Aside from being their groups’ maknaes, these female idols have another thing in common: controversy.
Maknaes of K-pop girl groups are often known for being cute and playful. They are always loved and “spoiled” by the older members and fans. However, some famous K-pop girl group maknaes can’t help but get dragged into controversies.
Red Velvet’s Yeri
Yeri recently received unwarranted criticism from a Korean netizen on the online community Pann just for showing support for NCT members on her personal Instagram. By openly praising her male labelmates, Yeri was accused of deliberately creating a war between fans. However, other netizens and fans alike quickly jumped to Yeri’s defense, saying she has always been a “social butterfly” who always voices support for her colleagues, whether they are male or female.
Yeri was previously accused by some netizens of copying the style of BLACKPINK’s Jennie to have similar hip vibes, because her outfits, poses, and expressions were said to resemble Jennie.
(G)I-DLE’s Shuhua
During (G)I-DLE’s recent promotion for “TOMBOY”, Shuhua got embroiled in a controversy over her attitude towards other members. Specifically, behind the scenes of Mcountdown, she was said to show an attitude while Miyeon was MCing. After a game to pick a member for the stage’s thumbnail, Miyeon was the winner but Shuhua started acting like she was against it. Shuhua was also called out on dropping honorifics when talking to other members.
Shuhua has also been under controversy since (G)I-DLE’s debut over her skills. Many netizens criticize Shuhua for being a “filler member” who only has visuals and lacks talents, which explains her shortage of lines in the group’s songs, especially before Soojin’s departure. During the encore stages, other members were said to have to cover up for Shuhua’s lacking live singing ability.
aespa’s NingNing
NingNing is among the 4th generation female idols who often face criticism from netizens. Even before aespa’s debut, NingNing was discovered to be an admin of a fans’ chat room, which violates the no SNS rule SM trainees have to follow. She was also rumored to disclose secrets of SM projects to fans back then.
After her debut, NingNing was the center of controversy due to her obvious lip syncing. Despite being praised for her powerful vocals and ranked among the best main vocalists of the 4th generation, NingNing’s multiple lip syncing attempts brought her criticism. The female idol did not even open her mouth properly during high notes. Even when the mic dropped to her chin, NingNing still sounded like the audio.
When aespa went to the States for their schedules, NingNing met up with her friends and took photos with her guy friends. Some conservative Korean netizens thought it was a bit insensitive of NingNing to do so given the fact that she is still a rookie.
