I am gonna put a disclaimer here just in case anyone disagrees with this post. I think that the Kyla situation was blown up out of proportion. She is human and she should be able to live any way she wants. I am not agreeing with anything that seems to 'bash' her. She is beautiful regardless.
In the midsts of last month my favourite beauty vlogger Edward Avila (@edweird0) posted a video about his opinion on a recent topic in the Korean Pop industry. Many took his opinion on the matter negatively and others understood what he was saying. In this post I want to give my opinion on the matter using my knowledge of the K-pop industry and Eddy's response. Here is some context around being a Korean Idol:
In order to become an idol you need to audition for a company, there is a high chance that you won't make it, and you have to do years of training. Jo Kwon, an idol, trained under JYP (one of the big three entertainment businesses in South Korea) for seven or eight years before debuting in a group called 2AM in 2008. one of his friends under the same comapny JiHyo trained for 10 years before debuting in the extremely popular girl group Twice.
You have NO free time. Your whole day is timetabled by your company/manager, which includes practices, training and even the meals you eat.
Diets. They want you too keep a "fit" and an "ideal" body type for a woman before you debut (release a new song). You will constantly be measured and checked up on to see your progress.
You have to live with your label mates/group, and have to be with them 24/7. This may or may not be appealing to some people.
You have no income at all. Most trainee idols have to have a part time job to pay for the luxuries they want. It's not until you get to the popularity levels of EXO, BTS and Twice that you start making tonnes of money that's yours. In addition to this once your group does become extremely popular most of these rules/restrictions can be bypassed.
It's also good to note that if you do make it into a company as a trainee/idol, you sign a contract that agrees to ALL of the above and some more therefore practically letting the company own your body as it's property (which sounds quite grim in a way). An idol is an investment to the company and their shareholders, so keeping them in shape etc is a main priority as they want to sell product. This is mainly due to the South Korean beauty standards, especially for idols. Their faces, body etc sell their groups the most. Below are some promotional photos for 4 groups new albums, this is to show you how they really prioritise the looks of the idols (some are featured inside the albums therefore this is a way to get fans to own the images themselves)
So what was the "Kyla Situation"? MXLLS📷📷
Back in March, Kyla made her official debut in new girl group PRISTIN and ever since, she has had criticism from Netizens ( a person on the internet, particularly in chatrooms or comment sections; Korean netizens are popular for being able to find out anything) about her weight. calling her 'thicker' or 'overweight' compared to her members and other idols. This struck up debate about the 'ideal' body type for female idols.
During their comeback with 'SCHXXL OUT' these comments resurfaced after being under the radar during their break. One person apprently said that "she's ruining the visual balance of the group.''
This was followed up by more comments, that ultimately demanded Kyla to go on a diet:
"As a celebrity, you market your visuals and if you can't take care of your body then you don't have the right to be one"
"As an idol, being heavy is understandable to only a certain degree but she's fat even for a non-celeb"
"It's true that she doesn't look good"
"I'm not asking you to be stick skinny. Just lose weight to the point where you'll look better."
The counter argument is that, many believe that the time to break the stereotype and ideal figure size is now. These more positive netizens claim that Kyla's figure has nothing wrong with it and that no one should care so much, as an idol's main job is to sing and dance. So her, or any idol shouldn't be judged on their appearance.
What did Eddy say?
Okay before delving into this post I encourage you to watch the video below first to give you some context and background information to the matter. You should watch it in full before you make your own opinion on the topic.
To be honest I have mixed feelings on the matter. On one hand I know of the kpop industry and how they are supposed to have an 'ideal' body image due to the fact that they are products of a company and to fit in with the ideals of their cultural society. I also agree in a way with what Eddy was saying about the fact that being an idol is her job and that she has to be the part, linking back to what I previously said about 'ideals'. I also want to point out here as a quote from you-tuber SoulBot: Skinny people have it easier in Korea, many girls who are skinny get treated differently in their society if they are skinny as they are seen as these beautiful individuals, so they practically get what they want in life. However I also believe that Kyla should be able to do whatever she wants with her body as she is a young female. Really you would think that they would want to promote body confidence but unfortunately in their beauty culture they don't really support plus sized people. It has only been recently (Nov 2017) that Korea's first plus size models have been used.
After his piles and piles of backlash he made a response video.
I don't believe that he is a malicious person who was meaning to "bash" Kyla. After years of watching Eddy and countless number of his videos I know that he is one of the most honest you-tubers out there. He also is definitely not discriminative or "fat phobic". I can see how people would have reacted negatively to it, especially if they didn't watch the full video, hence why I say watch it all. But really all he was stating in his original video is the facts of the culture of k-pop in terms of beauty standards and how people have had negative thoughts towards her because of it. As he stated he knows people in the industry, such as Irene from Red Velvet (one of the most popular girl groups in Korea) so he knows what it is like in the industry for a female artist. The only thing I don't agree with in the original video is the assumptions that he makes over why she may have gained weight, which I feel is a little bit wrong because no one can ever know but Kyla as to why it happened. To go with this I have to bring up the fact that fans and 'antis' of these groups on twitter can be quite vicious so assuming something can be taken seriously by them and they use it as ammunition to actually 'bash' the idols. This isn't just even with idols, it includes anyone related to a topic with them. The main problem I have with this situation is the videos that people made in order to combat what Eddy said. They clipped pieces of the video in order to make what he said look offensive, without the pieces of explanation in order to make themselves look the hero for 'defending Kyla'- this made the situation worse when really, there was no 'situation'
Overall, you may think that Eddy was wrong or right. (In the first place I don't think that he should have made the video, but that's just my opinion) If you think that my viewpoint is wrong, then that is your opinion and I appreciate that. I believe that Kyla should be allowed to be who she wants, if that means she wants to lose weight then I support that, but if she doesn't I don't really care. This situation was mainly down to the nasty part of the Netizen world. From experience they find the worst things in the nicest people, picking out flaw after flaw; I had a conversation on twitter with one and it didn't end up pretty. To finalise this post I just want to say that I hope this has shown some of the flaws that I accept within the kpop world. God I love the music but even I as a fan know that it's the most harsh business in the world.
Till next time xo
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