[ENGTRANS][Analysis] ‘My two cents on Jessica’s exit from SNSD’
Original Author: 墨武 (Zhihu)
Eng-Trans: RI + Hannah97, Yee and CAI
Source: https://www.zhihu.com/question/25626185/answer/179775847
Please take out with full credits.
‘My two cents on Jessica’s exit from SNSD’
I came to know SNSD in 03/2016 and started being interested in K-Pop. I didn’t know much in the beginning, so I gathered more information as time passed. I’m a law student in university, so I suppose my logic and common sense can be considered acceptable. I compiled my information over a period of time. Why am I bringing this up? Because too many fans are very biased when it comes to this incident. Judging from the replies I got, it seems not many can reply without prejudice. Of course, this is completely normal, you’re too emotionally-invested in a person, and the situation became so complicated. Towards someone whom you’ve loved for so many years, how can you stop loving them just like that? You won’t trust other people’s words that easily too. Many fans can’t achieve it, the ability to be impartial, and to look at this as an onlooker.
I ask that you put away your prejudice for once, and face the truth.
This is not a zero-sum game; I posted this analysis with no ill intent, but to encourage healthy debate, and also to share my opinions with everyone. Perhaps I was too long-winded; many people didn’t have the patience to finish reading. Some got defensive and began interrogating me in the replies. This kind of people who reply without even finishing the article are unreasonable, let’s not even start on if you respect me; it seems you lack respect even for yourself. You spent so much time leaving a reply that has been repeated excessively (like a broken record) by others. All you did was parrot other people, you do not have a mind of your own, and such debates are meaningless.
1) Not everyone who speaks up for Jessica is her fan, I was assumed as Jessica’s fan for the past few days, but in actual fact I am just a casual fan of SNSD. I’m not young anymore, and started getting into K-Pop late, by the time I know about them, SNSD was already incomplete. I wrote this article because my principle in life makes me want to get to the bottom of everything, and with my cautious observations, I finally posted this.
Since this article is strictly an analysis on motive and reason, I have left out the professional terminology. If you are only convinced by professional terminology, then I am sorry to disappoint. My analysis is just words from an ordinary person.
In my eyes, they (idols) are just like us, just that they are slightly older and survive in a more vicious environment, so they are ordinary people who are (supposedly) more mature. It’s not like they are politicians or moguls of some sort.
2) Not everyone who speaks up for Jessica assumes she is as innocent as a lamb. Some people who didn’t even bother to read the article started barking in the comments “Only Jessica is an innocent lamb, only Jessica can do no wrong, you think the whole world wants to harm her?”. Regardless of whose side you are on, my approach is that nobody is completely innocent. People who take sides are fans. To prevent people from ignoring my analysis, which defeats the purpose of this article, and also people who tries to steer everyone in the wrong direction, okay, I hereby provide a glossary, just scroll to whatever you want to read.
1- Was she forced out or did she leave on her own accord?
2- Why was she forced out? Political reasons vs. She deserved it vs. Member conflict vs. Agency’s motive?
3- 930 Protagonist and antagonist role in this incident, what triggered 930?
4- 930 Onlookers, analysis of Chinese SONES, and common misconceptions.
Lastly, happy 10th anniversary to SNSD, and happy 10th anniversary to Jessica Jung.
Note: I saw a comment saying they are OT8, and will always support all 8, then went on to say SNSD should disband since their future has already been hindered due to this incident, and they feel discouraged. Here is a verse for you (from The Quatrain of Seven Steps):
People burn the beanstalk to boil beans,
The beans in the pot cry out.
We are born of the same root,
Why should we hound each other to death with such impatience?
1- Was she forced out? Vs. She left on her own accord?
Firstly let’s compare the official statements from both sides; any declaratives and statements not from the persons directly concerned cannot be assumed as legitimate material. Timeline of the published official statements as below:
Sep 30, 2014 at 5:00AM, Jessica made her stance on her WEIBO.
Sep 30, 2014 at 1:00PM, SM’s PR department released their official statement.
Oct 01, 2014 at 10:00AM, Jessica released her official statement.
In both Jessica and SM’s official statements, even though they focus on different points, both includes a fact that coincides across both statements and cannot be ignored, as Jessica stated “without a proper reason, I received a one-sided notification to leave SNSD”, SM’s official statement stated “the agency had no choice but to pull up SNSD’s activities as 8 members earlier than planned”.
