Until now, I’ve made tons of videos pointing at the toxic side of K-Pop and how they often
take people, especially outsiders, aback with the extremeness it could do to idols.
Yet surprisingly, it has recently turned out that the dark side of K-Pop doesn’t stop
at mere toxicity but also lots of uselessness, four of which you will see right in this video.
SUPERKIND’s virtual idol Saejin
As the line between the actual and virtual worlds becomes thinner and thinner, several
entertainment agencies in K-Pop have now created a whole virtual idol for their group and considering
the graphic quality, it’s not an exaggeration at all to say that Saejin is the most invested
virtual idol ever created until now.
Unfortunately, all that Saejin’s got just stops at the good look when he stands still
because when dancing, interacting with members, and even just making some expressions to portray
what he is singing, he still said to look awkward and stiff.
Basically, people believe that Saejin adds nothing to the table and probably has become
one the most useless things in K-Pop as he is said to not only have no value to SUPERKIND
but also a blackhole sucking all controversies onto the way of the group.
When Deep Studio Entertainment first introduced Saejin, they had already caused a stir on
the Internet because Saejin looked as if he was a mixed copy of ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo,
NCT’s Jaehyun and Doyoung, TXT’s Soobin and ENHYPHEN’s Jake.
In his debut teaser, netizens also noticed how the camera angle, hairstyle, costumes
and even the expressions were also all try-hard knockoffs of NCT’s work.
From then on, things only went downhill because instead of using Saejin as a complementary
factor, Deep Studio Entertainment turned him into the center and made the rest of the group,
aka real idols that had spent years in the practice room, the back-up dancers for an
entity that is not even real.
Many also questioned what on Earth SUPERKIND’s management agency was thinking when putting
Saejin into the center position regarding his stiff expressions, the flaccid dance moves
and the cringe, try-hard-to-be-cool expression.
This ridiculous role assignment ticked people, and especially fans off even more when the
dance cover performances of SUPERKIND were posted on 1theK Originals because in the very
first two videos, the spotlight was on Saejin only.
People felt pity for the fates of the other four members because despite having spent
years brushing up their skills, they all ended up being the background to highlight the look
and skills of a “fake” member.
Thus, many believed SUPERKIND could never build a solid fanbase because fans would soon
leave the fandom when seeing their real idols getting treated unfairly.
However, besides those who hate Saejin, there are still supporters who love this unique
concept and give a lot of compliments to the creative team for creating Saejin, the most
"realistic" virtual idol ever, as well as expressed that they felt thrilled and impressed
when watching the virtual guy's dynamic dance moves and expressions.
Some also sarcastically criticized Saejin's opponents, wondering why were people throwing
hate on Saejin when he doesn't even exist.
Covering idols’ faces in fanmeetings when time’s up
As if the curse that HYBE could never ever create a girl group in peace is true, the
company has been embroiled in countless controversies in such a short span of time.
However, bad luck this time didn’t come solely to their girl group but seemingly to
all groups under their umbrella as a whole because most recently, people have criticized
HYBE for treating both ENHYPEN and their fans as emotionless entities to exploit money.
On July 16, not only fans but netizens both went on big forums of K-Pop to question the
way BELIFT Lab, a sub-company of HYBE, works as instead of politely asking fans to leave
when time’s up, the staff just straight up blocking ENHYPEN’s faces by some notebooks.
According to a girl attending that fanmeeting in person, she said even if the clock just
ticked 0.1 second more, the staff would still not hold it back and immediately cover the
boys’ faces as if they would lose their job or their entire life into that 0.1 second.
She also pointed out how useless this policy was and there were various reasons for it.
One, to just have the chance to attend the fanmeeting, fans would need to spend hundreds
of dollars on tickets so they deserve to be treated with respect.
Second, in exchange for that hundred of dollars, a fan is only allowed to meet idols in one
minute sharp and because nothing much can be said during that extremely short span of
time, spending several seconds more to politely ask them to wrap up the talk didn’t hurt.
Apparently BELIFT Lab didn’t do so and considering how they acted, the atmosphere was dragged
down terribly.
Last but not least, by covering idols’ faces, the company was turning fanmeetings from a
warming place for interactions into a mere business transaction where you get exactly
what you buy, no less, no more.
