a financial level.

Aaaaw I'm so disheartened at times. I've been trying to give them a bit more attention on omona by posting regularly, but people seem to just only care about their fav groups, and will comment on other groups only when it's a scandal. Seeing them constantly overlooked on omona when they used to be so popular here has kind of drained my energy, ya know. OTL

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

At least their intl fandom is big enough that they think it's worth to have a second world tour. When you look at the big picture, only a few groups get to do that. A real world tour, not just the USA-Canada, or Asia Tour. Big Bang, SMTown, Suju, JYJ, Beast. That doesn't mean other groups are not successful. Like, Exo doesn't have a world tour, but they are doing more than fine without it. We're kind of a privilieged fandom in a way. I'm counting my blessing lmao

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

Yesterday we were talking about the boys and sns interaction. Today, BAM, sunggyu opens an instagram account. HE HEARD OUR PRAYERS

[kary1591.livejournal.com]

Ugh I really want them to use their V app too :(

[lazmy.livejournal.com]

wowwwwwwww

[cwazy-weiven.livejournal.com]

Alternate universe that's already been destroyed by fatal virus, undead and the apocalypse tbh,

[ultimaaa.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the netizens on the "Infinite is forever 7" train will be singing a different tune once contract renewals come up within the next year...

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

pftt hoya. this ep looks like gonna be funnier than the other. they really should stop sending the boys to different places and let them be funny together

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

During Nothing's Over? Did he do something that pissed the CEO off? Its so weird since Nothing's Over is like 1 or 2 years after their debut.

[merely-a-facade.livejournal.com]

L O L Sungyeol's been told to leave the group how many times then? Countless? :P

I feel like this is probably such a non-issue / empty threats bc otherwise I don't think Sunggyu would've brought up it publicly (aka I think he's smart enough NOT to air their dirty laundry in public)