[identity profile] aures.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] omonatheydid
In this series I want to go through groups that are gone, but not forgotten. I will go from debut till disbandment or [indefinite] hiatus, remembering the time we had together and look back on their highs and lows.

Stellar



Stellar was a South Korean girl group formed by The Entertainment Pascal in 2011. The group attracted attention because they were initially produced by Eric Mun of the boy band Shinhwa. They disbanded in 2018 after none of the members resigned with the agency.

2011–2014: Formation, debut and line-up changes
The formation of Stellar began as early as 2010, originally supposed to be a six-membered group with a former trainee from Japan, but Top Class Entertainment reported that member Kim Gayoung had signed an exclusive contract with the company and would be joining a five-member girl group.

Gayoung had gained attention for her appearance on the Viewers' Tour episode of 1 Night 2 Days and had been cast in the drama series Poseidon alongside Top Class Entertainment operator and Shinhwa member Eric Mun.
The final debut line-up of Stellar was Gayoung, true rookie Jeon-yul, and ex-Honeydew members Lee-seul and JoA.

The group officially debuted on August 28, 2011, with the release of the digital single "Rocket Girl". Their debut music video for “Rocket Girl” was restricted from airing at first because of restrictions from KBS because of its explicit content. However, neither MBC nor SBS had any issue with the music video.
Stellar’s agency stated
, “The music video which contains flashy visuals has received criticism from a broadcasting company for explicit content, therefore some fighting scenes and also scenes containing the members in sexy outfits had to be edited out. We were able to pass through KBS’ second trial, however fans want the unedited version so we will reveal them via Youtube and Stellar’s official homepage.”



On January 26, 2012, it was announced that Leeseul and JoA were leaving the group and would be replaced by Minhee and Hyoeun for their first comeback track "UFO".

Once again, there was some controversy around the girls for allegedly deliberately showing their panties. Netizens stated, “Are they deliberately showing their panties?” “Is this noise marketing,” and “What are you doing with underage girls?”. Their agency responded by saying they were just normal clothes and that they wouldn't adjust the styling, just the choreography of the dance.



On July 11, 2013, Stellar released their third digital single "Study" which entered the top 100 chart for the first time.



On February 12, 2014, Stellar released their first extended play "Marionette". “Marionette” is produced by Sweet Tune, who has worked on many of Kara‘s hit songs.
The group received criticism for their "stripping game" promotional material, which involved fans having to "like" posts on Stellar's official Facebook page to reveal photos of the members' body parts. The group received further criticism for their 19+ music video and performances of "Marionette".
Despite the controversy, "Marionette" became their best selling single, peaking at number 35 and 34 on Gaon and Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 charts, respectively.





During the time they were promoting "Marionette" Shinhwa's Eric left the agency and would no longer be producing Stellar.

On August 21, 2014, Stellar released the digital single "Mask". Sadly enough, the digital single was a flop and most people didn't even know they released something in the first place.



2015-2016: Breakthrough and identical crisis controversy
On March 9, 2015, Stellar released the digital single "Fool" and its music video. The MV shows the members reacting to the negative comments of their past comebacks. This digital single performed even worse than "Mask" with less than 18000 downloads.



On July 20, 2015, Stellar released the single "Vibrato" and another controversial music video, gaining more recognition. The group responded to criticism of their revealing performance outfits with the explanation that "Vibrato"'s sexy music video was merely meant to be an expression of the group's unique identity.
While promoting "Vibrato", Stellar released a virtual reality clip of a July 27 performance. The video – created by virtual reality company Moovr – allows viewers to use their computer mouse or move their smartphone to scroll around a 360-degree rotating view of the stage as the four members perform.



On January 8, 2016, it was announced that the group would return on January 18 with their second mini-album titled "Sting". The album's creation was supported in part through a Makestar-hosted crowd-funding campaign. The campaign's original goal of $8,418 was reached in only three days, ultimately reaching 422% of its goal with $35,510. On January 18, 2016, the album and a music video for the title track "Sting" were released.



Stellar announced on April 1 that they would be holding their first solo concert, since their debut, on April 22, 2016, at Seoul's Yes24 MUVHALL. They brought to their fans a range of unique performances, including hit songs like "Marionette" and "Sting". The concert was live-streamed on various websites such as Allreh TV, Allreh TV mobile and Goliveconcert.com.

