Debuting at an early age is one of the primary causes affecting mental and physical health of young K-pop idols.
Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo stated that the appearance of young idols are becoming widespread. In the past, idols at 14 and 15 years old could scarcely be found. Therefore, young idols in the past quickly attracted the attention of the audience.
From 2020 to 2022, a variety of minors debuted in well-known idol groups. Among them were such names as ENHYPEN’s Ni-ki, IVE’s Leeseo, CLASS:y’s Bo Eun or most recently, NewJeans’ Hyein.
According to Korea JoongAng Daily, the positive effect of early debut is clear. Such idols can become successful, rich, and famous at a young age. More importantly, they have more time to build up their own career from doing the things they like. However, what can be ensured so that young idols are not affected by external factors when starting an early career?
Experts conclude that early debut allows idols to have a longer and more prospective career. Yet, it comes with an expensive price.
Lack of social skills
Pop cultural critic Ha Jae Kun shared, “Underaged idols are in their development years. They have a need for socialization through hanging out with friends and creating good relationships with surrounding people”.
According to expert Ha, making a debut at too young an age can cause idols to miss out on beneficial and necessary experiences in life. In the worst case scenario, if they fail to be famous, the idols are likely to be limited in future career choices. This stems from the fact that idols join training facilities at a young age, forcing them to leave out considerable learning at school.
Many idols introduced to the public for many years still cannot find a spot in the arduous Kpop industry. Nonetheless, once they step into the outside world, the idols face hardship from the lack of practical experiences. This forces them to return to school or enroll in vocational classes to find job opportunities in other fields.
Lim Myung Ho, psychology professor at Dankook University said: “When teenagers want to be an idol or raise their hopes to follow such a path, basically they will have to join an isolated group training”.
Popular at the age of 14, Won Young could not hold back her emotions and bursted to tears when she talked about her parents at a I*ZONE’s concert.
The isolation and lack of interactions with friends definitely impact on children’s psychological development and coping mechanisms when they mature. Even when becoming famous, they are still prone to experiencing difficulty in processing emotions as well as maintaining a calm temperament upon facing stressful situations.
Accordingly, malicious comments or criticisms and mocking from the public can easily create emotional scars. More fatally, too deep the damage is likely to make them feel stuck and resort to self-destructive behaviors, which many celebrities have done.
Impacts on natural development
One of the major reasons for the early debut age in idols, which is becoming an alarming issue in Kpop, is to follow current popular trends towards girl groups. When the innocent, pure image is no longer trendy, it is the bold, sexy image that the female idols have to follow, which can be inappropriate for their age.
ITZY’s youngest member – Yuna debuted when she was just 15 years old. With JYP’s style oriented towards girl-crush concept and an already advantageous body shape, the female idol often has to wear tight and revealing clothes. This causes netizens to criticize her overly sexy image inappropriate for a teenager.
Lee Gyu Tag, research professor on pop music and media at George Mason University, Korea said: “This does not limit to revealing costumes. What boggles me is how the idols convey a song when even them cannot understand and feel every aspect of the lyrics. Also because of their lack of understanding of what the composers want to express, their performance usually lacks depth and ends in a lukewarm fashion, which leaves the audiences feeling empty”.
The public also shares the concerns of the experts about the lack of working definition about age appropriateness in the music of young idols currently.
Lee Gyu Tag explained the trend to debut young idols may have to do with the popularity of Trot music auditions. This has been originally a feature of Korea with upbeat sounding and widely loved by the public since the 1950s. Trot music has been revived for the past years thanks to popular shows such as “Miss Trot” and “Mr. Trot”.
According to Lee: “Many child contestants have appeared and become famous on Trot talent shows. Because this genre of music is loved mostly by older generations, watching children performing in these shows resembles watching a real talent show. Here, young contestants are allowed to perform age-appropriate performances and natural talent”.
From these Trot programs, ideas about young contestants grow in popularity in Kpop. THe issue is, while Trot shows expect contestants to perform according to their natural abilities, idol auditions demand them to have a professional idol’s skill set. This requirement for young contestants to live up to the standards of adult idols’ performances is inappropriate.
MBC survival show “My Teenage Girls” once caused controversies for introducing contestants born in the years from 2003 to 2010. On this stage, two 14-year-old contestants performing Oh My Girl’s “Nonstop” received countless criticisms from the judges.
According to professor Lim, this experience can lead to the two contestants’ psychological issues when the video of their performance is passed around in many social media platforms with the purposes of mocking and slandering their images.
Professor Lim assessed this to be a form of making use of the teenage show label to attract attention. In contrast, participating contestants’ images and reputation are not protected by the program.
He said: “No child has to go through such a painful experience. There has to be a higher standard, perhaps a legal one, on the age of contestants eligible to participate in the auditions”.
Another alarming reason is the health of the young idols. From their trainee period to their debut, idols always have to work constantly with little time to rest. Apart from that, they have to undergo a strict diet to maintain their physique, especially for female idols.
According to Korea JoongAng Daily, the limitation to diet along with a dense practice schedule can have a serious impact on the health and physical development of teenagers. Once their health is not ensured, other mental illnesses are more likely to occur, affecting the activities of the artists as well as their daily routines.
Experts predict the trend of early debut will not disappear any time soon. Therefore, professor Lim suggests that management companies should build resources to support young artists’ mental health. At the same moment, critic Ha also urges the audience to care and speak up when they realize the inappropriateness in young idols. This is the way to maintain a more balanced age proportion as well as the sustainable development of Kpop culture in the future.
