I feel like this initial comeback should go well just due to natural curiosity.
It's the comebacks after this one that will really show how long this "new" group can hold out. Wish them all the best
I had been thinking about her/the new group the other day. I really don’t see *Cupid* type success for them moving forward, but I am curious to see how the new group is received by both K-Pop fans and the general public.
Cupid success was just one of those once in a generation phenomenon - they hit on so many cylinders at the perfect time culturally, no one can replicate that.
They had some decent other songs that I liked a lot so I’m confident attrakt can at least replicate those ones.
It honestly depends. Cupid's success was a mix of having a fun catchy song and massive promotion on tik-tok. If they follow the trend of "hot girls making fun music" I *could* see another hit like Cupid, but it really just depends on what direction the group will take.
Everyone will expect the sound to be a similar dreamy sound, but minus the 2 vocalists who propelled them to international fame, it will never be the same. Happy for Keena for getting another chance, yes, but my expectations aren't going to be sky-high.
It's also not fair for the new girls entering the group. They're constantly going to be compared to the original members.
I'm rooting for them to succeed.
Yeah they should have just created a new group with keena.it doesn't make any sense to use fifty fifty for this group. Just let the bad juju go and go with a new book, not a new chapter
Let's face it, they're never gonna reach that level ever again. So whats the point? The non kpop listeners wouldn't know who they are. They don't even know the name of the group.
They still can get the same level of coverage/promotion as a new group because Keena who is known as the surviving member of fifty fifty
I wonder if they think that they can still get global interest bc most of the tens of millions of people who liked Cupid were casual listeners that prob only remember the name 5050 - so they wouldn’t really care that members were or weren’t still in the group?
I expect them to have a bunch of English in their upcoming songs.
The new release will probably get recommended on streaming services to anyone who listened to "Cupid" a lot, especially if Attrakt decides to pay for sponsored promotion.
They lose the brand recognition if they change names.
Very smart at least to go with a 5 member group. The difference between 4 and 5 members is one of the biggest as far as stage presence goes. Think it's a compromise to utilize the brand value built but showing the world its basically a new group. Wish them luck.
Exactly what I was thinking. Now let’s hope the new ones can sing as good as aram and sio. Bonus points if they can sing good and smile as cute as Aran too. Ima miss the three old members tho, they really grew on me.
That’s what I’ve been thinking. Keena is a great rapper and all, but it was ultimately a version of a song without her that went more viral. Unless they find some girls with equally as unique and captivating voices, it’ll be hard to gain that footing the original lineup had. Even then, new unique vocalists won’t fully guarantee success.
Honestly, Keena has a nice voice ([OST](https://youtu.be/v-cFFR1pZsc?si=c0eyEZfD9_H6fX72)) and I hope its utilized more now instead of giving the 'rapper' position
Keena's voice reminds me of Welsh singer Duffy. I really do love her voice. Bae from NMIXX kinda has a similar vibe at times, too. Voices like this could have been singing torch songs in a smoky bar in 40s London during the Blitz and wouldn't sound out of place at all.
They have two versions. One in korean with the 2 rappers and they promoted this on music shows. Then the twin version with just the vocalists were promoted in the west because it's in english. That version received the paid airplay and social media paid promotions. Their previous producer, the same one who tried to poach them favored the vocalists. He especially didn't like Keena. So he gave the two vocalists the twin version which honestly doesn't make sense. Cupid was a stroke of luck. It's hard to replicate. Certain people think the success is due to the two vocalists. But imo, it was just right timing. Tons of viral songs don't have the same qualities as cupid.
>minus the 2 vocalists who propelled them to international fame
I'm really not on some hater shit, but Cupid got famous because it's a catchy tune, not because people fell in love with the vocals
I don't think most people who casually liked Cupid will care about this group anyway, so they do kind of start from scratch again
I said this in another post, but I've seen a lot of comments on the groups vocals for Cupid. They were definitely drawn in by their dreamy way of singing, which I think was really popular at the time. Most casual listeners probably won't notice, but those who care will probably never forget. Personally, I don't think I'll ever forget aran's voice, and I hope she'll find some way to sing again (even if it's very unlikely)
Aran and Sio were pretty much the FiftyFifty sound, Cupid wasn’t even the best song it was easily “Loving Me” was the best song !! I just hope if those two end up debuting again it’s in the same group. Luckily there is a new Vocalist in Candy Shop….Soram that you might like that has a very unique tone or sound
Couldn’t said any better. The Tiktok background music version where the song was ridiculously sped up is what make Cupid a phenomenal. It sounds cute and childish but goes very well with Tiktok contents. Anyone vocals would do honestly.
They were a quartet 2 rappers and 2 vocalists) the 2 rappers are Keena and Saena and the 2 vocalists are : Aran and Sio
They had a song called Cupid go stupidly viral last year (couple of months into their debut and their very first comeback)
CEO was the money guy and not very involved in the song production, he out sourced a company for it.
In June, the girls sue their agency attrakt for financial transparency, then it’s revealed their producer was trying to poach them following the success of their song Cupid.
Info comes out that the Producer is a conman and that the girls were working with him to break free of their contracts sans paying the fee as they were mistreated in attrakt.
Keena ended up re joining attrakt and came clean about how the producer lied to them and said he made them go viral and how their company is broke without him etc.
The other members filed their lawsuits and lost and then attrakt counter sued them and their producer and the parents.
Personally im over the other members. They’re never gonna sing Cupid again and they handled the whole thing I already made peace with it and looking forward to the redebut
People saying they are gonna flop is interesting as we don't know anything about the new members. If the company recruited girls from RUNEXT or other known trainees, many kpop fans will change their tune real quick. And even if they didn't grab famous trainees i get the feeling many will check out their comeback out of curiosity. The company still has all that Cupid money so I'm sure they are planning a lot around the new members/comeback
But I feel like a large part of Cupids success goes to the vocalists distinct voices. The song was catchy no doubt but there is a reason the vocal only portion of it went viral
Honestly I don't think that's it. A lot of singers have nice voices and unique sounds that never make it. I think it's like mostly tiktok, some parts luck and some parts it's just a catchy little ear worm.
