How Blackpink, Red Velvet, And More Are Redefining Womanhood In K-pop

By T.K. Park and Youngdae Kim


When you think of K-pop, the seven young males of BTS most likely come to mind, yet the ladies artists are enjoying a heyday of their own. Red Velvet recently hit seven cities on their first North American tour, while Blackpink took Coachella by storm, mingling backstage with their fans Ariana Grande and Will Smith. Wonder Girls’ Sunmi and Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany have damaged free from the girl groups that made them and are right now headlining their own U.S. Tours. And these girls are doing it with confidence, strength, and flair, fully unconcerned with the male gaze — or with anyone else’s gaze for that matter.


The English-language discourse about K-pop idols, and in particular female idols, is still shaped in large part by the 2012 New Yorker article by John Seabrook titled "Factory Girls." Published in the same year that “Gangnam Style” became a world phenomenon, Seabrook’s article painted a picture of ladies K-pop idols as carefully-crafted objects, using Girls’ Generation — the most successful K-pop girl order up until that point — because the primary focus. It was a familiar story to anyone who'd been following K-pop. The artists are recruited in their adolescence, put through a rigorous training regimen, and undergo plastic surgery so that they can execute the vision of their producer: an image of cute however demure Korean females, in contrast to the male idols who more freely deviate from the orthodox gender norms.


Girls' Generation perform at the KBS Korea-China Music Festival in August 2012


This caricature won an excellent deal of buy, in part because it held a modicum of truth, along with because it fit female K-pop stars into the prevailing U.S. Preconception about Asians and women: Asians are supposed to be mechanical, girls are meant to be objectified, and and for that reason it made sense that Asian girls pop stars were mechanically objectified.


Although even in 2012, this description was not entirely on the mark. It is true enough to mention a persistent strain in K-pop’s girl groups necessitates turning girls into an object of male desire — as is the case with female pop artists anywhere. Yet it is a mistake to think the girls of K-pop solely traffick in marketing themselves as manufactured objects of that desire. In truth, even the most "manufactured" K-pop girl groups display an excellent deal of firm, and their profile evolves as their careers progress.


1990s-2000s: The Dueling Sides of Femininity


Fin.K.L's "To My Boyfriend," released in 1998


Objectification and organization formed the current and countercurrent as long as girl groups have existed in the modern K-pop idol scene. For the opening generation of K-pop girl groups of the late 1990s, this was partly a function of their reference materials: The girl groups that emulated U.S. Artists leaned more toward displaying confidence and independence, while groups that emulated Japanese acts hewed closer to the orthodox image of demure Asian females. The latter was the mainstream at first. Influenced by Japanese groups like SPEED, the leading first generation K-pop girl groups, like S.E.S. And Fin.K.L, customary the course that several came to regard because the regular K-pop path for females as an object of male desire: a gaggle of pretty women growing into adorable young girls after awhile. Meanwhile, groups like Baby V.O.X. and Diva, which emulated the hip-hop-based music and images of TLC, formed the countercurrent of girls artists with confident and spunky aesthetics.


Girls' Generation's "Gee," released in 2009


the opening generation K-pop girl groups’ popularity entered a fallow period around 2003, any time idol groups in general lost ground to R&B acts. Then in  2007 Wonder Females, Kara, and Girls’ Generation debuted, forming the second generation of K-pop girl groups. It was also this generation that perfected the plan of action of turning female artists into a carefully-curated product, cultivating what came be referred to as “uncle fans” — middle-aged boys with disposable revenue and dubious motives. These are the “factory girls” that Seabrook encountered, because the second-generation girl groups were the opening ones that enjoyed meaningful popularity in the U.S. Market by appearing on Billboard charts, performing on late night talk shows, and going on nationwide tours.


Although not even Girls’ Generation, the archetype of a lady K-pop idol sort, was content only to project an image of demure young ladies. From the starting, Girls’ Generation had a streak of strength and independence that was overshadowed while in the peak of their careers nevertheless re-discovered later. As an example, the lyrics of 2007’s “Into the New World,” the group’s first hit single, showed unflinching resolve: “Don’t wait for any special miracle / The rough road ahead of us is / The unknown future and also a wall / We won’t change, we won’t give up.” These words re-emerged as a slogan for the 2016-17 Candlelight Protests that led to the impeachment and removal of then-president Park Geun-hye.


