G
Galaxy
GuestPRESS DISCUSSES...
CAN IDOLS MAINTAIN A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AFTER REVEALING THEIR RELATIONSHIP?
Welcome to our new series, "Press Discusses"! Once a month, our team's writers and proofreaders will choose a topic and discuss it in a special article. Our goal is to start a debate with our readers on general questions that K-Pop, J-Pop or C-Pop fans regularly get confronted with, and certainly have an opinion on — so it's clear, we don't aim to make any artist, user or fandom feel offended by what will be written in these articles. In order to be as objective as we can, we challenge ourselves as forum writers and provide food for thoughts on different perspectives, we will sometimes defend points of views that aren't our own. We don't consider ourselves to be 'experts' of any sort and we are more than excited to read your own arguments in the comments!
2020 has only started four months ago, but we can already see a change of mentalities regarding the private life of K-Pop idols. Since January, numerous big names have revealed that they're currently in a relationship, (soon-to-be) married, expecting children or already parents. The list of officially-dating celebrities becomes longer every week — and for once, most of them seem to come forward because they want to, not only due to rumors or leaked pictures that they must address.
It is a known fact that such revelations might provoke an uproar among fans, but it doesn't seem to stop idols from taking this big step anymore. Do they now consider that they've seen enough of their peers deal with the situation in the past, making them feel more prepared to face potential criticism? Do they feel more confident because many others are dropping the bomb all at the same time? We can't know for sure, but we can wonder if it's finally become possible for idols to maintain their career while dating in the open. Four of our writers decided to debate on this matter — and even though we found it impossible to strictly answer 'yes' or 'no' to this question, each of us had the difficult task to pick a side and find arguments to defend it.
Akidoki
To be honest, in my opinion, the answer is no. There will surely be some loss to an idol's career. Even if they are not written off, they would still lose some brand power and their careers will be affected, at least for a while. When it comes to idols maintaining their careers, there are many factors that come into play. The way these factors interact would, in my opinion, decide how much they stand to lose. For some, it could be very little while for others, their entire career could be at risk. Given the length of the discussion, I will be looking at what I think are the two most important factors.
The first factor is the fanbase. How much of an idol's career is attributed to their fans? How much fan service do they indulge in? Do they have a lot of international fans? Jenna Gibson, a Korea specialist at the University of Chicago, proclaims that much of the criticism against idols pursuing relationships comes from their fanbase. An idol's career is heavily dependent on the support of their fans. Many groups have become famous worldwide thanks to their fans, and the K-Pop industry knows this. "The K-Pop industry has very smartly built itself around creating incredibly dedicated fanbases," Miss Gibson said. She went on to add that "Fan communities also take more personal responsibility for promoting their favorite group and keeping the group's public image clean."
You would notice fans purchasing advertisement space for their idols, making donations to charities under the idol's name and even streaming YouTube videos to make the idol trend worldwide. Their support and loyalty can take groups straight to the top. However, this amount of sheer dedication does not mean that fans can feel entitled. Miss Gibson remarked, "In a perverse way, because fans put in so much effort to promote and publicize a good image of their idol, some of them get the idea that they should have some say over the idol's actions and personal life." This is further influenced by how the K-Pop industry tends to create a fantasy for fanbases. Idols have a tendency to view their fanbase from the perspective of a girlfriend or boyfriend. They romanticize the idol-fan relationship. They tend to harmlessly flirt with their fans and always affirm the importance of their fanbase. They engage in a lot of fan service to win over the support of their fans. Some even go on to say words such as "You are everything to me" or "You are the most important to me". These statements may seem innocent but they feed fans' fantasy and sense of entitlement over the idol. Some fans even firmly believe that they actually have the chance to be in a romantic relationship with the Idol.
As Lindsay Roberts (an outreach coordinator for Korean entertainment site, Seoulbeats) said, fans tend to feel that there is an unspoken understanding between them and idols. In return for their investment of money and time, fans expect a certain amount of 'monogamous' dedication back from the idols. "It may seem unrealistic, but the expectation of the role as an idol includes an understanding that your fans and your group come first over your personal desires" she says. Moreover, most fans tend to project an image of chastity onto their idols. They expect their idols to not be in relationships and not desire anyone romantically or sexually. This is especially the case with female idols who are expected to be 'pure' and 'chaste'. So when news regarding relationships are released, their beliefs and fantasies are ruined. This destruction of their fantasy combined with the incredible loyalty they had for the group and its image can make fans turn against the very idol they once supported.
However, this is where international fans come into play. Most people who grow up listening to Western music are used to seeing artists in relationships. Some artists are even inspired to write their own music based on experiences from relationships they have had. Therefore, it is mostly considered normal for artists to date and get married. If a significant amount of the fanbase comprises of international fans, which is the case of EXO, the overwhelming support from them can counter the backlash from most of the Korean fans. When EXO's Chen announced his marriage, he received support from fans all across the world. They wanted him to stay with EXO even though some Korean fans demanded his removal from the group, and SM Entertainment listened to the international fans. While he still lost many fansites and received backlash, the damage to his career was minimal and not as huge as the loss of fellow company mate, Sungmin, who Galaxy will later elaborate on.