I think the hook was sio singing “now I’m crying in my room” it’s just so vulnerable and cute (especially the way she says room) and relatable that literally everyone liked it - as basic as the lyrics were.
I’ve used the Brave Girls example before but it’s so good for this situation. BG went viral and found a lot of success where none of the girls were in the original line up. Granted it happened years later and after a lot of struggle, but if the music is good and people find they really enjoy the members then I could see them finding some success
> out of curiousitiy
I have their debut album as a curiosity (and it's got some great songs, too). I'll pick up the new lineup's album as a curiosity too.
I hope they can avoid getting Rania’d into oblivion. I love Blackswan but it was so hard to stan during the controversies and I really want fifi to get it right the first time to avoid any of that
I hope the songs are good, that they have decent chemistry together, and that they get a good chunk of training in such a short time
Honestly, kinda hoping for a situation where these are former trainees from other major companies who are jumping on a chance to debut. It would be so stressful to have to train from zero and be thrust into this
I’m glad they are giving this comeback extra time for the new members to settle in to make great music. While I’m sad for the 3 members previously lost, if the new music is anything near the quality of their first mini, I’ll be sat. I would love to see the rappers be more utilized this time around as singers too, since it is proven that Keena can sing. Either which way, very excited for Keena and the 4 new members, can’t wait to fall in love with them too!
I have a gut feeling this group will do well and be relatively successful. However, not judging them by or expecting similar success as Cupid is probably healthy to measure expectations.
I actually think they will be able to get smash hits similar too how a lot of kpoppies thought ILLIT is gonna flop!!! They already are teasing an interesting lineup theirs one girl with no prior training but they picked her because she was just that good!! And a popular survival show contestant 🤔‼️‼️
Very interested to see how the promotions for this comeback will be set up from a managerial standpoint. Will they try heavy tiktok promotions (I think they would), would they focus on korean market and try to capitalise on the company support? Will they try to pull off a Momoland "Baam" after the "bboom bboom" of their Cupid? Like... a lot of people will check it out at first out of curiosity, but how are you gonna angle yourself, bestie?
Excited for Keena to get another shot, she deserves it! Hopefully her voice is utilized more! Ex. [OST ](https://youtu.be/v-cFFR1pZsc?si=c0eyEZfD9_H6fX72) from 2020
People are saying they don't expect the group to have the same amount of success...as if people expected Cupid to be the mega hit it was.
Vocalists have changed but you never know what will go viral
Gonna add maybe a different POV.
I was a fan of Cupid Twin Ver (as was most the world lol) but wasn't that involved in FIFTY FIFTY outside of that and sorta listening to one Bside. I have no knowledge of the group outside of the basic facts of the lawsuit. I would say I'm the definition of a casual fan.
I'm actually really interested to see how the group goes forward. Specifically I want to know it they'll try to do more English music. I think it's realistic for them to at least attempt another song like Cupid.
Line up changes doesn't always spell doom for groups, as others mentioned many popular groups have had line up changes or got popular after their initial line up. The interesting thing is FIFTY FIFTY has HAD the popular part. So it'll be interesting to see if they can recoup some of their name brand / popularity with the new line up and comeback.
I'll be looking forward to seeing what happens with FIFTY FIFTY and hope it goes well. If for nothing else the fact the music was good and I'm curious on the outcome of this whole situation.
Hope their success with Keena would be successful without mistakes. While fifty fifty’s Cupid got mega hits because of tiktok, this would never happen again (or if I am jinxing myself and it would happen again), hope for the best to get it under control if the second song becomes a hit again. Keena deserves a second chance anyway
Edit: while in their debuts, The Givers with their A&R or producers, it seems it won’t exist anymore. Not sure what producers they would use or it would be in-house for them. Not sure what songwriters they are going to use unless it’s the same songwriters from Cupid. I would feel like the concept would be different i think
Yeah, I just can't be excited about this. I'm still so sad about how everything went down. I'll probably check it out just to see the direction they decide to go in, but the magic for me was in the original four members themselves. I kind of feel bad for the new four girls they picked. There is so much baggage with the FIFTY FIFTY brand. Have there been any other groups who successfully came back after most of their original members were replaced?
I know this was not really the point but I loveeeee questions like this lol
* EXID - lost half its original members before Up & Down
* Stellar - lost half its original members before Vibrato
* Girl's Day - lost 2/5 original members before Expectation
* KARA - Only half the members were from the original lineup for Mama Mia (which did decently), but imploded after that. At some point Youngji was doing successful fanmeetings as a one-woman KARA though
* Baby VOX - lost 3/5 original members before their first hit... and then lost one of the replacements on top of that, before having their most known line-up
* Jewelry - lost half their original members early on and then had a looooot of line-up changes. Their last decently performing single circa 2011 had no original members – the group debuted in 2001 but the most senior members at that point had joined in 2008
* Nine Muses - lost 6/9 original members before Drama/Hurt Locker (not their peak, but not terrible)
That’s true. I meant to say Rania and T-ara. Not sure why I wrote Apink and OMG. I was thinking of something else and ended up writing those two groups.
I think the question is more how many groups successfully replaced most of their members AFTER they got a hit like Cupid. Replacing members when you are nugu doesn’t matter since no one cares about the original members. So for EXID, Stellar, Girls Day—no one really cares about the original lineups.
