What is an acceptable age to debut in your opinion?

    Age has been a major topic this year with groups like NewJeans and Class:y causing a lot of discussions surrounding it. In your opinion or let’s say “ideal world”, what would be an acceptable age to debut?


    Personally I would say 16 or at least turning 16 in their debut year (example: Eunchae from Lesserafim debuted at 15 in May but turned 16 in the following November of the same year) is a good minimum age if the person debuting is a talented singer, dancer or just overall performer rather than just being a filler member and debuting just for the sake of debuting.


    In most countries, at 16 you can legally get a job and work however being an idol is a lot more physically demanding and mentally straining than most jobs so there would obviously have to be certain rules that companies would have to follow if they really wanted to debut these idols at least in my “ideal world”.

    Adult. Not underage. Kids should not be working or be subjected to creepy weirdos objectification. They can't cope with fame at that young age either, and they also deserve a childhood. K-pop convinced some of y'all that childhood is an appropriate age to debut, but it is not. 16 is way too young.

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    Flower field, that's where I'm at. Open land, that's where I'm at.
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  • AllKill VIP

    At least be somewhere in the range of 18-19. Scary to think what SOME people doing with underage idol content... Ik a lot of people aren't like tht but there are ALSO a lot of people who are... - I mean the companies definitely know what they're doing. AND IF they debut like around age 16-17 at least SAVE CERTIAN CONCEPTS TILL THEYRE OLDER- the stuff ni-ki had to go through as a 14-YEAR-OLD I can't imagine... they should've waited a lil longer to debut fr.. Even pop stars like Billie Eilish took preventative measures to protect herself from people being weird- which is why she wore baggy clothes to cover herself till she turned 18....... TAKEE NOTESSS KPOP LABELS- no skin-tight dresses for the 13-year-old.... pls. :pepe-tea:

    the floor is raising, the sky is fallingg, the tides are turning, my eyes are burningg, head in the clouds and im not coming down

    What is the legal age in South Korea to get trainee? I read somewhere that Idol training could take a few years. When a Maknae has her debut with 13 years, how old was she when she started training? ?(

    Quote from oikalli

    At least be somewhere in the range of 18-19. Scary to think what SOME people doing with underage idol content... Ik a lot of people aren't like tht but there are ALSO a lot of people who are... - I mean the companies definitely know what they're doing. AND IF they debut like around age 16-17 at least SAVE CERTIAN CONCEPTS TILL THEYRE OLDER- the stuff ni-ki had to go through as a 14-YEAR-OLD I can't imagine... they should've waited a lil longer to debut fr.. Even pop stars like Billie Eilish took preventative measures to protect herself from people being weird- which is why she wore baggy clothes to cover herself till she turned 18....... TAKEE NOTESSS KPOP LABELS- no skin-tight dresses for the 13-year-old.... pls. :pepe-tea:

    I wanna point out it definitely appeals to the younger crowd though, it's cool to think somebody around our age could do tht-- AND pluss then if someone tells us we're too old for our kpop idol fav we'll be like ahhhh but thAts NoT tRuE~ lmao im realizing companies definitely use tht to their advantage. :clown: :clown:

    But y'know... it goes both ways and MOST young teens aren't ready for tht- I definitely couldn't have done tht when I was 13... they get a lot of respect from me.... baha they put the rest of us lazy teens to shame .. :holding-back-tears::holding-back-tears:

    the floor is raising, the sky is fallingg, the tides are turning, my eyes are burningg, head in the clouds and im not coming down

    same age as labor laws set I think? since its a job

    then you have these programs for underage workers where there's limits for working late, specialized laws that someone should be supervising and constant fiscalization

    I think it depends on the person, the company, and how involved the parents are, but I think 16 is fair but still not a perfect answer. I think Korean needs an independent agency who's SOLE job is to advocate for the idols. They should be legally and morally responsible for the safety, security, health, finances of Idols until they are adults. Unfortunately, given South Korean's penchant for corruptions I'm sure they would be bending over for companies in no time...

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