what happened to AOA makes me really sad. they used to be one of my absolute favourite groups, particularly around 2015. i think the situation has really highlighted how badly the kpop fandom handles bullying accusations. everyone is far too quick to take sides and then when situations change, everyone switches up and takes different sides. ultimately, i think the situation isn't black and white, and there was clearly a lot of hurt there. i really hope that the girls themselves can heal and return to the industry if they want to without prejudice, but with kpop and holding grudges... who knows if that'll happen.
all that being said, their songs are still absolute bops, so here are my personal rankings of their korean discography (including their sub-unit songs). enjoy, and i hope you enjoyed my short history lesson on aoa, one of the forgotten gems of 3rd gen kpop.
for a brief history of aoa, read below:
aoa, otherwise known as ace of angels, was an 8 member girl group who debuted in July 2012 under fnc entertainment. the debut line-up consisted of choa, jimin, yuna, youkyung, hyejeong, mina, seolhyun & chanmi.
aoa debuted with a unique concept, where half the members were a band who played their own instruments, and the other half were singers and performers. the band section included youkyung, the drummer, who only performed in band songs and didn't have any lines or dance segments, although she left the group after their third comeback. since their sub-unit comeback 'moya', the band concept was left behind and the group focused on vocals and dancing for the rest of their career.
aoa's fame skyrocketed in 2014 with then release of their song 'miniskirt', which showed off the girls' mature and sexy charms and caused a fair amount of controversy due to the raunchy choreography. F=from then on, the group solidified themselves as one of the strongest from the 3rd generation and leaders of the sexy concept.
throughout 2017 and 2018 aoa experienced a bit of a slump, and there were several line up changes as members left the group. however, in 2019 they appeared on the first season of queendom - with the line-up of jimin, yuna, hyejeong, seolhyun, and chanmi - which boosted their popularity, and they looked set to return to similar fame levels they experienced in 2014-2016.
however, in 2020 the group was hit with severe bullying allegations. ex-member Mina alleged that she was bullied for 10 years by fellow member jimin, and that the other members stood by and let it happen. these allegations crippled the group's reputation and essentially caused the group members, particularly jimin, to go into hiding. since the initial allegations, more information has come out which has painted mina as less of a innocent victim and jimin as less as a careless villain. however, the group is still extremely weighed down by this controversy and have effectively disbanded.
as to what the ex-members are doing now, choa is a soloist under great m entertainment. jimin returned to the kpop industry as a soloist under alo malo entertainment and participated in the survival show 'the second world'. yuna is now a qualified yoga instructor (it's uncertain if she'll return to the industry). youkyung re-debuted in a co-ed band called y&z in 2020, although they disbanded in 2021. hyejeong and seolhyun are now both actresses. chanmi participated in survival show 'girl's re:verse' and is still active in the industry. mina seems to have left the industry, but it's a bit difficult to track down solid information on her as her social media presence is a little... sporadic.
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aoa ace of angels kim seolhyun shin hyejeong shin jimin kim chanmi seo yuna park choa kwon mina seo youkyung