As flashy as the idol life might seem, when insiders step out of the glory and tell their
stories, it turns out that there are unimaginable difficulties that artists have to deal with
after their group goes through an extended hiatus or worse, disbandment.
What’s more mind-blowing is that, even in cases where the idols have reaped lots of
tremendous achievements, many still struggled to find their own purpose in life and displayed
symptoms of light depression.
RM (BTS)
In March this year, RM had an in-depth interview covering major stories that have been going
on his mind and while he gave fans lots of hopes for ARMYs about BTS’ future activities
after their extended break, he also worried a lot of people for sharing he was completely
lost about his identity and why he was still in BTS.
As RM said, he has been so used to being a team player that when each member sets out
to either pursue solo projects or prepare for military obligations, he has lots of difficulties
in determining what his next plan would be.
The burden doubled as RM was a leader of BTS and that means his responsibility includes
maintaining the group’s top position even during their break.
While only insiders thoroughly understand the reasons leading to RM’s struggle, as
an outsider myself, I can still see several causes of his concerns though many might think
with that amount of money, he must be living the most lavish life ever.
Seemingly, RM has already ticked off all of his goals and now, with no purposes left,
he is going through an existential crisis.
Then, while RM’s problem needs emotional support from others, the rest of BTS is now
busy with their own life, and some might even be experiencing the same thing as RM, so it
seems that we can do nothing but hope he will soon find his way out by getting the adequate
help from professionals.
Jungkook (BTS)
Looking at the way RM and Jungkook deal with themselves, seemingly leading an idol life
is never as opulent as the media portrays.
Similar to RM, Jungkook also appears to have a serious existential crisis and while never
really speaking outright about it, fans still see signs of his severe struggle.
Signs of Jungkook’s negative condition started to be noticed more when he announced the deletion
of his Instagram account for good.
Then, more alarming signs pointing at his unstable mental health became evident, starting
with his sudden change in style.
Despite having long been famous as one of the most groomed members of BTS with carefully
styled hair and outfit, after the announcement of the act’s extended hiatus, Jungkook suddenly
grew his hair long to the shoulders-length, didn’t even bother to comb it when going
on livestream and makeup no longer existed in his dictionary.
For example, in this Weverse, he didn’t even bother to cover the eye bags.
Besides the abrupt and down-spiraling appearance, Jungkook’s strange behaviors also drew lots
of attention.
In the same Weverse, after talking to fans for a while, Jungkook suddenly turned on the
hyperactive mode and did a karaoke to NewJeans’s OMG.
Then, he kept sending deep messages to fans while looking so extremely empty.
One ARMY recalled he said things like “I live in a world disconnected from society,”
and “I’m kind of living like a rock,” explicitly telling people how numb and lost
he had been these days.
Others later picked up more critical hints and went on TikTok to ask people to help Jungkook
as he was clearly going through a phase.
A few fans tried to de-escalate the situation, saying probably Jungkook was behaving like
that for missing Jin, who had just enlisted.
However, in my opinion, we as adults all know that even when brotherhood is the top priority
for BTS’ members, missing someone would never make anyone behave like that.
The seriousness of Jungkook’s case quickly peaked as not long after that, he went on
a livestream and couldn’t hide his tears for ten minutes straight.
Despite trying to look normal, the way he soullessly looked at an infinite point, pinning
his eyes down the table, trying to cover his face with two hands and nonstop sniffing his
nose had still told people about the real situation.
Jungkook’s inactivity in the entertainment scene is another sign possibly meaning he
had lost all the purpose and motivation to work.
Being among the top famous members of BTS, it’s not an exaggeration to say his partnership
with any brand will help the sales revenue skyrocket.
However, Jungkook doesn’t have any solo schedule except for being the Global Ambassador
of Calvin Klein, which actually has just happened recently and everything mainly revolved around
several pre-done shoots rather than him promoting for the brand in person.
Meanwhile, Suga, Jimin and RM are quickly announced the Global Ambassador of high-end
fashion houses.
They also released music as soloists and reaped certain achievements: Suga’s having his
very first worldwide concert where tickets are sold out, Jimin’s having one of the
most successful collab with Taeyang and solo debut, while RM also released music as a solo
artist and is traveling the world to look for inspirations.
Looking at the situation, some said Jungkook was just having some bad days because as an
affluent idol as he is, life could never be gloomy and depressing.
I personally agree with this point but on the other hand, I also think people have forgotten
how Jungkook is still a human being with emotions and at the end of the day, there were still
things that he struggled with emotion-wise.
