Recently, a topic titled “The core reason why SM’s H2H isn’t gaining popularity” was published on the Korean forum Pann Nate, earning huge attention with over 90,000 views. The topic in question discusses how SM girl groups always explode with popularity – with the exception of Hearts2Hearts (also known as “H2H”), the agency’s Gen 5 addition.
According to the author, who claimed to be a “pink blood” (fan of SM groups) that stanned SNSD (Girls’ Generation), f(x), Red Velvet, and aespa, the visuals of Hearts2Hearts members are flawless, with Ian being able to continue SM’s “visual legacy” with her unique charm. However, there’s no main vocal in the group, not to mention SM’s traditional “visual main vocal”.
“I realized it after seeing the shorts clip of their new song. The whining tone, it just sounds like a typical small-agency group…”, the author wrote, adding, “Even though the youngest in aespa was born in 2002, they still added a main vocal-level member to boost the overall song quality. However, this this group seems overly conscious of being aespa’s juniors, so they went with a completely different dreamy-girl concept.”
They then concluded, “If you can’t rely on strong beats, you at least need a strong main vocal, but instead, they focused on matching age and brought in younger members. They lost sight of the bigger picture by just choosing young and pretty girls. Even among 5th gen groups, they probably won’t reach the top. With company backing and good visuals, they might easily make it into the second tier, but that’s about it.”
Other netizens seem to agree with the author’s sentiments, leaving comments such as, “The kids all have thin voices. Their voices are cute, but it’s hard to differentiate them. Do they always sing together to accommodate the lack of skills?”, whereas some pitched their own opinions as to why H2H hasn’t achieved explosive popularity, pointing out how the group has too many members, a weak visual center, and bad songs.
However, a lot of people remain optimistic, arguing that SM’s history shows that its groups often take time to evolve. “EXO didn’t explode until ‘Growl’. aespa had a slow start before ‘Girls’. Give H2H time and a killer track”, one commented, while another said, “They will become big when they have a good song, it’s just a matter of timing. SM has never failed at girl groups”.