On July 10, 2016, it was officially announced that the group would be releasing their seventh single album called "Cry" on July 18, posting the date of release and the first teaser images for the single through their official Twitter account.
This project was also supported, in part, by a Makestar crowd-funding project which raised $53,593 (532% of its original goal).



They went on to hold a second concert, entitled 'Stellar 2nd Concert: After Story' on December 3, 2016, while also debuting in Japan with a showcase in Tokyo on August 27 and a concert on December 24.

2017: Stellar Into The World and disbandment
Stellar ended 2016 by launching a third Makestar fundraising event in support of their third mini-album on December 26. By the time the project finished they had reached 1,132% of their original goal, making them the first group on Makestar to achieve over 1,000%.

On March 25, 2017, Stellar held a special fansign in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. On March 26, 2017, Stellar was the first Korean girl group to hold a solo concert in Brazil, playing for a sold-out crowd of almost 1,000 people.

On May 17, it was reported that their new mini-album was to be released in late June. It was also revealed that a new member could possibly join the line-up with their new release. On May 18, The Entertainment Pascal confirmed the addition of a new member, So-young, via Stellar's Makestar Project. On June 20, The Entertainment Pascal announced that the group's third mini-album was set to be released on June 27 and was titled Stellar Into the World, with the title track "Archangels of the Sephiroth".



On August 22, it was announced that the group would be holding a special anniversary concert titled "Interstellar: Time Travel Through 6 Years" on August 28.
On August 23, it was confirmed that Gayoung and Jeonyul would leave Stellar at the end of the month after they decided not to renew their contracts with The Entertainment Pascal.

On August 25, Stellar announced the addition of a new member, Youngheun.
On September 30, members Youngheun and Soyoung were seen in YG Entertainment's teaser for Mix Nine, a show that would create a temporary boy or girl group, but neither member made it past the auditions.

On February 22, 2018, the members posted to social media about how they had arranged a "final" fan meeting for the group, to be held on February 25, 2018. Also on February 22, Gayoung tweeted "People who play with other people's emotions are the worst!", to which Hyoeun replied "True". Many fans took this to mean that the members were expressing their dissatisfaction with the company.

On February 26, it was revealed that Minhee and Hyoeun had chosen not to renew their contracts with the company, and, as a result, the group would be disbanding.

Shortly after the disbandment, Minhee gave an interview where she apologized to the group's fans and assured them there was no discord among the members. She stated that Jeonyul and Gayoung were looking to move into acting, but she and Hyoeun had not decided what they were going to do yet.

2018: Post-disbandment, reunion, and revealing the difficulties as idols
On October 30, 2018 Minhee released a video of Stellar's first reunion party after disbandment through her YouTube channel "About Mini". Gayoung, Minhee, Hyoeun and Jeonyul attended the event. Minhee explained that the Reunion Party was created thanks to fans.

On October 29, 2018 An SBS Special Documentary was released about the life of idols. A segment on Gayoung and Stellar revealed the difficulties members faced while being a part of Stellar, as well as showing some of the story after the disbandment of the group. The segment focused on Gayoung and her pursuit of being an actress, while running a cafe.
In an interview with Insight on December 17, 2018, Gayoung revealed the difficulties that she and her members faced from performing the sexy concept, from both the perception of the public, as well as the pressure that their company placed on members to do what the company wanted, whenever the members said that they didn't want to do a particular thing (such as a particular concept). When asked if she would be an idol again, Gayoung responded that "I don't think I would do it again". She concluded the interview with advice to new aspiring idols, that while it is important to work hard, the direction in which you are pursuing is important too.
After the Insight interview there was an immense response in the comments left for members both on the Insight interview video, as well as the Stellar reunion party video. In a response to the comments left on Stellar's first reunion party video, Minhee released a Q&A video on January 13, 2019. In response to a question about how much members earned from their work during Stellar, it was revealed that each member earned less than 10,000,000 Won (~$9,000 USD) over the 7 years they worked under their company.

Miscellaneous
3 weeks after the release of their mini album “Stellar Into the World” was digitally released on June 27, the physical copy still hadn't hit stores yet. Member Gayoung spoke up about her concerns and ultimately may have let to lower sales because people couldn't buy a physical copy when they started promoting.

Minhee did an interview
and said that group activities as "Stellar" would never happen because the name belongs to their former agency, but they got along well as a group and were talking about things they could do together for their fans.

