For a long time, Kpop is no longer just about music, it has become a market and even an
industry where idols “sell” their talent and popularity for profit.
The holding companies, which act as the “investors”, therefore, do not want to invest money without
any return.
To guarantee their revenue, Kpop companies will focus more on prioritizing their popular
idols, while those with less reputation will be given a cold shoulder.
In this video, we're gonna talk about 4 Kpop idols who, despite great talent and visuals,
are still neglected by their own companies
Chaehyun (Kep1er) Winning the first place in survival show “Girl
Planet 999” as well as the opportunity to debut as the official center of Kep1er, Chaehyun
received high expectations to achieve a great reputation.
However, fans were soon disappointed to find out that their idol is barely getting the
treatment she deserves from her holding company, WAKEONE Entertainment.
On October 13th, Kep1er had a showcase to introduce their third mini-album called “TROUBLESHOOTER”
and they made the first performance on stage for their title song here.
However, as soon as the press images of the performance were released, Chaehyun’s fans
got furious with the way WAKEONE Entertainment distributed parts for their girls.
Despite being introduced as the official center in Kep1er’s profile, Chaehyun did not get
to stand in the prime position in the ending scene, which is an important thing that a
center would usually undertake.
Instead, Xiaoting who finished “Girl Planet 999” in 9th rank as Kep1er’s visual, took
the place.
On top of that, Chaehyun’s styling for the new comeback also came in for criticism.
Since debuting with Kep1er, the female idol’s hairstyle and makeup look were said to hardly
have any changes, making her appearance kinda repetitive and boring.
Except for the pink hair in the Wadada era, Chaehyun always shows up with the same straight
black hair.
For so long, her fans have been demanding WAKEONE Entertainment stop giving Chaehyun
such an unimpressive and bland styling, which makes it difficult for her to stand out and
makes it easier for her to get overshadowed by other members.
To add more, WAKEONE Entertainment also pisses Chaehyun’s fans off as they continuously
show obvious bias towards Xiaoting.
On almost all Kep1er’s photoshoots, such as teasers or even the first magazine photoshoot
with DAZED KOREA, Chaehyun often lost the center position to Xiaoting.
Though Chaehyun’s fans tried not to trigger a dispute, WAKEONE Entertainment’s favor
for Xiaoting on the recent photo concept for the new album acts as the last straw.
Some even pointed out that before the latest comeback with “We Fresh”, Xiaoting was
assigned to stand in the center of 6 songs, including stages and music videos, while Chaehyun
only did 4 times.
This is said to be absolutely unacceptable to Chaehyun, the official center of Kep1er.
They said that if WAKEONE wanted Xiaoting to be the center so much, they shouldn't have
let Chaehyun win 1st place in Girls Planet 999 in the first place, because the lack of
recognition of Chaehyun when she was the official center of the group was nothing but a big
insult to her.
Liz (IVE)
Although Liz’s case might not be as too obvious as Chaehyun’s, her fans are still
frustrated at her being neglected by her own holding company, Starship Entertainment
Despite being the main vocalist and also the member with the best singing skills of IVE,
Liz was said to never be given the opportunity to showcase her ability.
In IVE’s 2 latest songs, Liz was among the members getting the least line and was even
not assigned to sing the chorus of “After like”, while all other members sang at least
once.
This makes netizens raise questions about whether Starship Entertainment treated their
girls according to their reputation.
Not only that, fans also pointed out that Liz was also discriminated against regarding
the ending fairy.
After several weeks of promoting “After LIKE”, IVE showcased their individual charms
and stunning visuals through their solo ending fairy videos.
However, there was definitely a huge difference among the number of each member’s ending
fairy.
While two most famous girls, Wonyoung and Yujin, both got 7 ending fairy scenes; Rei,
Gaeul and Leeseo each got 2 to 4, Liz was the only one who did not have any solo ending
fairy.
This is not the first time Liz was left out and poorly treated.
Previously, fans were irritated to find out that Liz was also the only one who did not
have a solo photoshoot following the release of their new single.
While Wonyoung and Leeseo shot for Marie Claire, Yujin had pictures with W Korea, Rei appeared
in Arena Home and Gaeul worked with Elle, Liz did not have an individual photoshoot
to promote herself, especially when Starship Entertainment has enough capability to make
a deal for their idol.
It is worth mentioning that when she first debuted, Liz was among the members who were
pushed the most by Starship thanks to her sweet vocals and a doll-like appearance which
is said to be no less impressive than Jang Wonyoung.
Therefore, the fact that Liz has not been favored as much lately raises suspicions among
netizens that it is Liz's weight gain that has made Starship no longer interested in
promoting her image, but instead focusing on other members who are believed to have
a more eye-catching appearance.
At that point, many fans were outraged, saying that if that was true, then Starship would
be so trashy as they discriminate between the girls based on their looks.