The second factor that I think is important is gender, and it is an absolute shame that at this time and age, this factor even exists. When idols get into relationships — be it with other idols or non-celebrities — if it is a female idol, her career will be affected way more than her male counterpart's. While male idols manage to make it out alive with most of their career intact, female idols have their whole career at stake. The image projected onto female idols is a very virginal image. They are seen as pure and chaste, but ironically, their outfits are meant to make them look sexually attractive so that they can feed the fantasy of their male fans. Dating news, marriage news or the worst of the lot, pregnancy news, are seen as a violation of this image. It makes them less desirable for male fans and therefore, they tend to lose some support. Women nearly always take the most brunt of the backlash. They are slut-shamed and criticized by their fans and fans of the person they are dating. Their CF deals plummet and they will find their popularity waning. This was the case with both EXID's Hani and AOA's Seolhyun who prior to their dating news, had an enormous amount of brand power and to an extent, they were considered to be the most bankable idols in the industry. However, once news got out that they were in relationships, their brand value started to drop. While they are still respected in the industry and have a good level of brand power, it is not to the extent of what it was before. Once female idols marry, they are expected to retire from the industry or at the least be less active. If they do choose to be active, fans do not give as much as support as they did prior to the wedding. Female idols suffer the most especially when it comes to shotgun weddings. Both Crayon Pop's former member Soyul and Laboum's former member Yulhee were chastised by fans because they were pregnant during their wedding. They ultimately left their groups and retired from being idols to a certain extent. All the hard work they put in over the years came to naught in just a moment.
There are still many other factors that come into play and Galaxy will elaborate on them. Needless to say, there is definitely going to be an impact on an idol's career when they are caught in a relationship 'scandal'. Even in the best case scenario in which a couple is met with much support from their fans, they will still suffer minimal damage. This can be seen with Big Bang's Taeyang and Min Hyorin. When they announced their wedding, fans of both celebrities showed a lot of support but there was still some loss to Taeyang's career. Some fans did not accept his relationship and were upset about it, resulting in backlash.
When it comes to idols, even if their careers aren't permanently lost, there will at least be a temporary slump. After all, their success is not just dependent on who they love. There are a lot of other things such as the music they create, the exposure they have, the public's support and a dose of luck. However, their career will see some damage, they would see a drop. Thinking that everything will be the same or that they will immediately get much better is naive at best and ignorant at worst. They can lose hope and the ability to pick themselves up when they think that everything is going to be perfectly fine but in reality, it won't. However, I do have faith that with time, idols' relationships will not be even considered a scandal due to the industry's exposure to more western ideals as of late. It may still be news but it won't come at the cost of their careers.
Galaxy
I wish I could say that 2020 will be the year of acceptation. However, the more I think about it, the more I realise that the situation is way more complicated than it seems, and even though things might become slightly easier for idols this year, we are not about to witness any groundbreaking revolution that will give all of them a complete sense of freedom when it comes to their private life.
I would like to start by stating what I consider to still be a fact in 2020: as unfair as it is, not all idols can be given the same support in a society that is full of prejudice and likes to judge everything and everyone. First of all, the situation seems out of hand for couples with a huge age gap, and we have been given a proof of it earlier this year. A quick search on the Internet is enough to see that the news of Park Jihyo and Kang Daniel being together was more accepted by fans (despite accusations that will be mentioned later in this article) than Hirai Momo dating Kim Heechul. The two girls belong to the same group, and both couples were recently forced to confirm their relationship. Why was there such a huge difference in reactions? The main reason is simple: Jihyo is only two months younger than her boyfriend, while Momo and Heechul have an age gap of thirteen years. Despite both of them being adults, they are deemed an 'unconventional' couple and all sorts of disgusting scenarios were invented to explain how they got together. Idols can also expect huge criticism if they get married soon after revealing that they're expecting a baby. It doesn't matter whether the couple has been dating for a few months or several years, or if they had planned to tie the knot before they learnt about the pregnancy — you can be sure judgmental netizens will be around to type the words "shotgun wedding" frantically on their keyboard. The fact that SM Entertainment had to release a statement to clarify that Chen wouldn't be kicked out of EXO for getting married to his long-time girlfriend and starting his own family in the process is still something that I can't comprehend. Last but not least, even though the world slowly becomes more tolerant, we all know that the fight for equal rights in love is far from being over, especially in Korea. Some groups openly defend the LGBTQIA+ community, or hinted that they themselves don't identify as heterosexual, but we have yet to see any big names come forward and reveal that they are actually in a relationship with someone of the same sex. Can you recall seeing any idol from the Big Three or any other influential company walking hand in hand with their same-sex partner? No, you can't, and me neither. Looking at how the K-Pop industry operates, it is hard to imagine idols coming out easily after years of being marketed in a very specific way.
This marketing issue goes further than just being forced into a you-must-meet-society-standards box. For companies, picking teenagers and training them for their new groups means turning them into 'products', with rules they must follow and behaviors they must adopt. In 2020, idols are still told what to sing, where to live, what to post on social networks, and when to date — or rather, not to date, because it is hard for an entertainment company to keep control in case their employees make it to the headlines for a 'dating scandal'. An idol's career ends up affecting their personal lives entirely, and they must be ready to act professional twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The aim is to make people believe that their favorite artist embodies the ideal person they are searching for, and ultimately, the most dedicated fans will think they have a say on every aspect of the idol's life, because that person must meet the standards they have been promised. Last summer, Kang Daniel was revealed to be dating only a couple of weeks after his solo debut, and even though he has been in the industry for a few years, a part of his fandom considered it was disrespectful of him to have a girlfriend this soon. The man was accused of fooling around while his fangirls were busy voting for him on award shows and he had to apologize for it. After some time, his company eventually decided to sue anyone who spread rumors and insults on the Internet. How did Daniel force KONNECT Entertainment to take action? The answer is not hard to find: he is the founder of that company. The power he holds can't be compared to that of many other idols who can only follow whatever decision their higher-ups make for them.