Everyone should have heard of ‘Rashomon’ (Rashomon 羅生門 is a 1950 Japanese film that is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident.), the same incident, with different people of different standpoints have contradictory ways of saying things, but things like fundamental truths can neither be changed nor erased. We received the message loud and clear on September 30, the agency did serve a notice to Jessica informing her that SNSD will move forward as an 8-member group, this is a fact.
So why is it that the fans in Korea curse with hatred at the mention of Jessica, instead of blaming the agency for breaking the group apart? Why did they not continue to support Jessica in her entertainment career?
That is because someone misled all of us by shifting the blame and the source of the problem for this incident onto the members and Jessica. SM’s official statement stated “this coming Spring, she notified us she will halt her team promotions”. Shortly after, ‘Korea’s #1 Paparazzi’ Dispatch released the infamous ‘insider Q&A’, 2 persons (allegedly close to Jessica) who were unwilling to disclose their identities, were interviewed. They revealed that Jessica is no longer part of the group because she said she intended to leave the group on 2 occasions with plans to get married. Those who are familiar with K-entertainment all know that K-fans detest dating scandals the most, there are many cases where they stopped being a fan and backstabbed the idol in return. Hence, the image of a selfish person who only cares about developing her own career and intends to get married to her boyfriend was formed in Korean citizens’ minds. The extent of the damage caused by this ‘created image’ is severe, 3 years later and Koreans are still leaving comments citing this ‘selfish person who only cares about her own career and intends to get married to her boyfriend’ as an excuse. Did everyone realize something? That’s right, it’s been 3 years, and they still come up with the exact same arguments, because the accusations failed to come true, so the rumors are stuck at where it started. But why do we have people taking 2 different sides, 1 group sees eye to eye with the Koreans, and the other group thinks that she was indeed a victim who got forced out. I’m not sure if the comments represent the majority, but my friends have the same conclusion as me, that Jessica was indeed forced out.
Here are a few reasons, firstly why are there different opinions in 2 countries? Because we (China) don’t have SM, we don’t have the Big-3 agencies that dominate and monopolize the market, we don’t have controversies formed by a powerful agency that refuses to let you off easy even if you dissolved your contract amicably. As I mentioned earlier, if someone like Dispatch, a top paparazzi with high publicity, reports negatively on an idol , will you believe them? Honestly, fans excluded, onlookers will likely go along with what Dispatch reports, this is also why many fans keep clarifying matters in the comment section of such reports. Fans persevered and continued clarifying even if it’s counterproductive, because by doing so, there is still a 1% chance that people may be enlightened and have a clearer grasp of the situation. If you stay silent, you have a 0% chance of turning things around. Which means, it may just be true for those who say “you think a local like me wouldn’t know our country’s celebrities better than you, a foreigner?”, you are right, you really don’t. The Korean society is weird, they condemn a person without even giving them a chance to speak up for themselves, and fans have no platform to explain matters. They only have one-sided information released by a big agency to the media, and with such ways of handling matters, it’s hard for me to not think you are the villain here. This leads to a repeated rumor being taken as truth, and this is dreadful.
Moreover, having the intent to kill but not actually fulfilling the act does not make you guilty legally, but in the vicious entertainment industry, even having such intent equates to the death penalty. So there must be a purpose behind this intent right? Before we discuss about the purpose, I discovered another interesting point, SM stated “This spring, Jessica said she would stop group activities”. Spring could be either March, April, or May. In Dispatch’s famous ‘insider Q&A’, they mentioned that Jessica said she wanted to leave the group twice, once in January, and a 2nd time in July. Here comes my question, so which month was it exactly? Was it Spring, or was it Summer? Or SM’s idea of Spring stretches from January to July? No? So who was lying? Was it SM’s official statement, or was it the ‘insiders’ invited by Dispatch who were lying?
We should all agree on one fact, either a person actually thinking of doing something or a person actually acting out on their thoughts, are driven by a purpose and motivation. Let’s assume that since Jessica had intended to quit the group, or even mentioned about wanting to quit the group, means she must have the desire to do so. How did this desire come about in the first place? Such desires usually entail benefits to oneself, and I believe nobody would desire something that causes harm to themselves. Then was there a dire need for Jessica to quit the group that year? What caused her to have a desire to quit the group that year? I personally think she had even more reason to want to stay in the group that year.
