I’ve been a fan of K-pop for almost a decade now. Back in 2016, I was looking at idols my age-and-a-half, born usually in the early to mid-90s. Now that I’m 22, I expect some newer, 5th-generation idols to be younger than me by a few years, considering K-pop companies are notorious for debuting minors to keep a youthful and relevant appearance.
Yet I never expected the extent that companies will now go through to debut minors in a famously exploitative industry. It’s alarming how, at 22 years old, any trainee around my age is considered too old to debut in a new group. There are some exceptions, but the general rule for most larger companies nowadays is that you’re pretty much washed up by the time you hit 20.
Companies are practically saying, “Adults? Disgusting!” and holding onto the idea that the younger a trainee or idol is, the easier they are to manipulate into a long-term, successful career. The youngest trainees I’ve seen debut average at about 13 years old. This does not include the training time, which in K-pop, can last anywhere between a month to 10+ years. This is insane if you think about the combined time in a young idol’s life dedicated to the K-pop system. It’s no wonder that these idols continue their path as K-pop stars long after their prime — I would bet that it’s difficult to quit or move on from a career that is all you know.
So what does this mean? It means that you get the formation of groups like UNIS whose youngest member, Seowon, just graduated from elementary school last month. I recently saw fansite pictures of her, which is alarming if you know what fansites in the K-pop industry are like.
They’re not the average concert photographers you’ll see in the Western music industry — instead, they are people who dedicate their entire lives and income to a certain idol, investing thousands on heavy camera equipment and travel expenses to follow the idol’s schedule and keep up to date with them. For an idol like Seowon who was born in 2011, it’s concerning that any adult would see her as a perfect fit to begin a fansite.
The world of the K-pop industry has long been exposed as one that emphasizes appearance, including weight, body, facial features, and more. Some idols have talked about their heavy, dangerous dieting to maintain the slim figures that the industry demands, or the pressure to stay thin through rigorous training. Others have come out to talk about the plastic surgery they had just to debut. While these idols usually talk about this until years into their career, it’s safe to assume that these same practices are being done to young idols in the industry as well.
I think the more we continue to be comfortable with these younger and younger idols, the more willing companies are to put them through a harsh system that demands a certain toxic standard. I would love to see a resurgence of companies debuting adults, but it seems like those are few and far between. With the rise of teen-pop and hyper-pop in K-pop currently, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a long time until we see an industry that primarily debuts people over the age of 18.