How come people say "idols shouldn't debut at a super young age" but then never bat an eye when someone 8-12 becomes a trainee?

  • Athletes start training just as young if not younger and have to deal with very rigorous training including the possiblity of injury in their growing bodies. It would be kind silly to say idols shouldn't start training young or even debut young when young people in other sectors are normalised

    That doesn't mean that it's a good thing though.

  • I dunno about that, different types of fans for different behaviours. Sports fans satisfaction is tied with the sport; play shit and you'll get shit and worst of it, play well and you'll be worshipped like a god.


    In kpop idols get shit on for sometimes not even doing anything related to music. Looks are a big one. Dating can affect careers. Even relatively minor scandals can end careers.

    sports fans can be delusional and vile af, let’s not try to relativize that

  • Why will that be weird? Doesn’t everyone train at that age. I went to a million After school classes. And learnt a million things. That’s the perfect age to train. And everyone does it not just idols.


    It’s being in the spotlight that’s questionable. Not the amount of work you do. Teens can do a lot of work. I did more work as a teen than I ever did as an adult.

  • Kids need a lot of sleep too. As you get older, you need less sleep but when you're 10 or even 13 or 14, you need that shuteye.


    Trainees from 8-15 should work no more than 8 hours per day Monday to Friday, and maybe 5 hours on Saturday. That's it. And this includes homework and study time, which means actual vocal, dance and other Kpop lessons might only make up 20 hours per week.


    The rest should be free time and rest time.

    meanwhile me being a 14 year old waking up every day at 6:30 because of a thing called school. Then coming home at 7:00 because I am in the school play and then trying my best to complete my 3 hours worth of unfinished homework in 1-2 hours while browsing through a kpop forum.


    Also, doesn't S.K have some strict child job laws or something? I remember how young idols were taken out of award shows because they were minors.

  • That doesn't mean that it's a good thing though.

    Is it not? If you don’t put in the training at a young age it’s going to be much harder to compete with others who are more experienced or naturally talented. Not just in kpop or sports but in most things I life. The earlier you start and put your effort in the better you become at it later in life and have a longer career of it.


    Not just kpop or sports but anything really. Education it’s best to get started as young as possible so you absorb and understand things quicker. Learning to play an instrument at a high level is easier if you start early. Drawing. Fitness/health. Learning languages. And so on get more benefit if you start out younger.

  • Why will that be weird? Doesn’t everyone train at that age. I went to a million After school classes. And learnt a million things. That’s the perfect age to train. And everyone does it not just idols.


    It’s being in the spotlight that’s questionable. Not the amount of work you do. Teens can do a lot of work. I did more work as a teen than I ever did as an adult.

    I think you missed the point. I'm fine with some training as a kid because that's the age where yo start learning and getting efficient at things. But I'm talking about idol trainee life which is much more rigorous than what you're talking about. You are practically robbed of the best lived childhood.

  • I think you missed the point. I'm fine with some training as a kid because that's the age where yo start learning and getting efficient at things. But I'm talking about idol trainee life which is much more rigorous than what you're talking about. You are practically robbed of the best lived childhood.

    personally I have no issue with trainee life at that age...

    if one doesn't want it then they should not do it no? or talk about it with their parents or something...


    I have issues with the dieting and the (probably forced) PS and that and the actual trainee life itself??? that to me is just a sacrifice one has to go through if one wants to be an idol


    and idols debuting at a young age I've said it numerous times on AKP that especially for female idols and female groups - there exists a timeframe to earn your money before moving on


    there is barely any female groups promoting as a whole post 30, post contract renewal and somewhat successful...the younger one debuts the more time has to earn $$$

  • Professional football players, gymnasts, pianists, ballerinas etc all train their bodies rigorously throughout their childhood in order to have successful career. Unless you think idolling is not that serious or the job itself is an absolute joke, well I guess I cant change your mind

    :wellr::wellr::wellr:

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    ThinkAbouTzu, Tuwuice:pleading::pleading::pleading:

  • Agree with you. In my country, there are a lot of soccer fans and what I have had to witness and incidents that happened (people literally killing others over soccer, vandalism, violence), are one of the reasons why I don’t like soccer that much. K-Pop is somewhat toxic like every medium that is liked by people but it’s not as accepted as soccer so it cannot grow as toxic as sports fandoms are. The problem is that people just accept the status-quo of sports whether it is the sport itself or the behavior of the fans. A lot of people that are doing sports with the goal of reaching Olympics or less are burnout. Their careers are not long and the whole system behind it is basically drilling kids into perfection in unhealthy and abusive environments which is still common practice. I have had the chance to train with someone who is now competing in Olympia and fortunately my trainer never forced us to do anything weird but I have seen otherwise. I have seen girls who were really young being constantly screamed and reprimanded for small things. In my opinion, this is as bad as the trainee system.

    And then you have the sports fans, it is just so socially accepted to be a fan of a certain sport like football or soccer that people forget the vile behavior of those. They get drunk so much that sometimes after a play you would see smashed train windows, trash everywhere or people literally puking in the train‘s trashcans. There have been incidents where bystanders were pulled into conflicts between fans of competing teams and some of them even ended letal. There is far more. People have every right to support a certain sport, team or athletes. Heck, even I support a team and even went to one of their games but sports fans are overall not the kind of people that I remember positively and I‘ve not even talked about the whole pandemic and soccer special treatment or how we germans literally call it: extra sausage

  • it varies though. from what i have seen in treasure's survival show, younger trainees (around 12 years old) have a more lax training. it's just like applying for a normal vocal lessons, rap lessons, etc. nothing intense so that's okay. idk about other companies.

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