Only the ones who have been in the industry for several years and have gained enough credibility can be granted more freedom — but it isn't a guarantee that fans will be pleased with their decisions. There seems to be a set of rules, almost like a protocol, that idols must follow to come forward and reveal they're in a serious relationship. If one waits a little too long before the announcement and gets caught first, they might end up like Super Junior's Sungmin, who is still not able to perform with his group even after five years of marriage. Sungmin debuted nine years before he met his wife, but is still told not to come back by the same people who had cheered for him since 2005. EXO's Chen obviously kept that in mind when he announced his upcoming wedding and baby in a letter, but as I mentioned earlier, he still had to apologize for the way he broke the news, because it was apparently not good enough for some Korean fans. Many still don't want to accept that idols are normal people who work during the day, go home in the evening and have a private life, because that does not correspond with the way companies treat and sell their 'products'. First and foremost, most K-Pop groups target a young audience, and it will be hard to make teenagers change their mindset.
In the end, is it that difficult to conclude that only the ones who can tick all the 'politically correct' boxes can try to maintain their career with their private life known to the public? No, it isn't. As long as some relationships or sexual orientations are deemed 'unconventional' by a part of society, we can't close our eyes on the situation and say that every artist can start their fight for private life rights on equal grounds and win it at the same pace. Even in the case that mentalities finally evolve, idols' struggles will only end on the day the entire K-Pop industry makes it 100% clear that we should be fans of human-beings, not robots — and unless their marketing strategies take a completely different direction in 2020, I can't imagine things improving significantly in the near future. Add one argument to the other, and it makes too many changes to go through in such a short amount of time, even with K-Pop becoming more global and gathering different kinds of reactions. Sure, some idols can still maintain their career even with dating news... but they can't expect to not have to fight for it with all their might and not lose significant support in the process, which is not what I consider enough progress at all.
Timingil
If you're familiar with the world and terms of K-Pop, you're probably well aware of (at least) a few of the numerous love-scandals that 'mar' its 'pristine legacy'. Maybe you've even witnessed one unfold in real-time — massive fan outrage, company statements, tearful apologies, injured careers. It's quite a bizarre phenomenon, really. It's difficult to believe in its sheer disproportionality, and exhausting in its tendency to repeat itself. We can all think of numerous examples of this, many strikingly similar to one another despite being separated by significant amounts of time (Sungmin and Chen come to mind here).
However, sprinkled through are a few specks of hope — cases of idols carrying on relationships in the public eye without any real backlash. Though one may (fairly) consider these to be exceptions to a general rule, I believe that the very existence of such exceptions has some significance.
What I think is the biggest cause behind the often extreme intolerance for idol relationships is one of the fundamental components of K-Pop marketing — the creation of a romantic, sexual fantasy and an illusion of a personal relationship with the consumer. Your idol is a beautiful, desirable person, and your idol has a special connection with you. Your idol knows you love him or her, and your idol would never do anything to betray you. Really, in exchange for your money and time, you are being made the tacit promise of allegiance and availability. Therefore, unsurprisingly, the response to the obliteration of such roseate dreams — say, your idol announcing their marriage — is righteous indignation.
Now, the deal is that it is completely possible to produce a successful K-Pop group or solo artist without this type of marketing (though such cases are few and far between). The most obvious example of this would be Big Bang. They were never sold as hot guys to crush on; rather, they were built upon an image of 'true artistry' and exclusivity. The results are plain to see — Taeyang has had one of the most successful relationship disclosures in idol history. His relationship with Min Hyorin was revealed, they continued dating in the public eye for years, and then got married, all in relative peace. This was because his fans had never been given the impression that they were entitled to him in any way whatsoever.
Another important aspect to take into consideration is the nature of Korean society as a whole. Despite a surface of hi-tech hyper-modernity, Korea is still a deeply conservative country. Many things that most people in the West wouldn't even blink an eye at are still shrouded in heavy stigma. Sexual freedom, unplanned pregnancies, shotgun weddings, any sort of deviation from heterosexuality — these are all things that are quite widely frowned upon in the East. As a result, certain types of behaviour are bound to be met with public backlash. In Chen's case, for instance, many of you may have come across online comments written by his antis that are variations of the following: "If he continues on in EXO, their reputation will be ruined cause he knocked a girl up". What you have here is a fusion of the aforementioned righteous indignation and disapproval stemming from a conservative mindset — a recipe for disaster. In contrast, Taeyang, once again, is the template for success in this matter, simply because nothing he has done over the course of his relationship could be labelled or judged as 'immoral'. He went about his business in the 'right way', as far as Korean norms are concerned, and faced no societal repercussions as a result.
