The New Gen of K-pop: New Jeans
By Jessica Lee
Embedded Files
One month ago, an unprecedented event happened in the Korean entertainment world. A girl group surprise-dropped their first music video on YouTube with zero hype, news, or previously released information, taking the world by storm. “Take it, don't break it, I wanna see you taste it. Sugar, got sugar, bet you want some (yeah, yo).” These lyrics make up the chorus of that song from K-pop’s newest trending girl group, New Jeans. However, the group became controversial once fans saw that their music concepts and outfits seemed too mature for their age.
According to Medium Magazine, in the Korean entertainment world, album sales have been going up while the idols’ ages appear to be going down. Newly-debuted idols seem to be getting younger and younger, with the number of artists debuting at 14 and 15 years old increasing in the last few years. The article mentions that artists debuting at such a young age has become common, even existing since the beginning, with idols like Taemin from SHINee, HyunA with Wonder Girls, and Krystal from f(x) all debuting at 14. These past debuts represented outliers in the industry, but today, the trend has not only been normalized, but has accelerated. New Jeans represents this trend, with the oldest member, Minji, being only 18 years old, while the youngest, Hyein, at 14. More people remain concerned about possible sexualization of idols this age, an issue which New Jeans fans have spoken up about.
K-pop’s worldwide influence may become questionable as groups, like New Jeans, become younger and younger. Photo by Jessica Lee.
According to Koreaboo, fans first became concerned as their female manager, Min Hee Jin reportedly has “alarming inspirations”. When netizens looked into her personal Instagram, various artworks and movies spotted on her studio walls implied she gets inspiration from art with pedophilic themes, like Le Farò da Padre. Furthermore, the group’s hit-song “Cookie” caused a disturbance due to its suggestive lyrics, with translated verses like, “Made a little cookie, baked it just for you but you know that it ain't for free,” causing critics to point out that the word “cookie” can be seen as sexual slang. Yahoo News, provides an explanation from the girls’ music label, ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE. According to them, “the song revolves around the paired idea of burning CDs and baking cookies, which share the same conceptual verb in Korean,” meaning that the underlying message of the song represents New Jean’s attempt to make new and original music, that “isn’t for free”. Addressing the suggestive lyrics, the label noted that American slang terms don’t always translate to Korean audiences and “it’s impossible for people to be familiar with every idiom and offensive term”.
Additionally, ADOR claimed that they “consulted with English professors, professional interpreters, translators and native speakers” concluding that they had no bad intentions and that context remains important. Even though this situation seemed to stem from unfortunate assumptions, people seem to agree on one aspect— that more precautions should be put in place for these new, young idols.
Google Sites
Report abuse