In the first few days, my feed was full of shorts hyping up the group and the song. Now that the public has started paying closer attention to the group, I’m seeing more and more clips of people starting to raise their eyebrows at them. It’s been interesting to notice the gradual shift public perception lol
Here is the list of things they’ve begun to notice:
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They’re a lot younger than expected.
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More people are starting to realize that A2O Lite isn’t as Korean as they were initially led to believe. Only three of the nine members are Korean, with multiple Chinese members making up the rest of the group. Given the historical and political tensions between Korea and China, as well as the complicated history between the two countries in the Kpop industry, many Koreans aren’t too fond of the group’s lineup. Some are already calling them a “C-Pop group”.
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NEON has climbed as high as #11 on the Apple Music Global chart, and the song has somehow reached #5 in Türkiye. Neither BTS’ Dynamite nor Rosé’s APT ever managed to crack Türkiye’s Top 10, let alone Top 5. Locals in Türkiye are confused about how a rookie group that came out of nowhere is charting so high in their country.
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Despite charting high on Apple Music Global chart, NEON hasn’t even cracked inside Billboard Global 200. The data discrepancy is puzzling many people.
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It has been confirmed that Aijing’s (the viral member that looks like BoA) parents failed to pay all of their employees at their business in China. This is a classic example of 빚투 (debt + Me Too). Basically, 빚투 refers to controversies involving celebs whose families borrowed money and then disappeared without paying it back, or simply failed to repay their debts. Koreans take these scandals seriously because they see them as a matter of trust and personal integrity.
In Aijing’s case, her parents shut down their kindergarten business just before the start of the school year, after collecting tuition fees from parents. The backlash is stemming from the perception that Aijing and her siblings, who studied and trained abroad, have been able to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle funded, at least in part, by money that was never rightfully theirs.
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