Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
The use of avatars for musicians has come back into the news recently after comedian/host Kim Shin Young and fans of PLAVE clashed over her characterization of them, resulting in an apology from her, which led to Korean netizens shitting on PLAVE and their fandom. Then Pann Choa unleashed the international takes on PLAVE with an array of posts about the issue, so the discourse is about as toxic as its been in a minute.
Now I hate to disappoint yet again, but I see some of the dreaded ‘nuance’ word on this issue. To start, I think it’s a reasonable expectation for a veteran, respected senior host to do research on something they don’t understand. Doing stuff like asking how they could be on a radio program and what not seems rather silly when PLAVE have literally already done it a bunch, and since she’s talked about them previously in a similarly dismissive manner, she’s had time to literally Google if she actually wanted to know.
To provide examples, PLAVE have done audio-only stuff, like on Youngjae’s Best Friend and Wendy’s Youngstreet, where they might even go in person and do stuff that way.
— yam
you took off your shirt right when you get here
noah: cause we sweat a lot
noah: no dance practice
yejun: we did this & that(@ppyungari_) August 15, 2024
Or if there’s video, then they can do it like Idol Radio.
If there’s no mocap setup or facial tracking setup, then it’s literally just looking at a screen where they’re filming in a studio where said setup is available.
if someone asks how some of the interviews with plv work we can show them this now as an example yay https://t.co/CjQ9CDkMT0 pic.twitter.com/vHvPfXHpXX
— 𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖔𝖑𝖞𝖓 | 𝕮𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖔 𝕻𝖙.1 (@yejunsky) February 15, 2025
Seems clear that Kim Shin Young was treating PLAVE in a way that she likely wouldn’t subject another idol group to, and I have to laugh at other K-pop fans claiming she did absolutely nothing that wasn’t typical when they would (and have) flip their shit over much more minor slights that happened to their faves. That’s just a general K-pop fandom problem.
Speaking of, I also don’t think PLAVE’s fandom going apeshit on anybody who doesn’t understand what they’re doing or doesn’t like it is going to help matters. Is it unfair that they are subject to disrespect that others wouldn’t be? Sure, but unfortunately that’s part of being first to the scene (mainstream at least), and alienating people by calling for their jobs of industry vets isn’t going to help win anybody over in the long-run. As it is, their fandom is extra defensive due to commonly dealing with dismissive sentiments, which makes for a potentially toxic disaster for a fandom’s culture, and I’d hate to see things continue to head down that path.
I dunno, I think both sides can and should do better.
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In general, though, seeing this virtual artist discourse play out over and over again as somebody who isn’t inherently weirded out by a musician using an avatar has been bizarre. From even loosely following J-pop over the years, seeing K-pop fans practically aghast at this kind of stuff is … funny? They weirdly just feel out of touch.
Pretty funny to have a timeline where K-pop accounts are freaking about virtual singers existing while J-pop accounts are posting news about popular mainstream artists collabing and having concerts with them without a hint of awkwardness. Another Monday.
— Asian Junkie (@asianjunkiecom) February 17, 2025
Radio shows, music programs, video calls, in-person handshake events, virtual and physical concerts? All been done, and some of the have been done for a while now, whether it’s a static avatar, VTuber, or even vocaloid stuff. Hell, ask your K-pop faves, some of them might be familiar with how it works.
And quite frankly, a lot of them would beg these artists for a feature.
I dunno, I don’t even blink anymore when I see a song/album is by a virtual artist while sorting through J-pop. It’s just a thing.
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On that note, I saw many netizens trashing the very concept of virtual artists itself because of stuff like how it allows people to able to hide their identities. But in my view this misses the forest for the trees, as there are many using the medium (especially women) specifically because they don’t want to deal with the harsh judgment (from places like Pann Choa, ironically enough) that comes from having your face and what not put out there daily. You’d think people so critical of the traditional idol system and the scrutiny that comes with it would be more open to alternative routes, but alas.
Anyway, this post is less about PLAVE and their fans, and more about arguing the value in the aforementioned medium, especially since a lot of the critiques of it (fake, cringe, deranged, etc.) have been said about K-pop as well. Not saying anybody has to like it or that it will ever be anything but niche on the world stage, but I guess I see it more as an opportunity to hear from musicians, vocalists, and entertainers that we may not have had the opportunity to under traditional restrictions and societal pressures of celebrity.
Anyway, stan Ado.
And others I don’t have the time to post.
