The weird case of Kpop

"You were born to be real, not to be perfect" 

BTS

Kpop is one of the most popular music genres of the last decade. Groups like aespa, Blackpink, BTS and Stray Kids have gained massive popularity and have become household names.

However behind the glamorous lives of the kpovep stars hides the dark reality.From extreme diets to scandals and parasocial relationships with fans

@bellab5156 it's a weird conspiracy but yah idk I can't get rid of that felling #kpopfyp #bangchan #viral #kpopindustry #skz ♬ yall have cool ass art - 🧁

In order to understand how dark the reality really is we first need to take a look at the industry itself.

Big companies like JYP or SM entertainment create open casting calls and auditions for (mostly ) teenagers and young adults. The acceptable age is around 12-15 but there are cases where the trainees are even 7 years old.Every candidate has seconds to impress the judges with his skills . If you get accepted you have to abandon your family and practise 24/7 non-stop. 

The trainees (who are being called by numbers ) are also going through a full make-over including plastic surgeries (in fact Korea is the country with the highest rates for plastic surgeries) , face whitening (with idols like Blackpink's Lisa getting backlash for not being naturally pale) and  diets so extreme that Hana would faint 12 times a day and Twice's Momo who had spent days consuming only ice cubes thought that if she slept she will never wake up. If a candidate is thought to be overweight for their standards they publicly shame him by shouting his weight number

https://thediblewoman.wordpress.com/tag/weird-world-of-kpop/

Most of the times these comparissons on a idol's beauty is being used by their own fans. It is no secret that kpop stans are one of the most parasocial fandoms that have ever existed.Ironically the world "idol" comes from the greek word "είδωλο" which means a deity that is being admired by humans.Stans have developed a parasocial relationship with their idols meaning they think they belong to them or they have a chance with them.

@jnkstartawar Headlines joked around calling it his scarlet letter but i find it very disturbing and weird. #sasaeng #kpop #kpopidol #foryoupage #fyp ♬ original sound - jnkstartawar

In order to feed this sense of parasocial relationships idols  should not age or change  should not form any short of relationships(especially if they are homoerotic) and should not been associated with a mature or a provocative image. That means that idols  like Jungkook who wrote pg13 songs and publicly appeared with his tattoos visible (which is a taboo in Korea) and Jennie who starred in the R-rated Sam Levinson's TV show The Idol while wearing provocative outfits do not fit these "standards".

As it was mentioned before the idols are forbidden for dating publicly because an idol should belong to the fans. in 2001 group Monsta X publicly apologised for having dinner with an ex-member of the group and aespa's Karina had to publicly apologise when the public discovered she was dating with

"Isn't the love you are receiving from your fans enough?"being one of the messages she was receiving with her apology being called "national embarassment".

The parasocial relationships among the idols and the fans do not end there.

On a concert in Saitama a fan inapropriately touched BTS Jhope by hugging and rubbing his stomach.On June 2024 on a free hug event hosted for BTS's Jin to celebrate him millitary discharge a woman kissed him while she detailedly described it at her  blog afterwards.

@1kokopp1 Not saying all of them,but most... #fyp #kpopfyp #kpop #chaewon #karina ♬ original sound - my calmness &lt3 - onbaec editing

These parasocial behaviours are being condoned by the industry eho profits of of it .On September 7th members of the kpop group fanatics broadcasted a stream on the Vlive platform and a stuff member in order to make them feel more comfortable gave them jackets to cover their legs then on the background you can hear someone saying "why are you covering their legs? We are trying to show them." and then he proceeds to slap the stuff member.

@bellab5156 it's a weird conspiracy but yah idk I can't get rid of that felling #kpopfyp #bangchan #viral #kpopindustry #skz ♬ yall have cool ass art - 🧁

Another thing that many fans have found weird is the constant sexualisation and infantillisation of the idols who will appear in sexy outfits (even if they are underage) and at the same time they will trying to act cute (and they are doing all this while being underpaid)

https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/1pmoeew/whats_something_in_kpop_that_you_think_is_weird/

@jungjessicunt its the way yall rlly think these billion dollar companies have any morals..of course they’re making their female idols act like this to get money out of creeps. its weird idc anymore its WEIRD #fyp #kpop #foryoupage #kpopgg #giftok ♬ original sound - Via

And all that are just the tip of the iceberg. In October 14th 2019 25 year old Sulli had commited suicide with many suspecting that bullying was one of the main reasons she chose to do it. The backlash she had received was mostly about her habit of not wearing a bra and posting photos on social media without makeup.

On November 2019 Goo Hara also commited suicide after her boyfriend threatened her to give to public explicit photos of her. Her death however helped authorities to unravel one of the biggest scandals in the history of the music industry. The Burning Sun scandal.

The Burning Sun was a nightclub targeted towards VIP clients who would often rape or assault women while recording it and then they would proceed to sent these videos to each other and laugh.

Of course liking a specific music genre will determine nothing about your overall personallity but it is important to acknowledge the dark side of these things and actually stop allowing these behaviours