In conclusion, though it is an undeniably difficult feat to pull off, I do think that given the right set of circumstances, a very careful idol would be able to get away with dating, just as such idols have been able to do so in the past.
miatheikonic
Lately, it seems like there are more and more idols announcing their relationship to fans. They are being more open about their private, romantic life. Their fans don't all share the same opinion about their dating, they are deeply divided between being disappointed at their idol and feeling happy that they found someone to love romantically. Some fans would prefer the member who is dating to be kicked out of the group, while some fans are supportive of their relationship. Needless to say, fans are the core of a group — they keep them alive as long as they are active, hence, an idol's success depends on their fanbase. This often means that idols aren't completely free to do whatever they want, because their fans will always have an opinion on everything they do, be it good or bad. Every step they take is bound to have an impact on their fans' feelings. Fans can even make their career a living hell if they don't approve of their idol's actions or words. Devoted stans can become an idol's worst enemy the moment they feel disrespected, but was it the case? Looking at past relationship announcements, it is easy to notice that fans' reactions weren't nearly as bad as we may have expected. The reasons for this may not be many, as each of the past few announcements were different from one another. First of all is, of course, us getting used to the idea of idols dating.
Back in 2014, we had one of the biggest K-Pop dating scandals, Girls' Generation's leader, Taeyeon and EXO's golden boy, Baekhyun were revealed to be in a relationship. They are a couple that is still being discussed to this day. If you got into K-Pop before 2014, you will surely remember all the backlash they both got. Taeyeon suffered from EXO-Ls' constant attacks and insults while Baekhyun didn't pass under the radar for SONEs or his own fandom either. Many EXO-Ls left the fandom and fansites were closing rapidly. Taeyeon's teary breakdown at the airport is hard to forget, and both of them had to apologise numerous times. It seemed like everything that could go wrong with this couple went wrong. Now, fast-forward to 2019 and its famous new year's couple reveal: Blackpink's it girl, Jennie, and EXO's adored visual, Kai. Headless hate towards both was set, but backlash? We got almost none of it. The couple got us shocked at first, everyone was talking about them, they all had their theories and thoughts on this news, but both of the fandoms were pretty accepting of the relationship. We can say it was due to an evolution, from idols being scrutinised like BaekYeon to acceptation such as in the case of JenKai.
As always, the minority that disapproves will exist, but their influence is almost non-existent. EXO's Chen's marriage announcement and his fiancee's pregnancy woke up the loud minority, but it resulted in an embarrassing protest of a mere total of 20 people. One would think that an 'unconventional' couple like Super Junior's Heechul and Twice's Momo would suffer from a lot of harsh words and judgement for their 13-year age difference and the fact that he is a member of always hated Super Junior, or that ELFs with stocks in SM Entertainment would suspend him from the group (it happened to his groupmate). Luckily, none of these happened. Of course, the minority was loud and it would be a lie to say that Heechul wasn't affected at all, but he is happily promoting with his group as much as his health allows while maintaining his relationship with Momo. Momo's groupmate, leader Jihyo, is also an example of a successful relationship. We found out about her relationship with Kang Daniel quite some time ago, and fans remained nothing but thrilled about it from the beginning up until today. It is hard to pinpoint a relationship that received huge backlash in recent years, and if K-Pop evolves as it did to this point, it is not unreal to expect that idols can slowly open up more to the fans about their romantic life. We can't deny the couples that had it rough, and it will probably take the industry a long time until idols dating becomes a norm, however, we can't help but notice the shift in reactions over the last few years.
Moving on to the couples that weren't as fortunate as the above-mentioned ones, they include Hyuna and Hyojong or Dawn, ex-Pentagon's E'Dawn, and of course, the infamous scandal that Super Junior's Sungmin had when he announced his marriage to Kim Sa Eun. Hyuna and Dawn were both kicked out of their respective groups and even their agency, while Sungmin is on indefinite hiatus from Super Junior. If we were to look at why their relationships weren't approved like the others, we can notice the clear difference in the way and the time that the news was announced. Dawn and Hyuna were rumoured to be dating for a long time before CUBE responded to the news. Just a few hours after their agency denied it, Hyuna told us the truth at her fan meeting, shocking us way more than their agency would have if they had confirmed the relationship. All that followed this couple was a mess, the agency's stocks collapsed, fans were angry, and the couple were in talks with CUBE for almost a month. It remains unclear how the situation with the two would turn out if it wasn't for their agency kicking them out for going against their statement, so I wouldn't draw any conclusions on this case, as it had very little to do with fans. Meanwhile, Sungmin's case was so much more than just a wedding announcement — it had sasaengs involved, his group's schedules suffered — many factors that made the fans start losing their support for him. Sungmin's marriage announcement and what followed remains a dark part of Super Junior's career, as this member still seeks his return to the group. However, it would be a reach to say it was just the fandom's jealousy as it encompasses a lot more.
What we can draw from these relationships is that a good part of a fandom's support depends on the group's and idol's situation and timing rather than it being simple enough to say that fans won't ever be open to their favourite star's dating life. Of course, it is still sad how an idol's biggest support, their fans, can ruin their career in a blink of an eye for one wrong move. However, as stated before, I do believe that the time has finally come for relationships to be accepted, and I do believe that as long as the agency doesn't ruin the possibility for an idol's happiness, they can peacefully date. Let's hope that the trend of idols dating while still maintaining their careers continues.
You've reached the end of this article! As you could see, even though we tried to either completely agree or disagree with the question we tackled, none of us managed to pick a side and 100% defend it. This matter is way more complicated than it seems, and the more we wrote, the more we had difficulties in not finding arguments that went against our original ideas. As for you, what's your opinion on the matter? Since we couldn't develop as much as we wanted — this article is very long but, believe us, we had to cut a lot! — we'd be glad to see our readers either defend or go against what we wrote and bring more examples of relationships that are worth mentioning. Whatever happens, please remember to debate peacefully and with respect. Thanks a lot for reading, and we will see you next month!
