[Discussion] Jang Wonyoung’s popularity

saw this tweet about the most searched female idols on naver this year and i wanna talk about it.

i have seen some people doubt if wonyoung can have the longevity and still be this popular and relevant in a few years. currently, this is definitely the most popular wonyoung has ever been. even though she had always been famous in korea since izone (esp violeta era), it’s like her popularity just skyrocketed even more with IVE’s debut.

im not very sure if there has been any idol who was very famous before and lost their popularity, but i dont think wonyoung will be a victim to that. she has been an idol for 4 years already (3 years and a few months to be exact), but she has only grown in popularity.

and as a wonyoung stan myself, im ofc gonna be biased and say she will be popular forever but what do yall think? for those kpop fans who have been around long enough, are there any idols who has had a similar career with wonyoung? if so, how are they doing now? im curious to know abt them too.

NOTE: before anyone asks why 30-40 years olds are searching her name up, there are two answers to that. one, IVE has a lot of younger fans who need their mothers’ cards to buy albums. i did not make this up u can read the comments here where knets discuss the main age groups of Aladdin’s album buyers. unfortunately, u will have to scroll and look for it as the comments are from many diff fandoms. secondly, wonyoung has a lot of “grandma” or even “unnie”(20s demographic) fans from when her honeybee fancam went viral. she has a “younger sister” or “daughter” image in korea which can be seen with how her saying “ungnie” which is just a cuter way to say “unnie” went viral on k-twt here.