News over the past few weeks of Lee Hi's rise to stardom and soon-to-be-released mini album has excited many fans while others are left wondering if the disbandment of the SuPearls was a good move.

The March 1 release of her intro track (written by fellow label-mate, Epik High's Tablo) has been well-received and within the first two days has been heard nearly 700,000 times on the star's official YouTube channel. The pre-release track is titled "Turn it Up".

The 16-year-old singer's mini album is expected to be released March 7 with an album following later in the month.

Good news for the young starlet, but this success comes after a massive backlash following the February 18 announcement from label YG Entertainment that they nullified the contracts for Lee Michelle, Lee Jung Mi, and Lee Seung Joo, the other three members of the girl group, the SuPearls.

It was decided only soloist Lee Hi would stay with the company and the SuPearls have since disbanded.

YG said in an official statement about the news, "Even though it's disappointing, they decided that they should break up for the benefit of each other, so we have decided on this unavoidable decision."

CEO of YG Entertainment, Yang Hyun Suk, initially signed the three members of the SuPearls (the original fourth member went to JYP Entertainment) and Lee Hi after they were contestants on the singing competition reality show K-Pop Star. He originally added Lee Hi to the group, but her unexpected solo success with "1, 2, 3, 4" caused the plans to change.

Her record-breaking first single was ranked number 1 on all the major music charts and she developed a strong fan-base. 

Yang Hyun Suk said of the junior artist, "There is no singer in Korea that has a unique and beautiful voice like her."

Since her breakout debut the singer has trained hard within the YG Family and has a new, more mature look about her. She was also featured on the Epik High track "It's Cold" from their album 99.

With the break up of the SuPearls, the future of the former members remains up in the air. As of now, none of the girls have been offered contracts with any other labels.

After the disappointing news, many angered fans expressed their outrage with YG Entertainment and Yang Hyun Suk.

One commenter posted, "Terminating their contracts isn't the issue here. Shouldn't YG be compensating the girls for tying them down and not debuting them? Had it not been for YG, they could've already debuted with another company now."

The original debut for the SuPearls was scheduled for last year, but as per the label's reputation, the plans were repeatedly delayed. The same is true for the long-awaited comebacks of 2NE1 and Big Bang's Taeyang and this has led to the company being criticized for their bad management and making empty promises.

However, many can agree that letting go of the SuPearls was in YG's best interest. Struggling to manage the acts they already have, plus plans to debut another girl group later this spring (dubbed the YG SNSD), means Yang Hyun Suk already has a lot on his plate.

We only hope that the disbanded SuPearls will soon find their own individual success elsewhere.