Despite being blacklisted in Korea, THIS K-pop group with LGBTQ+ members expressed a desire to continue serving with their music as they announced awaited comeback.
On May 23, the Korean media outlet GP Korea reported on the current status of LIONESSES, K-pop's first and only sexual minority idol group.
Following their hiatus for about seven months, the group is announced to be coming back to the music scene on June 1 with a new single, "Like Christina taught me."
The song is a tribute to the legendary pop diva Christina Aguilera, which was written and composed by the producer member, Damjun.
They said:
"Christina Aguilera’s 'Beautiful' is a song for which I am grateful for holding back my childhood when I was standing on the edge of a cliff. In addition to 'Beautiful', I worked on this song using a lot of quotes that pay tribute to great musicians who comforted me in the past, such as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Yoon Bok Hee, and BTS. I thought I wanted to give back to DEN (Lionesses' fandom name) the comfort I received through their music.
Compared to other star fandoms, 'Den' has a particularly strong feeling that it is a fandom that comes together and accepts each other with unspeakable wounds. That’s how much I wanted to return these comforts to my beloved Dens."
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Despite the three members' sincere intentions, LIONESSES has suffered and is continuously experiencing discrimination and hateful comments for being a part of the sexual minority and at the same time, being a K-pop idol.
They were not only banned from music shows by major channels, but Christian groups led by pastors of large churches would also stop their music from being played by other broadcasting companies.
The Christian groups would file malicious complaints and protests in front of these agencies, forcing LIONESSES to continue their activities without broadcast appearances.
However, sticking to their goal of spreading the story of the sexual minority community that has never been seen before in K-Pop history through their music, they gradually built support from neighboring countries and solidified their international fanbase.
Even without music shows appearances, they were promoted by performing exclusively at commemorative events at the Canadian Embassy in Korea and the U.S. Embassy in Korea, through campaigns and by participating queer festivals.
Meanwhile, this comeback will be special for member Lee Malrang because they will finally unveil their face behind their mask.
When they debuted, the members initially hid their identities using masks, but one by one, they started revealing themselves to the public.
In the article, Lee Malrang was hesitant to take off their mask since they were scared that the career of their cousin who is also a K-pop idol would be damaged (reportedly (G)I-DLE Soyeon).
However, as they aimed to give courage to fans who couldn't come out, Lee mustered the courage to do it as well and to live up to that goal.
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
