Let me tell you something before getting into anything else: We’ve been here before and we can get through it. But can Girls’ Generation?

A member leaving one of the biggest idol groups in K-Pop? Fans going crazy? Support the member’s decision? Protest their selfishness? Is the company lying? Who is telling the truth? Are the members upset? What’s going on??

First off, K-Pop is a business. Both fans and idols delude themselves into believing the lies of the industry, but, at the end of the day, idols are employees of companies. And, if an employee has a disagreement with a company about what sort of work he or should be doing, they often leave or asked to leave the company.

Girls’ Generation’s Jessica is currently embroiled in just that situation. Fans might be angry, hurt, upset, confused, and any other synonym for “what the eff?” But Jessica clearly started a fashion brand, Blanc, and SM Entertainment reacted in a certain way. Jessica released her own statement saying that the other members decided to force her out of the group, but that surely wasn’t an easy decision to make-- the members were in tears at their latest performance. As outside observers, we may never know the entire truth from both sides.

So what does this mean? It means that Girls’ Generation’s tightly wound image is starting to break apart. Does that mean that it will completely unravel? Maybe yes, maybe no.

There are three paths for a group when a member leaves: continuing on without them, replacing them, or falling apart. SM Entertainment tends to opt out of replacing members, and isn’t a company that just lets it groups disappear when there are still viable members.

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