It hasn't even been a year after YG Entertainment debuted BABYMONSTER, but the label is already planning to launch another global rookie team in 2024. What's its next move after BIGBANG and BLACKPINK's members' departure?

In a report disclosed on January 23, the K-pop agency revealed its plans for this year, along with the news that Yang Hyun Suk bought $15M (20B KRW) worth of YG shares.

Among the activities set for its current artists, the label shocked K-pop fans following its plan to launch a new group.

YG Entertainment 2024: BAEMON & TREASURE New Songs + Debut of Rookie Group

In 2024, YG Entertainment faced risk in their performance after BIGBANG (G)-Dragon officially left the label, along with BLACKPINK members who didn't sign individual contracts with the company.

Despite this, with the increased shares of Yang, he expressed a firm commitment to the growth of the business and company being prepared for this year.

According to the report, BABYMONSTER was put as the frontrunner of YG to reduce its dependence on BLACKPINK, YG's largest IP (80%).

ALSO READ: Is YG Entertainment Still Supporting BLACKPINK Lisa? Here are the Signs

Despite no promotion, the septet is showing good results and breaking records in the K-pop scene. Recently, their debut song "BATTER UP" MV exceeded 200 million views on YouTube and became the fastest debut MV to achieve such number.

On Spotify, the girl group also surpassed 10M streams just a week after its release, the fastest record for a girl group's debut song in history.

As they rapidly increase awareness about them, BABYMONSTER is expected to exceed the break-even point with its upcoming return to the music scene with its new single on February 1 and first mini-album in April.

The excitement increased even more with popular member Ahyeon's return to the group after failing to join their debut due to health issues.

As for TREASURE, the boy group will also drop a new song and various projects hinted to be prepared for its global expansion in 2024. Currently, they are busy with their second large-scale Japan tour, "REBOOT in Japan."

Last but not least, YG also announced its plan to debut a new group within this year, saying:

"We are setting a goal to announce at least (more than) one new group within this year by kickstarting a global project to discover and foster rookies selected through auditions not only in Korea but also overseas."

K-Netz Criticized YG for Planning to Launch New K-pop Group

Amid some people's anticipation for the new group, there is more criticism following the news.

According to fans, YG should focus first on its remaining artists, TREASURE and BAEMON, rather than creating another group.

BAEMON's supporters and TEUMEs (TREASURE fandom), along with fans of SECHSKIES, WINNER and AKMU, demanded the label exert its effort instead of giving the aforementioned groups their well-deserved promotion, activities, broadcast and comebacks, rather than making  new group.

READ MORE: BABYMONSTER Ahyeon's Status in Group Updated by YG — But Stans Are Unhappy for THIS Reason

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Written by Eunice Dawson.