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I don't think there's been this long of a gap between releases for a major group in H!P history, besides solo artists. UFP is the king of killing post-debut hype, but I don't think they're THAT dumb to abandon a group they put so much effort into on purpose. It can't be C0V1D because all of the other groups received 1-2 releases this year. Once they won Best New Artist management totally dipped, and thought that throwing half the group in bikinis/seifuku in endless photobooks would appease fans while they abandoned their growing female/casual fan audience that was their ticket to sales success in the first place. A group that had superstar recognition's profile photo is a year old? Really?
As a long-time H!P fan, we've always had many reasons to complain about management, stemming from crap line distribution and favoritism to low sales. But my frustration at UFP was never enough to topple my love for the groups--they did indeed give us a lot of releases and content for them, even if they were low-quality and tacky. Even if Airi and Riho were the only ones given solo lines, even if they did discriminate between members with costume distribution, even if they mishandled scandals, we got to see our girls shine and reach their potentials in original songs recorded and performed by them. BEYOOOOONDS are killer performers and their vibrant energy is infectious. Their discography is amazing and they rock each song they have, but they can't keep being limited to the same few hit songs like some 80's revival tribute rock band. The only explanation is that the management is afraid to release anything that doesn't live up to the hype of the first release, and doesn't want to just scrap anything together, so is percolating on some content with the idea of waiting for "the right time" to polish the concepts and reveal to the public. They're the stubborn masters of misunderstanding what the public wants, after all. My cognitive dissonance of supporting H!P and not supporting UFP is acting up and I'm losing my love and hype for the group and I hate it. Thanks for reading my overly-dramatic rant; is anyone in the same boat?
