With the recent flurry of love scandals and many members of popular girl groups nearing the marriageable age, Sports Chosun was able to interview representatives from ten top music companies: Cube Entertainment, Happy Face Entertainment, Starship Entertainment, Core Contents Media, TS Entertainment, Star Empire Entertainment, Pledis Entertainment, DSP Media, and NegaNetwork.
The representatives voiced their opinions on important issues that idol groups face, including marriage, dating, and the age at which girl group members halt activities.
▶ Is marriage poisonous to girl groups?
The following investigation is from ten staff members who are part of the singing industry with girl groups. All replied, “Whatever is the case, we do not believe that marriage will positively affect the girl group’s image.”
The most important image for girl groups is ‘lovers of all men’. Even with small love scandals, the idea of being ‘one man’s woman’ will drastically take a hit on the popularity. Most importantly, however, it will negatively affect the whole team.
One representative revealed, “The daily pattern of an idol group is different from that of normal people. Whether it’s practicing throughout the night or having to swallow their schedule, they usually have to work until dawn for their next schedule. There is also an increasing trend of long-term overseas activities. In this situation, when a member marries, it naturally places a burden on the other members.”
With the potential of having one’s popularity drop due to marriage, this type of change would also create problems for the whole team, as it could hinder activities and schedules. The representative explained further, “If they do marry, they must consider entering different fields such as [becoming] MCs or actresses.”
▶ Is there a dating ban? Secret dating?
While we can state that marriage is a negative factor for girl groups, is simply dating a problem too?
While 2NE1‘s Sandara Park can happily say that she has been freed from the dating ban, other girl group members sadly cannot say the same thing.
Three reps revealed, “We prefer a dating ban because of management problems.” While it can be assumed that dating will pose problems to popularity, it could adversely affect other members.
The most strict period of management regarding dating usually takes place during the debut season. Usually, girl group members are in their teens and early 20s, a period in which their reasoning is sometimes overpowered by emotions. If the idols experienced the emotional turmoil of teenage dating, they would be overwhelmed by their emotions and could be scarred.
In addition, the agency and management also have an obligation to protect the artists and are even asked by parents to “manage problems in relation to the opposite sex,” Sports Chosun reports.
However, it is difficult for the management to enforce the restrictions on the idol members. When it comes down to it, dating lies within the privacy of the girl group member, as members can exchange their own passwords or various hand signals, and secretly date through Kakao Talk.
Although secret dating is preferred, idol group members also let their managers know. One representative stated, “Because the agency respects their personal lives, they want members to consult before they start dating. That way, the agencies can think of a corresponding method.”
Another representative shared another opinion, saying, “As they have to swallow various concepts on stage, those who experience love and separation have better expressive power. We approve dating to the extent that it does not burden the team.”
▶ Until what age can girl group members continue their activities?
About 30% of the representatives had voted that the boundary should be around mid-30s. As girl groups usually need to show off their sexiness and cute charms, it is difficult for 30 year old women to go through with the cute concepts.
However, the other side stated, “Age is not important.” Lee Hyori is one example as she is still continuing her activities, showing that appeal and personal care are more important than age. In addition, even if members are relatively old, they are part of a team who promote activities together, diminishing the hindrances that age can pose.
Debut age also comes into play as an issue. Five to six years after a debut, activities can become tiring as girl group members consider entering other fields. This has led to many idols entering the fields of entertainment or acting.
Share your thoughts on Sport Chosun’s in-depth editorial in the comments section below: do you think the reasons behind the dating restrictions are fair, or do you think they should be changed?
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