I was watching some youtube videos of the Wonder Girls’ performance in the Wendy Williams show. I’m very much a fan of the Wonder Girls that’s why I’m so excited that they’re getting this much exposure in the US. Even BoA didn’t get these much attention. And she made it in Japan. Anyway, going back to the Wendy Williams video, I was quite surprise with the number of comments the video had after just a few days. As most netizens know, many comments means their is a fight in the comment section. I read the comments and it was everything I expected. It’s gut instinct. You fight what you’re not familiar with. But what I’m surprised with is from who these hurtful comments came from. Most of them are from close-minded Americans but there were some that came from Asian people who were familiar with the Wonder Girls even before they debut in the US.
I was a little sad to see Asian fans being mean to the Wonder Girls. Even going as far as degrading each member. If you don’t like them then why speak so negatively. In the first place, no one is asking their opinion. I don’t even know why they’re watching the video to begin with if they dislike the Wonder Girls so much. There is this person, asfkdjaslkdfjasl, is his youtube channel. He commented on a lot of the Wonder Girls’ Wendy Williams performance and said a lot of tactful comments. It’s okay to be straight forward but to go to depths just to tell people that the Wonder Girls won’t make it, that’s a little weird.
It came as a shock to me when I viewed the author of some of the negative comments and I saw their uploaded videos. They were SNSD songs. These are soshi fans apparently. And I saw their recent comments. They were commenting on the same performance but from different uploader. It was then clear to me that these were demolition jobs. I was kinda disappointed. I thought SNSD fans were already pass this phase of their fandom. I’m not generalizing soshi fans but you have to admit that SNSD have the most passionate and close-minded fans in Kpop.
I didn’t have a positive first impression of SNSD actually. The first time I saw them and listened to them was at the 2008 Dream Concert and we all know how that turn out. At the time, I was new at the Kpop scene. I don’t know much about the artists that performed there and who they are. But the group that really stood out for me was SNSD. Not because of their performance but of the rumors and news that surrounded them before and after the free concert. I was thinking what could have these girls might have done to receive such hatred from all these people. It caught my curiosity.
I’ve read and read blogs until I stumbled on shenyuepop.com. The author was clearly an antifan of SNSD but his article about the incident was kinda interesting. Also, he posted pics and videos that made the blog news for me. He gave all these videos as proof of what he was saying. The tearing of the banners of the fans, the disrespectful to their sunbaes, the primadonna attitude of most of the members, the plastic surgery and the user issue. And honestly, it worked on me. I really disliked SNSD after that.
But as time went by, my dislike to them disappeared. I finally came to my senses. What’s the use of hating people whose songs you don’t even like. Aside from ‘Gee’ and ‘Etude’, I never really liked any of their songs. I just find them so feminine with no room for masculinity. They were just too gender bias. But surprisingly, most of the members of their fanclub are men, which I find weird.
Anyway, after the Dream Concert, SNSD took a break as a group and focused more on their personal growth as artists. They came back at the start of 2009 with the hit single, ‘Gee’. Kpop fans have apparently forgiven the girls and supported them throughout their promotion of the mini album. SNSD seems to be heading to the top.
However, some netizens has pointed out that the ‘Gee’ success was due to the lack of popular groups that were active at the time that they release the mini album and also the lack of quality songs that were release at the time. Though I like ‘Gee’, this thought has always hovered over me. Wonder Girls promoted ‘Nobody’ at the same time as Big Bang and DBSK. Two idol groups that have an established fanbase, but still the Wonder Girls were able to generate success. They did won cyworld song of the month twice for this song.
I want to see SNSD do the same thing for me to believe that ‘Gee’ wasn’t luck. Whatever anybody say and no matter what their fans do, it can never deny that SNSD got lucky that no one was there to contest them. I really don’t see these girls at the same level with DBSK, Big Bang and the Wonder Girls in terms of popularity. The three idol groups are not just popular in Korea but also in Thailand, Hongkong, Singapore, etc. SNSD are not even that well known here in my country and we’re very much of Korean Pop Music freaks.
Right now, 2NE1 is posing as a threat to SNSD. This is a wonderful opportunity for Taeyeon and her girls to prove once and for all that their win was real and SNSD is not just another pretty girls that can carry a tune.
Shocked Fan's Corner 