K-pop fans had a heated debate over the selective hate against girl groups not singing live during university festivals, such as aespa and NewJeans. The discussion started after the latter performed at a recent event.
NewJeans Attracts Thousands of Students at Dankook University Festival
On September 21, the first day of Dankook University's "2022 DANFESTA: WOULD U PLAY?" wrapped up successfully, which took place at the Jukjeon Campus located in Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do.
In particular, the festival will be held for two days, starting on the 21st until today, September 22.
Even before its first day, a lot of Korean students expressed their envy of the attendees, especially on online communities and social media platforms. The reason why many are jealous was due to the incredible artist lineup that includes AOMG singers Lee Hi, Woo Won Jae, Coogie, Loco, Simon Dominic and NewJeans.
On the second day, Park Jaebeom, Holy Bang, and MVP were invited to the festival stage lineup as well.
Among them, NewJeans, a rookie girl group under ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE, captured the hearts of the festival attendees, not only because they were the only girl group in the lineup, but because they are currently one of the most popular 4th-gen rookies known for its hit tracks, "Hype Boy" and "Attention."
On Pann Nate, one user was amazed how NewJeans filled the ground due to its popularity, although they were only launched recently in August.
NewJeans Didn't Sing Live? People Discuss Selective Hate on aespa for Lip-Syncing
While a lot of fans praised NewJeans dance skills and vocals and visuals, some complained about how the girl group lip-synced during the festival. The author wrote:
"NewJeans didn't sing live at the university festival."
Following the post, more attendees showed up and expressed their regrets as well that NewJeans lip-synced during their performance.
Immediately after the post went viral, a debate started, fans defending NewJeans that they didn't lip-sync but rather, their backtrack was too loud that's why some weren't able to hear them properly. Some also guessed that it could be a result of the agreement between the university and the group's agency not singing live.
However, an attendee on Twitter who happened to personally attend the event clarified that NewJeans did lip-sync.
that’s not true at allllll lmao? i was there, and all the artists afterwards were 100% singing live. and this is no hate, but nj definitely relied on their backtrack for singing, as the mics moved from their mouths before the note was done, and there wasn’t an audible difference
— 🎐 kit (@atzimpact) September 22, 2022
Going back to the author of the post, they pointed out that NewJeans can get away with it easily why the girl group aespa got a lot of hate for doing it, emphasizing selective hate the latter received.
"What the..? Didn't aespa get a lot of hate for not singing live and dancing only one dance at a university festival while receiving millions of KRW?"
Earlier, the quartet launched by SM Entertainment was heavily criticized for using AR as well; thus, the comparison between the girl group and NewJeans started on how internet users and fans take such news.
Following the post, NewJeans fans defended the group and attested to them that the group did sing live, but used backtrack and called out aespa fans for dragging down NewJeans.
"NewJeans just used AR and did sing live, but aespa lip-synced, didn't they?"
As a response, some of MYs (fans of aespa) counterattacked, saying:
"No honestly, can we stop saying that singing with AR is live?"
What are your thoughts on this?"
READ MORE: aespa Upsets Students After Doing THIS at University Festival
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Written by Eunice Dawson.
