Black ocean – a nightmare of many Kpop idols and all the times it happened
To stand on stage without seeing any light among the audience can be traumatizing for a lot of Kpop groups, and below are some who have experienced this “nightmare”.
In Korea, Kpop idols are subjected to extremely strict standards regarding their image, talent, and attitude. As a result, one small mistake can cause a Kpop idol or their entire group to receive public scrutiny, which may lead to the scary “black ocean”.
In particular, a “black ocean” happens when most of the audience turn off their lightstick while a group performs, often to voice their distaste or ire towards this particular group. To stand on stage yet not see a single light can be scary to most idols.
Unfortunately, many Kpop groups, including big names like BTS and SNSD, have experienced this frightening incident.
SNSD (Girls’ Generation)
When they first debuted, SNSD unfortunately was hated by a lot of Kpop fans. As a result, the girl group had to face the scary “black ocean” at the 2008 Dream Concert, where they had to perform 10 minutes in complete silence and darkness.
Apparently, this stemmed from the action of several SNSD fans, who allegedly tore up banners prepared by Super Junior fans, leading to an intense fanwar.
Still, despite being the victim of the black ocean, SNSD managed to rise, and now, after 15 years, each member of the group has achieved their own share of successes.
T-ARA
Back in 2012, when they performed at the World Conservation Congress Kpop Nature+ Concert, girl group T-ARA also had to face complete darkness.
The incident happened following the group’s bullying scandal, as the public believed that T-ARA was violent to and ostracized their former member Hwayoung. Hwayoung was then announced to be leaving the group, adding fuel to the fire.
This led to various fans turning off their lightsticks the moment T-ARA stepped on stage, even shouting “Ryu Hwa Young” and “Get Out!”, voicing their distaste for the girl group.
For years later, T-ARA was still dubbed as the “bully girl group”, and it was not until 2017, when Hwayoung accidentally let her mouth slip in the show, that the group’s innocence was proven. In addition, old staff and the former member Ahreum also spoke up against Hwayoung’s lies, helping to clear T-ARA’s reputation.
BTS
At the moment, BTS is undoubtedly one of Kpop’s greatest artists, but before they became world-wide stars, the boy group had to face the dreaded black ocean, not once, but twice.
The first black ocean that BTS had to suffered was at the golden Disk Awards 2016 because of the quarrel between Army (BTS fan) and EXO-L (EXO fan).
The battle between the two fandoms was so intense and also cause BTS’s second “black sea” at the 2016 Melon Music Awards.
Seventeen
During the 2015 MAMA event in Hong Kong, the 13-member boy group of Pledis Entertainment was not supported when performing the song “Mansae”.
At that time, Seventeen‘s fandom did not have an official lightstick and most of the remaining fandoms turned off their lightsticks. This action caused an outrage in the Seventeen’s fandom at that moment.
A series of pictures taken of the “black sea” that day was posted on social networks by Seventeen’s fans. They expressed, “Seventeen’s fans don’t have lightstick and other group’s fans are kind enough to turn off their lightsticks.”
After that difficult time, Seventeen is now one of the most appreciated boy groups in Korea for their beautiful vocals and excellen dancing skills.
Lovelyz
In 2015, Lovelyz‘s fans turned their back on them at the Pepsi Concert for the presence of new member Jisoo.
The reason is that Jisoo was involved in a gay scandal, and accused of sexual harassment. This incident caused a huge influence on Lovelyz. Even Jisoo had to take a break from the group activities to recover mentally.
