ONEUS and Being a Stan in Times of Turmoil

Anyone who has read my work on kpop or really has ever spoken to me about kpop knows that I am a huge fan of the group ONEUS. Their song Valkyrie was one of the first top songs from my 2020 Music Exploration project. I went up to New York last February to see them in concert. They are, in short, one of my three ult groups (ultimate groups – aka one of your top/ride or die groups). So its been incredibly hard for me this past month as the group has been rocked by a scandal, leading to confusion, pain for the members, and sent the fandom in turmoil.

About a month ago, shortly after ONEUS announced their first world tour, an anonymous person on twitter accused one of the six guys, RAVN, of some pretty heinous stuff. I’m not going to go into the details, but some serious “Me too” kind of things.

It hit me hard. I didn’t know what to think. I don’t want the allegations to be true, but I can’t dismiss them out of hand either. RAVN wasn’t my bias, but I did really like him. I like all of them and I love them as a group. The result of all of this is the fandom has split into three camps: those who believe RAVN is guilty and wanted him gone, those who are convinced he’s innocent, and people like me who were and are reserving judgement until the facts are known.

The label announced it was investigating the allegations and that due to their seriousness, RAVN wouldn’t be promoting with the other guys – he was benched and ONEUS would proceed as a group of five for the foreseeable future. Then, just a few days ago, RBW (ONEUS’s label) announced that RAVN has voluntarily withdrawn from the group. ONEUS is now a group of 5 members.  

All this has left the fandom in a chaos. From what I’ve seen on social media, To Moons (the ONEUS fandom) are still split and torn. Some people are calling for RAVN to return to the group. I’ve seen posts that they can’t support ONEUS as five instead of six. And other people are calling to support the group they love and who have worked so hard.

Let me be clear – as of my writing this, the allegations have not been substantiated. RAVN withdrew and the label accepted it after discussing it with him and with the members of ONEUS. And I personally think it was the honorable thing to do. Scandals can sink a group, particularly in South Korea, and this coming right before a world tour, right when ONEUS was becoming mainstream and getting multiple wins on the Korean music shows could not be worse timing. If the allegations, even in part, are true the group and everything all of them have worked for, could easily be over. And if the allegations aren’t, the questions and suspicions would still hover of the group. RAVN leaving was the best thing for ONEUS, for the group, and I commend him taking that action.

I’ve spent the past two weeks thinking and reflecting a lot on this and the group and this is where I’ve landed. I love ONEUS. I love their music and will continue to support the group. And whatever RAVN may or may not have done, it would be incredibly unfair to punish five men who have done nothing wrong, who are amazingly talented and who have worked so hard.

And as much as the fandom has been in chaos, I cannot imagine how hard it has been on the members. They are preparing for a world tour, they have been succeeding and then everything is thrown into question. Suddenly, literally days before their first performance for their tour, they have to become five. Redo the choreography, figure out who is going to take RAVN’s old lines in songs, and practice, practice, practice all of it so they can perform it for their fans. Fans who might be abandoning them anyways. My heart goes out to all five and I’m sending them my love and support.

This weekend was the first two concerts in the “Reach for Us” ONEUS World Tour in Seoul. Their show today (Sunday Oct 30) was also streamed to the fandom online so I bought a ticket and watched them at 2am East Coast time. I would have watched if none of this had ever happened, but once I processed my feelings, I wanted to make sure I was supporting them. Also I was very curious about how the line distribution and performances had changed. How it worked as five.

The concert was fantastic. Yes, it was awkward as a fan but the performances and re-distribution of the lines were wonderful. It wasn’t perfect, you can’t expect the lead dancer to magically be a lead rapper perfectly in a concert in less than a month. But it was damn impressive. I was and am so freaking proud of them. For the work they did to make the concert happen, for moving forward, for not letting this stop them. So freaking proud. I already have tickets to see them when they come to the US in January, and if you’re interested in going to a random kpop concert, I would recommend them.

This is a difficult time, for ONEUS and To Moons. Its an adjustment and its hard and the circumstances for this suck. And it’s clear that the members are hurt by what has happened and the impact of the scandal. We can’t erase RAVN from the story of ONEUS and it wouldn’t be fair to. He was a part of them, and on a basic level listening to their music, watching their existing music videos, he is there. But ONEUS is Seoho, Leedo, Keonhee, Hwangwoong, and Xion. In the closing comments of today’s concert, Leedo asked the fans that moving forward, to speak of ONEUS as five. And I am going to honor his wish and do that. I am a To Moon. I’m proud of ONEUS and I look forward to continuing to stan them for a long time.