After all, what is the famous “7-year curse” of K-pop?

If you’re a K-pop fan, you’ve probably heard of the famous “seven-year curse”, which is responsible for causing groups to disband and is extremely feared by almost all fandoms. But what does this misfortune really mean? RECREIO will explain it to you!

Seven year curse

The “curse,” as it has come to be known by fans, is linked to the length of contracts signed by groups after their debut. This is because, a few years ago, it was common for idols to sign long-term agreements with companies, with some contracts lasting up to 10 years, which were referred to as “slavery contracts” by the South Korean media, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

At that time, the conditions present in the contracts were considered extremely abusive, strict and unfair to the artists, resulting in low financial returns for the singers, and favoring the agencies.

One of the most famous cases that helped change the industry was that of TVXQ!, when the members Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu decided to sue SM Entertainment in 2009 to terminate their contracts, which were supposed to last 13 years, according to Koreaboo, and presented unfair profit distributions.

In the same year, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the idols, who had their contracts suspended. The case was only officially closed in 2012, when the parties agreed to terminate the contracts and not interfere in the activities of either side.

Following the dispute, a series of discussions over the length of contracts arose in South Korea, prompting the country’s Fair Trade Commission to issue a new regulation requiring entertainment contracts to be no longer than seven years in length.

For this reason, when the seventh year arrives, groups usually start talking to companies about a possible contract renewal. In some cases, the members, or the agency itself, may present ideas for different paths, resulting in the dreaded disbandment — something that has affected renowned groups such as miss A, 4MINUTE and SISTAR, for example.

However, nowadays, it has become increasingly common for boy groups and girl groups to overcome the famous “seven-year curse”, as well as renew the contracts of all members, as happened with BTS, TWICE and Stray Kids, for example. Others have managed to continue their activities even with some members in different companies, similar to the case of Girls’ Generation, EXO, KARA, MAMAMOO, GOT7 and BLACKPINK, which, despite Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa being in separate agencies for solo activities, the four remain together at YG Entertainment to promote as a group.

Recently, another phenomenon has also surprised fans: groups that were initially affected by the seven-year curse have managed to return to promotions even after announcing their disbandment. Among great examples, we can mention the recent cases of 2NE1 and Lovelyz, who had their disbandment confirmed in 2016 and 2021, respectively, but this year announced that they will hold special reunions to celebrate their 15th and 10th debut anniversaries.

With that, in a statement to the South Korean portal Yonhap News (via Koreaboo), the music critic Kim Yun-ha states that group longevity and overcoming the seven-year curse may become increasingly common in the coming years, as “New idols entering the market will look to senior idols who have been active for a long time as an example. I think the number of long-time idols will gradually increase.”