K-pop Should Stop Debuting Teenage Girls

Lights, Camera, Action! As the lights shine on the young idols that have entered the stage, the audience begins to silence to watch the performance. The music starts, and the idols begin to perform with little awareness of the amount of hate they will get on the internet later that night…

The K-pop industry has become increasingly relevant by the minute, talked about on the global scene on a daily basis. Yet, Korean netizens remain ignorant about the growing trend of debuting young idols. Too young in fact, as teenagers around the age of 14 are becoming the norm for K-pop. There have been many instances of 14-year-olds debuting, like Leeseo of IVE, Chiquita from BABYMONSTER, and Jian of Lightsum. Another dangerous trend is that teenage participation in survival shows is starting to increase; the majority of the contestants on the survival show My Teenage Girl are young teenage girls, with some as young as 11 years old! 

Now, why is this a problem? Well, since the mental health of adults depends greatly on their teenage growth period (ages 11-18), putting them into such an intense environment and an isolated place can affect this growth negatively. These girls are potentially missing out on their childhood years, including socializing with peers and having fun. This environment of confinement will ultimately lead to them not knowing how to deal with adulthood and social interactions. Moreover, because of an idol’s intense schedule, many young teenage girls often sacrifice their education for this career. In addition to missing out on teenage years, lots of K-pop agencies are transitioning to more mature concepts to attract fans and bring in additional profits. However, embodying a mature concept at a teenage age is extremely inappropriate. They are ultimately getting sexualized at a young age for the internet to be exploited for profit, which is not acceptable at all. The internet is also an extraordinarily harsh environment. People are not afraid to harshly criticize the girls for any small minor detail, from their performances not being on par with the impossible standard K-pop idols are held to, to having acne on their skin or having a bloated stomach. For example, when 16-year-old Eunchae from LE SSERAFIM was performing on stage, her outfit exposed her back. As a normal human with normal human problems, Eunchae had some back acne. A picture of her with back acne went viral on the internet and gained all kinds of cruel and disgusting comments from netizens. Netizens started brutally tearing apart this girl and attacked her for not maintaining a perfect image as an idol. As a teenage girl, these types of comments can deeply affect and have a great negative impact on confidence and identity. The girls are still going through a maturing period, and being in this critical spotlight at such a young age is a daunting challenge, no matter how strong internally they may be. 

Even though the problem of young idols debuting cannot be completely stopped, there are some solutions to this problem. For example, survival shows can set an age limit for the contestants who are competing to try to filter out some of the exceptionally young kids. Regarding the sexualization situation, companies should limit the type of concept that they make teenage girls portray. It should be appropriate for their age and focus on ensuring that the girls feel comfortable in what they wear while performing. For the problems surrounding isolationism and education, companies should at least implicate the basic education system, so the girls have another career path if being an idol doesn’t work out. Lastly, since comments criticizing teens can be taken to heart by a lot of them, ultimately causing self-depreciation factors and other mental disorders, companies should prioritize protecting idols from the internet’s hate comments by either sending out statements protecting their idol’s reputation or taking legal action against the person spreading hate.

The trend that more teenagers are debuting throughout the K-pop industry should not be ignored. It is a problem that many people are not aware of. 13 and 14-year-olds should not be exposed to this type of harsh criticism and judgemental environment. Protect teenagers, and especially their mental health!

Sources:

KoreaJoongAngDaily. “With idols debuting as young as 14, experts say it’s time for action” KoreaJoongAngDaily, December 7, 2021, https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/12/07/entertainment/kpop/ive-Leeseo-Wonyoung-Jang-Wonyoung/20211207154449336.html

Ollie Townsend. “Here’s Why MBC’s Controversial New Survival Show “My Teenage Girl” Is Receiving Backlash Before It’s Even Begun” Koreaboo, September 30, 2021, https://www.koreaboo.com/news/mbc-conterversial-survival-show-teenage-girl-receiving-backlash-before-even-begun/

Hachi. “The bittersweet stories with idols debuting at too young an age” KBIZoom, 

February 07, 2022, https://kbizoom.com/the-bittersweet-stories-with-idols-debuting-at-too-young-an-age/