Though I’m not following Jungkook 24/7 like his hardcore stan, I can tell Jungkook definitely
needs help just through a-few-minute videos.
Plus, this help should be best provided by professionals as while fans always give him
heart-warming words, they could still only touch the surface and never manage to go deeply
into the root cause to help him heal.
AOA’s Seolhyun
After the bullying scandal of AOA where Seolhyun was accused of joining hands with Jimin to
bully Mina, which ironically turned out to very likely be a fabricated story by Mina
out of her jealousy, Seolhyun has to struggle a lot in finding a way out.
Because the scandal of AOA happened a rather long time ago, let me do a brief recap for
y’all.
Back in 2020, Mina accused Jimin, the leader of AOA, of bullying her for years and while
Seolhyun knew everything, she chose to be an outsider indifferently watching Mina allegedly
suffer.
As the story sounded so real, everyone quickly bought Mina’s words and soon enough, Seolhyun’s
career came to an end.
Despite being the most famous member and top famous idol, Seolhyun was removed from all
media.
The first show to make a move was Day and Night, followed by Vogue Korea and even the
government-managed tourist site Visit Korea Committee also removed her image from their
main page.
Under the fierce criticism of netizens, Seolhyun went off the radar and became a name of the
past.
Nothing was heard of Seolhyun until three years after that, which is the beginning of
2023, but she still struggled to find a way out.
In a sit down with the Youtube channel Singles, Seolhyun had a very calm talk but looking
at the way she carried herself, many said she had lost the vibrant, top visual aura.
Seemingly, she had lost lots of hair despite not having to dye her hair and though it was
one of the first interviews of Seolhyun after coming back to Kpop, her eyes makeup was poorly
done with her lips looking super pale and her hair not even being set with hairspray.
Some pointed out that Seolhyun must have struggled a lot to know what to do next post-scandals
regarding the unimaginable hate thrown at her and while she was all calm and smiley,
her down-spiraling visual had told it all.
Seolhyun’s outfit was also said to be too 2007 and connecting all the dots together,
many believed probably she was also struggling financially to hire the same professional
stylist that took care of her peak-famous-era image.
Similar to Jungkook, Seolhyun also lost the purpose and motivation to work for three successive
years as according to her sharing, she had all the freetime to do whatever she wanted
whenever she wanted.
For example, during the Qatar World Cup 2022, Seolhyun said she watched every match, then
went to bed at 6am, woke up at 2pm, had brunch and relaxed around the house until pm.
She went to the gym at 9pm and sometimes, she just spent the day hiking or walking with
her dog.
Taking her weight gain super light-heartedly, Seolhyun shared that as she often had chicken,
ducks, pork and tteokbokki while watching the World Cup, she had put on some weight.
While being all happy and smiley, netizens believed this actually showed how much Seolhyun
had given up on herself as she was literally giving up on the very reason helping her famous:
the hour-glass figure that is as perfect as cast from a mold.
With her comeback drama’s rating being as low as 0%, I’m kinda worried that she would
let her life free fall even worse this time but because she has also been famous for a
strong personality and AOA’s scandal was also clarified as Mina’s fantasy, let’s
hope Seolhyun would swing back stronger than before.
Hyerin (EXID)
After Hani’s fancam blew up, EXID one-step became one of the most famous girl groups
of gen3.
However, after the act fell into a challenging situation with their management agency regarding
contractual issues, Hyein has struggled a lot in her music career as one, her schedule
isn’t fully booked and two, she isn’t even sure about what she could amount to as
a soloist.
Appearing in the Miss Back series, Hyein shared she couldn't individually do well on stage
though eight years had passed and due to the easily stressed out personality, not having
other members along made her feel like the stage was more of a burden rather than a place
to shine.
When asked why her fridge was so full of food, Hyerin said she often cooked to forget the
upset.
While not touching too deeply about her struggle, the fact that Hyerin became a waitress to
“have a reason to get up in the morning” also came off as an alarming sign regarding
her mental health.
Had she been happy, there would have been no way she couldn’t have a reason to drag
herself out of bed and as she also admitted to never stopping working to avoid feeling
anxious, which was another sign of an unsettled mind, fans believed it was probably best for
Hyerin to heal herself with professional help.
Personally, I don’t think Hyerin needs help that much because she seems to be quite conscious
of her emotions and also takes real actions to improve herself.
However, it’s also sad that her schedule isn’t so full after the group’s disbandment
and as this might take a hit on her mental health, seeking professional help from an
early stage is still best.
So, do you think these idols are really struggling and losing their way?
Or fans are just worrying too much?