Gayoung said their agency pressured them into doing sexy concepts. At one point they were so poor that the company only had their CEO and one manager. She also opened up about the spilled milk scene. Gayoung revealed that the members had not been entirely aware of just how provocative the music video would be. They also weren't aware that the photos and scenes they shot for Vibrato would make it in the official release after clearly stating they didn't want to wear them. Additionally, Gayoung explained, “Because of the contract that we signed with our agency, whenever we said, ‘We don’t want to do this or that,’ they would respond, ‘Don’t forget about your contract with the agency.’ For a young person, that was scary. I think we had this fear that ‘if I refuse to do this, then I’ll have to pay this entire penalty fee, and things will be difficult for me.'”

Former member Soyoung made her solo debut on August 20, 2019 with the single "Breath".



On August 28, 2019 it was revealed that former member Youngheun has become a member of Rania.

On the 11th of May 2020 Gayoung, Hyoeun, Jeonyul and Minhee, held another heartwarming reunion.

Sources:
wikipedia, Mnet K-POP, MBCkpop, aminoapps, KBS Kpop, Stone Music Entertainment
Soompi: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Previous: Nine Muses, 4Minute, Girl's Day, Sistar, Secret, Orange Caramel, Rainbow, 2NE1, Dalshabet.


I'm back guys~ I broke my laptop, lost everything (therefore also all the stuff I had prepared for this series) so I had to buy a new laptop and start all over. Combined with health issues it took me a while to come back. This is not the group I hinted at last time, just to clear that up ;). I don't have anything prepared yet for next week, so no hint :(. I'll just see how it goes.
Onto Stellar; I miss those girls. Not their agency, but just them as a group. I loved Stellar! It's so sad to see they got forced into things they weren't comfortable with and I hated that they started adding members when they really didn't need any new ones. I still listen to Stellar a lot, their songs are fantastic. Marionette and Vibrato were so controversial but musically they are both gems. They could've done a sexy concept without oversexualizing the members. I'm glad they got to do diferent concepts later on though, like Sting and Crying.. they looked a lot happier during those times.
Let me know what you think about this week and who you want to see next? Hope you have fun and thank you as always for stopping by~ ♥

Date: 2020-06-13 12:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dior-chic.livejournal.com
Yay welcome back!! (As in making these posts again) I’m glad everything is sorted out tech wise and hope you’re feeling better :)

I loved Stellar!!! Collecting my thoughts now I’ll brb

Date: 2020-06-13 12:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] typhlogirl.livejournal.com
I remember all the controversy around Vibrato when the teasers, etc came out...the girls always looked so uncomfortable :/ Like you said OP, they could have done sexy concepts without objectifying the members so blatantly.

I still listen to Marionette and Crying regularly though <3 bops.

Date: 2020-06-13 02:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] suggestivepeach.livejournal.com

I loved Sting and Vibrato and a lot of other songs but yeah... the overtly sexy concepts always made me uncomfortable bc you always wondered if they actually were ok with it or were just forced into it by higher ups.

Date: 2020-06-13 02:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] myungung.livejournal.com
thanks OP as usual for the posts! welcome back and I hope you'll be able to find resources to continue the series because I've been looking forward to these Saturday posts

I haven't listened to Stellar and although their concept kinda puts me off from listening to them, it always feels that the girls weren't comfortable with it and didn't like it. in which the company is shady af with the member changes too. I'm glad at least the girls are still friends, and hopefully they can continue some form of music career

Date: 2020-06-13 05:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ginger-star.livejournal.com
I love Stellar! They have so many really REALLY good songs. Like I could listen to Marionette until my brain just comes out of my ears. I love that song.

Archangels of Sephiroth was such a fucking cool concept/choreo too. I'm glad that was the song they ended on...even if the company did make it weird by adding another girl (as if that was going to salvage anything). I'm very pleased I have both versions of that album in my collection. I didn't know until I went on my first trip to Korea that their albums were so hard to find so I made sure to snap that one up when it came out.

It's so sad that their company treated them like that and forced them into doing all the sexy concepts. Like I am all for a sexy concept but only if its something the group actually wants to do. I hope that company is sitting bankrupt in shame now...

Date: 2020-06-13 08:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lightframes.livejournal.com
I agree, I really liked Archangels of the Sephiroth and the mini was good overall.

Date: 2020-06-13 05:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] timetobegin.livejournal.com
Vibrato and Sting are without a doubt amongst the best tracks released in Kpop in the 2010s. The guys from Monotree really delivered quality content with those songs. It's a real shame that whatever Stellar did, however, was overshadowed by the controversy of them as a group. Although, given we're talking about sexual coersion here, it's probably for the better that stuff was out there in the open.