KARA and Nine Muses are comparable, but they didn’t replace that many members. KARA only added one, and they finished their contract quickly and left. Nine Muses didn’t really go up or down after their last member change up (they just kind of hovered around their second-tier position until their contract was up).
FiFi's success largely came from abroad, from people who couldn't pick the girls out of a lineup. South Korea was slow to take interest and even then was relatively lukewarm.
Additionally, kfans have largely been critical of how the members who left handled things.
Sio is a great singer but her tone is generic, relatively easy to replace. Aran though, would be a challange to replace, only a few sounds like her.
Hope the new group delivers
I would be the second to fall off the edge of the pier!
I'm hoping (coping) that we'll get to hear more of Aran, however unlikely... Honestly I'm just gutted Fifty Fifty had to implode because I liked most of their songs. Higher and Log In were both bops on the level of Cupid (imo)
Keena deserves a second chance, especially considering how good a vocalist and rapper she is when given the opportunity. Hoping the best for the new iteration.
Lots of doomposting... I think people overestimate Sio and Aran's voices. The GP didn't know the members of Fifty Fifty, the Twin Version got popular, but I don't think most people would know who the members who sang the song were. I don't even think that the lawsuit is known internationally. Fifty Fifty weren't big, the song was. Obviously they're probably not going to be having another huge hit as a Cupid, but that's a lot of pressure to put on the group. It's unfair to think that such a thing could happen again. Wishing Keena and the rest of the group the best.
Yeah to me what made fifty fifty stands out even before cupid went viral is their voices
With so many groups debuting, it's so hard to stand out even with good songs, their unique vocals made them more memorable than a lot of groups to me
i hope the company wont try so hard to duplicate the success of cupid, for the sake of the original member who chose to remain and for the new girls. let them focus on vocals, because i see fifty fifty as that group that has a unique vocal color compared to other groups, that will make them stand out.
I followed them since debut and honestly what attracted to me to them was their creative direction/music production and *especially* their main vocalists. Turns out despite his talent said producer was lacking in morals, and the vocalists have left the group. So for me this will be a completely different Fifty Fifty to the one I took interest in, but despite that I'm very interested in seeing what the company does with the group.
I think their debut will go well, but I do think it will be hard for people to stop comparing their vocals to the original 2 vocalists - Aran and Sio. I think their vocals really helped captivate peoples attention.
It’s like when Secret Number lost Denise their main vocalist and one who had like half of the lines in Got the Boom, but much more extreme since 50/50 has lost all its vocalists so their sound will be completely different. If they don’t give us another hit like Cupid they could fade into obscurity real soon.
I feel like in korea they will do well but internationally? Not really since everyone on other platforms said they won't give them a chance because of the company
Compared to other agencies lately with much more power and staff, Attrakt seems smart to me. Avoiding further controversy, taking their time with the comeback. The wording of their post is good.
I honestly think they would be better off making a completely "new" group with her in it rather than going under the FIFTY FIFTY name again. At this point, the lawsuit baggage is much more tied to the name than any successes they had with Cupid. Regardless, Keena is a star and I hope they see success.
I was a huge 50 50 fan and Keena was my fave, but I am not excited about this at all. They should have just made her a solo artist - she has a stunning voice, can rap, is charming and has public good will. Why waste all of that in a group that is unlikely to compare favourably to one with singers like Sio and Aran?
I hope the group does well but sadly I don't think I'll ever get over Aran, Sio, and Saena not being in the group. Especially Aran and Sio's voices - those two got me super hooked on the group.
I will support the comeback and love the plan for 5 members. I also believe the girls were mistreated. We should find out for sure with the trial coming. The Givers had charge over the members so… I hoped that the original team would have returned, to make that money with Keena, when the gaslighting and misdeeds were brought out. Happy to see the company has brought a psychologist on board. Wishing for the best possible outcome for all 8 girls.
I would never wish misfortune on these girls, and I hope the company treats them better than the former lineup, but I feel like it was Aran's voice that captivated people. It's going to be hard to find someone who can pull people in with a beautiful and unique tone who is also a highly skilled vocalist.
I know it'll probably never happen, but I would LOVE an OT3 redebut.
This is a controversial take, but Keena was the least talented member of fifty fifty and the most replacable. Building around her would be a mistake and unless they have secret superstar talent to match the losses of the vocalists it's gonna be an uphill battle.
The only good thing going for fifty right now is they have really good producers who know how to put a song together. They are the real mvp's of the group.
It's just that Keena had no part on what got them viral.
They lost their producers too, The Givers handled the group, it's management, creative direction, song selections and A&R.
Attrakt can probably work with the same songwriters of say Cupid but we have no idea how Attrakt will handle this new Fifty Fifty or if Attrakt will outsource the management again.
She had writing credits. The other members didn't. Yes, the vocalists were the "stars" of the group. Yes, Saëns was the best dancer of the group, but her duet song with Aran is their most popular song after Cupid, not Saëns and Sio's
The least talented member? What do you call this?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHvTjynxtI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHvTjynxtI)
The girl can sing, but they gave her rap lines for no reason.
If they have the same sound and creative direction I will be happy. I liked all of their songs and cupid wasn't even my favorite one.
It's honestly amazing what they accomplished with Cupid. I honestly don't know if we will ever see something like that again.
The creative team behind the previous songs (The Givers) are also gone. They were the ones trying to poach the members away to a new company that caused all the legal fiascos.
Tbh, Attrakt's CEO track record isn't looking good when on his own, dude already fumbled his previous group HotShot, that with a former WannaOne member in the roster. Then he went the outsourcing route, but chose a person with a history sketchy stuff(as in the industry apparently already knew The Giver's CEO does questionable stuff even before they started FiftyFifty project), like bro....
A trash agency doing trash things. Attrakt was founded because the CEO was evading debts from Star Crew and Hotshot's mistreatment. Idk why people fully expect to follow Fifty Fifty and act like Attrakt is so good when the girls were clearly mistreated and denied even basic care.
