18 K-Pop Idols Whose Groups Would Suffer Without Them, According To Fans
Every member within a K-Pop group has their own important role to fill, and if they were to leave or go on hiatus, it would be difficult no matter what. There are some members, however, who do have harder roles for other members to cover or play an important part in the songwriting, producing, and choreography-making part of the group’s music, and would therefore make the group struggle if they left for any amount of time. Fans on a public forum discussed which idols would be the most detrimental for their groups to lose, and here are the top 18 results.
1. Woozi (SEVENTEEN)
“Woozi is Seventeen’s musical identity[…] He’s also pretty clearly the third best vocalist in the group after the two mains, Seungkwan and DK. Plus he dances very well and is typically the group’s cute member.”
2. Hui (PENTAGON)
“He features so prominently throughout both vocally and in terms of production through all their songs and stages. When I think Pentagon the first person who comes to mind is Hui.”
3. JooE and Nancy (MOMOLAND)
“With Momoland, it’ll be JooE domestically, while Nancy would be sorely missed overseas.”
“We must protect Momoland’s vitamins (JooE and Nancy) at all costs lmao.”
4. Kihyun (MONSTA X)
“Kihyun taking time away from Monsta X would be a disaster. His vocals are the backbone of their entire discography.”
5. LE (EXID)
“Most members can be subbed for by other members (like when Solji left for treatment, Hyelin filled in, though it was tough work) but EXID just couldn’t be the same without LE.”
6. Soyeon [(G)I-DLE]
“The super obvious one to me would be (G)I-DLE without Soyeon since she produces a lot and is their main rapper.”
7. Bang Chan (Stray Kids)
“For Stray Kids I think the obvious answer is Chan. While the group could probably cover his lines (he does tend to be on the higher end of line distributions but he is not the only capable vocalist in the group, of course), but given that he has writing and/or producing credits on nearly every one of their songs… Things would certainly be interesting if he went on hiatus.”
8. Yeji (ITZY)
“I feel like Itzy without Yeji would be weird af. She has the most charisma (imo) and stage presence and even though Lia is technically the main vocal, I feel like Yeji anchors the vocals more because Itzy’s songs seem to fit a bit more comfortably into her range than Lia’s…”
9. Yeeun (formerly of CLC)
“CLC without Yeeun. She seems to be a staple of their girl crush concepts. I can’t really imagine a CLC without a Yeeun rap break (not including High Heels).”
10. Wendy (Red Velvet)
I love Seulgi’s voice but you can tell that covering some of Wendy’s parts is a struggle for her. If SM made a song for a Wendy-less RV it would sound different, maybe not as dramatically as other examples but it would absolutely be noticeable.”
11. Yoon (WINNER)
“Winner without Seungyoon, I think the group themselves have even said so because SY is the go to in covering for other members but the others can’t really cover for him.”
12. Taeyong and Mark (NCT)
“NCT 127 without Taeyong and/or Mark. A lot of their earlier material relies so much on those two, and their rapping styles are so distinct that their more famous songs like Regular and Cherry Bomb would sound odd without them.”
13. Mia (EVERGLOW)
“EVERGLOW without Mia. The girl is both their main vocalist and main dancer.”
14. Yeonjun (TXT)
“I think TXT (at present) without Yeonjun. Currently, he does more than half of their rap verses and seems to be technically their strongest rapper (so far). Despite them having no official positions, it appears that BigHit would like him to be seen as the group’s center, especially with his stage presence. As the oldest member, he seems to hold the rest of the group together, particularly during promotion season. Ex) He’s often the one prompting everyone to do their official greetings on camera.”
15. Nayeon and Jihyo (TWICE)
“Imo Nayeon or Jihyo of Twice. Twice group is a very well done group but the weakness is that group is more of a collaborative group rather than your typical idol group where every member is basically equal. Jyp was very smart in that he wanted Twice members to concentrate on their strengths and have those strengths compensate for other member’s weakness; especially since half of the group is made up of foreigners. This is also a weakness because the groups talented/main vocals really carry the group. Unlike other groups where the agency tries to ensure that each idol is on par with each other.”
