Kpop Speech

Speech

Music is a way we all express our feelings, whether that is by creating or writing lyrics to songs or just listening to the music we each like. It is such a simple thing that can have huge impacts on millions of people; even helping some to a great extent. However, in South Korea to create music (which is most commonly known as kpop), they have a huge price to pay in order to express who they are through music. I will discuss these prices within more detail in a moment, they are not something a person should have to do to get their message heard.Is it right that within most companies a basic human right is taken away from them? A natural human instinct is restricted by these companies that run the kpop industry. At first listen this may not sound that bad to some, but it is something everyone should be free to have. This right i am talking about is called a Dating Ban, where music companies restrict their idols under the company from dating. Some companies have a dating ban of 3 years after debut (like JYP entertainment), YG has a ban of 5 years for their younger artists and 3 years for their older artists; Pledis has a ban of 3-4 years. However, I must state that not every company has a dating ban on their idols, RBW and SM entertainment do not have these and give their artists freedom in that category. So far this does not seem too bad right? Well, on 13th September 2018 an article was released regarding two artists under Cube entertainment. The two artists Hyuna and Dawn had recently become public and open about their two-year long relationship, to which Cube has responded by removing the two from its roster and the company had stated "We decided the trust is broken and cannot be saved so we are kicking them out of the company". It wasn't until the 14 & 15th October 2018 that it was declared both Hyuna and Dawn terminated their contracts with the company. Thankfully the two are now happy (and still together) in a newly formed agency founded by Psy. To be kicked out of your job (something they adore) for falling in love with someone they adore is ridiculous and harsh. It is understandable that companies want their artists to focus on their career, however each idol puts every drop of effort and more into their work. Therefore, adding these bans is somewhat insulting to the trust that the company has in these idols.

Moving on from the dating ban, not all artists are treated in the same way. A group known as Got7, with the members JB, Mark, Jinyoung, Jackson, Youngjae, Bambam and Yugyeom, under JYP entertainment is treated disgustingly compared to other groups under the company. The group is promoted awfully, fans have had to pay in order for got7 to promote their work for longer. Their safety is not taken seriously, there has been times where crazy fans have seriously harassed the boys and nothing was done about it. Youngjae's number was leaked and people kept harassing him, he had to publicly tell and plead for them to stop; Bambam too had to move out of his apartment because a crazy fan had found it. Additionally, despite all of the boys having skills in writing music, they are not always allowed to use them. JYP restricts them from using their music sometimes because "it is not Got7's colour". Their system of choosing which songs go into an album changed a bit but before JYP would listen to 5 seconds of a song and decide whether it was good or not. He would tell JB that his songs "are not good for listening" after only 5 seconds. As for the new system in place, it's a committee type deal; it's the members, JYP, and a couple of other people who decide whether the song is to be on an album. However, they still don't have 100% control over what they put into their songs. To add to this, Got7 is not the only ones who are treated awfully under JYP entertainment, Momo, a member of the girl group Twice was instructed to lose 7kg (almost 15Ibs) in order to appear on a showcase, with only a week to do it. In order to accomplish this goal, Momo didn't eat anything for a week except ice cubes and went to the gym daily. In spite of how hard she was working to hit her goal, she thought that even the ice cubes would make her gain weight, so she spat them out. Momo was so hungry and tired that one night, as she was settling into bed, she was terrified that she would die in her sleep that she began to cry herself to sleep. It is utterly heart breaking to hear the way these happy and cheerful idols are treated by the companies they work for. They suffer through all of this to keep doing the thing they love, creating music and making their fans happy.

However, these are just a few of the things that are known to us, there is more I haven't mentioned, but also things we do not know about; things that are confidential between idols and companies. As we know from what I have already mentioned being an idol is not a happy easy thing to do, it is actually quite draining and some need periods of time off to regain their energy. There is one person in particular I would now like to discuss; he was able to hide his true feelings when showing himself to the public. Kim Jong hyun. Kim Jong hyun (or more commonly known as Jonghyun) was part of the 5-member group Shinee. He was the main vocalist for Shinee for 9 years, after being scouted by SM entertainment in 2005 when he was only 15 years old; he later debuted in Shinee in 2008. On the 18th December 2017 at only 27 years old, Jonghyun had made his final decision and joined the angels in the clouds above. It was only the next day (19th December 2017) that a close friend of Jonghyun uploaded his suicide note for all the fans to see. Even to this day, fan or not, reading that note will bring many tears to your eyes. He begins this note with "I was broken from the inside. The depression slowly chipped me away, finally devouring me. I could not beat the negativity. I hated myself." He then later states "I've been struggling through the difficulty. I told myself that it's just me wanting to run away from everything. It's true. I really did want to run away." These are just small snippets from the entire note, I am unable to discuss it fully; yet, just by reading the note don't judge a book by its cover. Only close friends and family really knew about his suffering, a friend stated that they could only prolong this action and not stop it completely; a fan had also stated "I thought this was Jonghyuns artistic style and musical expression. I didn't know it was a silent cry for help". All I ask is that you consider my words today, I am merely informing you about what goes on around us. Do not overlook any small actions, a simple smile could make a person's day. Do whatever you can now before it's too late. Do you want to be one of those greedy pigs who observe and exploit anything they can for money? I hope now. Now go, go and help make this world a better place. Farewell.

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If you read this far thank you, i would really appreciate the feedback to improve it for school. Everything you say I will consider. Thank you again 💕💞xx
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