It's sad that dating and romance within the K-pop industry are always something that could spin entirely out of hand and endanger the career and reputation of an artist.
In particular, foreign fans seem to be more inclined and welcoming when it comes to their idols dating or seeing someone compared to most South Korean fans. And often, witnessing the intense criticism some celebrities experience, as numerous new famous couples start to show up almost every day in the media headlines, has to be baffling for them.
Although it is reasonable that a company imposed a relationship ban is to assure that the celebrities concentrate on their careers, the fact is that at some point, people either get bitten by the love bug seek someone else of interest.
And depending on all of the shocking news we've witnessed up until this point pertaining to dating celebrities, everyone seems to be capable of making controversies without thinking that the fans might throw any negative reaction. Exactly, why is this?
This is because of the fact is that celebrities really are not all the same, the exact thing that some idols are either more fortunate or have the popularity that helps them to get the attention and public support.
More specifically, timing and presentation are two very crucial factors, as it has been seen that dating controversies have never been perfect for icons who enjoyed their prime time in their professional lives and career paths. Supporters and followers' "permission" ultimately plays a significant part in whether a relationship is identified as either a "controversy" or a "relationship."
Taeyeon and Baekhyun, given their identity as young talents, faced tremendous negative publicity, considering the way the media reported their relationship to the public. Everything was labeled to be a "controversy." Why? South Korean media outlet Dispatch unveiled the affair between the two idols, and that clarifies fairly much how the people would react when they figure out.
And when Dispatch published a story about relationships, we all know exactly what goes down.
Ex-Miss A member Suzy's affair with celebrity Lee Min Ho has prevented becoming labeled as a controversy because of her role as the "sweetheart" of the country.
Further, the majority of the singer-actress' fans are females who were more supportive of their romance than her male fans.
Instances of how partnerships are rarely revealed and not considered to be controversies, but still tend to occur. Take as references BIGBANG's Taeyang and the actress Min Hyorin, or Lee Seung-gi and the Girls Generation member YoonA, or Kai of EXO and Krystal of f(x).
Both the supporters and the public embraced those celebrity couples with arms wide open. In YoonA and Lee Seung-gi's case, alongside Kai and Krystal, their relationships were indeed established as a "perfect match" for fans' eyes, one that fulfilled the fans' image of an idol pair, like how a parent envisions who his or her child is with.
As for Taeyang, for so long, he was essentially a good star in the K-pop world that viewers often puzzled when he would find the perfect girlfriend.
However, as the success of K-pop continued to improve over decades, to South Koreans alone, it was no longer an exclusive sight, because there are K-pop supporters everywhere throughout the globe. And foreign fans are different from South Korean fans when it comes to being more receptive in a relationship to the thought of their beloved icons than South Korean people are.
That is why when Kai and Jennie's dating confirmation first broke out, it had no negative effect on the professions from either of the singer. Both earned overwhelming support from the global K-pop community, and given the news that Dispatch released, it was as though nothing started happening. In reality, during that period, local fans also filed a petition demanding the government to cease the activity of Dispatch because they believed the media agency was violating their idols' confidentiality.
Ultimately, it's the choice of a person to be in a relationship. However, for K-pop idols, even if there isn't a backlash associated, it depends entirely on the public. It might not be reasonable or fair, but it's the thing that goes with their professions.
