BUSTERS: A Ship of Theseus
It has been widely repeated by bassist and YouTube music educator Adam Neely that repetition legitimizes. The world craves stability. When people see something over and over again, eventually they accept it as true, as real, as something to trust or put their effort and faith in. But what happens to artists that are unable to create that stability? Well, look no further than the tragic career path of BUSTERS.
BUSTERS first made their debut on November 27, 2017. Formed in order to promote Monstergram's TV series Idol Rangers Power Busters, the group had the usual pre-debut struggles of solidifying the lineup. Originally promoted as Chaeyeon, Jisoo, Hyungseo, Minji, and Soyeon, Soyeon left before the debut and was replaced by Minjung. Minjung appeared on the singles "Dream On" and "Grapes," but was gone by January 2019. Yeseo then joined the group ahead of their first EP, Pinky Promise. Which dropped in July of 2019. Things were looking good until Minji left that November, only to be replaced by Jieun.
If you think this is an unusually high group member turnover, you wouldn’t be wrong. That’s 4 new group members in 2 years. And the group was only a quintet. Likely anticipating future departures, Marbling Entertainment upped the group to 6 members in March of 2020, adding Takara and Jeon Minji. It didn't work, though. Hyungseo left two weeks later to focus on studies. And Chaeyeon didn't participate in their comeback, Paeonia, which dropped that May.
By August of that same year, Marbling Entertainment reorganized the group yet again after Jisoo, Yeseo, and Chaeyeon left to pursue acting. For those struggling to keep up: this meant none of the original members were even in the group anymore. Seira, Minmin, and Yunji joined a year later after the restructuring. But Minmin would leave by October of 2021, and Yunji would be replaced by Nami by 2023.
If your head hurts, so does mine. This 5 member group has had 14 members. It’s the K-pop equivalent of The Ship of Theseus. For those unfamiliar, The Ship of Theseus, known also as Theseus's Paradox, is a thought experiment that asks the question: is an object the same object after having had all of its original components replaced?
It looks like not many people care whether or not the BUSTERS of today is the same as the BUSTERS of 2017. Sitting at only 7,400 monthly listeners on Spotify, it appears that the Ship of BUSTERS was never seaworthy long enough for anyone to climb aboard. Despite some singles that have put up some decent numbers, few people come back and listen. I don’t blame them. I tried to tell the story of their career, and most of that story is people failing to commit to the band. If band members can’t commit, why should listeners do the same?