This is a very controversial opinion so please read the post before commenting.
Honestly this post isn’t even specific to Kpop, but to children entertainment in general. Many people have been lamenting the fact that children don’t have entertainment just for them anymore, pushing them into spaces that are for older teens and adults with content that might be inappropriate for a younger audience. I saw all the hate that Katseye got for having young children attending their concerts (same for Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo). As an eyekon, I don’t believe that their concerts are for kids but the girls are not going to tame their image because kids listen to them. Why ? Because they are adults, and as artists they want to make arts with adult themes. They want to dress themselves in certain ways. That is the case for a lot of artists.
If you want children and young teens to have their own art to enjoy, that is made for them in mind, you have to accept that most of the performers are also going to be minors. I grew up watching Disney Channel, and listening to Willow Smith, Mindless Behaviour and Justin Bieber among others. This was content made for children. But all of the actors and performers were also children.
In the context of kpop, many kpop fans are children and teenagers. If you are inside the Reddit bubble, you might feel differently but as someone whose family members work with children (elementary school) and has many little cousins, I can tell you that the kids LOVE Kpop. And Kpop has gotten even bigger among children in the west since Kpop demon hunters.
People have been talking about A2O LITE debut and the success that they are finding. I agree that there are many problematic things about Lee soo-man managing a group of teens, and trying to force his AI obsession into their content. HOWEVER, the group’s target audience is clearly Gen Alpha and young Gen Z. And so far, their music, lyrics, and outfits are appropriate for this audience.
I understand if people are totally against children debuting in Kpop. I personally believe that idols should be at minimum 16 when making their debut.
But you can’t complain about children listening to adults doing their adult things, and also complain about children/teens making music for other children/teens. One could argue that A2O LITE could have been made of adults but still targeting a young audience. That is true, but again, you can’t demand that adults tame themselves to please their audience forever. There would come a time when they want to try mature concepts, and we can’t know for sure that they would have attracted an older fanbase, as seen with Katseye.
Anyways, It might be difficult to accept but KPOP is now a major interest for children and companies want fans to relate to their idols (though I wouldn’t go as far as putting Kpop on the same level as Disney Channel or Kidz Bop).
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