Thus, many believe the company is obviously objectifying idols and fans, treating them
as entities with no dignity and emotions, making the impression that ENHYPEN had possibly
joined hands into this disrespectful policy and fans were stupid delulus burning money
just to be treated like trash.
According to netizens, BELIFT Lab was ruining ENHYPEN themselves since this policy didn’t
make them more money but rather made the group’s image dirty.
It’s of course also the most useless thing they’ve seen in K-Pop because while ENHYPEN
were doing their best to treat fans, the company just destroyed everything for the thought
that stopping several seconds at fansigns could make them richer.
DSP Sprouts controlled MIRAE’s fans’ time
As the K-Pop race is now said to be ruled by girl groups, various agencies have come
up with the most exotic things to push their boy group’s reputation and make more money.
That’s why after the case of ENHYPEN, MIRAE’s company also issued the policy that fans would
be charged 150,000 Korean Won for the fine and prohibited from attending the next three
events of the group, including those at the broadcast station and at other places, if
they left DREAM RISING in K-POP halfway.
In the statement, DSP Sprouts even called those who would leave amid the show “violators”
and right off the bat, they would put the name of “violators” into blacklist.
According to netizens, the fact that DSP Sprouts now wanted to control even fans’ time to
ensure the superficial image that MIRAE had lots of fans to support them at the event
was useless and in fact, toxic.
As fans are supporters and have no legal ties with either the group or the company, treating
them like slaves having to devote all their time to MIRAE was also said to be extremely
ridiculous.
The reckless action of DSP Sprouts also made netizens believe that even if fans used all
their strength to protect and push the group later, nothing could be done since this action
had already made the public view them as a weak, non-famous group managed by a thug agency.
aespa’s individual version lightsticks
On July 6, SM Entertainment officially released the final photos of aespa’s lightstick and
to everyone’s surprise, the design comes out way more basic than they had imagined.
Basically, because of the whopping investment poured into aespa’s concept, music, MVs,
the world view and especially the drama that has just been released two episodes, many
MYs were really looking forward to a lightstick design that is just as stunning.
However, as the higher the expectation, the higher the disappointment, they were soon
met with a harsh reality as SM Entertainment launched a white lightstick that couldn't
get any simpler.
On top of a full white handle, which could have easily been made to be a bit more interesting
with a hint of color, a unique material or an interesting design alternation, SM Entertainment
plugged onto it a transparent white ball.
As if that wasn’t boring enough, they even let fans down more with another transparent
piece of plastic made into the name “aespa” and underneath was a disc of colorful LED.
Some said that if people who don’t know aespa and look at this light stick, 100% they
would think it belongs to the first generation of K-Pop where bringing light to cheer idols
was still a fetus thought, design ideas were as rare as hens’ teeth and the manufacturing
capabilities were also extremely limited.
This lightstick was also said to not represent aespa well as a leading K-Pop group gen4 whose
whole concept evolves around cutting-edge technologies and the blend between virtual
and actual worlds.
Things didn’t stop there as SM even made each member of aespa their own lightstick
version, which was a piece of plastic made into each member’s logo, and according to
fans, this showed nothing but an ulterior motive aiming at money at the expense of the
girls’ vulnerability.
Even just getting to know aespa, certainly you can still know that Karina and Winter
are the two most famous members of the group.
While Ningning is just as talented and so is Giselle, their individual branding points
were never seen as high as the other two girls.
Looking at this alone, anyone can tell that when SM released the individual lightsticks
for the girls, the number of sales wouldn’t go high equally because only-stans would just
support their bias.
What triggered fans even more about this idea is that, SM Entertainment sold each piece
of the girl’s symbol for about $9 and eventually, while the company was there making a bunch
of money, some girls would be left to munch on their self-pity as their lightstick version
wasn’t bought that much.
Some said that the situation of aespa also made them think about how things would be
if each BLACKPINK’s members had their own lightstick because for ages, the group has
been famous as the one with the most fragmented fandom in K-Pop.
People predicted that Lisa would be the most selling member considering the number of her
international fans.
Thus, they could already feel the immense sadness that other members could go through
in that situation.
So, do you think those above things are really useless and nonsense?
Which one do you find the most ridiculous?