18 Secret K-Pop Conspiracy Theories That’ll Leave You Feeling Paranoid
1. Source Music, Rainbowbridge World, and BigHit Entertainment were all the same company.
“Source Music, Rainbowbridge World, and BigHit Entertainment were at some point going to be the same company, probably under BigHit, but due to what I assume are management differences, they ultimately decided not to become one mega-company.
“Hard” Evidence:
- Most of SouMu’s female trainees came from BigHit (including SinB and Eunha).
- BigHit co-managed GLAM and 8Eight with SouMu.
- RBW loans producers to SouMu and all of GFRIEND‘s albums have a producer from RBW in their credits.
“Soft” Evidence:
- GFRIEND and MAMAMOO conveniently became friends relatively early on in GFRIEND’s careers.
- SouMu’s CEO and BigHit’s CEO are very close.
- MAMAMOO doesn’t just treat BTS as a senior group. They also do all the things you see junior groups do with their seniors of the same agency (consistently listening to their music, hanging out near them during the big gatherings at the end of music shows and award shows (GFRIEND does this too), and in MAMAMOO’s case, calling them out in adlibs affectionately).
- They have appeared in CFs or variety together.
This leads me to believe that at one point, all 3 groups were meant to be part of the same label, but instead the individual CEOs opted to form their own agencies and work closely together.” — Glensather
2. 9MUSES is actually a long-term survival program.
“NINE MUSES is actually long-term term survival project to find the one true muse. Members will be in the same group and will drop out over the course of the lifetime of the group. Some will be added to allay the public’s suspicions. You thought Loona or NCT were ambitious, wait until you see what Star Empire will whip out once Kyungri or whoever is revealed to be the ultimate winner in the most epic idol survival show ever!” — CBalGnome
3. Red Velvet‘s debut was moved up to distract from scandals.
“People said that Red Velvet‘s debut was suddenly moved forward because SM Entertainment wanted to distract from scandals. That is why Yeri was not in the first promotions and why the “Happiness” video had some issues which they later corrected.” — Oh1sama
4. Red Velvet announces comebacks right after a big scandal to divert attention
“Not sure if this counts as a conspiracy or just an ongoing fan meme but most reveluvs knows about how an idol at SM Entertainment always has some kind of scandal right before Red Velvet announces a comeback the day after, joking dubbing it as the ‘sacrifice to the Velvet Gods.’ It later starts happening to big-name groups and idols outside of SM.
- Sulli gets dating scandal = SM announce RV “Happiness” Debut
- Jessica leaves SNSD/Luhan leaving EXO = “Be Natural” comeback
- Tao leaves EXO = Yeri added + “Ice Cream Cake” comeback
- Sulli leaves f(x) and Jessica leaves SM = “Dumb Dumb” comeback
- KARA disbands = “One of these Nights”
- Tiffany‘s Japanese flag on Korean independence day/Kangin drunk driving = “Russian Roulette” comeback
- 2NE1 disbands/Henry complains on SNS about SM = “Rookie” comeback
- Sistar disbands/Choa leaves AOA/T.O.P drug scandal = “Red Flavor” comeback
Whenever anything causes a rift in the Kpop world, I always pray to the Velvet Gods to be the bearer of bad news and some more RV music.” — pandacard
5. Mnet is slowly taking over K-Pop.
“Mnet (CJE&M) is slowly taking over Kpop:
- Create a broadcast station with music related programs
- Programs co-produced with K-Pop companies for these companies: BIGBANG Documentary, Hot Blood, WIN, SIXTEEN
- Programs co-produced with K-Pop companies for Mnet and its partners: think a temporary group with payment going partially to CJE&M and the company that manages them for that time if different, like Produce 101
- Program co-produced with Mnet and partners for Mnet and partners: think shows that take former trainees and turn them into a permanent group managed by CJE&M and partners like Idol school (and I’m sure they will make a boy version next year) and less successful Boys24
- Every year 1 or 2 group owned by CJE&M and partners will debut with Mnet and rule as top K-Pop group
- The K-Pop market will slowly suffocate and will become a quasi monopoly where only groups shown on TV will be able to be able to become a top group, K-Pop companies will then have to choose between pleasing their new master or fight them with competitor broadcast stations or even develop their own station (YG I see you…).” — cpygbm
6. BTS originally had an eighth member.
“BTS 8th member conspiracy. Guys, I’m creeping myself out. Recently I keep having this really strong sense that someone is missing every time I look at a picture of BTS. And one time there was this Doctor Who episode where when you died your whole existence was completely eradicated from all of time like you were never born, but if you really feel strongly enough about them you can remember that something is off. And my dumb brain is making me think there is an eighth member of BTS that died and was forgotten about but I’m remembering glimpses and can feel his absence.” — parkjizzmin via kingniel
7. Second generation idols are disappearing.
“The “7-year jinx” has always been something of a joke in the entertainment biz. Groups aren’t actually supposed to quit after that time period, and instead, the idea was always that groups would slowly split off into individual activities but use their popularity to continue with CFs or acting to keep things like ad money and viewer ratings high. The fact that in the past few years several groups have disbanded with few or none of them continuing after the fact has sent the industry into a bit of a panic. Instead of continuing promising solo careers, many groups like KARA, 2NE1, and 4MINUTE have simply vanished into the aether instead of picking up where their seniors are supposed to be leaving off. This is why so many young and relatively rookie idols are being pushed into acting and MC roles even though, logically, there should be a ton of 2nd Gen idols ready to pick up the slack.” — Glensather via CronoDroid