However, that's just a reasoning of some of Liz's defenders and we still don't know the
real reason behind the restriction on promoting her image.
Giselle (aespa)
Despite being the one of the biggest entertainment companies that greatly contributes to the
Kpop industry, SM is constantly criticized for discriminating against foreign idols.
This time, the victim is said to be Giselle from aespa.
So recently, aespa’s fandom has been raising concerns about SM‘s treatment of Giselle,
who was believed to receive little respect from the company.
They pointed out that not long after aespa debutted, Giselle appeared with 3 other members
of aespa in the public after their schedule in KSPO Dome.
However, she was the only one whose face was blurred by several Korean newspapers.
Fans and netizens found it difficult to understand why a member of such a famous group like aespa
was mistaken for a staff member and while many were extremely discontent, SM didn’t
do anything to fix that.
When SBS’s official instagram account posted photos of aespa performing in SBS Gayo Daejun
2020, Giselle was also forgotten.
What is worth mentioning is that, SBS did not fail to upload the individual photos of
the 3 other members, and Karina and Winter even had 2 separate posts.
However, this is not the last time Giselle was left out.
On a show that aespa participated in, The Manager of MBC, Giselle was confusingly absent
from the thumbnail of the episode on MBC’s youtube.
Fans also pointed out that Giselle’s scene was even edited out of some other shows, such
as her talent showing part on “Weekly Idol”, or her cover part in “Knowing Bros”.
Even when aespa has debuted for almost 2 years, the unfair treatment of Giselle shows no sign
of stopping, if not it is getting worse as the female idol is now even discriminated
against by some brands that her group is currently the ambassador.
In particular, MLB was once under fire for allegedly mistreating Giselle when failing
to include the female idol in their styling guide.
They even misspelled her name, writing “GIESELLE” instead of “Giselle”, and didn’t even
upload her individual photo as they did to other members.
When shooting for Mediheal, Giselle only had an indoor photoshoot and didn’t hold the
brand’s products.
That was a total contrast to the other 3 members, who shooted outside with a specific concept
and products in their hands.
Even CLIO of Japan, the country where Giselle came from, also left the female idol out in
their campaign as Giselle’s image was nowhere to be found in both CLIO Japan’s twitter
or Instagram.
Not only that, Giselle was even invisible in almost all aespa’s promoting videos.
In the advertisement for Chopard and Eternal Return, Giselle’s scene lasted only 1 second,
and she was even excluded from the video for TAMS.
Most recently, fans voiced their frustration with SM Entertainment after Giselle revealed
that she had to specifically ask for her Spotify playlist to be included in aespa’s profile.
Although aespa’s official Twitter announced Giselle’s playlist on September 1, it was
impossible to find her playlist on the official account.
Yuta (NCT 127)
Looks like SM is involved in a lot of foreign idol mistreatment cases because Yuta, the
Japanese member of NCT, is also a victim of this.
Although Yuta’s career as a soloist is on the rise with numerous important activities,
SM appears indifferent and fails to promote them.
To be specific, Yuta has had a full busy year of individual activities in Japan, including
multiple high-profile magazine shoots, shows, brand collaborations, and more.
There was collaboration between Yuta and CraftBoss and Tom Ford, plus, his show “YUTA at Home”
also started a limited time collaboration with Disney Plus and released its own merchandise.
Not to stop there, Yuta was even cast in a major Japanese blockbuster, HiGH&LOW, which
means he is going to make his debut as a full-fledged action star this year.
However, despite Yuta’s hard work, SM Entertainment failed to promote his activities.
On the official instagram account of NCT, Yuta was the only one who hardly had a post
about his solo projects.
The male idol did not even get a highlight for himself, no matter how big his gigs are.
Additionally, on NCT127’s comeback with “Sticker”, SM was again slammed for erasing
Yuta out of their promotional materials.
While all other members have beautiful solo thumbnails for themselves, only the thumbnail
of Yuta did not focus on his face but his…legs, and the male idol was seemingly omitted from
facecams and “ending fairy” scenes.
Fans also pointed out that on NCT127’s Japan Dome Tour: "NEO CITY: JAPAN THE LINK", Yuta
was inexplicably forgotten again.
Specifically, near the end of the concert, all NCT’s members were raising their lightstick
and waving goodbye to the audience, and while each member received a close-up shot, Yuta
didn’t and just stood quietly on his own.
To this point, fans can not understand why SM showed such a great neglect to Yuta while
he has proven himself to be extremely popular.
In a research about the most popular idol in Japan, Yuta ranked first and even occupied
45,68% of the vote.
He was also the one who had an instrumental contribution to SM Entertainment’s financial
recovery in Japan, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
With such a huge impact and great “profitability”, the fact that Yuta is still ignored by his
holding company makes fans extremely confused and frustrated.
So, which of the above cases do you think is really serious and which is just an exaggeration
of fans from being overly worried about their idols?