I hereby provide 4 pieces of evidence, the first 2 will focus on Jessica’s personal reasons, the other 2 will focus on external factors. Firstly, Jessica belonged to the bottom half of the group in terms of personal schedules she had since the second half of 2011, even the leader of TaeTiSeo mentioned during their subunit interview that Jessica had only been “practically living in the photoshoot studio”. You can find the comparison chart for personal schedules of all 9 members in freesouls bar. In comparison, the amount of personal schedules Jessica had in 2014 was more than her past 2 years’ combined. Not forgetting to mention the Jungsis subunit that SM had wanted to promote but was shelved, such important projects couldn’t have been put together within a week or two. So what reason does Jessica have to take such a huge risk now, to discard all the benefits that she was about to reap, to the extent of quitting the group no matter what? Some people say she doesn’t care, she just felt like quitting and so what, she is such a person who doesn’t care about anything. But the audio from their dance practice was leaked proving that they did record a song together, preparation for a season 2 of Jessica & Krystal’s reality show was also reported in the news. Will a person who simply don’t care be so enthusiastic in a project? Will you put in so much effort to practice again and again, only to give up on the actual day of the exam? I am sure you will not be happy at the thought of it, after all everyone loves to measure success based on results.
Secondly, in terms of career development, Jessica launched her brand in August after a series of preparation, she also mentioned in her official statement that she had informed the members beforehand, including all her future plans. Hello people, launching a brand is not a piece of cake, she must have prepared for a long time and her company only just started, and this is just an ‘insurance’ for her idol career. When you are part of a top girl group like SNSD where you can reap the fruits of your labor, she chose fashion as her future ‘insurance’, something she is familiar with and good at. Honestly, this ‘insurance’ is still at its early stages, so was there a need to sever all ties with such a strong backing when nothing has taken shape yet? Realistically speaking, even the most powerful backing does not belong to you in the end. In the real world, you can work with others but never ever rely on them completely. She is not an underaged teen who thinks the world is filled with only good people, she has lived for 25 years and survived in the entertainment industry for 14 years (2014), will she be such an idiot to sever all ties with a powerful backing and have nothing to fall back on, just to go start on a new venture?
Thirdly, in terms of SNSD’s career development, 2014 marks SNSD’s 7th year in the industry and they can be considered an unbeatable girl group, even though I think they are already on their decline, everything that goes up must come down. Anyway their decline is not that obvious and it doesn’t matter even if they are on their way down, since they have found success thanks to the contribution of all 9 members, what they need to do now is to take their share of the pie and have their taste of success. A group that has seen success internationally and reached their peak can only do so much now. Many people say SNSD still has potential but I beg to differ, because you have already reached your peak and so the public no longer anticipates what other surprises you can bring. Their only concern is that this group is at its peak. This is a dead end for many superstars, how much popularity is enough? Where is the peak? When the public no longer look forward to what you can achieve, when they are no longer curious about what you can bring to the table, the so-called popularity will start to wane, and what you are left with is only the nation’s approval. Perhaps you will say that I am contradicting myself but think carefully, are the younger generation and the previous generation supporting the same idols? The people that the previous generation supports has attained the nation’s approval, and the younger generation go for popularity, what matters is “volume”. SNSD’s potential has been gradually declining since 2014, but this works in the members’ favor instead, this means the members can begin distinguishing themselves from the group since the group has already reached its peak. They can have their own identity and not just be SNSD’s so and so. This is what I meant by tasting their share of the pie. It is obvious that SNSD is already going down that route, and we hardly see group performances by SNSD anymore, partly due to commercial and personal reasons. Since they have endured the early days where their articles were filled with malicious comments, where their every move was being monitored and scrutinized, does it sound logical to you for someone to leave the group when it’s time to enjoy the benefits and honor that the ‘brand name (SNSD)’ gives? Put yourself in this situation, you suffered 6 years of cursings, and people finally start to compliment you, then out of a sudden you tell everyone that it’s better if they continue to curse you, you can take it. This is impossible. (What in the world???)
