Top 5: Overexposed and Underexposed Idols

If you know girl and boy groups, there are always members who are put in the spotlight whereas the others are put in the backseat. Sometimes the disparity of popularity of one member opposed to the other members of the group is huge. 

To stop this from sounding redundant, I'm mentioning people who are being overexposed recently. I don't think I need to add Yoona and all cos it's not a new revelation or anything. So let's start the list off with...

1. Miss A
Overexposed - Suzy
I don't have anything against Suzy but she really gets all the solo gigs in Miss A. I reckon if you pulled some random citizen out on the street and asked them to name a member from Miss A, they would probably shout out Suzy, hoping she'd jump out from a van and fulfill their fantasies. She can sing, dance fairly well and she has a pretty face. The full package. Basically what shows and other companies want cos everyone wants to talk to pretty girls.

Underexposed - Fei
I think all the Miss A girls are underexposed but Fei probably has the least exposure and lines in their promotional tracks so I'll give the title to her. I think she's also a solid singer and dancer but haven't seen much as I'm not a Say A (yes that's their fandom name).

2. 4minute
Overexposed - HyunaHyuna has got more then one solo and even formed a duo called Trouble Maker with label mate Hyunseung. She's probably always been the more marketable member even since the Hot Issue's era and labeled as an ex-Wonder Girl, leading the group. She's probably even more well known now as the Gangnam Style Girl.

Underexposed - Jihyun
Ironically the leader of 4minute but probably the least known member of the group. Sadly I only learnt her name recently as I only remember the company using her cleavage in "Huh" to make her stand out. She has yet to make a big impact in the k-pop scene. Her best bet is to start becoming a variety star, that is if anyone will offer the chance to her that it is.

4. MBLAQ
Overexposed - Joon
Joon was basically caught the eye of fangirls since debut with his good looks and body. He's an entertaining guy, charismatic, athletic, part stuntman and has hidden talents such as ballet. Although the more this guy shines, the less the others do...

Underexposed - The rest of the members
I think within the MBLAQ fandom everyone has a pretty even amount of fans except for Joon. In terms of public exposure Seungho, G.O and Thunder may need a lot more to catch up to Joon. I do feel like Mir has a bit of an edge compared to everyone else since he does make a good variety star.

5. CNBLUE
Overexposed - Yonghwa
They are a band so it's not surprising that the lead singer is the most well known. Plus Yonghwa has been on a lot of variety shows like WGM and Running Man.

Underexposed - Jungshin
Jonghyun and Minhyuk have gained popularity through acting but Jungshin probably has the least in CNBLUE as of now.

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K-pop Rumors and Fan Accounts

I've been reading tonnes of these so called accounts from friend's stylists and staff members and whatnot. I usually ignore them and dismiss these claims because they are truly unreliable. Being a history student, teachers teach us to always question where sources of information come from to no end (and it really is annoying). Namely the time, author, the bias and how/where it was published. This gossip published on forums and blogs by unknown users is already pushing it's validity.

Despite knowing these facts I can't help but just be a little bit curious. I feel like these claims do have some truth in them but then again a lot of it is second hand biased information. I do believe that the brutality of the entertainment business isn't too exaggerated. I do remember reading a fan account about my bias being suicidal and taking anti-depressants and sounded like bullshit. Turned out it was written by a malicious saesang who came out and "apologised".

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SM Trying something new for once?

I hope this doesn't get overused like those dumb matrix shock or shakey cameras.

 

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K-pop "Sluts"

In k-pop, there are a "special few" who are labelled with the title "slut" in the international k-pop community.
Slut is defined as:

A person, especially a woman, considered sexually promiscuous.

I feel like the term slut is used too loosely to describe any women who wears revealing clothing or does anything that would be considered sexy.
I hate the this derogatory term is used to mention any female idol these day by fangirls.
The whole dynamic of girls hating other girls is nothing but surprising.
Female idols and actresses alike have it tough.
That is not to say that there aren't any bad apples, there are definitely some two-faced bitches but it doesn't mean every girl is.

They are more prone to be sexually exploited in the entertainment business.
They are called ugly when they are not found conventionally attractive.
They are called plastic when they try to meet the demands of the company and the public.
They are forced to do cutesy or sexy dances to get the public's attention while boy groups get stronger and more powerful dances.
They are more likely to be valued by their appearance than talent.
The company puts more money into boy groups then girl groups.
If a guy is rude he's called rude, if a girl is rude she's called a bitch.

Even though some of these examples can apply to guys, girls are twice as likely to be judged harshly. Guys, on the other hand, get off easy. Put a guy in many of these situations and fangirls get all defensive, making up all these excuses.
Girls aren't human apparently and excuses don't matter.
The double standards infuriate me.
Why are fangirls promoting gender inequality?

I guess this is simply a case of girl on girl crime.

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Things I hate about the Big 3

The biggest and most influential companies in the Korean pop business consist of: SM, JYP and YG.
Lot's of people hate SM but I don't blame them either. JYP and YG aren't all that great either.

JYP - I don't follow JYP artists avidly so I
guess that's why I have the least to say about them. Their artists, I have no real complaints about. Right now it seems like exporting their idols overseas is their top priority and in the end they are the business, so making the biggest profit is in their best interest, nothing truly surprising there.

But honestly, WG's crossover to the U.S market is pretty much a big disaster. WG is really not what America wants or need to see in their overly sexual pop industry. 

A flop despite having Akon comissioned to help.

The bubblegum pop that they are so famous for back home isn't "in" unless their demographic are disney tweens, heck they even had their own movie based on themselves. What I'm trying to say is WG aren't mainstream enough, they cover a very niche market (I guess most groups do). If they had stayed in Korea they probably would've retained their popularity like SNSD. They lost to f(x) during their comeback, a hoobae group and f(x) aren't extremely popular so it goes to show how much their popularity has dwindled during their absence.

Also they way they handled the Jay Park scandal was hardly decent but I guess I don't really need to delve further into old news...
2PM are also venturing to foreign markets (specifically Japan) since I guess it's the everyone-else-is-doing-it mentality and there's big money in Japan if you make it. In saying that, 2PM have got to make a comeback soon or they will be written off as irrelevant in the now over saturated k-pop market and JYP will only have Suzy I mean Miss A to mooch off (and JJ Project aren't big yet). I'm guessing they will though since in 2013 apparently price of music has changed and they can make more money out of it or something (research it yourself, I have a very vague understanding of it...).

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