Wake up, not all kpop idols are "kirakira" like in TV

Oct 13, 2020

I don't know when, the word "kpop" began to appear frequently around us, and even became a new genre of music by itself. Because of the modern style, brisk rhythm, gorgeous dress, etc., it has set off a religious upsurge among young women all over the world. But when we carefully opened up the industry chain behind kpop, people couldn't help but sigh. As an epoch-making new entertainment project, kpop is just another deformed industry derived from the fast-paced fast food culture society , creating the idol dreams of many ignorant girls.

Feel free to search for kpop on Youtube, and the top-ranked videos on the results page all have tens of millions of views. From these figures alone, we can see the breadth and magnitude of kpop's influence. While indulging in their own idols, many kpop fans have started to learn to dance and sing, looking forward to one day they can stand on the glamorous stage and become idols, and there are many minors among them. There are even some girls who are still high school students in a daze, abandon their studies and enter the so-called training company, and finally lose their entire youth.

Slavery-like corporate contracts

The first step to become a kpop idol is to sign a contract with a special company to become a "trainee". After a period of practice, you can "debut" and become a real idol. While it doesn't sound like much, by signing this contract you are selling your heart and soul to the company. The duration of a contract ranges from 7 to 15 years. If you choose to terminate the contract, you will have to pay a lot of money, which is not affordable for people born in ordinary families. The termination of the contract is not decided by the trainee unilaterally. As long as the trainee violates any regulations during the training process, the company has the right to directly tear up the contract. And many regulations are bizarre and far-fetched, restricting the personal freedom of trainees from all aspects.

The money earned after debut is not owned by the trainees. Only when the "expenses spent by the company on cultivating themselves" are paid off, they have the right to put a small part of the money earned into their own wallets.

Injustice in proportion

Many Korean entertainment companies are well-known in the world for squeezing artists. The well-known Korean singing agency SM's share of physical album sales has even reached 95 (company): 5 (artist). Some little-known small companies are not stingy with their reputation, blatantly stealing money from their own artists.

The sharing system of some of the more famous companies

The deluge of plastic surgery

Not only the kpop industry, but the proliferation of plastic surgery in the entire Korean entertainment market cannot be underestimated. Groups like mamamoo are a minority after all. It can be as light as double eyelid opening and a nose straightened, or as serious as going back to the furnace to create a new person. Some young trainees who have been poached by the company go to unreliable plastic surgeons in order to save money, and the results can be imagined.

prostitution

Like plastic surgery, prostitution is nothing new in the entertainment industry, and even Hollywood isn't immune to the problem. In order to quickly obtain the necessary funds, many female idols in the industry chose to embark on this road of no return from being unknown to being famous, and the company adopted a default attitude.

physical and mental health issues

A lot of practice and harsh clearance conditions are not acceptable to everyone. The company's control over the artist's sleep time has further caused long-term damage to the artist's physical and mental health. This is why the news of the artist's sudden death or suicide frequently appears. Not poor. Some companies even require artists to assemble at four o'clock in the morning and train until twelve o'clock at night.

Apart from exercise and sleep, the diet of kpop idols has also been criticized for a long time. In order to maintain a slim figure, many artists will not hesitate to destroy their health (or be pressured by the company) to consume fewer than normal daily calories, and finally suffer from anorexia or lack of nutrition.

repression of talent

The extremely formulaic music of kpop is also why I personally don't like this genre of music. Most of the songs are not written by members of the troupe, but by professional creative groups to create music that suits the audience's preferences according to market needs. It can be said that kpop music is completely produced in an assembly line, which kills the talent of potential artists. Kpop idols are more like actors than musicians, singing other people's songs, dancing other people's dances, and playing other people's roles to please the audience . Be an idol or be yourself, this choice between the two is a dilemma that every kpop artist has to go through.

The whole kpop industry gives me a cyberpunk vibe. The one-handed dictatorship of entertainment companies uses artists as puppets to make profits for themselves. In order to please the gentlemen in the domestic and foreign markets, they squeeze artists without limit. The common faults of the entertainment industry are exposed in this microcosm of kpop. All these large entertainment companies care about is the increase in immediate and visible benefits, and artists are just tools to help them flourish, which is equivalent to developing capitalism to an extreme. Once artists enter this circle, they officially abandon themselves and devote themselves to the role that the company has created for them. They are more like commodities on the shelf than people, and they are also consumable commodities that are easily outdated.

It is difficult for young people who grew up in the fast food culture society to devote their energy to one thing for a long time. Kpop, which has developed rapidly and successfully consolidated its position in the market, naturally won their love. Listening to kpop does not require any music background or any professional knowledge. The assembly-line creative music relying on market analysis can fill the emptiness of many young people in the face of information frenzy. Maybe kpop's brainwashing melody and sexy dance are not welcomed by the traditional music industry, but his business operation model is an epic success. Through the cycle of successfully targeting potential audiences, expanding the market step by step, and attracting audiences to join the industry, kpop has flourished in the global market and finally developed to its current prosperous status . From plastic surgery hospitals to entertainment companies, from character shaping to media packaging, the kpop industry chain has established a very complete system.

As kpop continues to grow, signs of market saturation are inevitable. South Korea realized this phenomenon as early as three or four years ago, and thus promoted kpop to its neighbors, China and Japan, and North America, which is more willing to spend money. Under the background of oversupply, the competition in the same industry has become more and more fierce, which makes newcomers spend more energy to win the favor of the market. In the past two years, a large number of rookie idol groups have been exported from various talent shows. In the end, very few people can reach the position of the established groups bts, exo, twice or red velvet.

Many kpop fans are well aware of the story behind this industrial chain, but in the end they chose to ignore it. Although the South Korean government has also tried to rectify the regulations of entertainment companies, the whole industry has long been set in a mess. The popularity of kpop may be short-lived, but the economic impact and cultural output it promotes cannot be undone ; more and more people will use kpop, which just emerged in the last century, and successfully developed overseas markets as early as the last century Compared with the Japanese acgn culture. I don't think kpop itself has a huge negative effect on teens, it's just that too many people have too many false illusions about the industry. It is not wrong to say that kpop promotes entertainment to death, but kpop is not the only industry behind the promotion of entertainment. It is a bit of a double standard to put all the mistakes on kpop.

So boys and girls, please wake up, there is really no need to develop kpop into religious fanaticism.