What's Soojin's Relationship with (G)I-DLE Members after she left the group?

Ever since Soojin left (G)I-DLE, there haven’t been any public interactions between her and the other members. It is known that all of them were really close before her departure, but however, recentelly, there have been rumors that Soyeon shaded Soojin during the group’s performance at MAMA this year. This has left fans wondering what their relationship is like now.

Back in 2021, Soojin was accused of bullying, which led her to leave both (G)I-DLE and CUBE Entertainment. Even thogh her innocence was proven, it took her 2 years to make a public apparence. The scandal is mostly forgotten by now, and Soojin redebuted as a soloist last year in November. By now she already had 2 successful releases.

Fans wonder if the members of (G)I-DLE and Soojin still have a connection or if they have just grown apart. After all, the members were known to be more like sisters rather than coworkers. So, is the scandal enough to ruin this friendship or is there more to the story that we don’t know about?

If you were to ask fans of the group, the (G)I-DLE members were always obvious about how much they care for and miss Soojin, in fact she is rumored to be acknowledged in every comeback of the group since her departure.

In (G)I-DLE’s first release after Soojin left “Tomboy”, at the end of the MV, the members are seen opening a trunk and six balloons coming out of it. Additionally the point choreography of the song, the iconic hand pose was also Soojin’s signature pose.

Then, when the packaging for their album “I LOVE” was released, on the X-file ver., the members name are listed, but there’s a red crossed circel as well. Which led fans to speculate that is a reference to their past member Soojin. Also, in the “NXDE” M/V there is an animated charecter which bears a striking resamblence to Soojin. During the M/V both Yuqi and Minnie appear at some point dressed up as Marilyn Monroe, which may seem just as part of the concept, but Soyeon explained in an interview that the concept was actually inspired by Marylin. Fans couln’t help but recall Soojin’s obsession with her.

However, the references don’t stop there. At the end of the “Queencard” M/V the phrase ‘I FEEL BLUE’ appears, fans connected this with Soojin’s tattoo which says ‘BLUE’. While this may seem like a coincidence, Soojin added later two butterflies next to it and the ‘I FEEL’ album incudes a butterfly version.

Not all references of her were so indirect though. In August of 2023, (G)I-DLE dropped a new video on their YouTube channel in which Shuhua interviewed the rest of the members. She stunned everyone by saying “One member is missing huh?” and told the members that they sould’ve come as a full group. Either way, the comment left the members in shock, with Miyeon bursting into laughter, Soyeon quickly followed up saying “Something bad happened to her".

This sittuation led people to theorise what Shuhua meant. Some said that she was probably refering to herself since she was MCing, and in that scenario, she was missing from the group. Others said that Shuhua is always very bold & careless so, it’s very likely she was referring to Soojin.

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Then, (G)I-DLE released their M/V for their track “Revenge”. It was widely praised, however there were some scenes that caught people’s attention. In one of them fans spotted a piece of paper with Soojin’s birthdate on it. In fact, many believe that the entire video alludes to Soojin’s scandal. It was also suggested that each role of the members symbolizes aspects related to her: Minnie - Soojin’s idol image; Miyeon - the investigation/truth; Soyeon - Soojin cleaning her image; Yuqi - Soojn’s passion while fighting all the allegations thrown at her; Shuhua - Soojin’s pure self and what happened to her. The song was also written by Soyeon after having never experienced the feeling of wanting to get revenge and now finally feeling it.

Given all these references, many believe that the group is still on good terms with Soojin and that they’ll reunite when the circumstances allow them to do so. Either those are all coincidences or they are intentional nods to Soojin meant to reassure her and their fans that she is a cherished member and that she’ll never be forgotten.

However, this all changed recently after (G)I-DLE performance at MAMA this year. During a solo rap part of Soyeon’s, she mentioned Soojin. The lyric was: “ In 2021 you said ‘What can you even do without Soojin?’”. Resonably, everyone was stunned when they heard her mention Soojin, as it’s rare for kpop idols to talk about their past members. Her performance also sparked a lot of speculations. Was Soyeon throwing shade at Soojin or was she just simply adressing the things that were said to her after Soojin left?

Some seen this as unresonable. While, in fans’ opinions Soyeon was probabily between contracts at the moment, and that’s why she didn’t hesitate to bring Soojin up. Some were even surprised that others saw her action as a dig, especially since Soyeon referred to her as ‘Soojinie’. To them, Soyeon mentioning her was just a reflection of the situation, after Soojin left many assumed that the group was struggling, given her popularity.

As Soyeon mentioned once that she thought that if a member left, the group will be ruined and that is the mindset she had. Despite the doubts, (G)I-DLE continued to do well, and that’s the message Soyeon wanted to send by mentioning Soojin.

It was also brought up that if the two were on bad terms, the group wouldn’t have made so many references to her in every comeback since she left.

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To sum it up, most likely, the (G)I-DLE members are still on really good terms with Soojin, and we can expect them to reunite as soon as possible.