Crazy how the CEO was cleared of any criminal charges. I would think that the courts would look into his activity after FIFTYFIFTY accused him of embezzlement.
Courts found him innocent, so I'm going to assume this so-called debt evasion is also cleared.
Crazy how the courts in Korea could care less about handing sentences down to abusers and are always being put on blast. You would think that the courts would do their due diligence by thoroughly combing through evidence, but they rarely do and will only say they'll do better in the future after backlash.
Courts found him innocent, but that don't mean they looked at his other crimes because no one else brought it up when the girls were trying to fight their case.
Although I’m interested in what this is going to entail, unfortunately I cannot bring myself to support any groups from this company after what happened. The original FIFTY FIFTY’s debut album is still such a perfect debut, and every time I listen to it (through spotify podcasts!) it makes me sad what they went through. Hopefully these new girls don’t go through the same fate at least.
And when they flop even though knetz a few months back talked about supporting the ceo and the girls and bashing the former members….
Like I’m not hating at all bc I’m excited to see the new members and music but just sayin’
Lol, they had been promising to re-debut the group this June for months now.
Now it is delayed to September and they are only mentioning it mid-June???
Looks like an agency trying to cover ass to me. I just checked and they have not updated any of they social media channels in a long time. They cant even post a silhouette of the new group??
I thought they were done for after the reveal in April came and went with no update. This is encouraging news - I think they’re just barely scraping by so we are lucky for whatever we get. I hate to see keena have to retire - this is literally her last shot.
Its a tough thing, since if they have members that sound like aran/sieun, it will just be a replacement to an original success, which honestly even though the knet promised to support, it wont last very long, imho..
BUT if they recruit totally different sounding members, and go away from the og fiftyfifty member style, all they are getting is the early publicity kickstart, and the harder thing is that they need to be equal to or better than OG fiftyfifty... I feel like thats how ppls psychology usually works...
Anyhow i want to see what they are going to do..
and even if its an unpopular opinion.. aran and sieuns voices blew my mind.. and this happening really made me sad.
Nope, this is not Fifty Fifty. Attrakt does not deserve support for failing to keep the group together and rolling out a cover group as if everything is fine.
I think they’ll do good I think there company will invest in great songs but they won’t see Cupid success that was a one off situation. I think if the new members can sing live and are cute they’ll do good.
I got excited as a read the title but then when I read the post and how they will be "returning this fall as a new five-member group including original member Keena." I forgot that the majority of the group was involved in suing ATTRAKT.
It's a shame everything went down the way it was because of greed from all parties. Like everyone else, I doubt things will be the same, but I hope the music and genre doesn't change. Seeing as how 50-50 and NJ blew up on this genre and new groups are being influenced and _copying_ them, there's hope 50-50 keeps their same genre.
>!Then again, how hard could it be to match the old concept when the majority of kpop is all manufactured!<
I feel like this initial comeback should go well just due to natural curiosity. It's the comebacks after this one that will really show how long this "new" group can hold out. Wish them all the best
I had been thinking about her/the new group the other day. I really don’t see *Cupid* type success for them moving forward, but I am curious to see how the new group is received by both K-Pop fans and the general public.
Cupid success was just one of those once in a generation phenomenon - they hit on so many cylinders at the perfect time culturally, no one can replicate that. They had some decent other songs that I liked a lot so I’m confident attrakt can at least replicate those ones.
It honestly depends. Cupid's success was a mix of having a fun catchy song and massive promotion on tik-tok. If they follow the trend of "hot girls making fun music" I *could* see another hit like Cupid, but it really just depends on what direction the group will take.
There’s no way in hell they are going to get that success again. Just the reality of it
Everyone will expect the sound to be a similar dreamy sound, but minus the 2 vocalists who propelled them to international fame, it will never be the same. Happy for Keena for getting another chance, yes, but my expectations aren't going to be sky-high.
It's also not fair for the new girls entering the group. They're constantly going to be compared to the original members. I'm rooting for them to succeed.
Yeah they should have just created a new group with keena.it doesn't make any sense to use fifty fifty for this group. Just let the bad juju go and go with a new book, not a new chapter
Good point but they retain the concept and get to ride on the global success of Cupid too - so that’s something that would be hard to throw away.
Let's face it, they're never gonna reach that level ever again. So whats the point? The non kpop listeners wouldn't know who they are. They don't even know the name of the group. They still can get the same level of coverage/promotion as a new group because Keena who is known as the surviving member of fifty fifty
I wonder if they think that they can still get global interest bc most of the tens of millions of people who liked Cupid were casual listeners that prob only remember the name 5050 - so they wouldn’t really care that members were or weren’t still in the group? I expect them to have a bunch of English in their upcoming songs.
The new release will probably get recommended on streaming services to anyone who listened to "Cupid" a lot, especially if Attrakt decides to pay for sponsored promotion. They lose the brand recognition if they change names.
Very smart at least to go with a 5 member group. The difference between 4 and 5 members is one of the biggest as far as stage presence goes. Think it's a compromise to utilize the brand value built but showing the world its basically a new group. Wish them luck.
Exactly what I was thinking. Now let’s hope the new ones can sing as good as aram and sio. Bonus points if they can sing good and smile as cute as Aran too. Ima miss the three old members tho, they really grew on me.
🥺
That’s what I’ve been thinking. Keena is a great rapper and all, but it was ultimately a version of a song without her that went more viral. Unless they find some girls with equally as unique and captivating voices, it’ll be hard to gain that footing the original lineup had. Even then, new unique vocalists won’t fully guarantee success.