I also really liked singles such as Mask and Fool.

Date: 2020-06-13 06:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mntsuklaa.livejournal.com
I originally got into them after hearing Marionette and Mask. So many good songs, Vibrato and Archangels of the Sephiroth are amazing! Shame about the company being a pile of shit. Is it still operating?

The most shocking/surprising piece of information I got from this post is that Rania is still together and adding new members...

Date: 2020-06-13 08:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] myrrhcat.livejournal.com
rania is gonna become the new 9muses/wu-tang clan of kpop, at least 30% of korea's female population has been in the group at one time or another

Date: 2020-06-14 04:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mntsuklaa.livejournal.com
Lmfao I just looked them up on wikipedia and the list of past members is astounding! I can't think of any other group that has lost 14 members (9muses sure, but Rania still has 4 "active" members so their total will be even higher when they finally call it quits)

Date: 2020-06-14 03:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mntsuklaa.livejournal.com
Hopefully that's the case so that they're not able to treat anyone else badly.

Date: 2020-06-13 06:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] goshipgurl.livejournal.com
Marionet and Vibrato are my favorite song of their discography, but it doesn't feel right listening to them because the members didn't feel comfortable with the sexy concept :(

Date: 2020-06-13 08:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] myrrhcat.livejournal.com
so many amazing songs, if the group had just been under another company, imagine what they could've become... i like minhee bc she seemed to embrace the group's concepts (not that i fault the other girls for hating it, they were most certainly mistreated, it's just more fun to watch someone who enjoys what they're doing.)

i like to fantasize about an alternate version of vibrato where they rocked suits and fedoras instead of the awful outfits and choreo they were given. with a makeover, that could have been THE release of the 2010s.

Date: 2020-06-13 08:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lightframes.livejournal.com
I'm glad you got a new laptop, OP!

I got into them a bit later, so my favorites were Crying and Archangels of the Sephiroth. My favorite album track is Why Me from Stellar Into the World:



I do remember the controversy around their sexy concepts. It's gross they were pressured into it and felt uncomfortable.

Date: 2020-06-13 09:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] broadcities.livejournal.com
happy you're back op! always love these posts!

i was never as much into stellar as other girl group fans were, but i always really felt for the group, especially reading how they were pressured in doing sexy concepts.. i can't believe they earned less than 10 mln won over 7 years. hope they're all in better places now

Date: 2020-06-13 10:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pikapika217.livejournal.com
aww bless OP!! Glad you're back

Adore these girls and I will also defend 'rocket girl' FOREVER because it is evertthing some of the more experimental SM titles have wanted to be and failed.

Date: 2020-06-13 11:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sra-interesante.livejournal.com
i kinda liked their style despite later some members revealed to be forced into certain sexy songs (it wasnt a surprise tho) ... i discover them in that final part of their career when they were on crowdfunding to have what became their final comeback


they definitelly deserved better

Date: 2020-06-14 12:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] frequency.livejournal.com
they had some great songs but their ~sexy~ concepts were so uncomfortable to watch, especially after knowing that the girls weren't exactly in favor of them. :/ they really deserved better.

Date: 2020-06-14 10:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snowphone.livejournal.com
so many of their songs were absolute bops - i loooove marionette, sting, mask, and vibrato. i didn't get into kpop seriously into very late, but stellar were one of very few korean groups i listened to while i listened to mostly western music.

the way they were exploited is absolutely deplorable.

Date: 2020-06-14 12:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] apori.livejournal.com
Yay, I'm glad you're back OP and your computer situation is sorted out! <3

As always learning and enjoying with these posts. I'm not very familiar with Stellar, I liked a lot of their title songs but am basically completely unfamiliar with any b-sides or bts stories. I didn't know they didn't like some of their concepts such as for Vibrato (a song I really liked) although I can totally understand why. Heartbreaking also reading about yet another terrible company treating their ladies like this (it's not that I don't know that happens but since I didn't follow I wasn't really aware of any details).

For future posts.. The only thing that may knock me off my chair is WG because I'm still in deep denial and failing to process that ending. The thing I like most about your series is the celebration of their whole careers though so I'm ready for anything in the coming weeks!

Date: 2020-06-16 02:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aleksu7.livejournal.com
Vibrato and Sting SONGS OF A GENERATION!

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