Solo music/album actives insight with HYBE groups regarding Heeseung

I hope to give some insight to new Kpop fans who are trying to figure things out regarding the recent ENHYPEN situation.

“HEESEUNG will be preparing a solo album as an artist under BELIFT LAB.” That line from the notice is the main point I want to focus on and share my thoughts about.

I’ve seen a lot of comments saying that other group members can do solo music while still being in the group, so why can’t he? But that is not exactly true, or at least it has not usually applied to groups during their first 7 year contract.

From what I’ve seen, HYBE artists, or the average idol group member, usually release mixtapes, OSTs, or at most a digital single(rare) during their first contract. Official solo albums are not heard of during the 1st 7 year period.

Unheard of Solo album for an idol in the 1st 7 year group contract so far, which I assume is what Heeseung wants based on the statements so far. (That is not say there might another reason but who knows, just focusing on statement)

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(Copy-paste from a reply I made to someone who mentioned BTS, TXT, and SEVENTEEN as examples of members doing solo music. I’m only using this as an example.)

-SEVENTEEN had not released solo albums even after their first contract renewal in 2021. Most members only had the chance to release solo music such as OSTs, mixtapes, one member EP, and digital singles for most members during their second contract.

So seventeen has no solo album in their 10 years as senior artists.

Some members never even officially released solo music, aside from solo songs collection included in their milestone album Happy Burstday in 2025.

SEVENTEEN members have expressed a desire to release solo albums, but the company has not really allowed that so far.

-TXT’s Yeonjun only released his solo album after TXT’s first renewal in 2025, although he did have an official mixtape in 2024.

-BTS only released solo albums after their first contract renewal in 2018, unlike the mixtapes they released during their first contract.

These are just general details from other HYBE related groups, under PLEDIS Entertainment and BigHit labels. Apologies if not everything is fully accurate.

So again, my main point is that it is rare for idols to release a solo album during their 1st contract.

-TXT and BTS released solo albums during their 2nd contract.

-SEVENTEEN still did not get the chance to do a solo albums in their second contract.

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Of course, there may be more to this situation involving Heeseung, the group, or the company.

So good luck to Heesung, Enhypen and Engenes. Hope this helps a bit to understand better regarding other idols groups.

Again reminder that this just statement focused thoughts, not my speculation of what's happening with Enhypen or Heesung