Leaving JYP, Not TWICE: Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung Begin Their Next Chapters

By Cena Haddad

For more than a decade, TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. and JYP Entertainment have been nearly inseparable.

The nine-member group debuted under the company in 2015, and JYP has remained at the center of TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. 's career ever since. But eleven years later, two members are beginning to write chapters of their careers outside the agency where it all started.

On August 10, Jeongyeon announced her departure from JYP Entertainment and signed with VARO Entertainment, where she plans to pursue acting alongside her continued activities with TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. . Just three days later, Chaeyoung announced her own departure from JYP, later establishing her independent label, LIL FANTASY.

Two members leaving their longtime agency within three days naturally raised questions about what those departures could mean for TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. 's future.

But Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung have made one thing remarkably clear: their individual careers and their place in TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. don't have to be mutually exclusive.

They may be leaving JYP, but they aren't leaving TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. .

Jeongyeon Steps Into Acting

For Jeongyeon, leaving JYP represents an opportunity to explore an entirely different side of her career.

The singer has signed an exclusive contract with VARO Entertainment, an agency whose roster includes actors such as Byeon Woo Seok, Jin Goo, Lee Chae Min and, notably, Jeongyeon's older sister, Gong Seung Yeon.

Welcoming Jeongyeon to the agency, VARO Entertainment stated, “We are truly delighted to begin this meaningful partnership with Yu Jeong-yeon, who possesses a wide range of charms and boundless potential.”

And that potential is already taking her somewhere new.

Jeongyeon has been cast in the upcoming film New Recruit: The Movie, where she is set to play a nursing officer. The project will mark her screen debut after more than a decade spent building her career primarily through music and TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. .

It's a significant change, but Jeongyeon's announcement didn't read like someone trying to distance herself from the career she already has.

Instead, she made her priorities unusually clear:

“Standing before ONCE as a member of TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. will always be my very first priority.”

She described JYP as a second home and acknowledged that leaving somewhere so familiar was daunting. But even as she steps into unfamiliar territory, she made it clear that TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. remains at the center of who she is.

That distinction matters.

Jeongyeon isn't replacing TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. with acting. She's allowing herself to become something more than what audiences have already known her as.

After eleven years as an idol, stepping onto a film set gives Jeongyeon the opportunity to introduce another side of herself – one that has existed largely outside the public's view until now. Perhaps the most interesting part of this transition is that she doesn't seem to view those identities as competing with one another. Becoming an actress doesn't require her to stop being an idol – or a member of TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. .

Chaeyoung Builds Her Own Fantasy

Chaeyoung's next chapter looks completely different.

Where Jeongyeon is stepping outside music, Chaeyoung is going even deeper into her own.

When announcing her departure from JYP on August 13, Chaeyoung described her next chapter through the world of LIL FANTASY, the name of her 2025 debut solo album. One day later, an official statement confirmed that LIL FANTASY would also become the name of her newly established independent label.

The decision gives Chaeyoung something particularly valuable for an artist who has spent most of her career as one part of a nine-member group: the freedom to build a musical identity entirely her own.

Her solo work has already offered glimpses of that identity. Now, rather than simply releasing individual projects under the same company responsible for TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. , Chaeyoung has created a space dedicated to developing that creative world on her own terms.

But just like Jeongyeon, Chaeyoung was careful not to frame independence as separation from the group.

In her announcement, she told ONCE:

“Most of all, please know that nothing changes with TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. .”

She went even further, calling TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. her roots and acknowledging that much of the love she has received throughout her career exists because of the years she has spent as part of the group.

There's something meaningful about that choice of language.

Roots don't prevent something from growing in a new direction. They're what allow it to.

Two Different Paths, One TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits.

That's what makes Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung's departures particularly interesting.

They aren't leaving JYP in pursuit of the same career. Jeongyeon is moving toward acting, while Chaeyoung is building an independent musical world of her own. One is entering a new creative field while the other is taking greater ownership of the field she already knows.

Yet both have arrived at the same conclusion: pursuing an individual career doesn't have to mean choosing between that career and TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. .

That distinction is particularly significant in an industry where an idol group's identity is often deeply intertwined with its agency. The company manages the music, promotions, schedules, branding and individual activities that collectively make the group function. When contracts expire and members begin signing elsewhere, questions about a group's future almost inevitably follow.

But veteran groups increasingly have another option.

The members don't necessarily need identical careers – or even identical management – to continue sharing one group.

And perhaps that model makes particular sense for TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. .

After eleven years, Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung aren't rookies trying to establish who they are. TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. already has an identity, an audience and a history that doesn't disappear because the names on individual management contracts change.

What they're figuring out now is who they can become in addition to TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. .

Staying Together Doesn't Have to Mean Staying the Same

There will still be logistical questions.

Managing group activities while members are represented by different companies requires coordination, and individual careers can create increasingly complicated schedules. TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. is also currently in contract renewal discussions with JYP Entertainment, meaning the group's management structure could continue to evolve as those negotiations progress.

None of that guarantees that the next era will look exactly like the last one.

But maybe that's the wrong expectation in the first place.

A group lasting eleven years shouldn't necessarily look the same as it did in year one – or even year seven. The members have grown, their ambitions have expanded, and so have the possibilities for what their careers can look like.

Giving those ambitions room to develop may ultimately give TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. more room to evolve than asking nine women to continue following identical paths indefinitely.

Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung are already showing what two of those paths can look like. One is stepping onto a film set while the other builds a musical world of her own. And when it's time for TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. , both can still return to the same stage.

Their departures from JYP don't have to represent the ending of something. Instead, they offer a glimpse at what longevity can look like when the individuals within a group are given enough freedom to grow without treating that growth as a rejection of everything they built together.

TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. staying together doesn't have to mean TWICE TWICE K-POP GROUP TWICE is a nine-member girl group famous for bright concepts, addictive choruses, and a huge discography of K-pop hits. staying the same.