In the first part of this series, we have gone through five most ridiculous double standards
of Kpop and just with those few points, you can already see how idols can never ever satisfy
the public regardless of how much they try.
In today’s videos, we will cover some more hilarious standards netizens impose on idols
and if any of you still dream of pursuing this path, hope you can bear the heat and
won’t go nuts because of the suffocating life.
1.
Keeping saying visual is not everything but always talking about visual
After the advent of many pretty gen4 acts, some notice that netizens are becoming more
and more ironic and conflicting in their words since whenever an idol is face-shamed or body-shamed,
there is always an increasing number of opinions defending the idols, saying that as long as
they were talented and hard-working, there would always be a soft spot saved for them
in the public's eyes.
However, considering what has been happening on the Internet, how the hot topics about
gen4 idols, especially female ones, has been revolving around visual, body ratio, hips,
waist and face, how whenever an idol put on just a little bit of weight, they would immediately
be summoned on Pann and asked to carefully manage themselves, and how the most famous
members of each act would always be the most gorgeous ones according to South Korean beauty
standard.
In fact, netizens are so ironic since they hate those pretty yet not-so-skilled idols
so much that they even make up a mocking nickname for them, calling them “eye-candy” yet
not a single minute goes by that they stop talking about those “eye-candy” idols.
And when some not-so-pretty idols devote their mind and heart into excelling at all performing
skills, they would receive way less attention.
The epitome of this ridiculous double standard is the way netizens have been literally worshiping
Irene, Cha Eun Woo, Sullyoon and Wonyoung since even the most senseless things they
do could still go viral just because they have a pretty face.
For example, when Red Velvet came back after their longest hiatus of just over one year
to make their appearance on SM Entertainment’s virtual concert, the hottest topic was still
about Irene’s visual.
Or for Sullyoon, regardless of how Lily is a powerhouse vocal, Haewon is a whole package
idol and Kyujin are literally the face of the group considering her matching vibes with
NMIXX’s direction, Sullyoon is still the most frequently talked about member as people
couldn’t get enough of her doll-like look.
Even a seemingly silly thing like her face easily fit into a kid-size facemask also became
a hot topic the other day.
In fact, the same thing has also happened to Jang Wongyoung recently because her visual
is such a syndrome in South Korea right now.
Just with a little dance when she was casually vibing to music, netizens still went crazy
over it and even made it a trend on TikTok.
Then, when idols don’t look the way netizens expect, they will immediately get called out
for not knowing how to do well in their only job – maintaining a good image as an idol.
You can easily realize this by looking at how Giselle has always been criticized for
how her thighs and arms were too thick “for a girl,” how Liz has become among
the least famous members of IVE due to her weight gain although she was on the same reputation
par with Jang Wongyoung in IVE’s debut and most recently, how Huenning Kai was bashed
for looking bigger than other members while his figure was still lean for an European
guy.
2.
Expecting idols to sing like they are in the studio while dancing like crazy
As people are becoming stricter and stricter when stanning a group, management agencies
and even idols themselves are also becoming more obsessed with being flawless in every
performance.
Then, when everything is too perfect, netizens move on to complain that they miss the good
old days of gen2 when idols were enjoying themselves more on stage and gave their best
on every performance without having to care much about perfection.
The situation is so bad that many gen4 acts aren’t allowed to sing live since the management
company was scared their idols would suffer from unnecessary criticism for making mistakes
while singing and dancing at the same time.
While this may seem like a problem of only small to medium entertainment companies since
they might lack resources to professionally train their idols, it’s actually a thing
happening in Big3 as well because for a long time, and even until now, aespa is still frequently
made to lips-sync to maintain their perfect image on stage.
The obsession with perfection was so big that SM Entertainment only let them have the very
first live performance at Coachella 2021, which was over a year after their debut.
Or most recently, Wonyoung and Leeseo weren’t even allowed to sing live though the song
was in the pop-ballad genre and they neither had to dance nor move an inch throughout the
performance.
Of course both girls were heavily criticized because they debuted as idols, which meant
they must know how to sing but on the other hand, Starship Entertainment was also stoned
for killing IVE’s image and showed no intention of improving the girls’ skills.
However, when idols go on stage and do their best to kill both the singing and dancing
parts just to end up pumping oxygen into their lungs, people will immediately bash the management
company for mistreating their idols.
The epitome of how netizens, and even fans, are freaking idols out when saying that idols’
vocal capabilities nowadays are down spiraling based only on their singing ability while
dancing like crazy.
This can be seen through the way Winter and Ningning were literally turned into clowns
for singing not as well as expected at Coachella 2021 but when they hit all the high notes
effortlessly when only standing still and singing, people immediately turned their blind
eyes onto that.
3.
Prioritizing idols’ private life but always sharing and discussing their dating news
As Kpop fans are trying to become more aware of their idols’ private life and some even
go extra lengths to do everything to keep it as lowkey as possible, things actually
aren’t as bright as it seems.
By that, it means while “fans” often tell the public to shut up and let their idols
lead a life like any other ordinary people, which obviously includes dating, they are
also often the ones to make the news spread like a wildfire and then pull the “protector”
card to appear like they are protecting the idols’ privacy.
Needless to look any further into the past, the way both BLACKPINK and BTS’ fans reacted
to Jennie and V’s dating news is already the epitome of this ridiculous double standard.
When things first started and rumors had it that V and Jennie were having their secret
date at Jeju Island, so-called fans were flocking into the comment section, trying to explain
to those who believe this rumor and even went extra lengths by bringing up all kinds of
evidence to the contrary.
Things kept piling up over time and while many fans initially joined the conversation
because they wanted to protect the reputation of their idols, all they had ever done was
to blow the rumor up, indirectly helping it gain more attention while at first, it was
just a random picture on Instagram questioning if the couple in the car was Jennie and V.
Then, the press as well as all news channels on social media joined the chat, which of
course only made things worse since more people meant more eyes and more eyes meant more evidence
to be dug up.
The huge public exposure of the rumor was also said to be the reason why Gurumiharibo,
an alleged shameless Twitter user, continued leaking Jennie and V’s photos on Instagram
to attract even more attention.
After that, Jennie was heavily criticized as people believed she dumped G-dragon to
date V, and was a playgirl messing around with the 2 men rather than truly caring for
anyone.
So, do you think netizens will ever stop obsessing over these hilarious double standards that
did nothing but make idols suffer?