Even in this “peak objectification” period, there were plenty of female K-pop idols that emphasized confidence and business. 2NE1, debuting in 2009, is a notable example. 2NE1 inherited the spunky image of Baby V.O.X. And Diva, and blended the contemporary hip-hop beauty favored by their production organization YG Entertainment. The result is an audience that consciously declined the orthodox cute-sexy axis in favor of being swag-based alpha women. Further, the female idols of the opening generation would evolve toward being more dominant and in-charge as their careers progressed. Lee Hyo-ri, who started her solo career in 2003 right after a successful run in Fin.K.L, did more than merely project an image. By actively participating in the creation of her own music, she was claiming true firm over every aspect of her artistry. This pattern would repeat with other female idols who advanced their careers, like BoA, Tiffany, and Sunmi.


Gain's "Bloom," released in 2012


The later segment of this period was also characterized by an aggressive marketing of sexuality. Three notable examples — HyunA, Increase, and IU — demonstrate three distinct ways in which females of K-pop sublimated their sexuality into artistry. Provocateur HyunA is the grown-up version of her former order Wonder Females, sustaining the bright and cheerful atmospherics however with more skin and suggestive dance moves. Increase, on the other hand, does not recommend — she affirmatively expresses her sexuality, making her presentation not about the gaze that she would attract, although about the desire she feels. This is especially evident in the music video of her 2012 single “Bloom” with its jaw-dropping depiction of self-pleasure, making Increase more popular among ladies than gentlemen. IU is arguably the most cerebral of the three, as she relishes the subversive force created by the knowing look in back of her girlish face. Like Madonna, IU leverages her feminine charm as a means of control. IU’s seemingly more customary sexuality is case in point a highly-cultivated device, inducing submission from males to whom she seems to be submissive.


2010s-Present: Redefining Womanhood


The girls of K-pop face a unique challenge compared to their male counterparts. Unlike K-pop boy bands whose fandom is mostly ladies, K-pop girl groups are beloved by males and girls alike, with each artist having a different blend of male and female fans. In the past few years, the females of K-pop became more attuned than ever to the perplexing gender dynamics of their fans, who are living in the time of #MeToo-era feminism and fluid gender identity. Needless to say, the more “conventional” K-pop girl groups, like Twice or IZ*One, continue to remain hugely popular. However identically popular are groups like MAMAMOO, who flaunt their sexuality and do it on their own terms, not to meet anyone else’s expectations.


Blackpink's "DDU-DU DDU-DU," released in 2018


Blackpink arguably is the leader of the latter categorize. Fresh from their Coachella debut, Blackpink is this generation’s 2NE1, mixing their predecessor’s alpha-girl swag with model-like looks. With more flash, more glam, and more swag, the four females of Blackpink — Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa — dominate the stage like four Beyoncés, fully devoid of any aegyo beautiful expressions) that has long characterized K-pop girl groups.


Red Velvet, on the other hand, continues SM Entertainment’s girl-group tradition of pretty ladies growing into cheery young girls. Although like their predecessor Girls’ Generation, Red Velvet maintains a streak of independence that rejects being mere objects of desire (for example in “Bad Boy,” in which they view the males who decline to bow to them as a challenge worth defeating) Further, Red Velvet wears its feminism proudly: The group’s leader Irene recently made waves by saying at a fan meeting that she read Kim Ji-young, Place on Earth 1982, Cho Nam-ju’s best-selling feminist novel. Irene’s statement was met with howls of sexist outrage. However Irene and Red Velvet persisted, never apologizing for her belief in gender equality.


LOONA's "Butterfly," released in 2019


LOONA presents still another possibility, attracting LGBT fandom with gender fluidity. With its “girl of the month” concept — introducing a new member each month for a calendar year — LOONA initially appeared to be on a similar track as Red Velvet. However with songs and music videos that appealed to the beauty of same-sex attraction, elaborate choreography that moves them on-par with their male counterparts, and an inclusive concept that permits them to symbolize every girl, LOONA is cultivating an entirely new sort of diverse fanbase.


Where will the female K-pop idols go next? Naturally, the previous generation will continue the method of maturing into their own artistry. Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation, as an example, is quickly emerging as a major figure in her own right. Nevertheless the latest development is suggesting that the ladies of K-pop are on their way to overcoming the final frontier of idol music: gaining firm over the presentation of their looks, image, and music. With new girl groups like (G)I-dle featuring girls artists who are producing their own music and narrative, that reality doesn't seem so unlikely. Far from being "factory ladies the ladies of K-pop are more and more charting their own course with greater independence than ever.