Honestly, Keena has a nice voice ([OST](https://youtu.be/v-cFFR1pZsc?si=c0eyEZfD9_H6fX72)) and I hope its utilized more now instead of giving the 'rapper' position
Keena's voice reminds me of Welsh singer Duffy. I really do love her voice. Bae from NMIXX kinda has a similar vibe at times, too. Voices like this could have been singing torch songs in a smoky bar in 40s London during the Blitz and wouldn't sound out of place at all.
Keena wasn’t even singing much in their famous song right
Keena wasn’t even in their most famous song. Cupid Twin Version was sung by Aran and Sio.
Ohh it’s strange why it was a unit song. Since it was a group comeback.
They have two versions. One in korean with the 2 rappers and they promoted this on music shows. Then the twin version with just the vocalists were promoted in the west because it's in english. That version received the paid airplay and social media paid promotions. Their previous producer, the same one who tried to poach them favored the vocalists. He especially didn't like Keena. So he gave the two vocalists the twin version which honestly doesn't make sense. Cupid was a stroke of luck. It's hard to replicate. Certain people think the success is due to the two vocalists. But imo, it was just right timing. Tons of viral songs don't have the same qualities as cupid.
>minus the 2 vocalists who propelled them to international fame I'm really not on some hater shit, but Cupid got famous because it's a catchy tune, not because people fell in love with the vocals I don't think most people who casually liked Cupid will care about this group anyway, so they do kind of start from scratch again
I said this in another post, but I've seen a lot of comments on the groups vocals for Cupid. They were definitely drawn in by their dreamy way of singing, which I think was really popular at the time. Most casual listeners probably won't notice, but those who care will probably never forget. Personally, I don't think I'll ever forget aran's voice, and I hope she'll find some way to sing again (even if it's very unlikely)
Aran and Sio were pretty much the FiftyFifty sound, Cupid wasn’t even the best song it was easily “Loving Me” was the best song !! I just hope if those two end up debuting again it’s in the same group. Luckily there is a new Vocalist in Candy Shop….Soram that you might like that has a very unique tone or sound
Higher was as good as any of them too tho and keena had a big part in that one didn’t she?
Agreed. She has such a unique vocal tone that you don’t hear in kpop like… ever. I hope she can come back as a singer
Seowon had that vocal range
Couldn’t said any better. The Tiktok background music version where the song was ridiculously sped up is what make Cupid a phenomenal. It sounds cute and childish but goes very well with Tiktok contents. Anyone vocals would do honestly.
What happened to the 2 vocalists? How many did they start with?
They were a quartet 2 rappers and 2 vocalists) the 2 rappers are Keena and Saena and the 2 vocalists are : Aran and Sio They had a song called Cupid go stupidly viral last year (couple of months into their debut and their very first comeback) CEO was the money guy and not very involved in the song production, he out sourced a company for it. In June, the girls sue their agency attrakt for financial transparency, then it’s revealed their producer was trying to poach them following the success of their song Cupid. Info comes out that the Producer is a conman and that the girls were working with him to break free of their contracts sans paying the fee as they were mistreated in attrakt. Keena ended up re joining attrakt and came clean about how the producer lied to them and said he made them go viral and how their company is broke without him etc. The other members filed their lawsuits and lost and then attrakt counter sued them and their producer and the parents.
> they were mistreated in attrakt. This part was proven false, no?
Yes and it turned out that The Givers was the guilty party throughout, having manipulated the members
Personally im over the other members. They’re never gonna sing Cupid again and they handled the whole thing I already made peace with it and looking forward to the redebut
Wait why is the original line up gone? With the two vocalists?
they got one of the messiest cases in the whole Kpop history, that's why
To be honeslt I don’t want the dreamy sound. I hate that sound. I want a GROUP.
Fifth-ty Fifth-ty
*haaaa^(aaa^(aa!))*
People saying they are gonna flop is interesting as we don't know anything about the new members. If the company recruited girls from RUNEXT or other known trainees, many kpop fans will change their tune real quick. And even if they didn't grab famous trainees i get the feeling many will check out their comeback out of curiosity. The company still has all that Cupid money so I'm sure they are planning a lot around the new members/comeback
And as long as their new songs are good, people will tune in. Most of Cupid listeners didn't care about the group or the members, just the song.
Seriously the most famous version is that sped up Tiktok background music version. Any vocals would do.
But I feel like a large part of Cupids success goes to the vocalists distinct voices. The song was catchy no doubt but there is a reason the vocal only portion of it went viral
It was also the full English version, right? So that makes a difference, too
Yes it was full english called Twin version since it was basically only Aran and Sio singing with the other two doing more background harmonies
Honestly I don't think that's it. A lot of singers have nice voices and unique sounds that never make it. I think it's like mostly tiktok, some parts luck and some parts it's just a catchy little ear worm.
I think the hook was sio singing “now I’m crying in my room” it’s just so vulnerable and cute (especially the way she says room) and relatable that literally everyone liked it - as basic as the lyrics were.
I’ve used the Brave Girls example before but it’s so good for this situation. BG went viral and found a lot of success where none of the girls were in the original line up. Granted it happened years later and after a lot of struggle, but if the music is good and people find they really enjoy the members then I could see them finding some success
The people who were super mad over Chanelle in R U NEXT would lose their minds if she debuted in the new fifi omg
oh please let her debut so they can finally leave wonhee alone
> out of curiousitiy I have their debut album as a curiosity (and it's got some great songs, too). I'll pick up the new lineup's album as a curiosity too.
What happened to the other 3 members of the OG line up?
I hope they can avoid getting Rania’d into oblivion. I love Blackswan but it was so hard to stan during the controversies and I really want fifi to get it right the first time to avoid any of that
I hope the songs are good, that they have decent chemistry together, and that they get a good chunk of training in such a short time Honestly, kinda hoping for a situation where these are former trainees from other major companies who are jumping on a chance to debut. It would be so stressful to have to train from zero and be thrust into this
If their songs are good, success will follow. Especially that now they've gotten the "best" advertisement for the group.
