Wanna One was the group that got me into kpop. At that point, I only had a vague, passing knowledge of IOI and how they were the first group from Produce 101. Now that years have passed since the 2 groups disbanded, they are coincidentally having a reunion at basically the same time. Obviously as a Wannable, I tuned in to Wanna One’s reunion content, and also checked out IOI’s in curiosity. And ngl yall, I didn’t expect to fall in love with them as much as I did.
Their reunion this time is just so heartfelt and touching imo. In a lot of ways, I feel like IOI’s reunion is just so different from Wanna One’s reunion, which is about the only frame of reference I have for idol group reunions. I feel like since the context of their idol timeline as a group and their disband were so different, the way they approached their reunions were also different. As a Wannable, I love how Wanna One once again showed us their charm as a group in their own variety content. As a music/kpop fan tho, I gotta say I kinda respect IOI that much more cuz of their decision to come back with music first and foremost. Half of them are now full time actresses, and so many of them struggled to find a place in the idol industry after IOI. And yet despite it all, they still came back with an album release and choreographies to perform on music shows. Regardless of whether u like their new songs or not, I gotta respect how much work they put into driving their own reunion. This is not to say that Wanna One’s reunion is not heartfelt, but like, IOI’s reunion really shows me that they are back as an idol group, and I think that’s really special.
submitted by /u/mnlll
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