TripleS’s First Sub-Unit, Acid Angel From Asia, Has Apparently Already “Disbanded”

On October 27, Acid Angel from Asia — the first sub-unit of Jaden Jeong‘s new K-Pop girl group, tripleS — debuted with the song “Generation” and album ACCESS.

If you’re confused by the concept behind tripleS, you’re not alone. To explain how they work as simply as possible, the entirety of tripleS consists of 24 members, with various sub-units planned that include a couple members each. The members include known trainees, former idols, and survival show contestants, as well as previously unknown girls.

It sounds like the group will never actually promote as 24 members, but only in sub-units. The sub-units themselves, however, are rather precarious in nature due to the requirements placed on them, and that can already be seen in the group’s first sub-unit, Acid Angel from Asia.

The sub-unit — which consists of members Yooyeon, Hyerin, Yubin and Naky (the younger sister of soloist BIBI) — was given the pressure to sell 100k copies of their first album, or else they would be “disbanded” as a sub-unit. This didn’t mean they would be removed from tripleS entirely, but just that the sub-unit would cease to exist.

As could be expected of a newly debuted girl group under a relatively unknown company, the sub-unit did not sell 100k copies of their album. In fact, they sold only around 17k, which by any other standards would be pretty impressive, but seems small compared to what was expected from their management.

Because of this, Acid Angel from Asia won’t be having further comebacks, and they will disband just for another sub-unit of tripleS to debut with the same requirement and “punishment” if not reached.

Reactions from netizens to this news have been mixed, with a few thinking that it’s not so big of a deal that the sub-unit disbanded because the members will have opportunities in the future.

• “They said that they were a unit that’s part of a group so it’s okay whether they sell 100K albums or not”
• “They are not disbanding the group but the unit”
• “The 100K goal was just for the temporary unit. But their song went viral so they should be a little bit more flexible”

But many others think that the 100k album sales requirement is far too high, especially for a rookie girl group from a small company like MODHAUS.

• “They are rookies so isn’t 100K eba? Even idols from big companies cannot sell that much. Where does the confidence from that company comes to sell 100K?”
• “Weird concept that the fans can get attached to a unit, 100k?? That’s insane for an unknown rookie group”
• “So they’ll keep debuting units then disbanding them but if a unit sold 100k they’ll be permanent? Let’s see if that will work especially because Jaden Jeong is known for starting projects and never completing them”
• “They expected 100k? From where would these sales come from? So do they have like an NCT system where TripleS is a subunit, I’m confused”
• “If the other subunits don’t get 100k sales (which I think is likely) that just means they’ll all disband too which is wild. They should debut as a full group and do the subunits later or something, maybe cut down on the member numbers, I don’t know”
• “How are they supposed to build a fandom that buys 100k albums if their lineup changes every time they fail to reach that milestone?”

How do you feel about tripleS’s concept? Only time will tell if the unusual style of management will end up working for them in the long run or not.