Why do most idols abandon music, once they find success in acting?

bc alot of them wanted to be actors to begin with and idol life was just a gateway for them

Two reasons, I think.

1. The idol life was a stepping stone to their career aspirations, either of becoming an actor or a public figure.

2. They may love making music but the idol life is too demanding. Being a 28 year old man or woman and having people freak out because you date, smoke or don’t want to pretend to be a squeaky squirrel on demand is a damned chore. Just because you “signed up for this” doesn’t mean you truly understood the expectations/toll. Even if you transition into a successful career as a soloist, there are still expectations on how you behave vs other soloists. No one is freaking out about who Crush or Jay Park is dating but they’ll lose their shit about Baekhyun.

the majority of them wanted to be actors to begin with. It's similar to Rihanna she originally wanted to do fashion but needed to be established in the industry so she did music first.

some idols who can neither sing or rap probably go into acting cause thats all they can do without a group, and others probably always wanted or can't get other jobs

longer careers (usually), more money on average (I think), more respected profession

speculating: Possible Reasons:

I think acting celebrities enjoy the bit of "exclusivity" in that they aren't as required to do fan interactions. Fans can be >_>

Further if they earn much more money from acting, especially when they gain seniority in acting ( iron man 1, RDJ wasn't the highest paid actor !)

Most of them treated Idol life as a stepping stone to get them fit, to give them the tools of the trade, and give them a name. Its a good starter pack tbh. Plus your fandom might carry over too.

(treat all of these statements as if they have "probably" appended to the front)

Cos for many it’s not about music, it’s a stepping stone to venture into more outlets in the entertainment industry

Being an idol sucks ass

Being an idol is harder.

Sometimes they love singing, dancing or making music, but idol life sucks.

Another reason is bc their solo stans want them to

Once they hit big with acting, their solo stans will throw hissy fits if they go back to their groups for music

agree on everything but wanna add that actors in south korea are considered ''real celebs'' and have a highger status than idols

Probably a more relaxed and less controlled lifestyle

And you are allowed to age, at least if you are a man

Maybe they were tired of doing music or something? Top idol actresses like Suzy and Yoona didn't abandon music. Both released music this year. Krystal another popular actress was active as an idol for more than 5 years before she focused on acting. D.O is also active as both an actor and idol. Park Hyungsik and Siwan never had successful idol careers so why would they bother releasing music.

Idols normally have shorter careers than actors so it's not surprising for me most would go into acting to stay relevant. Plus it's less hectic and you probably get paid more.

Because actors are more respected than idols...Basically idols are the at the bottom of the pecking order in Hallyu

Quote from bbgc

If they genuinely enjoyed perfoming music,

Yeah they definitely didn't or lost passion on the way.

Music career isn't for everyone lbr. Either they lack the passion or skills or both.

Acting is also not really for everyone either but it's more accommodating. Personally i feel most idols prefer acting and being cf modeling than music. Idol life is a stepping stone.

Everyone has the same hyper strict visual standards, but actors dont have to crash diet AND practice choreo till 2AM in the morning or do 20 concerts in 40 days and push their bodies to the limit.

Actors aren't expected to do regular fanservice and forced to manage every microexpression on their face or every syllable that comes out of their mouths. Actors arent forced to live and work with people they hate for seven plus years.

You have to really truly love singing and dancing, being in front of the camera, and interacting day and night with strangers and acquaintances alike to stay in idol life for the long term.

Quote from Lulu_Key

Another reason is bc their solo stans want them to

Once they hit big with acting, their solo stans will throw hissy fits if they go back to their groups for music

This is actually a great point about what the idols even want vs the fan expectations. Haechan's fans were clamoring for him to have acting work to the point he had to say "I don't want to act, I just want to make music." Sometimes the fandoms are a lot more worried about it than the idols.

I'd also say that sometimes it's difficult, just from a scheduling perspective, to maintain acting AND music careers simultaneously, so some might choose to just focus on one.

