To debut as an idol, it’s obvious that the bloodily competitive trait must be embedded
in their DNA because there is no way one could enter the Kpop scene without pouring their
heart and mind into winning the debut ticket.
However, netizens believe the competitiveness of an idol should just be limited to a certain
point because when they still have that nature after debut, the synergy of a group would
plummet.
In this video, I’ll name some idols who are said to have such a strong competitive
mind that they want to steal the spotlight from everyone around them.
(G)-IDLE’s Soyeon
Debuting in the era where Cube Entertainment was amid their biggest rough-and-tumble, (G)-IDLE
has risen up to become one of the strongest girl groups of gen4.
Most recently, their comeback TOMBOY was even recognized to be the greatest hit of Kpop
2022 and because they had just lost Soojin, aka the fan attractor of the act, no one saw
(G)-IDLE could amount to anything such a bright stardom like right now.
However, the success of the act didn’t come overnight because were it not for the leadership
competency of Soyeon, many believe (G)-IDLE would just be another girl group debuting
in the overly saturated scene of Kpop.
Ironically, even when everyone knows Soyeon is one of the main factors leading to (G)-IDLE’s
triumph, they have still fiercely thrown shade at her for the way she arranged lines in the
latest comeback.
The hate was so big that on Pann, a netizen even posted a long thread dedicated only to
complaining how she was growing out of Soyeon because the female idol was being more and
more greedy with her lines.
The more the OP listened to (G)-IDLE, the more she felt like Soyeon was making every
of the group’s comeback her solo, and “Nxde” is not an exception.
Of course, no one could deny Soyeon’s efforts in creating the best songs for (G)-IDLE and
since everything Soyeon made for the group became a bop, it's her legit right to distribute
the lines however she thinks right.
Still, the OP believed that it didn’t justify her turning other members into lead actresses
and her into the main character because B.I, aka the former leader of iKON, also produced
some biggest hits for the group but never took all the lines like that.
That was not to mention how (G)-IDLE was also an equally capable group, for example Miyeon,
Minni and Yuqi apparently had impressive vocal and dancing skills, Shuhua wasn’t that good
compared to the rest but held a clear potential vocal-and-performing-wise.
Plus, the OP pointed out that as the classical-inspired theme rhythm of this comeback wasn’t a type
going along well with much rapping, the fact that Soyeon stuffed up to four rapping lines
and several talk-singing parts in the intro and ending chorus was said to be nothing but
a try-hard efforts to steal the spotlights of other members.
Ending the rant, the OP said she used to be Soyeon’s fans but after the female idol’s
alleged obsession with constantly being the protagonist, she couldn't hold it back anymore.
Responding to the thread, there were up to 700 upvotes and in the comment section, a
comment with about 190 likes agreed that had Soyeon been so into the thought of overshadowing
other members like this, she should have self-produced a song and made a solo comeback.
In that case, no one would say a thing and she wouldn’t have to care much about whinings
like “Why is Soyeon so greedy?”
neither.
However, there were also lots of defending opinions, saying that people were acting ridiculous
and only akgae-fans would be that salty about Soyeon.
Fans believed that it made no sense for these akgaes to bash Soyeon since she always distributed
lines according to the vocal colors of each member, which explained why Miyeon, and also
the rest of the members, were never overshadowed regardless of their line.
It’s also undeniable that Soyeon appears most in (G)-IDLE’s title songs because at
the end of the day, she is the producer and mastermind of every hit but many believed
akgaes should also see the way she smartly pushes each member in each different era,
for example, Miyeon was pushed in the Dumdi Dumdi comeback, Senorita was the era of Soojin,
and this time, Nxde, Soyeon has talked Shuhua into dying her hair blonde to make her the
spotlight so basically, fans believed that Soyeon just did what she thought most suitable
for the group.
BLACKPINK’s Lisa
Surprised?
Even after all those years working humbly in the industry and having lots of achievements
speak for herself, Lisa is still said to be a person always trying desperately to steal
the spotlights of others though when you give it a thought, it makes absolutely no sense
because she has already had everything on Earth.
Still, haters gonna hate so there is nothing can be done about it.
Just several months ago, Lisa became the topic of attention but all for the bad reasons:
her being allegedly attention-seeking and always trying to direct everyone’s eyes
toward her when others were being hyped up.
