As of January 10th, LE SSERAFIM member Huh Yunjin has released her much-awaited self-composed single “I ≠ DOLL” (pronounced IDOL), in which she tackles the hardships and challenges that accompany the South Korean pop industry.
As per Wikipedia’s “Korean Idol” page, an idol is “a type of celebrity working in the field of K-pop in fandom culture in South Korea, either as a member of a group or as a solo act.”
In Yunjin’s case, she’s a member of an all-girl quintet (five-member group) under HYBE Entertainment, formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, which is home to some of Korea’s top K-pop groups such as BTS and Seventeen. While she hasn’t been debuted as an idol for long, she definitely has a good knowledge of the interworkings of the industry. Prior to her rise to stardom, she was a trainee (idol in training) for six months and competed on the Korean survival show “Produce 48”, in which 48 female trainees compete against one another to debut.
Regarding her single, she speaks on things like the brutal beauty standards female idols are expected to conform to, and addresses topics very rarely discussed by idols for fear of public backlash. The track was released with a music video to accompany it on Youtube, and it features images hand drawn by Yunjin herself depicting everything from mean comments written in Korean to her being customized like a doll. She also pays homage to LE SSERAFIM via easter eggs scattered through the video, some notable ones being the phrase “IM FEARLESS” (the name of the group’s debut song and EP) written in the background of a frame and a quick sketch of an outfit she wore in the group’s music video for title track “ANTIFRAGILE” released in October.
Fans of the singer have received the song quite well, praising the idol for her unfiltered lyricism and even referencing a teaser clip released prior to her debut where she states her desire to “change the idol industry” and affirming that the star is well on her way to doing just that.
At the time of this article’s creation, the music video has garnered 1.6 million views and sits at the 28th spot on Youtube’s trending list. Congratulations Yunjin!