Fourthly, Jessica’s agency SM, SM’s background and history, an agency that blocks even artistes who dissolved their contract amicably. Why is SM so harsh towards their previous artistes? Of course it’s just so they can demonstrate their power. ‘In this entertainment industry, I am God, you want to leave me? Don’t even think about it.’ You must be joking if you think Jessica didn’t anticipate SM’s tyrannical ways. She was a trainee for 7 years and had been in SNSD for 7 years, she clearly knows what happened to members who left H.O.T, Shinhwa, DBSK, and Super Junior. Even a person in any normal situation knows what risk assessment is, and when the risk is obviously greater than the benefit for whatever you want to do, any sane person would either give up the idea, or wait it out. Why is it that most Koreans renew their contract with SM? You have already been warned, ‘if we are not going to be in the same boat, then you can prepare to sink.’ Even if you are not contented, but as long as you still want to survive, you have no choice but to continue with this agency. What can you do? Of course you have to learn to forgive them. Because if you refuse to, they will not let you off. You can’t say that their staff and their management are heartless, you can only blame the agency for being ruthless. In this economically-driven world, to maintain their dominance, they will only continue to be so oppressive. You should have expected this when you chose them in the first place.
With such a powerful backing (or threat), and with her future shining so brightly, the argument of her ‘wanting to leave the group’ is no longer valid. Nobody would want to leave without tasting a bite of the pie they (spent so many years to) bake. Jessica, a member who contributed to SNSD’s success obviously wants to enjoy her share of the pie.
Therefore, saying she left the group on her own accord is completely ridiculous. Of course, such excuses started from the Koreans who were brainwashed by the media. Actually most of the SONES in China agreed that she was indeed forced out. Like they always say “I really don’t understand Golden Stars, your idol was fired and you still have the cheek to keep bringing it up”. It’s true that being forced out is somewhat like getting fired, but they are of different nature. I can’t help but feel bitter whenever people say that, because they are implying that SNSD are just colleagues rather than friends. This is as far as their group spirit goes, and will be evident in their future comebacks.
2- Why was she forced out? Political reasons vs. She deserved it vs. Member conflict vs. Agency’s motive?
Even when everyone agrees that she was forced out, why do people keep bringing this subject up? What I have listed are the more plausible reasons, I chose not to list some of the more ridiculous arguments that are obviously from brainless antis. I advise everyone to just have a good laugh and let it go when you come across those people with such great imagination.
Firstly, some people said that ‘930’ was a deflection for political scandals. I will like to call someone out.
“There’s a (scape)goat for you, please acknowledge it.”
“Go to hell, I don’t want it.”
Politics: “I don’t want to be the scapegoat, thanks.”
Korea is undoubtedly small, let alone South Korea, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for politics and entertainment to cross paths, but not everything from drunk-driving to drug-abuse to small issues like leaving a group or dating scandals are always used to cover political scandals. Think about it, if you are a Korean, would you care more about the news of an idol (who holds a lowly status in Korean society), or a political scandal? We are talking about a country who has the guts to impeach their president and put her on trial. Everytime I see a fan say “‘Pinocchio’ was used to cover a political scandal”, “You are siding with the wrong party”, I just want to laugh. You think you are the only one who watched ‘Pinocchio’, you think you are the only one who watches the news, you think you are the only one who knows whose side they are on? Even the 5 leading organizations will not dare to take sides easily, let alone entertainment agencies. Whose side did Samsung take? I realized something when I read the ‘Twenty-Four Histories’. The typical scenario of an aristocratic family was that the elder brother would be the proposition, and the younger brother would be the opposition, they would always be at loggerheads. Why did that happen though? That is to prevent a genocide. (Author quoted a scenario of Zhuge Liang from ‘The Three Kingdoms’, research if you want to know more) Using the same logic, a company in our economically-driven society is only interested in a mutually-beneficial business relationship to ensure the company does not collapse.
Can’t you see, the South Korean president has gone through multiple setbacks, but yet the 5 leading organizations are still standing strong?
No doubt the Big-3 entertainment agencies are tools, but if we are talking about taking sides politically, then I’m sorry to tell you they are not that influential. So for those who said the series of incidents that happened to SM in 2014 were actually collateral damage to cover up political scandals, then perhaps you are overthinking this.
Why were there multiple dating scandals from SNSD that were reported that year? First and foremost, they are indeed no longer young and innocent girls, so it’s not surprising that they are in relationships too. On the other hand, media and entertainment agencies have always had a love-hate relationship, whoever has the most lucrative offer wins. Since they are no longer the young and innocent girls like before, it’s only natural that SM loosens their leash and gives them a little more leeway. Anyway they are already the nation’s girl group, and scandals like these are not going to jeopardize their position. So they no longer see the need to bribe the media in order to stop them from publishing such photos. This is a moneymaking agency who is very realistic and calculative, so they find no need to make such ‘investments’(bribery) anymore.
