Dara Park to leave YG Entertainment after 17 years

YG has been the home of Dara Park for 17 wonderful years. Now, she bids it goodbye.

YG has produced several of the biggest K-Pop groups and solo artists over the past years. It is one of the “Big 3,” as they call it, along with SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment. Artists under them that made waves over the past decade are, of course, Big Bang, iKON, Teddy, Lee Hi, the insanely massive girl group of this generation—BlackPink, and of course, their predecessor, 2NE1.

Sandara Park was born in South Korea but moved to the Philippines during her teen years. She rose to fame and became a celebrity after winning in a talent search show. After going back to South Korea, she had been with YG Entertainment since 2004 and debuted as a member of the famous girl group 2NE1.

2NE1 became one of the most popular second-generation girl groups. Other groups include Girls’ Generation, Sistar, Girl’s Day, APink, Kara, and T-ARA, to name a few. Their hit songs include their debut song, Fire, Lonely, I Am the Best, and Come Back Home. They have accumulated numerous accolades over the years and all over the globe. They debuted in 2009, but sadly, disbanded seven years after (2016) after the departure of one of the members Minzy.

The company, YG Entertainment, announced that its exclusive contract with Sandara had expired. This is according to South Korean entertainment news outlet NewsenTV. The report said the company expressed its “sincere gratitude to Sandara Park for having been with YG with special faith and affection for 17 years.”

It also said that the renowned company would continue to help Dara until she “is ready for a new start.” In their statement, they said,

We ask for your interest and support so that her positive energy can shine even more. We are deeply grateful once again to the fans who have loved Sandara Park as an artist under YG.

The report said blackjack, their fandom, was taken aback by the news. They turned to social media to express their heartbreak. Blackjacks have been very dedicated to the group since their debut. Actually, they have also been asking for a reunion after years of disbandment.

Following the report, “Dara” became a trending topic on Twitter, with more than 43,200 tweets as of writing.

As a blackjack myself, a fan of most of the second-generation girl groups, I am devastated myself. I just couldn’t believe that the groups that I have stanned for several years have already started to fall apart. New groups have risen and it seems like they’re not stopping anytime soon. I just wish all members of these several groups the best in their careers, because I surely will keep an eye out for them.