Under one post questioning “What are some K-pop idols’ behavior that scream ‘I'm
looking for attention’?”, Lisa was the first to be named and believe it or not, two
comments dragging down Lisa for being a desperate attention stealer received over 400 likes
and 700 likes.
According to the first person, there was always something off about Lisa and when looking
at her, the OP would see Lisa doing one of the following things: acts overly cute and
acts overly hot.
Especially when being in a group, the way she switched emotions every two minutes like
the way girls changing clothes got on the nerves of many people.
As some noticed, Lisa often tried to look hot and the next moment, she would be silly
and the next moment, cute, and the next moment, serious.
The solid example brought up by netizens was that one time when Rosé was praised for looking
“hot” and right off the bat, Lisa jumped in and asked “How about me?
I’m the hottest, okay?.”
While some defended that it was simply the way Lisa joked around with other members,
many found this point invalid because she actually seemed to enjoy herself a lot after
having the attention she wanted.
Lisa was even accused of stealing the spotlight of not only her members but also the trainees
under her wings in Youth With You.
During the show, she was said to be a completely different person from the Lisa version people
knew in BLACKPINK.
Her acting strict and frequently shouting at the trainees was said to be a desperate
attempt to direct attention rather than helping the trainees get used to the harsh life of
idols as compared to Jackson, who also took on the same mentor role in a survival show,
he never acted loud and bossy but the trainees could still learn a lot.
However, there were also lots of defending opinions, saying that Lisa was never trying
to be hot because she was already hot.
For example, during the Coachella performance, she didn’t do anything weird to garner attention
yet still got Western netizens to trace down her information, pushing the hashtag #coachellaponytailgirl
and #ponytailrapper to become a thing of only Lisa.
About her being overly cutesy, all fans knew it was just her trying to be cringe so that
the members could laugh and besides those times, never once has she tried to look cute
for attention.
All accusations of her being “overly cute” were actually baseless as none accusers could
bring up evidence and considering how they also hated her for being serious in Youth
With You, many believed those who hated Lisa for “stealing the spotlights of others”
were all fabricating malicious stories while being unemployed and living in the basement
of their parents’ house.
IVE’s Leeseo
Despite being one of the youngest idols in Kpop, Leeseo is already one of the most contentious
names because lots of things she does were labeled as “desperately stealing the attention
of her members.”
Most recently, Leeseo has made headlines for her appearance on Naver NOW and while the
session started off well, it took a turn for the worse when Leeseo said she had no idea
who Pikachu was.
Specifically, Jang Wonyoung praised Leeseo for her heavy Pikachu-resemblance and to the
surprise of everyone, Leeseo said it was not until now that she knew Pikachu was a real
character rather than simply a cute sticker on bread.
The moment only lasted for six seconds but it was already enough for netizens to cause
a big controversy out of it.
According to them, Leeseo was pulling out the “clueless concept” to look younger
than other members and more like a maknae so the unnie line should take more care of
her.
Some also said even without the Pikachu incident, they still found Leeseo annoying because she
was always acting like a kindergartener while in fact, she was about to graduate middle
school.
By that, it meant this wasn’t the first time she pulled out her “clueless concept”
according to netizens and back in December last year, she had already confused people
by asking what a flip phone is.
The fact that she was stunned by a slider phone is also said to give off a weird vibe
and after the video was aired, many flocked to the comments bashing her for trying to
look like a clueless baby while she was actually not.
Still, there were people standing on Leeseo’s side.
They said that it’s completely normal for her, and everyone in general, to not know
who Pikachu was.
Especially considering the case of Leeseo, who has always been busy as a kid model before
spending 24 hours a day in the practice room to become an idol, it made no sense for people
to bash her just because she couldn’t spend time watching cartoons.
About the flip and slider phone, it was also ridiculous of people to judge her because
Leeseo was probably born into an upper-class family, which showed through her parents’
being comfortable enough to get her into the entertainment industry since a very young
age rather than making her study with a hope to change her life.
With that kind of background, perhaps her parents only used touch-screen phones and
that explained why she would have no idea about other types.
So, do you think these idols were exaggerating their personality to steal attention from
other members or is it all in people’s heads?