Since the ‘political reason’ excuse is busted, does that mean Jessica paved the way to her own downfall, and that she deserved it? There is one reason that was stated in SM’s official statement that makes me not know whether to laugh or cry, and it is no wonder Jessica found it unreasonable as well. “No-show for events”, I have seen the information compiled by fans with regards to Jessica’s attendance for all group events, and from the start of 2014 to the month of September; this may sound embarrassing; but their accusation is completely unfounded. Perhaps SM realized they messed up too. We are talking about public events here, and everyone can see for themselves. You can’t make it go away simply by saying it doesn’t exist. Afterall, fans are not blind. So SM came up with a befuddling reason in an attempt to confuse people. “Personal schedules clashed with group activities”, this leaves an extensive room for debate because it includes practices, and how can fans possibly verify their attendance for practices (behind closed doors)? It’s not like you can follow them around as if you are their assistant or manager. Who knows they might even practice after meeting up for a meal together, so by missing the dinner gathering, they can say you were absent for practice too. Such befuddling reasons misled people into thinking Jessica deserved whatever happened to her because she was asking for it. Blindly assuming she ignored group activities and only cared about her own business, that she is so selfish, and it’s a good thing she left. Even if she did not leave the group voluntarily, thank God the agency forced her out, she deserved to be kicked out. Okay, let’s take a moment and use our brains now, what was the message that SM’s official statement was trying to convey?
“Yes, I intended to inform everyone that SNSD will proceed with their activities as 8 from now on, but I didn’t expect her to speak up first, so you can’t blame me, blame it on her for thinking about leaving in Spring, I advised her against it but realized it was futile, so I kicked her out, yes it was a decision by both the members and myself, so don’t blame this on me alone.”
SM’s official statement was actually saying; members of boy groups can go on a hiatus for 2 years (due to the need to serve in the army) and not get forced out, and members of girl groups can skip group activities due to their participation in musicals, tv-dramas, or because of health reasons, and a plethora of other excuses; their attendance is dependent on their personal schedules that could last a day or two or could even be as long as 3 to 4 months, it is alright to skip activities because I will just overlook it. BUT dear Jessica, within the span of 1 month from the day you launched your personal business, you have missed practices, take note it’s just practices since we didn’t witness Jessica missing any public events, but my apologies, please withdraw from the group, you are no longer a member.
You said Jessica was going to leave in Spring, what was your motive for advising her against it then? To make sure SNSD stays complete, am I right? But within the brief span of 1 month, you changed the course of direction for the person whom you painstakingly tried to retain, and discarded the whole idea of a complete group, oh, with such a huge loophole, tell me, are you even serious?
(It will be perfect if they were to release such an official statement 1 year later (after putting her on hiatus), because Jessica would have played straight into their hands and missed many activities, and then it would seem more rightful for them to withdraw her from the group, citing ‘no-show for multiple activities’ as a reason. There could be another frightening possibility, and that is the official statement was meant to be released in 2015 but Jessica spoke up first unfortunately, which explains the part where they said Jessica was going to leave after 1 more album in the ‘Dispatch Q&A’. Because that will make perfect sense since <Catch Me If You Can> was released in the later part of 2014 and that will seemingly be Jessica’s final single with the group as planned. SM certainly put a lot of thought into it. It seems like they failed to edit the ‘Dispatch 18 Q&A’ though, no wonder it didn’t make any sense when I came across the part where they said she will leave after releasing 1 last album with the group.)
The above bracketed paragraph is solely based on the author’s own logic and conclusion, it is up to you to believe it or not. It’s a pity we failed to notice SM’s schemes.
SM’s official statement was actually very short, because the ‘Dispatch Q&A’ had spoken everything on their behalf. What they wanted to portray was that they had tried everything they could but failed to salvage the situation, and they wanted people to believe that “Jessica’s withdrawal had absolutely nothing to do with them.”
This is a very common PR tactic; all we wanted was an explanation, but they had to drag you into the gutter, honestly, did you think all of us are as gullible as a 3 year old kid, I explicitly asked you about the weather today but you tell me the weather forecast indicates that the weather is beautiful in Spring so the weather is not bad today? Where is the correlation?
So what was SM’s role in this ‘930’ incident? In my opinion, they were the mastermind. But I feel that they are the executors and not the initiators. Firstly, all members renewed their contracts in August 2014, even though they are one of the biggest entertainment agencies, SNSD is still their top girl group and it consists of 9 women who have clawed their way to the top for the past 10’ish years. What if they decide to up and leave together if their demands are not met? It is during this time that Jessica wrote up a new contract with SM. It is impossible that SM wouldn’t evaluate her brand first. So what should they base their evaluation on? Obviously it will be evaluated based on the brand’s future value and revenue. Jessica had indeed paid the necessary fees to SM and in other words, they reached a mutual agreement. This also meant that SM expected to reap profits from Jessica’s brand. The bigger her brand gets, the better for SM, and they can reap profits without having to move a finger. This is an additional source of revenue for them, and if all things go well, they can even invest in her brand and become a shareholder at a low-entry price. Who wouldn’t want that? It would be such a waste not to. Businessmen are opportunistic and will never let such an opportunity slip away, it’s in their nature. So for those who said SM got frightened after learning how Jessica intended to scale her business, you probably thought SM is the fruit stall near your house that got their guts eaten alive. There was a legal agreement, do you take SM’s lawyers for fools who didn’t analyze the potential profit before letting SM sign the contract? Seems like you are undermining SM’s capabilities. Jessica’s ‘Blanc & Eclare’ shades also appeared in a movie produced by SM, which further proves that they did enter an agreement.
During that time, the person who held the authority to make decisions caused the ‘930 incident’ to happen, to a certain extent. The person in power at that time was Kim Young Min who was appointed the president a long time ago, but the soul of SM has always been Lee Soo Man who is also the biggest shareholder. But the docile president was finally given the chance to make a decision on his own in 2014. Lee Soo Man’s wife was critically ill then, and due to the inevitable internal power struggle, he was left with no choice but to loosen his tight reign over Kim Young Min temporarily. Kim Young Min would obviously do whatever he deemed fit against better judgement. Their artistes has no affection towards Kim Young Min, unlike for Lee Soo Man whom they address as their ‘seonsaengnim’ (teacher) because they were brought into the industry by him. If Lee Soo Man had been the one in power instead of Kim Young Min when conflicts occurred among members, he might have held the respect and ability to appease their anxiety, so that they would have waited patiently instead of making rash decisions. He would have taken a better approach and advise Jessica more appropriately when she asked for the go-ahead for her business, giving possibility to a positive outcome with regards to the earlier negotiations that have reached stalemate. Most importantly, Lee Soo Man would have had a better grasp of Jessica’s temperament and know that she is different from his other money-making machines who are obedient and whom he has wrapped around his finger. He would have known that Jessica is no pushover and cannot be easily influenced and accused for breach of contract, instead of simply devising a ‘perfect’ set-up (first citing health reasons; then absence from group activities; then dating scandal; end up leaving the group) thinking Jessica will comply obediently and they can get away with it.
Everyone should be familiar with this set-up. Yes, Sulli went through it. I am not going to judge Sulli but I just think such a set-up works indeed. At least in our hearts, f(x) should be a group of 4, the perfect 4. If Jessica hadn’t spoken up first, will the outcome be different with a similar set-up? SNSD would be a group of 8, it would make sense and everything would seem fine. Of course Jessica will still be the scapegoat, and SM will continue to profit. This outcome is absolutely perfect.
The upper management’s role here is to watch them attack each other, then turn the tide in their favor. This will be the best of both worlds for them. SM always has a fall back plan. In their official statement and subsequent arrangements, their intention was to make Jessica stay so they can share the profits equally. Honestly, SM would have been the biggest winner if Jessica had stayed in the company (after being forced out). They would have rights to Jessica’s personal fashion brand, and they could have benefitted from all the publicity from the ‘930’ saga. SNSD would return in a new form as 8 and bring a breath of fresh air to the public eye. Jessica would continue raking in revenue and they can get free publicity by mentioning Jessica - a former SNSD member, every now and then, with no consequence. Even though they are doing it now, it’s still rather inconvenient. For example, a MV conveniently leaked by an anonymous fan (e.g. Catch Me If You Can). They would have violated Jessica’s rights if they had spread that MV via their official platform instead, and Jessica would have to be compensated.
