Hyunjin (Stray Kids) was criticized by Knetizens for his solo dance performance at MAMA 2021: Bad at dancing or ‘cannon fodder’ for Karina (aespa)?

Following Karina (aespa), it is Hyunjin (Stray Kids)’s turn to be criticized for his performance at MAMA 2021.

The Mnet Asian Music Awards 2021 (MAMA 2021) took place at 6 PM on December 11 (KST) at CJ ENM’s Contents World in Paju city, Gyeonggi province, South Korea. The line-up of this year’s MAMA was overwhelmed by many 4th generation groups. Right from the opening, they delivered a unique dance performance that heated up the event’s atmosphere.

Accordingly, this special stage featured 6 idols including Hyunjin (Stray Kids), Wooyoung (ATEEZ), Yeonjun (TXT), Yeji (ITZY), Karina (aespa) and Heeseung (ENHYPEN). Their joint performance was called ‘BlooM the Sound’, which was described as an important stage to convey the main message ‘MAKE SOME NOISE’ of this year’s show to global viewers.

However, after the performance, Karina (aespa) became a hot topic on Korean online forums because of negative reactions. Many people commented that although the female idol is very beautiful, her aura and body proportion are also attractive but her body movements are ‘stiff’. As Karina’s performance was placed with other groups’ main dancers, it made viewers realize weaknesses in her dancing skills.

Recently, Pann users continued to point out that there is another idol who did not do well in this solo dance – that is Hyunjin (Stray Kids). A post titled ‘Hyunjin’s shocking dance skills’ attracted Knetzens’ attention by re-uploading the male idol’s performance at MAMA 2021. The author of the post evaluated that Hyunjin’s hand as well as foot movements were unattractive and unnatural.

Knetizen split into two groups in the comments area. Some people openly admit that Hyunjin is not a talented dancer, but he is supported, whilst Karina is heavily criticized. In addition, many netizens also said that Hyunjin not only does not have good skills and but also got into a scandal of bullying his classmates. They believe that Karina does not deserve harsh criticism if Hyunjin does not receive any hate.

On the other hand, some Knetizens believe that even if personality issues aren’t taken into account, Hyunjin still performs better than Karina. Accordingly, Hyunjin has long been famous for his dancing skills and has many fancams that have become trendy. And that pulling Hyunjin into the controversy would not help the public forget about the aespa member’s poor dance abilities.

Some comments of Knet:

• To be honest, it’s not like Karina was praised a lot for her dancing up until now but she’s been hated on like crazy while this guy had his controversy but on the other hand, had a bunch of comments acknowledging his dancing. He’s dancing like this and still, nobody is hating on himㅋㅋㅋ seriously, the life of a female idol is so hard. Pann-girls’ double standard is just a fact
• He’s dancing like this and still get to hear people saying that he danced well and that he’s legendary while Karina is being f*cking bashed on the post in the featured talksㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Pann-girls’ mentality of ‘a woman is another woman’s worst enemy’ is f*cking severe. Stop bullsh*tting about women’s rightsㅋㅋ you guys are the epitome of female idols’ killers
• School-violence bugs are praising him while going “I don’t know~ Pann is being run by SM fans”ㅋㅋㅋ

• But I’ve seen few posts and a lot of comments praising him for his dancing and expression… Regardless of his school violence past, can you really bash him for his dancing…? There were a lot of people praising his dance even before his scandal. I don’t think that a post like this one is fair
• Hyunjin dances way better than Karina though, just from this gif alone
• Yeah whatever

• Hyunjin is really bad when it comes to bullying, but his dancing skills aren’t that bad. I watched the performance and saw that he was still doing well.
• Dragging Hyunjin into this issue isn’t going to make Karina any better at dancing either.
• I don’t like Hyunjin either but how can you criticize him for his dancing skills?
• It’s the first time I’ve seen someone bashing Hyunjin’s dancing skills.
• You mean Hyunjin dances worse than Karina? That’s really hilarious!!

What do you think about the controversy regarding Karina and Hyunjin’s dancing skills after the solo dance performance at MAMA 2021?