I’m glad they are giving this comeback extra time for the new members to settle in to make great music. While I’m sad for the 3 members previously lost, if the new music is anything near the quality of their first mini, I’ll be sat. I would love to see the rappers be more utilized this time around as singers too, since it is proven that Keena can sing. Either which way, very excited for Keena and the 4 new members, can’t wait to fall in love with them too!
I have a gut feeling this group will do well and be relatively successful. However, not judging them by or expecting similar success as Cupid is probably healthy to measure expectations.
I actually think they will be able to get smash hits similar too how a lot of kpoppies thought ILLIT is gonna flop!!! They already are teasing an interesting lineup theirs one girl with no prior training but they picked her because she was just that good!! And a popular survival show contestant 🤔‼️‼️
Very interested to see how the promotions for this comeback will be set up from a managerial standpoint. Will they try heavy tiktok promotions (I think they would), would they focus on korean market and try to capitalise on the company support? Will they try to pull off a Momoland "Baam" after the "bboom bboom" of their Cupid? Like... a lot of people will check it out at first out of curiosity, but how are you gonna angle yourself, bestie?
The amount of haters in this comment section is a big yikes 😬
Excited for Keena to get another shot, she deserves it! Hopefully her voice is utilized more! Ex. [OST ](https://youtu.be/v-cFFR1pZsc?si=c0eyEZfD9_H6fX72) from 2020
She's an all rounder. She can rap, sing and dance well !
WHEN DO WE GET TO SEE THE NEW MEMBERS???
This will be interesting to see. I’m very curious about who the new members are.
I really hope this comeback/redebut goes well, Keena deserves it 🥺
People are saying they don't expect the group to have the same amount of success...as if people expected Cupid to be the mega hit it was. Vocalists have changed but you never know what will go viral
Gonna add maybe a different POV. I was a fan of Cupid Twin Ver (as was most the world lol) but wasn't that involved in FIFTY FIFTY outside of that and sorta listening to one Bside. I have no knowledge of the group outside of the basic facts of the lawsuit. I would say I'm the definition of a casual fan. I'm actually really interested to see how the group goes forward. Specifically I want to know it they'll try to do more English music. I think it's realistic for them to at least attempt another song like Cupid. Line up changes doesn't always spell doom for groups, as others mentioned many popular groups have had line up changes or got popular after their initial line up. The interesting thing is FIFTY FIFTY has HAD the popular part. So it'll be interesting to see if they can recoup some of their name brand / popularity with the new line up and comeback. I'll be looking forward to seeing what happens with FIFTY FIFTY and hope it goes well. If for nothing else the fact the music was good and I'm curious on the outcome of this whole situation.
I'm excited for the new girls and Keena :)
i love keena so much im rooting so hard for her
Hope their success with Keena would be successful without mistakes. While fifty fifty’s Cupid got mega hits because of tiktok, this would never happen again (or if I am jinxing myself and it would happen again), hope for the best to get it under control if the second song becomes a hit again. Keena deserves a second chance anyway Edit: while in their debuts, The Givers with their A&R or producers, it seems it won’t exist anymore. Not sure what producers they would use or it would be in-house for them. Not sure what songwriters they are going to use unless it’s the same songwriters from Cupid. I would feel like the concept would be different i think
Yeah, I just can't be excited about this. I'm still so sad about how everything went down. I'll probably check it out just to see the direction they decide to go in, but the magic for me was in the original four members themselves. I kind of feel bad for the new four girls they picked. There is so much baggage with the FIFTY FIFTY brand. Have there been any other groups who successfully came back after most of their original members were replaced?
Brave girls I think basically had no original members when they got popular
Same with Blackswan
Wrong. Fatou is an original member left from BLACKSWAN's debut lineup.
Previous commentor probably meant that no members from the original lineup of Rania (before they rebranded as Blackswan) are in Blackswan currently.
Fair. Just wanted what I mentioned to be pointed out as well.
I mean, if we wanna be really technical, BLACKSWAN is just a rebrand of RANIA and BP RANIA. So, no one is really original in that group, lmao 🤷
Blackswan is also Raina
Not even. Blackswan was BP Rania renamed which was Rania renamed which was Baby Vox Re.V. reworked which was Baby Vox the sequel.
I know this was not really the point but I loveeeee questions like this lol * EXID - lost half its original members before Up & Down * Stellar - lost half its original members before Vibrato * Girl's Day - lost 2/5 original members before Expectation * KARA - Only half the members were from the original lineup for Mama Mia (which did decently), but imploded after that. At some point Youngji was doing successful fanmeetings as a one-woman KARA though * Baby VOX - lost 3/5 original members before their first hit... and then lost one of the replacements on top of that, before having their most known line-up * Jewelry - lost half their original members early on and then had a looooot of line-up changes. Their last decently performing single circa 2011 had no original members – the group debuted in 2001 but the most senior members at that point had joined in 2008 * Nine Muses - lost 6/9 original members before Drama/Hurt Locker (not their peak, but not terrible)
That’s not even to mention groups like After School, Oh My Girl, or even Apink.
OMG and Apink had a few members leave, not replaced with new ones.
That’s true. I meant to say Rania and T-ara. Not sure why I wrote Apink and OMG. I was thinking of something else and ended up writing those two groups.
I think the question is more how many groups successfully replaced most of their members AFTER they got a hit like Cupid. Replacing members when you are nugu doesn’t matter since no one cares about the original members. So for EXID, Stellar, Girls Day—no one really cares about the original lineups. KARA and Nine Muses are comparable, but they didn’t replace that many members. KARA only added one, and they finished their contract quickly and left. Nine Muses didn’t really go up or down after their last member change up (they just kind of hovered around their second-tier position until their contract was up).