PROOFREAD BY: WITHJUYEON
GRAPHICS BY: RINOA
CAN IDOLS MAINTAIN A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AFTER REVEALING THEIR RELATIONSHIP?
Welcome to our new series, "Press Discusses"! Once a month, our team's writers and proofreaders will choose a topic and discuss it in a special article. Our goal is to start a debate with our readers on general questions that K-Pop, J-Pop or C-Pop fans regularly get confronted with, and certainly have an opinion on — so it's clear, we don't aim to make any artist, user or fandom feel offended by what will be written in these articles. In order to be as objective as we can, we challenge ourselves as forum writers and provide food for thoughts on different perspectives, we will sometimes defend points of views that aren't our own. We don't consider ourselves to be 'experts' of any sort and we are more than excited to read your own arguments in the comments!
2020 has only started four months ago, but we can already see a change of mentalities regarding the private life of K-Pop idols. Since January, numerous big names have revealed that they're currently in a relationship, (soon-to-be) married, expecting children or already parents. The list of officially-dating celebrities becomes longer every week — and for once, most of them seem to come forward because they want to, not only due to rumors or leaked pictures that they must address.
It is a known fact that such revelations might provoke an uproar among fans, but it doesn't seem to stop idols from taking this big step anymore. Do they now consider that they've seen enough of their peers deal with the situation in the past, making them feel more prepared to face potential criticism? Do they feel more confident because many others are dropping the bomb all at the same time? We can't know for sure, but we can wonder if it's finally become possible for idols to maintain their career while dating in the open. Four of our writers decided to debate on this matter — and even though we found it impossible to strictly answer 'yes' or 'no' to this question, each of us had the difficult task to pick a side and find arguments to defend it.
Akidoki
To be honest, in my opinion, the answer is no. There will surely be some loss to an idol's career. Even if they are not written off, they would still lose some brand power and their careers will be affected, at least for a while. When it comes to idols maintaining their careers, there are many factors that come into play. The way these factors interact would, in my opinion, decide how much they stand to lose. For some, it could be very little while for others, their entire career could be at risk. Given the length of the discussion, I will be looking at what I think are the two most important factors.
The first factor is the fanbase. How much of an idol's career is attributed to their fans? How much fan service do they indulge in? Do they have a lot of international fans? Jenna Gibson, a Korea specialist at the University of Chicago, proclaims that much of the criticism against idols pursuing relationships comes from their fanbase. An idol's career is heavily dependent on the support of their fans. Many groups have become famous worldwide thanks to their fans, and the K-Pop industry knows this. "The K-Pop industry has very smartly built itself around creating incredibly dedicated fanbases," Miss Gibson said. She went on to add that "Fan communities also take more personal responsibility for promoting their favorite group and keeping the group's public image clean."
You would notice fans purchasing advertisement space for their idols, making donations to charities under the idol's name and even streaming YouTube videos to make the idol trend worldwide. Their support and loyalty can take groups straight to the top. However, this amount of sheer dedication does not mean that fans can feel entitled. Miss Gibson remarked, "In a perverse way, because fans put in so much effort to promote and publicize a good image of their idol, some of them get the idea that they should have some say over the idol's actions and personal life." This is further influenced by how the K-Pop industry tends to create a fantasy for fanbases. Idols have a tendency to view their fanbase from the perspective of a girlfriend or boyfriend. They romanticize the idol-fan relationship. They tend to harmlessly flirt with their fans and always affirm the importance of their fanbase. They engage in a lot of fan service to win over the support of their fans. Some even go on to say words such as "You are everything to me" or "You are the most important to me". These statements may seem innocent but they feed fans' fantasy and sense of entitlement over the idol. Some fans even firmly believe that they actually have the chance to be in a romantic relationship with the Idol.
As Lindsay Roberts (an outreach coordinator for Korean entertainment site, Seoulbeats) said, fans tend to feel that there is an unspoken understanding between them and idols. In return for their investment of money and time, fans expect a certain amount of 'monogamous' dedication back from the idols. "It may seem unrealistic, but the expectation of the role as an idol includes an understanding that your fans and your group come first over your personal desires" she says. Moreover, most fans tend to project an image of chastity onto their idols. They expect their idols to not be in relationships and not desire anyone romantically or sexually. This is especially the case with female idols who are expected to be 'pure' and 'chaste'. So when news regarding relationships are released, their beliefs and fantasies are ruined. This destruction of their fantasy combined with the incredible loyalty they had for the group and its image can make fans turn against the very idol they once supported.
However, this is where international fans come into play. Most people who grow up listening to Western music are used to seeing artists in relationships. Some artists are even inspired to write their own music based on experiences from relationships they have had. Therefore, it is mostly considered normal for artists to date and get married. If a significant amount of the fanbase comprises of international fans, which is the case of EXO, the overwhelming support from them can counter the backlash from most of the Korean fans. When EXO's Chen announced his marriage, he received support from fans all across the world. They wanted him to stay with EXO even though some Korean fans demanded his removal from the group, and SM Entertainment listened to the international fans. While he still lost many fansites and received backlash, the damage to his career was minimal and not as huge as the loss of fellow company mate, Sungmin, who Galaxy will later elaborate on.
