I watched Sebastine's reaction on YouTube because it felt like I was watching it with a friend 😆 and I enjoy hearing other people's opinions and perspectives on something I'm watching/have watched. It follows the HYBE group LE SSERAFIM whose name I originally thought was French. It's actually an anagram of "I'm fearless" which was their debut song. The documentary shows some of the harsh treatment they dealt with as trainees. During a rehearsal, Chaewon was told by a member of staff: "How do you expect me to react when you dance like this?" Chaewon does her best not to show that she's upset, but she's tired and emotional. The staff member says 울지마 which means "Don't cry" and tells her to go to the bathroom and wipe her tears. I think expressing emotion is healthy and normal, and we shouldn't need to repress it.
Original line-up vs. the current line-up
Introducing the Members
Sakura Miyawaki (she was in the group IZ*ONE)
Chaewon Kim
Yunjin Huh
Kazuha Nakamura
Eunchae Hong
"Garam Out" Controversy
LE SSERAFIM originally had 6 members, but Garam Kim was removed from the group after someone she went to school with said she had bullied her. People campaigned for Garam to be removed from the group. Some speculated that HYBE had deliberately selected Garam and used the bullying scandal as publicity. Others argued that it wouldn't make sense for them to do this from a business perspective, as much as people claim "any press is good press".
Infantilisation in the Music Industry
A photo that was tweeted of a man at New Jeans' fan meeting
Sebastine brought up the fact that it's odd that entertainment companies are debuting very young idols with sexualised concepts. if you look at New Jeans, the youngest member is only 14 (born in 2008). The lyrics to their song Cookie are disturbing. I don't think idols as young as 14 should be debuting to be honest. Grown men were attending their fan meetings. The concept given to New Jeans (the styling choices, the lyrics) all feel like very conscious choices, given the micromanaging that goes on with K-pop groups.
Bang Chan from Stray Kids being shocked by the age of the New Jeans members
Body Shaming and Toxic Diet Culture
Sakura cried in a room full of male staff while talking about the pressure she and the girls were feeling about dieting. Korean speaking fans said that the English subtitles softened what she said and made it seem more like she was agreeing with the harsh conditions created by the company. Like Sebastine pointed out (without body shaming then) they're already so thin. It feels so wrong to put pressure on them to lose weight when their health should be the main priority. This is was a translation someone on TikTok did:
It's a bit unfair. We're working really hard. I don't want to be stressed about something like this because I've seen the members struggle due to the criticism. It's really hard and requires our best efforts. Right now, we don't have much time but good results must be shown. So I want the members to focus on what we're doing.
I'm Fearless, Huh
The thing that I find really endearing about so many K-pop groups is the genuine bonds they have with each other. Groups like BTS, Blackpink and Twice are so close. Having a solid support system in place while they're going through all of this at such a young age is crucial. They are incredibly brave and I really admire them, I could never do what they do.
I genuinely felt so nervous for them watching them perform in front of a live audience for the first time. Hearing their thoughts on their debut, how they didn't regret going through this gruelling training process was reassuring. They seemed very genuine and didn't appear as though they were saying these things just to sound positive for the cameras. Seeing their reaction to the countdown to the release of Fearless was emotional too. They seem like nice hard-working girls and it's made me want to support them and listen to their music more. Of course, there's hard work involved in many jobs and parts of life, but being a public figure and being open to so many opinions, negative and positive, about your life, your talent, your appearance, it must be difficult and I don't envy them.
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