One more thought: it also depends on your role in the group. It feels like most main vocalists stay in music but main vocalists only represent 2 to 3 members of a 7 to 9 person group. Unless you are a top group with a strong fanbase, it's very hard to have a successful solo career when you are a lead or sub-vocalist, a main dancer or a rapper (we all know most idols rappers are not at the level of overall k hip hop.) It's not impossible, but it's not easy. Even if you are successful, people micro-manage your sales performance against the group's performance.

Like Suho (a lead vocalist) had a successful solo album this year. But people dragged the sales because it wasn't as high as the group or one of the main vocalists (Baekhyun). Yet, for a soloist, he crushed it and it's one of the top selling solos of the year. Suho is tremendously talented and successful, so I don't think he's sweating it, but not every idol has been in a group with the success and visibility of EXO..

Quote from bbgc

The only exceptions seem to be IU and Eunji, everyone else either completely abandons or drastically reduce their work in music.

Workload, profits can only be part of the reason.

If they genuinely enjoyed perfoming music, why would they drop it so quickly?

Not even Youtube covers etc.

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Aside from all the others mentioned in the thread Siwon still does yearly comebacks, Lay is putting out solo albums, Seolhyun has perfectly good reasons beyond acting for why her group stopped but since you mentioned it, she does do Youtube covers when she wants too.

I mean idols are not musicians. They are performers.

They move from one type of performance to another. It’s not really surprising.

Being an idol performing 30+ shows a year and coming every 6 months must be really hard so it’s no wonder ppl don’t like it. lol.

because unless you're an S tier idol, idols are at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of respect for korean celebrities.

Quote from bbgc

ISaidISaid  SandyBee3

Both valid points and both already covered in this old post, you can see the summary in the first post.

I just revived because Suzy is coming back, which kind of is against the pattern.

There are idols who are into music, irrespective of their success in acting or even idoling - they will be always doing stuff on YouTube etc.

Like Eunji, Seohyun, Jiyeon or more recently Yunjin.

But Suzy AFAIK, doesn't, so was surprised that she is coming back

Rest are mostly in for the popularity, would like minimum bother, effort as they gain success or perform only for the profession - not just for passion.. It is a job. etc

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I mean I don’t think “releasing music” is really that hard or the actual difficult part. It can even be a pet project. Some actors also release some songs or do things like narrate an audio book etc. What I mean by these is that these are one time efforts.

But it’s everything else that comes with a full time idol and musician’s career like performing and going on tour : that’s what is hard.

If Suzy goes on tour THEN I’d be surprised. Releasing music tho? That’s the easy part.

idols - high debt, crazy hours, physically and emotionally demanding, millions of deranged antis and haters, have to pretend that your fans are your bf/gf

regular musician - 99% chance of flopping and losing entire investment, waste of time for the little profit that might be generated, doesn't have the same status as an "actor", better to just write/produce music if you'e good and get royalties ala Soyeon

actor - easier job in comparison, more free time, little to no debt, dont have to bother with fanservice

its purely logical decision

Bc most idols can't sing. So once they find their footing in acting - mind u most are bad actors but still better actors than singers - they give up acting.

Quote from Owned_by_Irene

idols - high debt, crazy hours, physically and emotionally demanding, millions of deranged antis and haters, have to pretend that your fans are your bf/gf

regular musician - 99% chance of flopping and losing entire investment, waste of time for the little profit that might be generated, doesn't have the same status as an "actor", better to just write/produce music if you'e good and get royalties ala Soyeon

actor - easier job in comparison, more free time, little to no debt, dont have to bother with fanservice

its purely logical decision

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this

For me it's sometimes hard to see dance / performance monster girl do some lowkey drama, most of the time standing.

here SooYoung tried come back. The market of kpop singers oversaturaded x10

Quote from bbgc

Suzy is making a comeback.

wonder why?

She is no chart monster, she does not need a musical boost to her acting career or the money - she could as well do song covers.

Anyway.. we will see.

Satellite was the last one in 2022, just vocals.. if she does not even appear in the MV.. meh.

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Concerts

She can have boutique concerts only for her diehard fans in a smaller theater with a very high price, knowing there will be people who will pay that.