The second factor that I think is important is gender, and it is an absolute shame that at this time and age, this factor even exists. When idols get into relationships — be it with other idols or non-celebrities — if it is a female idol, her career will be affected way more than her male counterpart's. While male idols manage to make it out alive with most of their career intact, female idols have their whole career at stake. The image projected onto female idols is a very virginal image. They are seen as pure and chaste, but ironically, their outfits are meant to make them look sexually attractive so that they can feed the fantasy of their male fans. Dating news, marriage news or the worst of the lot, pregnancy news, are seen as a violation of this image. It makes them less desirable for male fans and therefore, they tend to lose some support. Women nearly always take the most brunt of the backlash. They are slut-shamed and criticized by their fans and fans of the person they are dating. Their CF deals plummet and they will find their popularity waning. This was the case with both EXID's Hani and AOA's Seolhyun who prior to their dating news, had an enormous amount of brand power and to an extent, they were considered to be the most bankable idols in the industry. However, once news got out that they were in relationships, their brand value started to drop. While they are still respected in the industry and have a good level of brand power, it is not to the extent of what it was before. Once female idols marry, they are expected to retire from the industry or at the least be less active. If they do choose to be active, fans do not give as much as support as they did prior to the wedding. Female idols suffer the most especially when it comes to shotgun weddings. Both Crayon Pop's former member Soyul and Laboum's former member Yulhee were chastised by fans because they were pregnant during their wedding. They ultimately left their groups and retired from being idols to a certain extent. All the hard work they put in over the years came to naught in just a moment.
There are still many other factors that come into play and Galaxy will elaborate on them. Needless to say, there is definitely going to be an impact on an idol's career when they are caught in a relationship 'scandal'. Even in the best case scenario in which a couple is met with much support from their fans, they will still suffer minimal damage. This can be seen with Big Bang's Taeyang and Min Hyorin. When they announced their wedding, fans of both celebrities showed a lot of support but there was still some loss to Taeyang's career. Some fans did not accept his relationship and were upset about it, resulting in backlash.
When it comes to idols, even if their careers aren't permanently lost, there will at least be a temporary slump. After all, their success is not just dependent on who they love. There are a lot of other things such as the music they create, the exposure they have, the public's support and a dose of luck. However, their career will see some damage, they would see a drop. Thinking that everything will be the same or that they will immediately get much better is naive at best and ignorant at worst. They can lose hope and the ability to pick themselves up when they think that everything is going to be perfectly fine but in reality, it won't. However, I do have faith that with time, idols' relationships will not be even considered a scandal due to the industry's exposure to more western ideals as of late. It may still be news but it won't come at the cost of their careers.
Galaxy
I wish I could say that 2020 will be the year of acceptation. However, the more I think about it, the more I realise that the situation is way more complicated than it seems, and even though things might become slightly easier for idols this year, we are not about to witness any groundbreaking revolution that will give all of them a complete sense of freedom when it comes to their private life.
I would like to start by stating what I consider to still be a fact in 2020: as unfair as it is, not all idols can be given the same support in a society that is full of prejudice and likes to judge everything and everyone. First of all, the situation seems out of hand for couples with a huge age gap, and we have been given a proof of it earlier this year. A quick search on the Internet is enough to see that the news of Park Jihyo and Kang Daniel being together was more accepted by fans (despite accusations that will be mentioned later in this article) than Hirai Momo dating Kim Heechul. The two girls belong to the same group, and both couples were recently forced to confirm their relationship. Why was there such a huge difference in reactions? The main reason is simple: Jihyo is only two months younger than her boyfriend, while Momo and Heechul have an age gap of thirteen years. Despite both of them being adults, they are deemed an 'unconventional' couple and all sorts of disgusting scenarios were invented to explain how they got together. Idols can also expect huge criticism if they get married soon after revealing that they're expecting a baby. It doesn't matter whether the couple has been dating for a few months or several years, or if they had planned to tie the knot before they learnt about the pregnancy — you can be sure judgmental netizens will be around to type the words "shotgun wedding" frantically on their keyboard. The fact that SM Entertainment had to release a statement to clarify that Chen wouldn't be kicked out of EXO for getting married to his long-time girlfriend and starting his own family in the process is still something that I can't comprehend. Last but not least, even though the world slowly becomes more tolerant, we all know that the fight for equal rights in love is far from being over, especially in Korea. Some groups openly defend the LGBTQIA+ community, or hinted that they themselves don't identify as heterosexual, but we have yet to see any big names come forward and reveal that they are actually in a relationship with someone of the same sex. Can you recall seeing any idol from the Big Three or any other influential company walking hand in hand with their same-sex partner? No, you can't, and me neither. Looking at how the K-Pop industry operates, it is hard to imagine idols coming out easily after years of being marketed in a very specific way.
This marketing issue goes further than just being forced into a you-must-meet-society-standards box. For companies, picking teenagers and training them for their new groups means turning them into 'products', with rules they must follow and behaviors they must adopt. In 2020, idols are still told what to sing, where to live, what to post on social networks, and when to date — or rather, not to date, because it is hard for an entertainment company to keep control in case their employees make it to the headlines for a 'dating scandal'. An idol's career ends up affecting their personal lives entirely, and they must be ready to act professional twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The aim is to make people believe that their favorite artist embodies the ideal person they are searching for, and ultimately, the most dedicated fans will think they have a say on every aspect of the idol's life, because that person must meet the standards they have been promised. Last summer, Kang Daniel was revealed to be dating only a couple of weeks after his solo debut, and even though he has been in the industry for a few years, a part of his fandom considered it was disrespectful of him to have a girlfriend this soon. The man was accused of fooling around while his fangirls were busy voting for him on award shows and he had to apologize for it. After some time, his company eventually decided to sue anyone who spread rumors and insults on the Internet. How did Daniel force KONNECT Entertainment to take action? The answer is not hard to find: he is the founder of that company. The power he holds can't be compared to that of many other idols who can only follow whatever decision their higher-ups make for them.
