[PC stories/KPOP takes] WHY THE FIXATION THAT PEOPLE HAVE ON IDOLS' LOOKS CANNOT BE AVOIDED

The Korean society might be originally known for placing a lot of value on appearance and having crazy standards but the kpop industry promotes it more than it should and it seems to get worse as generations pass. The companies do a lot of push and mediaplay for the visual member from the start and the prettiest members usually end up being the most popular in their groups. In the older generations there were certain idols who weren't visuals but still got a lot of recognition for their outstanding talent so it was balanced. But since the 4th gen started, we have been watching kpop decline in the talent department and it has gotten way worse in the 5th gen, almost everyone is aware of that and we have endless talks about it. And no i'm not a complete kpop hag, i'm same age as 4th gen idols and even a few from 5th gen.

While there has been a decrease in talent, there has been an increase in visuals. There is this high viewed youtube short asking which 5th gen idols are going to become the new "Jang-Ka-Sul" where koreans are commenting that everyone is pretty nowadays so no one stands out and they need to have something else to add so they can blow up.

That's how kpop gets more boring and the k-netizens who already are obsessed with visuals get even more picky while trying to find which visual is the most "perfect" between the pretty idols while companies mediaplay.

So i think it's a bit silly for people to complain about visuals posts. Variety shows aren't as big as it used to be and not only the companies have been doing nothing too impressive when it comes to music and creative direction in the whole 5th gen but there is also almost no outstanding talents, at least not in the groups from the most known companies, like we had in 2nd gen and 3rd gen that i can remember of besides Bailey, Natty and Shotaro as dancers and the closest we got to 2nd and some 3rd gen vocals so far are BabyMonster. Sorry if you are a fan or a pacifist you might claim that a lot of these idols are super talented but anyone else who is unbiased will think otherwise and that's the reality.

Some 4th gen groups are the same as 5th gen groups but they still have a few more outstanding talents in comparison, and NMIXX is one good example to mention because Sullyoon is one of the most stunning visuals yet mediaplaying the group's vocals has been JYP's focus since the beginning. People are used to visuals being the most important thing in kpop and most companies still promote that same mindset so of course some posts picking on their looks are going to be made. Nonetheless, i still see them going viral over their skills more often.

Now, whenever i see a post picking on an idol's appearance even if i personally find them pretty i can no longer bother to care if i realize that they don't have an outstanding talent since i got a reality check regarding the kpop industry. Well, life isn't supposed to be that easy if you aren't an actual nepobaby, all they are going to have is solely their image to sell if they don't have an outstanding talent to spare them up a bit. For male idols is even worse, hell nah i'm not going to throw compliments loosely at a man who is not visually perfect for me if their talent is not even exceptional after all controversies/scandals that we have witnessed, i don't know how some of yall can get so defensive.

It might be sad when young idols get dragged along but the public is also mostly as young as them or even younger and companies keep exploiting them because they receive a big amount of support as well. It's impossible and useless to try to be an ethical kpop stan at the end of the day

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