‘Performance Shock’ YG, Blackpink·2NE1→Next Monster 2025 Plan Revealed

YG Entertainment, which suffered a performance shock in the second quarter with profits close to deficit, announced its future plans for the second half of the year and 2025.

On the 22nd, YG general producer Yang Hyun-seok said through YG Entertainment's official YouTube channel, "I think a lot of singers will be active at the same time next year," and added, "There will be a Blackpink comeback that most people are waiting for. Blackpink's world tour begins. “It’s also the year,” he said, mentioning Blackpink first.

Previously, Blackpink announced that they plan to hold a private offline fan signing event on August 8th to commemorate their 8th anniversary of debut.

Yang Hyun-suk also said that Baby Monster and Treasure's world tour is scheduled to begin and asked for anticipation. He continued, "Winner's Song Min-ho and Kang Seung-yoon will be discharged at the end of December this year. Akdong Musician will also be discharged."

In particular, he said that 2NE1 will carry out a reunion project through concerts. “2NE1 was the first girl group released by YG and was successful. The members expressed their opinion to me that they would like to hold a concert to commemorate 2NE1’s 15th anniversary.” “We had a fun meeting to make 2NE1’s concert happen within this year.”

He then explained the specific schedule, saying, "We have reserved performance venues in Seoul in early October, Osaka and Tokyo in late November and December, and we need to gradually adjust the schedule going forward."

He said, "I think this performance will be very special. The generations who grew up with 2NE1 and listened to their music are sharing memories together. 2NE1 is a group with an incredible number of hit songs, so we worked hard together with all the staff. “I want to create a successful performance,” he added.

Yang Hyun-seok also said that he is planning to launch a new group next year and that "the tentative name 'NEXT MONSTER' is waiting."

Meanwhile, YG Entertainment was predicted to have suffered extremely poor performance. The securities industry estimated that YG Entertainment's second quarter performance would be as high as 6.9 billion won (-76%, hereinafter compared to the same period last year) and as low as 300 million won (-98.9%).

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr