This may be a hot take, but it’s a pet peeve of mine. This post is mainly about kpop idols, but it may apply to other celebrities or even normal people.

So, I have been into kpop since 2013. It’s been a while, eleven years this year, right? I have liked many groups, as I am a multi stan, and I have seen the many controversies happen. I have seen things work out for groups but I have also seen groups be screwed over by the industry or fan culture. I have also seen people from groups I like turn out to be horrible human beings, see Burning Sun scandal.

I’ve seen it all.

There is something I have noticed over the years about how fans view their favourite idols. This is not all fans by the way, so if this isn’t you that’s fine. Anyway, I’ve seen fans view idols as one architype.

In second generation kpop and a bit of third gen too this was encouraged. There would the funny member, the sexy member, the quiet member and the good looking member etc. Yeah, someone’s whole personality would be to be good looking and mysterious.

I remember when they used to force a personality on someone. There was Jin from BTS, he wasn’t allowed to be his goofy self at first. There was L from Infinite, his was so bad that when he’s acting as the company wants he’s L and when he’s himself he’s Myungsoo (his real name). I’ve heard that at first Mingyu from Seventeen was also told not to be himself and to keep a cool persona in front of fans.

That was very much a thing and I used to think it was only the company that forced them into those boxes. However, in recent years they’ve been allowed to have their own personality by their companies but still they get forced into boxes. Why?

I know we like to romanticise second gen and third gen kpop but there are some things from those generations I do not want to come back. One of those things is the type casting, another is hiring someone to be in a singing and dancing group only to serve face… what?

There are fans that will only see an idol in one way. They will either see them as sexy or cute, there is no in-between. Then when that person does something that is outside of whatever personality they’ve given them in their heads they’re like, omd duality.

What duality?! He’s just expressing another facet of his personality like humans do! There’ll be videos showing someone like Chan from Stray Kids smiling and joking around and then bam! He’s on stage angry face and it’s a duality. No, he’s just tapping into another emotion. We all have a full range of emotions. You don’t seriously think someone is happy and smiling all the time right?

I truly believe some fans do not actually see them as humans but as dolls or machines like the companies do.

I talked about Yeosang a bit (a lot) in my Golden Hour Part 1 review so I’ll use him as an example to illustrate what I mean. He is a member of Ateez and compared to the rest of them he is quite quiet. He’s not acting either, man’s just quiet. He takes longer to get out of his shell and personally I think he also likes to keep his personal life private and separate from his job as a singer/celebrity.

He is a person who is naturally cute. There is aegyo in kpop (it’s not just a kpop thing but we’re talking about kpop right now so I’ll just leave it there) where they act cute on purpose. However, he’s someone who sucks at aegyo but when he’s just being himself he’s cute.

He’s also a grown man. He knows himself better than we know him. So, it seems that the image fans have of him is not how he wants to be seen so he keeps trying to change it. Thus, the whole Doberman vs Maltese thing was born. Fans see him as a Maltese and he sees himself or would like to be seen as a Doberman.

He enjoys working out and having that strong, thick build. This is my assumption but I don’t think he wants to be seen as delicate. In a way I relate to this as I also don’t want to be seen as delicate, so that’s how my love for working out started.

However, the company and some* fans insist on not seeing him how he wants to be seen. They refuse to even acknowledge it. The company wants him to remain dainty and pretty, it’s like they’ve relegated him to being just a pretty face when he’s said many times he wants to do and be more.

*This is not all fans as some fans thought it was a running joke they had with Yeosang. That’s the thing, it’s hard to joke with someone you don’t personally know, thus parasocial relationships are actually hard to maintain. And even I thought we were all joking when it came to the Maltese vs Doberman thing. But no, I saw tweets where people were genuinely like no sorry I do not see you as that and you will never be that to me.

Then there are people who baby/infantilise him so much and I’m like, the same guy who wrote the opening bars to IT’s You? That guy? The same guy that, if you pay attention to him at concerts, moves mad. He’s still breaking out of his shell but I’ve seen some of his expressions on stage, he’s not some innocent flower that must be protected! (also I think he finds it difficult to break out of his shell because people keep shoving him into a box whenever he escapes it!)

The same that has sworn on camera (they bleep it out but still– watch their drinking Wanteez episode). That same man. The same man who is bffs with Wooyoung? We can see Wooyoung as multifaceted but not Yeosang?

Side bar: but Wooyoung is a victim of the opposite problem. People see him as loud and brash and then get surprised at his emotional intelligence and soft moments. Some genuinely think he doesn’t like the members and it’s like… what? Y’all don’t have running jokes with your friends? Y’all don’t tease your friends as a sign of love? Just me? Also, hot take but I think Wooyoung is just as private as Yeosang just in a different way.

The thing is I’m not saying Yeosang’s not cute. I am saying there is more to his personality than just one thing. He is a human person and he is in his mid-twenties. What were you doing at that age? What thoughts were you thinking? How many facets are there to your personality?

The thing is kpop idols only show some facets to us, the public, to save themselves. We’ve seen how fans can react when an idol so much as sniffs towards a club. And as I mentioned before, we’ve also seen how well some idols can hide that they are pieces of shit!

Your fav could be a misogynist, they could be racist, they could be sexiest and you would never know. This applies to all celebrities, take Lizzo for example. I genuinely never thought she would be involved in such a lawsuit. I am still disappointed to this day.

It goes to show people can hide anything if they put their minds to it. Even us normal people, we can do it too. There are aspects of my personality I only show to my friends and even then it depends on the friend.

So, to sum it all up, kpop idols are indeed human beings. Their companies treat them like dolls, like products, but they are still human. They will make mistakes and they will have opinions you never thought they would have.

They may be smarter than you think or more clueless than you think.

They are very aware of the fact that they are being filmed most of their lives. They know how to act and to control themselves. They know what we want to hear and what we love to hear.

I’ve heard too many idols talk about how people be different back stage. I even saw a video where the lady from Crayon Pop interviewed an MUA and talked about how some idols won’t even acknowledge their existence.

I mean, have you never thought about how enthusiastically production crews, dancers and staff gush about Ateez and Dreamcatcher? They talk about how polite they are and kind they are and how they actually talk to them like humans… does that not make you think about why they’re so shocked Ateez and Dreamcatcher treat them well? That it’s not common?

We don’t know these people. We only know what they want us to see. There are individuals that share more than most (i.e.: B.M. and Joon from g.o.d.) and we get to see almost everything but even they have their private lives. And that’s a good thing. They deserve to have a private life and they deserve to be allowed to be human.

I honestly can’t wait for the day where idols are just artists. Where they can still sing and dance, have fun, but also date, drink if they want, smoke if they want and club if they want. Where they can stay at home and read a good book if they want. Where they can choose to share nothing and live an introverts dream life and only be known for singing if they want. Where they can go on stage and show their different sides without being type cast.

I would just like them to be treated like humans.

Also, they should unionise kpop because companies are moving mad. If you vote me as president of kpop…

I’m kidding

But seriously unionise.