Confessions Of A Former K-pop Idol (ft. Crayon Pop) | ASIAN BOSS
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Channel: Asian Boss
Views: 6,257,636
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Keywords: kpop, k-pop, Crayon pop, bar bar bar, asian boss, interview, idol, kpop idol
Id: KdOA5BCwBi0
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Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)
Published: Sun Jun 30 2019
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"I had to suddenly change the way I acted". I feel like this is one of the last things that Kpop fans refuse to admit, as a whole.
A lot of the other stuff is great information that can apply to many many groups.
So they got 30-40% of the profits, only after paying back trainee debt, but EXPENSES were split 50/50 as well, that's huge. And then damn they had to take out bank loans to survive, which means their company wasn't even taking care of their living expenses. Using their first paychecks 1.5 years into debut to pay off their bank loans. This is basically indentured slavery. And this is a group that at least broke through and become noticed, at least for a while. Imagine all the groups that live in nugu limbo forever.
Wow they didn't even get paid for the Lady Gaga tour opening too. This is one of the biggest problems with the debt system the kpop industry uses is that there is so little transparency. Companies can just tell groups and artists that theyre not getting paid because they got debt to pay back. I forget what incident it was, but I remember news from around a year ago about this kind of issue where the company lied about how much debt the group had, or that it had it in the first place, and they were basically making up the numbers as they went. Way says "I still don't know what the truth is".
Everyone make sure to check out Way's Twitch stream, she's very fun. https://www.twitch.tv/baysunny
Great interview, wasn't expecting to see a bit of Choa in there as well. I remember Crayon Pop coming to Sydney for a free performance so I took a late lunch break to see them. The Youtuber Mychonny was there as well.
I'm glad to see that the girls have moved on to doing other things. It was sad to hear about how gruelling the trainee life was, even controlling when your family can see you. It must be so hard to keep on working yet go into more and more debt.
Asian Boss have been killing it with their videos recently. Lots of good questions.
Sounds incredibly rough, especially for those in smaller labels. Not being paid for a year and having no choice but to take up a loan sounds terrible. Not to mention the shit they have to deal with during their trainee days.
Anyone know what are the chances of someone becoming a trainee at a big label like JYP, BigHit, SM or YG?
Way has been putting out a ton of content about life as an idol. She's done 8 Q&As so far on her channel WayLand that are worth checking out.
While I knew the idol life was harsh, I expected Crayon Pop to not have gone through such a harsh few years.
For the Lady Gaga tour, did they really get paid so little (a Lady Gaga tour must print a ridiculous amount of money) that their company couldn't run properly (as they likely carried the whole thing) or they were shady and the higher-ups did creative accounting? I personally feel creative accounting happened as they barely got paid the whole time.
Wew for a moment I thought she was gonna talk about Soyul when asked why Crayon Pop is done. Kinda get why Soyul got hitched to Moon Hee Jun when Way talked about their debt... :(
We are in a golden age of kpop that will not last. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers cover dancing after school, minors living with companies, people working not only without pay, but debt!!!
AOA didn't make money until 3 years in???
And lets put 2 and 2 together for a minute: young teenagers, family's in debt, desperate to be famous, in the custody of an entertainment industry, in a culture that is outwardly conservative and prizes saving face. It's hard to think of a situation in which young people would be more vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
Isn't intentionally depriving someone of sleep a form of torture (like in the legal sense)?
Will there be any actual positive change from all these idols revealing industry practices as well as their personal struggles? I hope so. But, the one thing that hasn't changed is my respect for all the Crayon Pop members. My respect for them carries over to all the other K-pop idols as well. Way might have had her fill of the idol lifestyle, but if you ask her if it was all worth it in the end, I'm pretty certain she would say, "Yes!" And a big part of that "yes" is from us fans. So, whether you are a casual fan or part of a fandom, be the best fans and decent human beings these idols will ever have.
because they don't always have anyone else.edit: was too dramatic, just keep it real and keep expectations reasonable :p