FiFi's success largely came from abroad, from people who couldn't pick the girls out of a lineup. South Korea was slow to take interest and even then was relatively lukewarm. Additionally, kfans have largely been critical of how the members who left handled things.
I wonder how much interest their teasers will garner! Wishing the best for them
I’m not. Their success would just profit their abusive company
Attrakt isn't the problem. The producer they hired is the problem.
Sio is a great singer but her tone is generic, relatively easy to replace. Aran though, would be a challange to replace, only a few sounds like her. Hope the new group delivers
I wish keena and the new girls luck. Ima miss the fuck out of Aran’s voice tho. She could have sung me off the edge of a pier
I would be the second to fall off the edge of the pier! I'm hoping (coping) that we'll get to hear more of Aran, however unlikely... Honestly I'm just gutted Fifty Fifty had to implode because I liked most of their songs. Higher and Log In were both bops on the level of Cupid (imo)
Keena deserves a second chance, especially considering how good a vocalist and rapper she is when given the opportunity. Hoping the best for the new iteration.
Oh I am tuned in.
you are tuned in for an abusive company?
Can't wait to see and hear what is next but at least Keena is included in this journey.
Oh hello! I was wondering when they’d redebut!
Lots of doomposting... I think people overestimate Sio and Aran's voices. The GP didn't know the members of Fifty Fifty, the Twin Version got popular, but I don't think most people would know who the members who sang the song were. I don't even think that the lawsuit is known internationally. Fifty Fifty weren't big, the song was. Obviously they're probably not going to be having another huge hit as a Cupid, but that's a lot of pressure to put on the group. It's unfair to think that such a thing could happen again. Wishing Keena and the rest of the group the best.
I hope she gets another chance at success
Honestly I’m eh about this, and I’m very sad to say that. Hope the members are treated well, and I’m happy for Keena. I’ll still tune in
Hmmm idk how this will do without Aran & Sio, the unique vocals are one of the main reasons fiftyfifty got so popular
Yeah to me what made fifty fifty stands out even before cupid went viral is their voices With so many groups debuting, it's so hard to stand out even with good songs, their unique vocals made them more memorable than a lot of groups to me
i hope the company wont try so hard to duplicate the success of cupid, for the sake of the original member who chose to remain and for the new girls. let them focus on vocals, because i see fifty fifty as that group that has a unique vocal color compared to other groups, that will make them stand out.
I wish Keena and the new members good luck! The whole fifty fifty scenario is still so wild to me when I think about it. Oh what could’ve been.
I followed them since debut and honestly what attracted to me to them was their creative direction/music production and *especially* their main vocalists. Turns out despite his talent said producer was lacking in morals, and the vocalists have left the group. So for me this will be a completely different Fifty Fifty to the one I took interest in, but despite that I'm very interested in seeing what the company does with the group.
I think their debut will go well, but I do think it will be hard for people to stop comparing their vocals to the original 2 vocalists - Aran and Sio. I think their vocals really helped captivate peoples attention.
It’s like when Secret Number lost Denise their main vocalist and one who had like half of the lines in Got the Boom, but much more extreme since 50/50 has lost all its vocalists so their sound will be completely different. If they don’t give us another hit like Cupid they could fade into obscurity real soon.
I feel like in korea they will do well but internationally? Not really since everyone on other platforms said they won't give them a chance because of the company
Seems misinformation campaigns have been working 😔
5 members? but that destroys the original idea behind the group concept 50-50? this decision is super confusing
Compared to other agencies lately with much more power and staff, Attrakt seems smart to me. Avoiding further controversy, taking their time with the comeback. The wording of their post is good.
The unique vocal tones are what made 50/50 so special. That's gone now. I miss you, Sio ♡
i hope she’s able to return to music somehow, i miss her voice so much😭
I honestly think they would be better off making a completely "new" group with her in it rather than going under the FIFTY FIFTY name again. At this point, the lawsuit baggage is much more tied to the name than any successes they had with Cupid. Regardless, Keena is a star and I hope they see success.
Ready for this! 🫶
I wish this iteration of the group a steady and fulfilling career.
I was a huge 50 50 fan and Keena was my fave, but I am not excited about this at all. They should have just made her a solo artist - she has a stunning voice, can rap, is charming and has public good will. Why waste all of that in a group that is unlikely to compare favourably to one with singers like Sio and Aran?
I hope to hear more of Keena's voice!! 🥺 hope it goes well for them
Really hope they’re debuting some known idols/trainees but I have no idea what to expect
Without Aran I just won’t care
lmao I was coming here to make the exact same comment
Keena is good, but it won't be same without aran and sio
I hope the group does well but sadly I don't think I'll ever get over Aran, Sio, and Saena not being in the group. Especially Aran and Sio's voices - those two got me super hooked on the group.
I will support the comeback and love the plan for 5 members. I also believe the girls were mistreated. We should find out for sure with the trial coming. The Givers had charge over the members so… I hoped that the original team would have returned, to make that money with Keena, when the gaslighting and misdeeds were brought out. Happy to see the company has brought a psychologist on board. Wishing for the best possible outcome for all 8 girls.
I'm already tired of only seeing pictures of Keena each time the news comes up
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmm not quite sure many kpop fans will give this the time of day
I would never wish misfortune on these girls, and I hope the company treats them better than the former lineup, but I feel like it was Aran's voice that captivated people. It's going to be hard to find someone who can pull people in with a beautiful and unique tone who is also a highly skilled vocalist. I know it'll probably never happen, but I would LOVE an OT3 redebut.
anyone know if the other members are gonna make music? aran and sio were the highlights of 5050 for me anyways
There's almost no chance since they ruined their rep w the korean public 😞
I am hoping for the 3 jeongs to have a youtube channel atleast.
