In an online community, Lee Chaeyeon's "new face" became a hot topic among netters. What happened to the idol? 

On July 11, an internet user took to Instiz to express confusion after seeing former IZ*ONE Chaeyeon's visuals in a recent photo. 

The OP wrote:

"This is not Lee Chaeyeon's face that I know. What is this?"

In the photo posted by a fansite, the female star has bigger eyes, nose, and lips, and her face shape is also unusual. 

When this was shared among K-pop stans, some speculated that it was due to the star's getting cosmetic enhancement such as lip fillers and eyelid surgery. 

• "Isn't it because of plastic surgery?"
• "That's not Lee Chaeyeon."

However, netizens immediately refuted this and defended Chaeyeon for being a victim of overediting. 

When people saw the above photo, they looked for her other snaps taken on the same day and claimed that the two weren't similar. 

A post shared by instagram

ALSO READ: Chaeyeon Opens Up About Beauty Criticism with Sister Chaeryeong—'We Are Much More Immune to Malicious ...'

In her other photos, Chaeyeon looks more natural and prettier, while the fansite photo is obviously heavily modified. Rather than manually photoshopping it, netters claimed that the fansite most likely utilized an AI tool, which is why the outcome wasn't accurate.

Chaeyeon's fans then accused the fansite of being an anti-fan for doing her dirty and emphasized that the idol is prettier even without correction. 

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Here are the comments:

• "No, why would you do the correction like that?"
• "If you look at Twitter (X), she doesn't look like that."
• "Are you just pretending to be a fan while being an anti? That was..."
• "Why would they do that to their favorite idol? I don't understand."
• "I can't even recognize her. Are you really a fan?"
• "It looks like it was modified using AI."
• "Huh? Seriously her face without any correction is prettier."
• "Hey, isn't this maliciously edited? Even if you watch the video, she doesn't look like that."
• "The correction seems to have been done incorrectly using a high-definition app."
• "Is she a Chinese homma? Some of them really do strange things with their edits."

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Meanwhile, on July 3, Chaeyeon solidified her status as "Performance Queen" to "All-Rounder Queen" with her 3rd mini-album, "SHOWDOWN."

This is her first album in 10 months since her first single, "The Move: Street" dropped in September of last year. The album contains five songs that confront her inner alter ego and showcase her growth. 

The title track, "Don't" is a two-step dance song that adds the vibration and ringtone of a cell phone to the song, making it familiar to listen to but also providing new stimulation. 

She expressed her duality of wanting to say "Don't call me" to the other person but also the desire, "Please call me", talking about the duality of a breakup that everyone has experienced at least once. 

READ MORE: Ex-IZ*ONE Lee Chaeyeon's Instagram Gets Bombarded With Hateful Comments Following Drastic Change

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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz