Recently, the October 19 episode of the Korean music program “Music Core” revealed that the winner was aespa’s Karina for her solo song “UP”, while AB6IX’s “NVKED” and QWER’s “My Name is Malguem” were named in the top 3.
However, according to previous predictions, it was BLACKPINK’s Jennie’s “Mantra” that was in the top 3 nominations instead of AB6IX’s “NVKED”.
This difference is suspected to be due to Jennie’s “Mantra” MV being banned from “Music Core” broadcast station, MBC, leading to Jennie having no SNS ratings and dropping to number 4. Additionally, AB6IX allegedly has transmission points high enough to surpass Jennie.
Oh misogyny. They brought it out because the song is about women empowerment. Because how come the group of kids who replaced him got a free pass to sing about being a “naked kid” and “getting funky?” If it’s the MV, they were also drinking alcohol and showed themselves naked without censorship. https://t.co/ysaN7EaMov pic.twitter.com/YnNu5Z8mC5
— blue (@pfwjennie) October 19, 2024
As for why Jennie’s “Mantra” MV was banned, it’s claimed that her MV used the explicit version of the song, not the clean version, which changed the word “ass” in the lyrics to ” Bass”.
Hearing this, many netizens were angry, pointing out that despite having even more explicit lyrics, AB6IX’s “NVKED” was not banned, allowing the boy group to be nominated. The song is known to include sexual innuendos such as “naked baby” and “getting funky”, while the MV shows the members drinking alcohol and displaying the word “naked” without censorship.
As a result, some suspected that MBC was misogynistic, as a female artist would be banned because of the word “ass,” while “male artists get away with everything.”
Below are some comments from netizens, clearly expressing their frustrations:
- Jennie gets banned from a music show because her lyrics are too “explicit” while this other song by a random bg (boy group) gets pushed into the top 3 in the nominations… Korea never gets around to defeating those accusations (misogynistic)
- Jennie was right all along, they didn’t really intend for women to dress like women, because why is a song that sings about being naked allowed, but a song that uplifts women is banned? misogyny is alive and well in kpop, as always
- Jennie released a song about self love for pretty girls, then there’s MBC banning her message for being “too explicit” while the other bg sings a song about being naked. MBC fraud and misogynist
- The double standards of this show lmao
- Korean men can sing about approaching women and get promoted, but a woman can’t make music for women
At the same time, some have defended AB6IX, stating that the song’s meaning is not actually as explicit as other statements. They also express concerns that Jennie’s “Mantra” was banned due to the word “ass”, as (G)I-DLE’s “Nxde” managed to win on Music Core in the past despite including the word “Nude”.
On the other hand, Korea actually has a history of banning “sexually provocative” lyrics, even when not explicit, as shown in the case of (G)I-DLE’s “Wife” in the past, while BLACKPINK was banned for an even more absurd reason.
Source: X
