Five Girls
Pre-Debut
Back in the past, there was a five-member girl group that was supposedly debuted in 2007. The group named Five Girls consisted of Gina (now known as G.Na), Yang Ji-won, UEE, Yubin, and Hyosung under Good Entertainment.
They had been seen appearing in a show and performing several songs. People expected them to be a huge group after they debuted. However, due to the company’s financial issues, the group didn’t make their debut and each of them went their separate ways in 2007.
Re-Debut
After leaving the group, Gina changed her stage name to G.NA and joined Cube Entertainment. She debuted as a solo singer in 2010. Not long after her leave, Yubin joined JYP Entertainment and made her debut as a Wonder Girls member in 2007, replacing HyunA who left. She made her solo debut after Wonder Girls disbanded. Meanwhile, UEE joined Pledis Entertainment and debuted as the new 6th member of After School in 2010. Hyosung joined TS Entertainment and debuted as the leader of the girl group Secret in 2009. Jiwon joined CCM in 2009 and became a pre-debut member of T-ara but left and later joined B2M Entertainment. She debuted as a SPICA member in 2012 which disbanded in 2017. Later, she became part of The Unit‘s project group UNI.T in 2018.
BEAST
Debut and Hyunseung’s Departure
BEAST debuted on October 16th, 2009, with six members: Doojoon (leader), Hyunseung, Junhyung, Dongwoon, Yoseob, and Gikwang. They released their first mini-album BEAST two days before debuting, on October 14th with the title track “Bad Girl.” They became the most successful rookie group at the time and managed to sell over 40,000 copies of their album. They have released albums and have held concerts in a lot of countries.
However, they had to deal with a rumor of Hyunseung’s bad attitude which received many netizens’ negative comments and demands to leave the group. Later, in April 2016, the agency announced that Hyunseung had officially left the group and the group would continue with the five remaining members.
Trademark Issues
In October 2016, it was rumored that BEAST would leave Cube Entertainment and start their new agency. Yet Cube denied and stated that they were still in discussion regarding the contract. Many rumors were conflicting with the Cube statement at the time and some assumed that it was most likely because of the trademark issues. It meant they probably were discussing the ownership of the “BEAST” trademark since the trademark was registered in many areas, such as music, commercials, and performances. Furthermore, the trademark was said to be expiring in 2026 and the agency may extend it.
As a result, if BEAST chose to leave the agency, they would not be able to use the name in promotions without the agency’s permission until it expires. If they want to perform their songs under Cube before the time, they must pass the royalties to the agency. As the issues were considered impactful in the future in many ways, it was reasonable that the discussion took a long time.
Rebranding and Re-Debut as HIGHLIGHT
In December 2016, BEAST established their new agency called Around Us Entertainment and made an official announcement. Regarding BEAST’s trademark issues, they said that they were still discussing with the former agency. Even so, in February 2017, Cube made an announcement of a new-reformed BEAST consisting of its former member, Hyunseung and two added members. However, Around Us and Hyunseung himself claimed that they hadn’t been informed about it before.
Around a couple of weeks after that, Around Us made an official announcement that BEAST would be promoting under a new name, HIGHLIGHT, which was taken from their first album after Hyunseung’s departure. They decided to let go of the name BEAST after nine years so they could return to the fans quickly. They officially debuted as HIGHLIGHT on March 20th, 2017, by releasing their first mini-album Can You Feel It? with the title track “Plz Don’t Be Sad.”
Co-Ed School
Debut
Just like its name, Coed School was a ten-member group consisting of mixed boys and girls. There were four girls: Soomi, Hyoyoung, Hyewon, and Chanmi; and six boys: Taewoon, Sungmin, Jungwoo, Kwanghaeng, Kangho, and Noori. They debuted on September 27th, 2010, under Core Content Media (now known as MBK Entertainment) and released their first single “Too Late.” Later, they released their second single “Bbiribbom Berribbom” in less than three weeks after their debut. The music video features T-ara’s Eunjung and was released on October 18th, along with a second music video for the ballad “Nae Simjangeul Ttwige Haneun Mar” (I Love You A Thousand Times).
They released their first mini-album Something That Is Cheerful and Fresh on October 28th. The album was such a huge success that the agency had received 50,000 pre-orders (when it was limited to 20,000) and increased the production. The album roughly sold about 47,000 copies.
Subunits: F-ve Dolls and SPEED
At the end of 2010, the agency announced that the group would be divided into subunits. The female members plus one added member, Eunkyo, officially debuted on February 16th, 2011, and released their first mini-album Charming Five Girls. Previously, they had released two promotional videos featuring Jay Park in “Lip Stains” and “I Mean You” (or “It’s You”).
In 2012, Soomi and Chanmi left the group and they were replaced by new members Nayeon and Shannon followed by Jihyun who joined the next year. Later, they changed the name to F-ve Dolls. However, out of the newly-added members, only Nayeon stayed and they added two new members in replacement, Seunghee and Yeonkyung (The SeeYa’s member).
Meanwhile, the six male members were supposed to debut in the second subunit. However, Kangho chose to pursue an acting career and departed from the group in November 2011, making Superstar K3 contestant Shin Jong-kook take his place. In January 2012, the agency announced that the upcoming subunit was named SPEED. SPEED officially debuted on February 14th by releasing their first mini-album Hommage to Lovey-Dovey with the title track “Lovey-Dovey-Plus,” a remake version of T-ara’s “Lovey-Dovey.” Days after their debut, Sejun was added to the unit. Later, in September, Kwanghaen and Noori left the group and they were replaced by Yuhwan and Taeha in October.
Making Independent Units and Disbandment
In the middle of 2013, the agency stated in an interview that they had no plans for Co-Ed School to reform again as its subunits have grown and changed its members. In addition, both subunits had become independent groups. Later, both groups continued with their activities and released albums independently.
In November 2014, it was reported that F-ve Dolls had been disbanded after the agency changed their name to MBK Entertainment followed by its removal from the official agency website. The F-ve Dolls disbandment was confirmed on March 10th, 2015.
On the other hand, they previously announced that SPEED would have two added members in January and would have a comeback in summer. In March, Taewoon left the group before having a comeback, making the group contain wight members including the additional ones. The first new member revealed was KI-O but the second one was never revealed. In November 2015, the group’s profile had been removed and considered disbanded even though the agency didn’t give any official statement. Starting from January 2016, the remaining members have gone their separate ways.
Re-Debut
Following F-ve Dolls’ disbandment, Seunghee made her way to re-debut as a DIA member but left the group the following year. Meanwhile, after their contract had expired, most SPEED members went to pursue an acting career and Taeha made his solo debut as IONE in June 2016.