But Jessica was adamant about leaving and SM lost the opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds. Nonetheless, Jessica was made the scapegoat successfully and she didn’t sue SM for breach of contract, so the company still won. The reason why SM was so confident was because Krystal is still under SM, and it was impossible to go hostile with SM as long as she still wanted to pursue an entertainment career, and also unless she couldn’t care less about Krystal’s future anymore. Some people said that Jessica was able to dissolve her contract with SM amicably because SM didn’t want her anymore. You must be horribly mistaken because SM still cared enough to assign a team of staff to Jessica even for her personal schedules, right until her contract was dissolved. So rather than saying SM didn’t want Jessica anymore, the more logical explanation would be that the contract was dissolved because a mutual consensus was reached after much deliberation that by doing so was the most mutually-beneficial approach. SM agreed to dissolve her contract because they were the ones who breached the contract this time. The reason why SM persecuted the people who left their company was because this group of people did violate their contract. Whereas for Jessica’s case, SM was in the wrong and since they did not have the upperhand, they were wise to not pursue this issue because the possibility of them winning this lawsuit is slim. And Jessica chose to end the contract amicably because she didn’t want to remain in such a company and also because Krystal is still under them. I am not mentioning Krystal on purpose but because it shouldn’t come as a surprise for real sisters to spare a thought for each other. If Jessica’s departure from the group didn’t affect Krystal at all, she would have appeared in SMTown’s ending stages. 3 years later today, after multiple SMTown concerts, Krystal still has not appear a single time. You can consider it a coincidence if it’s once or twice, but not if it’s everytime. It’s simply because she can’t bring herself to.
Finally, let’s talk about whether conflicts occurred among the members. As the saying goes “to stay together through thick and thin”, this is easier said than done, and hard times will always reveal true friends. It’s true they have gone through hard times together before, but it’s a different situation altogether now that they have reached their peak.
Imagine this scenario: 9 girls who reached their peak through mutual support; everyone starts to plan for their own future, and upon discussion some say they will work even harder to become the number 1 K-Pop idol; then Jessica tells the members about her grand plan, “I want to start a company, and I’m going to overtake you guys by working twice as hard”. This is definitely shocking news for the rest, “Eh, but you didn’t have any ambitions before? Why are you so motivated and driven all of a sudden?”
“Yes I’ve changed, you guys have a problem with it? I’m going to start working much harder. I’ve spent year after year without jobs allocated to me, this cannot go on anymore, can’t I start living my life without regrets from now on?”
“NO. Absolutely NOT.” I’m not sure if you have experienced it before but it happened to me. I’m generally an easy-going person and it’s not because I don’t care, but it’s simply because I don’t want others to feel threatened by thinking I’m trying to snatch anything away from them. Call me stubborn but I want to be appreciated by my superiors based on my own merits. Jessica was in SNSD for 7 years, it’s hard to believe she has no ambition at all. She trained for 7 long years, and she wouldn’t have been able to persevere if she hadn’t dreamed of success. Would she have been able to persevere if she didn’t have the passion for singing? But when she didn’t make the cut and was not selected to be part of SNSD’s subunit in 2012, her position as 2nd lead vocalist was clearly threatened. TTS comes to mind whenever people mention SNSD’s vocal line, but where was Jessica? There was no Jessica. If I put myself in her shoes, knowing that I obviously love singing, knowing that I obviously should have gotten it, and knowing that I obviously should have been acknowledged, but I was forgotten instead. You can only imagine how dejected she would have been. I can completely understand her reason for wanting to work something out for herself, but that doesn’t mean everyone else would understand or even see eye-to-eye with her.
Take me for example. I was lazy during my high school days, but suddenly realize I couldn’t go on like this during my 3rd year, so I started working very hard. But my best friend turned against me and her reason was, “why did you become so serious suddenly? I feel uncomfortable being around you, being your friend makes me feel so stressed out now.”
I was disgusted. You were always working hard whereas all I did was laze around previously, and now that I’ve started working hard, you suddenly think I got too serious? You already feel threatened even before I started working hard?
I experienced this first hand so I can understand the situation perfectly, and especially after I read Jessica’s official statement. I’m not trying to point fingers, but we tend to evaluate our friends. We are used to having friends being worse off or equal, but never better than us. Especially if said friend used to be a lazy person who suddenly decided to work hard. The anxiety and fear caused by this sudden revelation is enough to send you into a state of panic.
That is exactly what Jessica did, she sent her 8 members into a state of panic, and they could have kept their annoyance to themselves, but someone decided to aggravate the issue. Once it was brought up and pondered over, the situation turned for the worse. They convinced themselves that her decision would affect the group instead of it being about their own fear of knowing she was going to have a brighter future than them. It’s easy to come up with a bunch of bollocks as excuses since you can’t speak about your toxic thoughts. Like my friend who said “You’ve changed, you didn’t used to care about your future”. Of course I needed to change, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have a future. Are you telling me this was what my friend wanted me to be? A useless bum?