Only the ones who have been in the industry for several years and have gained enough credibility can be granted more freedom — but it isn't a guarantee that fans will be pleased with their decisions. There seems to be a set of rules, almost like a protocol, that idols must follow to come forward and reveal they're in a serious relationship. If one waits a little too long before the announcement and gets caught first, they might end up like Super Junior's Sungmin, who is still not able to perform with his group even after five years of marriage. Sungmin debuted nine years before he met his wife, but is still told not to come back by the same people who had cheered for him since 2005. EXO's Chen obviously kept that in mind when he announced his upcoming wedding and baby in a letter, but as I mentioned earlier, he still had to apologize for the way he broke the news, because it was apparently not good enough for some Korean fans. Many still don't want to accept that idols are normal people who work during the day, go home in the evening and have a private life, because that does not correspond with the way companies treat and sell their 'products'. First and foremost, most K-Pop groups target a young audience, and it will be hard to make teenagers change their mindset.
In the end, is it that difficult to conclude that only the ones who can tick all the 'politically correct' boxes can try to maintain their career with their private life known to the public? No, it isn't. As long as some relationships or sexual orientations are deemed 'unconventional' by a part of society, we can't close our eyes on the situation and say that every artist can start their fight for private life rights on equal grounds and win it at the same pace. Even in the case that mentalities finally evolve, idols' struggles will only end on the day the entire K-Pop industry makes it 100% clear that we should be fans of human-beings, not robots — and unless their marketing strategies take a completely different direction in 2020, I can't imagine things improving significantly in the near future. Add one argument to the other, and it makes too many changes to go through in such a short amount of time, even with K-Pop becoming more global and gathering different kinds of reactions. Sure, some idols can still maintain their career even with dating news... but they can't expect to not have to fight for it with all their might and not lose significant support in the process, which is not what I consider enough progress at all.
Timingil
If you're familiar with the world and terms of K-Pop, you're probably well aware of (at least) a few of the numerous love-scandals that 'mar' its 'pristine legacy'. Maybe you've even witnessed one unfold in real-time — massive fan outrage, company statements, tearful apologies, injured careers. It's quite a bizarre phenomenon, really. It's difficult to believe in its sheer disproportionality, and exhausting in its tendency to repeat itself. We can all think of numerous examples of this, many strikingly similar to one another despite being separated by significant amounts of time (Sungmin and Chen come to mind here).
However, sprinkled through are a few specks of hope — cases of idols carrying on relationships in the public eye without any real backlash. Though one may (fairly) consider these to be exceptions to a general rule, I believe that the very existence of such exceptions has some significance.
What I think is the biggest cause behind the often extreme intolerance for idol relationships is one of the fundamental components of K-Pop marketing — the creation of a romantic, sexual fantasy and an illusion of a personal relationship with the consumer. Your idol is a beautiful, desirable person, and your idol has a special connection with you. Your idol knows you love him or her, and your idol would never do anything to betray you. Really, in exchange for your money and time, you are being made the tacit promise of allegiance and availability. Therefore, unsurprisingly, the response to the obliteration of such roseate dreams — say, your idol announcing their marriage — is righteous indignation.
Now, the deal is that it is completely possible to produce a successful K-Pop group or solo artist without this type of marketing (though such cases are few and far between). The most obvious example of this would be Big Bang. They were never sold as hot guys to crush on; rather, they were built upon an image of 'true artistry' and exclusivity. The results are plain to see — Taeyang has had one of the most successful relationship disclosures in idol history. His relationship with Min Hyorin was revealed, they continued dating in the public eye for years, and then got married, all in relative peace. This was because his fans had never been given the impression that they were entitled to him in any way whatsoever.
Another important aspect to take into consideration is the nature of Korean society as a whole. Despite a surface of hi-tech hyper-modernity, Korea is still a deeply conservative country. Many things that most people in the West wouldn't even blink an eye at are still shrouded in heavy stigma. Sexual freedom, unplanned pregnancies, shotgun weddings, any sort of deviation from heterosexuality — these are all things that are quite widely frowned upon in the East. As a result, certain types of behaviour are bound to be met with public backlash. In Chen's case, for instance, many of you may have come across online comments written by his antis that are variations of the following: "If he continues on in EXO, their reputation will be ruined cause he knocked a girl up". What you have here is a fusion of the aforementioned righteous indignation and disapproval stemming from a conservative mindset — a recipe for disaster. In contrast, Taeyang, once again, is the template for success in this matter, simply because nothing he has done over the course of his relationship could be labelled or judged as 'immoral'. He went about his business in the 'right way', as far as Korean norms are concerned, and faced no societal repercussions as a result.
In conclusion, though it is an undeniably difficult feat to pull off, I do think that given the right set of circumstances, a very careful idol would be able to get away with dating, just as such idols have been able to do so in the past.
miatheikonic
Lately, it seems like there are more and more idols announcing their relationship to fans. They are being more open about their private, romantic life. Their fans don't all share the same opinion about their dating, they are deeply divided between being disappointed at their idol and feeling happy that they found someone to love romantically. Some fans would prefer the member who is dating to be kicked out of the group, while some fans are supportive of their relationship. Needless to say, fans are the core of a group — they keep them alive as long as they are active, hence, an idol's success depends on their fanbase. This often means that idols aren't completely free to do whatever they want, because their fans will always have an opinion on everything they do, be it good or bad. Every step they take is bound to have an impact on their fans' feelings. Fans can even make their career a living hell if they don't approve of their idol's actions or words. Devoted stans can become an idol's worst enemy the moment they feel disrespected, but was it the case? Looking at past relationship announcements, it is easy to notice that fans' reactions weren't nearly as bad as we may have expected. The reasons for this may not be many, as each of the past few announcements were different from one another. First of all is, of course, us getting used to the idea of idols dating.
