haitangkitty

I've been a casual listener of LE SSERAFIM and I really like their songs even though they aren't my ult group. Lately they've been getting a lot of hate for their vocals in their Coachella performance. MJH was also on the news saying she wouldn't have debuted them so early. HYBE just released a new 5-part documentary "Make it Look Easy" on Youtube. The documentary goes backstage and shows what the idols are going through outside the performances.

Kpop has changed a lot since it went mainstream around 2016. It's so much more competetive now. There are lot more fans now but unfortunately that means there are many haters as well.

As someone who went to drama high school I've always been thinking a lot about passion, discipline, talent, criticism, competition etc. The idol industry can be very brutal but I was happy to see that the girls have each other for comfort. The members get very honest about the pressure and happiness. My own time at drama school was also very intense and emotional.

What the documentary obviously doesn't go into is what kind of pressure their company is putting them trough. HYBE is going through a scandal right now and they are debuting new groups in a fast schedule so one can imagine how much it's all about bussiness and how it affects the idols. But that is the case with all kpop companies which are all in competition against each other. This documentary could also work as crisis communication/marketing against all the hate they got after Coachella. The documentary did a good job portraying the idols as people and not as this perfect machines but not in an exploitative manner.

It was a very motivational documentary in the end. It also highlighted how the idols and fans motivate each other. Kpop for me is also a source of joy and I try to stay out of the toxic parts of fandoms like fanwars and criticizing someone's looks and talent (female idols get crazy comments about their looks unfortunately). I really hope the LE SSERAFIM hatetrain gets left behind and the girls will become even more stronger.