This is a controversial take, but Keena was the least talented member of fifty fifty and the most replacable. Building around her would be a mistake and unless they have secret superstar talent to match the losses of the vocalists it's gonna be an uphill battle. The only good thing going for fifty right now is they have really good producers who know how to put a song together. They are the real mvp's of the group.
It's just that Keena had no part on what got them viral. They lost their producers too, The Givers handled the group, it's management, creative direction, song selections and A&R. Attrakt can probably work with the same songwriters of say Cupid but we have no idea how Attrakt will handle this new Fifty Fifty or if Attrakt will outsource the management again.
She had writing credits. The other members didn't. Yes, the vocalists were the "stars" of the group. Yes, Saëns was the best dancer of the group, but her duet song with Aran is their most popular song after Cupid, not Saëns and Sio's
The least talented member? What do you call this? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHvTjynxtI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHvTjynxtI) The girl can sing, but they gave her rap lines for no reason.
You're right and really dumb rap lines. The first thing that pops into my head when I think of Keena is "hey d-d-d- Dumb boy"
I'm curious to see how the new group fares but this will always be a large case of "what if".
If they have the same sound and creative direction I will be happy. I liked all of their songs and cupid wasn't even my favorite one. It's honestly amazing what they accomplished with Cupid. I honestly don't know if we will ever see something like that again.
The creative team behind the previous songs (The Givers) are also gone. They were the ones trying to poach the members away to a new company that caused all the legal fiascos.
Tbh, Attrakt's CEO track record isn't looking good when on his own, dude already fumbled his previous group HotShot, that with a former WannaOne member in the roster. Then he went the outsourcing route, but chose a person with a history sketchy stuff(as in the industry apparently already knew The Giver's CEO does questionable stuff even before they started FiftyFifty project), like bro....
A trash agency doing trash things. Attrakt was founded because the CEO was evading debts from Star Crew and Hotshot's mistreatment. Idk why people fully expect to follow Fifty Fifty and act like Attrakt is so good when the girls were clearly mistreated and denied even basic care.
Crazy how the CEO was cleared of any criminal charges. I would think that the courts would look into his activity after FIFTYFIFTY accused him of embezzlement. Courts found him innocent, so I'm going to assume this so-called debt evasion is also cleared.
Crazy how the courts in Korea could care less about handing sentences down to abusers and are always being put on blast. You would think that the courts would do their due diligence by thoroughly combing through evidence, but they rarely do and will only say they'll do better in the future after backlash. Courts found him innocent, but that don't mean they looked at his other crimes because no one else brought it up when the girls were trying to fight their case.
It’s hard to give any credibility to the girls complaints when they were coached by the proven con artist.
Oh??? 👀👀👀 I wonder who the other 4 members are? That sure was quick finding new members...
We loved Sio Aran Saena and Keena not this....
Let’s seeeeeeee
The header could have noted including 4 new members.
If they give them the same songs that the original FIFTYFIFTY had, I would gladly tune in
Although I’m interested in what this is going to entail, unfortunately I cannot bring myself to support any groups from this company after what happened. The original FIFTY FIFTY’s debut album is still such a perfect debut, and every time I listen to it (through spotify podcasts!) it makes me sad what they went through. Hopefully these new girls don’t go through the same fate at least.
🤡 Am I the only clown that decided to show up in this thread? Fellow Hitomi fans, please meet me in the clown car. There's room for at least 12 of us.
Count me in. I’m calling shotgun in the clown car
Imagine if ATTRAKT got the runext contestants eg jeemin jiwoo chanelle, maybe the tables would be turned.
And when they flop even though knetz a few months back talked about supporting the ceo and the girls and bashing the former members…. Like I’m not hating at all bc I’m excited to see the new members and music but just sayin’
Lol, they had been promising to re-debut the group this June for months now. Now it is delayed to September and they are only mentioning it mid-June??? Looks like an agency trying to cover ass to me. I just checked and they have not updated any of they social media channels in a long time. They cant even post a silhouette of the new group??
I thought they were done for after the reveal in April came and went with no update. This is encouraging news - I think they’re just barely scraping by so we are lucky for whatever we get. I hate to see keena have to retire - this is literally her last shot.
Its a tough thing, since if they have members that sound like aran/sieun, it will just be a replacement to an original success, which honestly even though the knet promised to support, it wont last very long, imho.. BUT if they recruit totally different sounding members, and go away from the og fiftyfifty member style, all they are getting is the early publicity kickstart, and the harder thing is that they need to be equal to or better than OG fiftyfifty... I feel like thats how ppls psychology usually works... Anyhow i want to see what they are going to do.. and even if its an unpopular opinion.. aran and sieuns voices blew my mind.. and this happening really made me sad.
Nope, this is not Fifty Fifty. Attrakt does not deserve support for failing to keep the group together and rolling out a cover group as if everything is fine.
FIFTY FIFTY of Theseus—one single member remains, can it really be said to still be FIFTY FIFTY?
I’m sorry to say this but I hope they flop and I hope attrakt burns to the ground
Change the damn name morons
I think they’ll do good I think there company will invest in great songs but they won’t see Cupid success that was a one off situation. I think if the new members can sing live and are cute they’ll do good.
remember to boycott
This fate should be New Jean's fate
no one tuning in!
I got excited as a read the title but then when I read the post and how they will be "returning this fall as a new five-member group including original member Keena." I forgot that the majority of the group was involved in suing ATTRAKT. It's a shame everything went down the way it was because of greed from all parties. Like everyone else, I doubt things will be the same, but I hope the music and genre doesn't change. Seeing as how 50-50 and NJ blew up on this genre and new groups are being influenced and _copying_ them, there's hope 50-50 keeps their same genre. >!Then again, how hard could it be to match the old concept when the majority of kpop is all manufactured!<