The age of “My Teenage Girl” finalists to debut as rookie girl group CLASSy raises concerns
The final debut lineup of “My Teenage Girl” has been revealed.
My Teenage Girl, MBC’s audition program with the similar concept to Mnet’s Produce 101, which began its broadcast in November 2021, officially came to an end on February 27. After more than 3 months of competition, the selected 7 finalists will be debuting together as CLASSy in the near future. Most of the potential trainees who have received much support from Korean fans since the beginning of the show made it into the final lineup. The Final Top 7 are as follows:
Netizens have been showing positive reactions to the 7 members of CLASSy as they believe the group will do well once they debut because the members are all talented. However, one thing about CLASSy that Korean netizens find worrisome is the members’ age.
The average age of CLASSy is 16 years old, which is not too small compared to other Kpop girl groups. However, the age difference between the members is quite large. The oldest member was born in 2001 and the maknae is a 08-liner. Notably, 3 out of 7 members of CLASSy are under 15 years old.
In Korea, children under the age of 15 have to follow a curfew and cannot work from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. They may not work over 35 hours a week either. This makes Korean fans worry that CLASSy’s future promotions will be restricted. Some even think the group’s debut might get delayed because of this matter.
Netizens think it was an unwise decision of MBC to have no age limit at the beginning of the audition. However, some comments cited Wonyoung and Leeseo (IVE); Sohee, Sunmi, HyunA (former Wonder Girls members) or Taemin (SHINee) to show that there were lots of other idols who debuted when they were underaged. In addition, Red Velvet’s maknae Yeri is 8 years younger than oldest member Irene and the group has been doing fine for years. This proves that the age gap between CLASSy members should not be a big deal.
Netizens left comments:
- IVE’s Wonyoung and Leeseo both debuted at the age of 15. Ex-Wonder Girls’ Sohee, Sunmi and HyunA were the same. It’s normal for idols to debut so young these days.
- MBC should have limited the age of trainees since the start
- I think this combination is weird, why are a 22 year old and a 15 year old in the same group?
- Yeri joined Red Velvet when she was 16, Irene was already 24 at the time, what’s the big deal?
- The age difference doesn’t matter. 2NE1 members even have a 10-year age difference.
- Aren’t they worried about being limited in their promotions?