Back in 2014, we had one of the biggest K-Pop dating scandals, Girls' Generation's leader, Taeyeon and EXO's golden boy, Baekhyun were revealed to be in a relationship. They are a couple that is still being discussed to this day. If you got into K-Pop before 2014, you will surely remember all the backlash they both got. Taeyeon suffered from EXO-Ls' constant attacks and insults while Baekhyun didn't pass under the radar for SONEs or his own fandom either. Many EXO-Ls left the fandom and fansites were closing rapidly. Taeyeon's teary breakdown at the airport is hard to forget, and both of them had to apologise numerous times. It seemed like everything that could go wrong with this couple went wrong. Now, fast-forward to 2019 and its famous new year's couple reveal: Blackpink's it girl, Jennie, and EXO's adored visual, Kai. Headless hate towards both was set, but backlash? We got almost none of it. The couple got us shocked at first, everyone was talking about them, they all had their theories and thoughts on this news, but both of the fandoms were pretty accepting of the relationship. We can say it was due to an evolution, from idols being scrutinised like BaekYeon to acceptation such as in the case of JenKai.
As always, the minority that disapproves will exist, but their influence is almost non-existent. EXO's Chen's marriage announcement and his fiancee's pregnancy woke up the loud minority, but it resulted in an embarrassing protest of a mere total of 20 people. One would think that an 'unconventional' couple like Super Junior's Heechul and Twice's Momo would suffer from a lot of harsh words and judgement for their 13-year age difference and the fact that he is a member of always hated Super Junior, or that ELFs with stocks in SM Entertainment would suspend him from the group (it happened to his groupmate). Luckily, none of these happened. Of course, the minority was loud and it would be a lie to say that Heechul wasn't affected at all, but he is happily promoting with his group as much as his health allows while maintaining his relationship with Momo. Momo's groupmate, leader Jihyo, is also an example of a successful relationship. We found out about her relationship with Kang Daniel quite some time ago, and fans remained nothing but thrilled about it from the beginning up until today. It is hard to pinpoint a relationship that received huge backlash in recent years, and if K-Pop evolves as it did to this point, it is not unreal to expect that idols can slowly open up more to the fans about their romantic life. We can't deny the couples that had it rough, and it will probably take the industry a long time until idols dating becomes a norm, however, we can't help but notice the shift in reactions over the last few years.
Moving on to the couples that weren't as fortunate as the above-mentioned ones, they include Hyuna and Hyojong or Dawn, ex-Pentagon's E'Dawn, and of course, the infamous scandal that Super Junior's Sungmin had when he announced his marriage to Kim Sa Eun. Hyuna and Dawn were both kicked out of their respective groups and even their agency, while Sungmin is on indefinite hiatus from Super Junior. If we were to look at why their relationships weren't approved like the others, we can notice the clear difference in the way and the time that the news was announced. Dawn and Hyuna were rumoured to be dating for a long time before CUBE responded to the news. Just a few hours after their agency denied it, Hyuna told us the truth at her fan meeting, shocking us way more than their agency would have if they had confirmed the relationship. All that followed this couple was a mess, the agency's stocks collapsed, fans were angry, and the couple were in talks with CUBE for almost a month. It remains unclear how the situation with the two would turn out if it wasn't for their agency kicking them out for going against their statement, so I wouldn't draw any conclusions on this case, as it had very little to do with fans. Meanwhile, Sungmin's case was so much more than just a wedding announcement — it had sasaengs involved, his group's schedules suffered — many factors that made the fans start losing their support for him. Sungmin's marriage announcement and what followed remains a dark part of Super Junior's career, as this member still seeks his return to the group. However, it would be a reach to say it was just the fandom's jealousy as it encompasses a lot more.
What we can draw from these relationships is that a good part of a fandom's support depends on the group's and idol's situation and timing rather than it being simple enough to say that fans won't ever be open to their favourite star's dating life. Of course, it is still sad how an idol's biggest support, their fans, can ruin their career in a blink of an eye for one wrong move. However, as stated before, I do believe that the time has finally come for relationships to be accepted, and I do believe that as long as the agency doesn't ruin the possibility for an idol's happiness, they can peacefully date. Let's hope that the trend of idols dating while still maintaining their careers continues.
You've reached the end of this article! As you could see, even though we tried to either completely agree or disagree with the question we tackled, none of us managed to pick a side and 100% defend it. This matter is way more complicated than it seems, and the more we wrote, the more we had difficulties in not finding arguments that went against our original ideas. As for you, what's your opinion on the matter? Since we couldn't develop as much as we wanted — this article is very long but, believe us, we had to cut a lot! — we'd be glad to see our readers either defend or go against what we wrote and bring more examples of relationships that are worth mentioning. Whatever happens, please remember to debate peacefully and with respect. Thanks a lot for reading, and we will see you next month!
PROOFREAD BY: WITHJUYEON
GRAPHICS BY: RINOA
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