[The Korea Times / Youtube] WHY I quit living as a K-pop idol: Ex-girl group member talks about the dark side of K-pop

[Whisky23]

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Sigh...i used to (still occasionally do) fight with members of my own fandom over Twice's schedules and rest days, and the one thing I'd always say is that if people wanna worry, they should worry about the nugu groups. The idol life is no bed of roses - you have the year-end awards season, which is super-taxing for popular groups like Twice with numerous stage performances to prep for; you have tours and concerts, and all the prep that go into it; and then you have the music show performances, which require early morning prep and long hours of waiting.

Established groups have better staff support, better facilities (thanks to the whole seniority business), and certainly more flexibility in terms of their lifestyle (eating, personal freedoms, etc.). More importantly, not only are they earning money, they are acknowledged and recognized by fans and the general public for their efforts. Unfortunately, nugu groups, especially from small agencies, have none of those. The fact that the girl debuted after 6 months of intensive training feels like an attempt to rush the training to minimize time and financial costs for the agency. On one extreme, you have trainees who train for 5 years or more. Then you have trainees debut in 6 months. Both are bad, but the short training attempts to do too much in too little time, especially when it comes to weight management.

As I watched the video, I wondered if this girl was from one of those fly-by-night agencies. Turns out, she was from Maroo Entertainment - not a huge agency, not a completely nugu either. Current agency for Norazo and KHAN, and former agency to Kim Jong Kook. I applaud the girl for looking at her harsh training experience in a positive light, but if I was a parent, I would tell my kids that if they can't get into the Big 3, or maybe Big 5, then they can forget about the idol life.

As an aside, I suspect many of the idols fainting on stage have less to do with overly-packed schedules and more to do with them dieting and eating so little while performing on stage. How do you power yourself on 2 eggs, 10 cherry tomatoes, and 10 almonds a day? smh

 

[BianTwo]

Maroo Ent. I knew I already saw this name somewhere, so it's KHAN's label and the duo is MIA since 8 months. Nugu really have hard times, only a miracle or luck can really save you (EXID and Momoland in my mind).

Not surprised anymore but more and more idol/ex-idol are speaking up and that's good.

 

[vitaminplus]

So true dude and as i remember i mostly agreed with all those discussions too people talk about it too easily when we really just never know everything nor will we

 

[Mangiloid]

There are so many ex-idols suddenly speaking up lately. Hm. Interesting to listen although nothing new in this exact interview.

 

[Whisky23]

KEMA is definitely more pro-agency than pro-idol from what I've seen so far, and SK isn't a great place for unions and labor rights, so seeing a idols union forming isn't very likely. But hopefully, with more ex-idols speaking out, more will be done to safeguard current and future trainees and idols.

 

[denizen mars]

There are so many ex-idols suddenly speaking up lately. Hm. Interesting to listen although nothing new in this exact interview.

I think in many cases they're trying to capture attention for a future career as an influencer/YouTuber/BJ/whatever. Kpop fans and people who dislike kpop alike are interested in hearing exposés of behind the scenes stuff, and they've started to realize this and capitalize on it.

 

[fullofjoy]

sad but true

 

[A Flower4ever]

There is also the idols debt with companies, working non-stop without getting paid for years, smh.

About the weight issue, fans still thinking that idols are naturally skinny when in reality many are always doing extreme "diets".

 

[Whisky23]

There is also the idols debt with companies, working non-stop without getting paid for years, smh.

About the weight issue, fans still thinking that idols are naturally skinny when in reality many are always doing extreme "diets".

Yeah, which is why many (but not all) idols come from well-to-do families. The risk of not earning anything is high. As for their weight, so many of their so-called healthy diet plans have been exposed as fake. Most likely, they eat, gain weight, and then starve themselves before a big event like some of the girls I know irl.

 

[Lilac]

Not surprised. I would never debut as idol.

 

[Zent]

Everyone wants to be a star

 

[spo]

I remember BonusBaby. Really really talented girls. Maroo though has always seemed like a bad agency... I'm not surprised by her story, but I'm happy Yoojin was able to recover from her experience and still feels comfortable following her passion for music.

 

[tokki]

not surprising a bit but i’m glad she is able to pick out a few positive experiences from everything to use in her new path, hope she has a bright future~

 

[Whisky23]

I remember BonusBaby. Really really talented girls. Maroo though has always seemed like a bad agency... I'm not surprised by her story, but I'm happy Yoojin was able to recover from her experience and still feels comfortable following her passion for music.

There are a few places that lists Maroo as a subsidiary as MBK, home of Kim Kwang Soo, though it's not listed on Maroo's wiki page. It is true though that Maroo used to be part of Core Contents Media, which eventually became MBK (T-ara, Shannon, etc.). Whatever the actual business relationship, Maroo probably has a lot of the managements philosophies of KKS, which is not a good thing.

 

[PockyAddict89]

I'm so glad that more ex idols are speaking out about thier experience with the industry.

 

[dannyy]

Personally, I always felt anyone who's coming from smaller companies has smaller chances to a breakthrough in the K-Pop harsh industry. And by smaller is actually, literally some company that we've come really hard to find, like, we can't even find their Wikipedia page yet--as for example.

I know it's kind of heartless from me to say this, but to reach certain aspect in Idol's popularity clearly need a lot of cash, man. From the debut, your costumes, hairstylist, makeup, not to mention to also release a breakthrough song that of course will save the group, being talented clearly need to be back up with very great promotional and financial team, and vice versa, being great at promotion and has a lot of money, will completely wasted if you failed to serve music that quite decent to listen.

To summarize everything, I believe everyone who's passionate enough to have a career in music, being an Idol is not the only way. There're so many practical jobs that they could do in the Music Industry, and this also includes in Korean Music Industry as a whole. I believe if you courageous enough to do what you're really dreaming of, there's way coming for you, and have some little faith! I hope this girl find what she's been looking for and continue to survive in the industry. I only wish the best for her!