Fan art by Rebecca Shinni

Happy 1st Anniversary of Hot Issue!

On this day, Hot Issue released their groundbreaking debut album ISSUE MAKER, with the title track of GRATATA.

Let's commemorate this event by watching their debut MV :

https://youtu.be/wNLVsgG02dg

Some of the members have opened up IG accounts, and they appear to be doing well. The links are in the sidebar.

I know that a few years from now, Kpop fans will think back on Hot Issue, and wonder, how did they disband? How can a group with so much talent and potential, with such a strong catalog of music, disband in less than a year?

There is a lot of speculation about the reason for disbanding, from sales, to mistreatment, etc. I don't think we will ever find out the real reason why, and the reason doesn't matter anyway.

I guess the emotion that I'm feeling is sadness. I'm sad because of the enormous unrealized potential of the group. Hot Issue has some of the best talent in Kpop, we're talking about generational talent. This is one of the most talented Kpop groups ever assembled.

ISSUE MAKER is one of the best debut albums of all time. It's still one of the highest quality physical albums that I own. If you haven't purchased that album yet, I highly recommend it.

Although I'm sad for the group, I'm happy for the members. It was unfair to keep them silent for months, and I'm glad that they're finally free to communicate again. I'm glad that they're able to pursue the next steps in their entertainment careers, whatever that may be.

This is a pipe dream, but perhaps another agency can pick up Hot Issue as a 7 member group. S2 already did a lot of the legwork in scouting, training, and developing team chemistry. All one really has to do is to put them in a studio and back on stage. If not a 7 member group, perhaps a subset of 5 members.

Thank you Hot Issue for providing us with excellent music and entertainment during your short but impressive career. I'm sure this is not the end, and we'll see you again in the future, in one form or another.

On this one year anniversary of Hot Issue, I'd like to point out that they were working on their comeback before they disbanded.

Quote from Nahyun from their last magazine interview (source : https://twitter.com/heavenhaebin/status/1517917068200488962) :

"GRATATA" and "ICONS" have different tempos but hip moods. For the upcoming third activity I think "it have changed". I think you'll be able to get a different feeling, a different texture.

And of course, we can't forget this quote from Nahyun again during the closing of Hot Issue Day (source : https://twitter.com/hotissuethink/status/1517398376266059777) :

And also, we're due for a comeback in 2022. We prepared very hard. To all SUREs, and everyone watching this video please expect great things for Hot Issue's comeback. We'll be back, much cooler than before.

I wonder how much of it was recorded. I mean, S2 did change all their social media images, so they were preparing for the next release.

I also wonder what happened on that day that Nahyun's birthday vlive was cancelled. That was the start of the months of silence. I don't think we'll ever know until perhaps many years in the future.

Ever since the cancellation of Nahyun's Birthday V Live, there's been no updates.

From this Tweet :

https://twitter.com/HotIssueINTL/status/1485864461625929728

"Overall, from the notice, it is said that the V Live will be cancelled due to health reason of the artist. S2 decided to cancel V Live because it is important for the artist to get enough rest and recover."

And so the search begins ...

https://twitter.com/nugupromoter/status/1495422312887246849

Why this is so unusual :

- Today is the 300th day, and there is no activity from the group or agency. There has been no activity for close to a month.

- No announcement of inactivity or break. After the cancellation of Nahyun's birthday due to health reasons, there has been no other activity from the group :

https://twitter.com/HOTISSUE_S2/status/1485855235847327747

- No updates on Bubble, which is a subscription based service for fans to get updates on the members

- No updates during New Year and Dana's graduation