K-pop fans reminisced the PENTAGON's rising fame before HyunA and ex-member Dawn's dating news was announced in 2018.
Why is the female icon being blamed for the group's faiture to hit big as expected?
On January 19, HyunA and former HIGHLIGHT Yong Junhyung revealed their relationship to the public. Upon the news, the female star was heavily criticized for dating a controversial idol who was involved in the Burning Sun Scandal.
HyunA met the negative gaze of K-netz for leaving Dawn and dating someone as "shady" as Yong.
At the same time, some fans brought back how PENTAGON's career would've thrived if it weren't for her.
K-Netz Recall PENTAGON's Popularity Before Dawn Left Group
In the popular web forum Nate Pann and on various social media platforms, PENTAGON became the center of discussion after their career was re-examined in light of HyunA's dating confirmation with Yong Junhyung.
Prior to the former HIGHLIGHT member, the female icon dated E-Dawn, hereinafter Dawn, an ex-PENTAGON member.
Since their debut in 2016, the boy group slowly established themselves in the music scene as the new boy group under Cube Entertainment. Being a junior of famous soloist HyunA, they initially attracted massive attention due to her.
Eventually, they stole fans' hearts with their charms and impressive skills, especially Dawn. They continued to show off their incredible music when they finally released their massive hit, "Shine," in 2018.
Both PENTAGON and Dawn were at the height of their careers when the latter and HyunA's dating news broke out. Since Cube was strict with their dating ban, this left the male idol with no choice but to leave the group and the agency with her, choosing his love.
At the time, PENTAGON was about to become one of the biggest K-pop boy groups considering their high-quality music and talented members — but the group was overshadowed by the rumor and the timing of the dating scandal didn't do good for them.
Why Is HyunA at Fault for PENTAGON's 'Failure' to Hit Big?
After announcing that HyunA is seeing Yong, fans were enraged that Dawn left his career for "nothing." Since the former Wonder Girls and 4Minute member is older and has a bigger fanbase, she will do just fine.
But fans were upset that Dawn and PENTAGON didn't get to enjoy their success as much as they could due to their public dating. While Cube initially denied the rumor, it was HyunA and Dawn who personally confirmed the news.
Fans were calling HyunA "selfish" for publicly dating Dawn amid her rising popularity.
So now can I openly say I think hyuna was at fault for dawn and pentagon's down fall?? She shouldn't have announced it idc especially wen she was more successful and dawn n pentagon were just gaining traction she should've known better 🤥
— renji's demure thong (@princessc0uture) January 20, 2024
i rmb dawn was at the height of his career with pentagon after Shine's success and had to leave the group and their company bc of their dating scandal. he gave up everything for her only for hyuna to end up dating this guy. girl u can do so much better what a total downgrade. lol https://t.co/NRX8tuGmFE
— Kits (@kitsilog_) January 19, 2024
omg i thought i was the only one seeing this in this perspective, pentagon could have been really big :<< it just sucks cuz hyuna already have an established career but dawn and pentagon was still rising at that time :((
— m4khikIT4 m0Wh N4 AkowHZ sUnGz h4NBhINz (@morkelele) January 19, 2024
couldve just keep secretly dating until when https://t.co/Z752kxaeAN
Y’all just now realizing that Hyuna and Edawn were wrong for what they did causing Pentagon to flop, and I was on this shit almost 2 years ago. Hyuna is worse though because she had the fanbase that would support her while Edawn was just gaining it. https://t.co/dMTJ4BJ3Kl
— honestlywtf (@nocapwtf) January 21, 2024
Personally I always thought Hyuna was selfish for exposing their relationship. Yes love is love whatever but she knows the industry. She was established but that was Pentagons breakthrough year! Pentagon still hasn't recovered from that and dawn hasn't either. https://t.co/YBjCF8RMaQ
— 🇵🇸 (@Insomnihans) January 19, 2024
On the flip side, HyunA's supporters defended her and stated that it wasn't her fault or Dawn's.
They stated that PENTAGON could have been popular still even if they were dating if Cube Entertainment hadn't neglected the group and actually given them more opportunity and exposure to show off their abilities and music to a wider range of audience.
people like to act like if dawn and hyuna never went public pentagon would’ve kept skyrocketing up when we know there’s nothing cube does better than sabotage their groups, they never really gave them a chance… even so they’ve had other hits and achieved so much more since then https://t.co/Z2t04xOdk7
— zuko ☆ (@penghuiing) January 21, 2024
umm… hyuna didn’t do that cube did its very weird to blame hyuna for a decision that Hyojong made he chose to date her knowing the rules he chose to announce it knowing what would happen he wasn’t a child and he still isn’t a child
— certified neuvillette lover (@freakymatz) January 19, 2024
and pentagon has been making straight https://t.co/6Y1IBrGKBG
real women were hurt and y’all keep making this shit about dawn as if he didn’t have the freedom and agency to make his own choices. hyuna didn’t force him to do anything BUT this controversy isn’t about pentagon or him anyway. y’all do not care about the real victims at all https://t.co/V4XaaLuXjG
— niza (@coloredseung) January 19, 2024
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Written by Eunice Dawson.
