This year has been dubbed kpopalypse 2014. Everything from scandals, to deaths, to idols airing out their company’s dirty laundry on Twitter, has happened. One of the highlights in this not so great kpopalypse is the seemingly mass exodus idols are doing from their groups.

It started with Kara. Back in January Jiyoung and Nicole, left the group where they had spent close to 10 years together. Exo fans were floored when the story broke that Kris filed a lawsuit against SM to have his contract nullified. Luhan followed suit months later and most recently Lee Joon and Thunder have decided to leave their group MBlaq, to pursue other interests.

With idols seemingly leaving left, right and center, it has caused fans to worry, myself included, how will our darlings fare on their own? Will they be able to stand on their own and still be as successful as they were when they were in a seemingly happy group?

One of the more successful idols that went solo would be Jay Park. After the controversy which caused Park to retract himself from the limelight, he debuted again years later as a solo artist. It took time and a lot of trial and error but Jay Park is now the co CEO of AOMG Records, a company in which he started on his own. He has had successful album releases and is gearing up for his concert tour in the States.

JYJ is another group that has done well on their own despite them being seemingly blacklisted by the television companies in Korea. Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu were part of a five member group called TVXQ. They filed for contract nullification against SM (seriously what is up with SM?) and cited excessively contracts (13 years!) and profit problems (where was their money) as their reasons for wanting to leave.

After years of battle, JYJ had successfully removed themselves from their SM contracts and were able to move on with their lives and their career. Now they are one of the more successful kpop groups with many saying they are the reason why the Hallyu Wave has spread so far.

I believe that those who left their companies, regardless of reason, will be fine. KARA’s ex-member Nicole is already prepping for her solo debut under her new company B2M. EXO’s ex member Kris is working hard on becoming an actor in China and MBLAQ’s Lee Joon has already had his acting debut.

There’s one thing I’ve come to know about kpop fans in the years that I’ve been a member of this Hallyu Wave lifestyle, we support our idols. I’m not talking about the crazy sasaeng business, I mean honest to goodness fans that genuinely care for the men and women whose music gives us joy. If the idols choose to leave their group/company, the fans will support that decision and continue to support whatever the idol chooses to do. And that definitely gives me the warm and fuzzies.