8. SM Entertainment has perfected cloning.
“My conspiracy theory is that SM Entertainment has finally perfected their cloning technique. And the ultimate masterpiece is identical Mark Lee clones, which is how he’s been able to juggle his independent schedules and all the NCT subunits without dying of exhaustion.” — 7x7cms
9. Source Music made GFRIEND go to Europe without Umji.
“I think Source Music Entertainment purposely made GFRIEND go to Europe when Umji couldn’t go due to a leg problem. They did this so the other 5 members of GFRIEND would be more confident and become better at speaking English. And also to have them not rely on Umji for her English ability, who is the best at speaking English.” — alien13869
10. Dating scandals are used as government cover-ups.
“I don’t know about a beard, but I’ve often heard that Dispatch will leak a dating scandal around the time the government does something people might not like or is controversial in an attempt at deflection.” — Glensather
11. miss A and Wonder Girls were doomed after Sixteen aired.
“After the massive success of Sixteen, JYP Entertainment pooled a lot of money into TWICE‘s future careers. They used a lot of the profits generated from GOT7 and 2PM‘s concerts and all of the money from miss A‘s “Only You” comeback to fund TWICE. Wonder Girls were told that once TWICE found their footing, JYP (the company) was going to break up the group. JYP (the person) was against this ruling, but since he is no longer the CEO, even he had to answer to the company. He threatened to leave unless he could give Wonder Girls at least one more comeback, and because of that we got 2.” — Glensather via CronoDroid
12. NCT Dream debuted because of political issues with China.
“I read somewhere that in the second half of last year, NCT-A was going to debut which was going to be a China unit. If I’m not mistaken the lineup was going to be Kun, Winwin, Hansol, Ten, and two more members who I can’t fully remember (I wanna say Taeyong and Jaehyun). But once that whole political issue with China deepened they couldn’t make that unit happen, so we got NCT Dream instead.” — h_toribio
13. TWICE‘s Momo is part of the yakuza.
“TWICE‘s Momo is part of the yakuza and secretly runs the K-Pop industry along with Mina and Sana. Her sudden revival in Sixteen was because JYP quickly realized their mistake and feared she would crack down on them. Cosmic Girls‘ debut song “Momomo” and MOMOLAND were done as a tribute to Momo and to ensure they were in her good graces. Fans realized the connection when they saw a picture where Momo broke character and revealed her true nature. Chaeyoung posted this picture on Twitter and was later punished for this with a very unflattering short mom-cut.” — fujipomme
14. A Chinese company is letting Korea train idols then swooping in to steal them back.
“My friend said something interesting (I’m going to post it since she probably won’t). There’s a Chinese company wanting to take idols. Korean companies cultivate the talent. As we all know, it’s very expensive to train an idol and Korea is doing something right with how they do it because they’re popular all over Asia. They seem to do it the best and they’re recruiting Chinese talent. So, once they’re established and all trained up, this company swoops in and takes them for their own profit.” — momoyome
15. NCT-A didn’t debut because there weren’t enough Chinese members.
“This isn’t that crazy but I think something happened with NCT in between NCT Dream‘s debut and the release of “Limitless”. I think there was supposed to be the Chinese unit in between these two, but something prevented that or at least has postponed it. I’ve heard that a bunch of Chinese trainees under SM Entertainment have left the company, so that would make sense with my theory. I think the unit that didn’t happen would have included Ten, Johnny, Doyoung, Kun, Winwin, and possibly some combo of Renjun/Chenle/Kun/the former trainees. It’s why Doyoung and Johnny were added to NCT 127 when they honestly didn’t need to be. It would also by why Ten hasn’t been in a unit since last April. Also, in my opinion at least, “Limitless” is the least 127-ish of their releases so far so it could have been sort of rushed to make up for the lack of a Chinese unit. So I think it will be postponed until SM gets enough new Chinese trainees, or existing non-Chinese members get good enough at Chinese.” — 6Plus6Equals1
16. Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon refused to work with Jessica.
“Not sure if conspiracy or confirmed, but people used to say that Girls’ Generation-TTS was supposed to be Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Jessica, but Taeyeon refused to work with Jessica so they swapped her out for Seohyun.” — Oh1sama
17. K-Pop girl groups are just a front for a prostitution ring.
“Back in 2009-2012, managers who worked for “sponsors” basically did their business out in the open with no repercussions. Girls were traded like playing cards and, for the right price, you could get a “date” with just about any girl (or boy!) you wanted. After several prostitution stings, the entire business went underground and now it’s believed that it mostly happens in places where the Korean government has less influence.” — Glensather via CronoDroid
18. SM Entertainment will rule the world.
“SM Entertainment will rule the world. It’s ready. It’s coming. They’re ready. We’re not. The news about their Hyundai collab shook me. Also the fact they started the NCT concept before the new ROK enlistment law (as in, not allowed to delay their enlistment anymore).” —xAylaQ
