K-pop stars not allowed to date?
IT’S not a secret that K-pop singers’ lives are being managed by their companies or fans to the point where they are not allowed to date.
These dating bans have been openly acknowledged by some pop stars.
When singer HyunA parted ways with Cube Entertainment after going public with her relationship with fellow singer E’Dawn, many fans, particularly those outside Korea, did not seem to understand the fuss.
“This is one thing I really don’t understand about the Korean entertainment industry. These performers don’t belong to the fans or the companies who manage them. Let them date or marry who they want ... they’re entitled to a life of their own,” one Twitter user said of the dating scandal.
Emotions ran high as HyunA and Cube Entertainment went back and forth in a weekslong public battle. During the course of the scandal, the agency was reported as saying the trust with the singer was “broken beyond repair” as the singer made her relationship status public without consulting them.
HyunA’s handwritten letter in which she wrote that her only sin is to have worked beyond her limit and helped her former agency stand where it is now also garnered attention.
While the scandal involving the two appears to have calmed down, dating still remains a taboo for many idol trainees, according to Lee Jong-im, a researcher at the Center for Culture & Society.
“While some might have doubts and complaints and agencies have their expectations, trainees have been conditioned to refrain from (dating) in order to succeed,” Lee said who interviewed idol trainees for her research on K-pop trainees.
“Some trainees want to keep an impeccable private life and have nothing get in the way of their success while others complain about having their private life micromanaged, such as with dating,” Lee added.
Singer Jeon So-mi said during an appearance on TV show “Nonsummit” in 2016, when she was still signed to the company, that JYP Entertainment restricts its artists from dating for three years.
JY Park, the CEO of JYP Entertainment, also wrote in a tweet in 2015 that there was a three-year dating ban at his company, during which trainees are encouraged to focus on practising and refrain from dating and meeting friends.