K-pop star Hyuna (Seoul, South Korea) can be considered, at just 32 years of age, a veteran of the music industry in her country. It was 2006 when it was announced that the young woman would be one of the members of the group Wonder Girls. Hyuna was only 14 years old. Since then, and although the South Korean left the group just a year later, citing health problems at that time, the singer and dancer was part of another female band (4minute) in 2009, releasing her first single in 2010. In solitary. A career for which, to date, Hyuna has accumulated 29 music awards and 80 nominations. She is also followed by more than 17 million people on Instagram. But, as is often the case in the world of K-pop, all that glitters is not gold. And the artist herself has taken it upon herself to expose the less friendly side of this industry in a recent interview program called B-Season, especially when he looks back at his beginnings: “At that time, I survived with a piece of kimbap [un plato de origen coreano similar al sushi] a day while continuing with all my routines and activities. And that destroyed me. At 26 years old, I was not healthy at all,” she acknowledged.
The singer admits that lack of food led her to develop peripheral neuropathy, a condition that affects the body’s nervous system. “I used to eat very little. There were times when she would go a week without eating,” says Hyuna, ensuring that this condition caused her to continually faint: “Every time my weight dropped, [esta condición] was activated. I fainted 12 times in one month.” In 2020, she fainted several times while filming a music video for her album I’m Not Cool. Her problems continued the following year, and the singer fainted again while she was filming the video for her song. Table tennis. Addressing the incident afterwards, the singer wrote on Instagram: “I was so happy dancing, but then I suddenly collapsed again, so I got really angry because my body wouldn’t let me do what I wanted to do.” And she added: “I guess it’s my fault for not taking care of my body sooner.” In 2019, the artist already confirmed that she had also been diagnosed with depression and an anxiety disorder.
This is the second time this year that the popular singer has made headlines for issues that have little or nothing to do with her musical career. In early 2024, Hyuna announced, through a photo on her social media, that she was in a relationship with fellow singer Yong Junhyung.. Hyuna’s army of fans did not like this, since her new boyfriend was involved in the case. Burning Sun, a scandal that affected K-pop stars, politicians and police, who recorded and distributed sexual videos without the consent of the victims, women and many of them minors. Jong Junhyung acknowledged in the past that he knew of the fact that one of his colleagues dedicated himself to recording women being drugged and then sexually abusing them and that he was part of a chat in which said videos were shared. The singer admitted to feeling “embarrassed” by it. Even so, the singer’s followers remain disappointed with the artist for maintaining her relationship with Junhyung, as can be read in the comments they leave on social networks.
Over the years, the former Korean pop superstars have become less reticent to talk about the ins and outs of an industry as demanding as it is prolific. Even the most successful female band inside and outside of South Korea, Black Pink, dared to speak in a Netflix documentary about the bitterest side of fame: leonine contracts, 14-hour work days with only one day off. every two weeks, extreme diets or continuous surveillance were some of the revelations made by the members of the popular group. And they are the tip of the iceberg of this music industry.
One cannot mention the K-pop phenomenon without alluding to the suicides of many of the song’s stars in South Korea. In April 2023, Moon Bin, real name of the artist Moonbin, from the group Astro, was the last to join this tragic list. The young man, 25 years old, ended his life and revived the debate on the lack of protection for mental health in a highly competitive industry. From the beginning, artists learn to be self-demanding, dealing with physical and mental exhaustion, to which is added the pressure to succeed and the exacerbated exposure to which they are subjected. From time to time, the K-pop world mourns the loss of some of its brightest stars, as also happened in November 2019, when the authorities of the Asian country found the lifeless body of Goo Hara at his home in Seoul. The artist had tried to take her life a month ago. Just a few weeks earlier, Sulli, a member of the girl group F(x), had also ended her life. And in 2017, the suicide of K-pop idol Jonghyun shocked the entire country.
