BABYMONSTER Will Debut As OT7! – Yang Hyun-suk Shares the Reason Why Rora and Asa Were Excluded in the Initial Lineup for BABYMONSTER

On May 11th, Yang Hyun-suk officially announced the confirmed members of YG's newest girl group, BABYMONSTER.

After showing fans the journey of each member through a series of "Last Evaluation" episodes, trainees Ahyeon, Pharita, Rora, Chiquita, Ruka, Haram, and Asa won the hearts of fans who wished for them to debut as OT7.

Hence, YG's initial plan to debut only five of them when he already introduced all seven frustrated fans who were worried that their pick might not make it to the lineup.

So why did Asa and Rora not make it to the initial lineup?

Yang Hyun-suk said that for Rora it was because she is still young and that there are many upcoming girl groups that YG is preparing. He also talked about his plans to make Rora the main vocalist in one of the upcoming girl groups. This was Yang Hyun-suk's reason for not including Rora from the initial line-up.

Meanwhile, Asa who came from Japan only knowing how to rap, showcased her potential in singing and became one of the best dancers of the group. So, Asa not making it to the initial lineup made him heartbroken because an all-rounder like Asa is essential in an idol group. He also stated his plans to make a global girl group for the past years and he wanted to include Asa in that upcoming group hence she was excluded from the initial members of BABYMONSTER.

@jenniendsu we saved asa and rora #jenniendsu #babymonster ♬ original sound - jenniendsu💋

Netizens commented:

• What he means of still young with Rora is that, he wanted her as a main vocalist (I assumed he already chose one out of the 5)
• Did he say Rora is young but Chiquita is even younger right? Anyway I’m happy
• I don’t know how he didn’t want Asa and Rora in Baemon like Asa is an ACE she can do everything and Rora has an amazing vocal
• y'all are mad that yg said Rora is young, if you get what he means, Rora is still young and she needs to polish her skills.
• still young? then what is Chiquita?
• still young?? but what about Chiquita YG is unfair
• Because it has made us suffer saying that Asa and Rora would not debut, I was sad but in the end I saw the new poster I was very happy BABYMONSTER 7
• still young but he's training literal twelve year olds
• The fact that Asa is not on the original list
• yg was seriously going to remove the best dancer and best vocalist? god, yg you fell in my eyes
• they were gonna do that the whole time. marketing strategy
• BABYMONSTER needed Asa in the group, her rap is so good
• I knew it was just a publicity stunt to say that he was only debuting 5 members because why introduce us to 7 if you weren’t going to debut all of them
• Why would they do that to them, such unnecessary stress
• ofc cmon we all knew cause there is no way YG would reveal members and everything and not debut them all
• Will he do what he said about Rora and Asa in other groups too?
• When I watch it earlier I was so angry because Rora and Asa is not debuting but I'm happy when I knew that they will debut as OT7
• the oldest member is 20 and the youngest is 13
• I’m so confused, didn’t the majority of y’all wanted all of them to debut? But now half of the comments are saying no??

Source (1), (2)