On the afternoon of the 21st, ILLIT members Yuna, Minju, Moka, Wonhee and Iroha held a media showcase at Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, to commemorate the release of their second mini-album *I’LL LIKE YOU *.
*I’ll Like You* tells the story of a girl who dives deep into the moment, meets someone she wants to get closer to, and after some contemplation, ultimately trusts her feelings and approaches them with courage. The album contains five tracks, including the title track “Cherish (My Love)”.
After their debut album, Bang Si-hyuk, the president of HYBE, was credited as the producer of most of the tracks, including the title song.
In fact, Wonhee even expressed her gratitude to him during the showcase, saying: “Bang Si-hyuk gave us detailed advice on how to express this song, including dance details and facial expressions. Thanks to his guidance, the song was able to form in a fuller and richer way.”
However, Wonhee’s comment about Bang Si-hyuk led to fierce criticism from Korean netizens, who mocked the man for trying to burnish his name by using HYBE artists. Some even pointed out that HYBE had previously said that Bang Si-hyuk was face blind and therefore couldn’t even recognize the NewJeans, so Wonhee thanking him for helping them with facial expressions seems ridiculous.
Below are some comments from netizens:
- I thought he had face blindness? How do you give them advice on facial expressions? This man is damn ridiculous
- Bang Si-hyuk is really stupid as hell. He needs to realize that staying off the radar is the best course of action right now, instead of whatever he’s doing
- First, this man used BTS as a shield. Now, he’s trying to get rookie artists to praise himself, only for it to backfire
- This is their showcase and yet they are promoting Bang Si-hyuk.
- Is Belift Lab led by Bang Si-hyuk? Because they thank Bang Si-hyuk. We all know he’s behind this
- Here he goes again, using his artists to burnish his name… Give me shit for real
On the other hand, after the release of ILLIT’s “I’LL LIKE YOU”, the demographic of buyers of this album is raising concerns. In particular, according to the sales platform Aladin, men in their forties represent 27.8% of album sales, followed by women in their thirties. Men, at 60%, contributed 16.7%, while women in their fifties made up 16.7%, meaning ILLIT has a fairly older audience with more men than women.
Many netizens found this demographic to be rather “gross,” leaving comments like: “If sixty-year-olds let their hearts beat like teenagers, even minors, they have something wrong with their heads”, “Sixty-year-old grandparents who buy albums for a group of girls the age of their grandchildren…?”, AND “People make excuses that these old people are buying for their children, but the children of people in their 60s are in their 30s right now….”
This situation is even more concerning considering that ILLIT and NewJeans were once suspected of being victims of sexualization by HYBE.
Source: theqoo, Pann Nate
