Who knows me and interacts with me on Allkpop, probably knows I never make rants, I'm much more a fan of the appreciation/achievements/news threads route, but there's a suject right now really bothering me.
Bang Chan recently did a ment in the last Day of Seoul Concert where he opened his heart about a sensitive subject. He left his hometown when he was 13, was a trainee for 7 years. During this period, he saw a lot of people important to him coming and go. To the point he started to isolate himself, because he was afraid to grow bonds and lose them over and over again, as a cicle. For someone who is genuinely passionate about interacting and communicating, this was hard for him to go through, also so far from his family, and It lead him to develop... dark thoughts, also about what he shouldn't be doing with his life... If you know what I mean.
He met Stray Kids members, who he chose to debut with. They were people who stayed, who respected and understood his feelings, after a long time being alone.
So he's very thankful to them. He's thankful to the staff who took care of him when he was a kid and the staff who works behind the scenes. He's thankful to his fans who believed in the music he creates. So he said, he wanted to protect this people - the members, staff, fans - who help making the dream he left his home for becoming true and that now he's filled with positive emotions that he wasn't in the past.
And somehow, I don't know why, sharing his hardships, his gratitute and his affection is funny, embarassing, cringy. Okay... It might be for some and everyone is allowed to have their own perspective, but It's really worth it making fun of a person sharing some of his deepest vulnerabilities and about mental health? Chan is often "witch-hunted" for saying what he thinks and without deserving it, but this time the situation really rubs me the wrong way.
Then, I come back to "Which route is the best for K-pop idols to follow?", as the title of my thread says.
I often see criticism of people saying how much idols are fake, treating them as robots without any critical sense and real personality or as people who hide all their thoughts and emotions. Who only follow steps given by a Company. Of course, an exaggerated perspective, because things aren't that black and white. No one is completely true or fake in their jobs, not even us.
But when they somehow take off the mask and show their honesty, share about their personal living and real thoughts, without being problematic at all, they are... even more criticized.
Sometimes, I like when idols aren't afraid to be themselves and say what they think and what they feel honestly. But sometimes... I can't stop thinking about how the times they don't share anything at all, barely do or are being characters are the smartest moments. Because... they will suffer criticism and It's still hard to endure, but at least they'd be criticized for what they are not and not for their deep vulnerabilities as a real person.