Jessica must have been so traumatized when the members made her choose between SNSD and her business. “We reached a mutual understanding after discussing about it, you guys even congratulated me, so why is it that you guys are forcing me to choose now?” Jessica has her ‘character flaws’ and it shown at this time, she is too iron-willed, stubborn, and it feels almost impossible to get her to back down. The more you threaten and force her to yield, the tougher she becomes. Her inability to come to terms with their sudden change of mind and the members’ unwillingness to compromise led to this fight. SM chose to watch silently and not act as a mediator in this fight since they will anger the other party if they were to pick sides, so they let them work it out among themselves.
It’s such a shame that something like this happened to SNSD when it’s time to enjoy their success. The members probably held numerous meetings among their respective cliques. The more they thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed to them. The more publicity her brand got, the more absurd it felt. The more they understood the scale of her ambition, the more panicky they got. This kind of panic wasn’t jealousy, it was simply because they couldn’t get used to this supposedly ‘new and improved’ Jessica, and also partly stemmed from their own selfishness. “I can stay beside you forever, but, you cannot ever surpass me, especially not materialistically.” When the members demanded Jessica to stop all her plans, Jessica said she already invested heavily and there was no way she could drop everything just like that. Everything came to a standstill. On one hand, the members felt like Jessica has changed, “you didn’t use to be like this, you were never this driven and ambitious”, while on the other hand, Jessica felt threatened, “We have been together for 10 years, shouldn’t you guys support me unconditionally?”
So did they try to work it out? They did. Jessica continued posting material related to the members in September, but the members began to take an even tougher stance. I believe the situation wouldn’t have reached such a terrible state if someone didn’t aggravate the situation. Lee Soo Man would have attempted to appease everyone and not let any malicious person cloud the members’ judgement. The reason why any malicious person would succeed in driving a wedge between them was because the 9 of them were no longer like before, they have their own cliques now, their own circle of friends, and have their own career paths to take. There is no way to know who the malicious people who instigated them were, but they definitely existed. The success of Jessica’s brand may not have a significant impact on the members, but if Jessica succeeded in both entertainment and fashion industries, it might have a strong effect on the people behind the team. This fight looks like a 1 vs 8 from the outside, but in actual fact, it’s a conflict of personal interests that involved many others. It’s a shame they didn’t manage to keep their promise of being together forever. After considering the future revenue and benefits of 1 vs 8 without Lee Soo Man helming SM’s management team, and taking Sulli’s incident as a guide, it was easy to use a similar setup for Jessica’s dismissal. So they acceded to the 8 members’ demands, and then informed Jessica she was excluded from all future SNSD activities. They were going to use health as a reason for Jessica’s absence, and let her slowly fade away.
All 3 (Jessica, members, SM) parties were at fault.
Jessica was overconfident thinking the members would never go to the extent of kicking her out, so she used the delay-tactic and hoped the conflict would work itself out with time. She also over-estimated Kim Young Min’s trustworthiness by thinking she could disregard the members’ opposition by gaining Kim Young Min’s word of approval. As we all know, Jessica got played. If she hadn’t gotten his word of approval, she might have taken the members’ state of anxiety into consideration and not daringly leave the country to attend to personal matters. But Kim Young Min was definite and gave her his word, then he turned his back on her the moment she left the country. He broke down her defences and caught her off guard. Jessica’s overconfidence caused her to overlook the immediate danger and she was caught in an awkward predicament, like a drowned mouse.
As for the members, they cracked under pressure and gave in to their anxiety by blowing things out of proportion, thinking their conflict with Jessica was beyond repair. It escalated from simply not being used to seeing your friend become so driven suddenly, to the road of no return, because there wasn’t a mediator to alleviate the situation, and they were played by the people who used their emotions against them by clouding their judgement. I think there were neutral members who kept their opinions to themselves, and by keeping quiet they were inadvertently agreeing to whatever decision was being made. I think the neutral members were YoonA, Seohyun, Hyoyeon, and Sunny. YoonA is known for her high EQ, she is not the sort to take an active role especially in situations like such whereby she would likely offend either party. During a rehearsal around the time this fight was going on, she didn’t dare to interact with Jessica openly but they still made eye contact. In a Hong Kong interview around mid-September, she blatantly said she wasn’t the one who started or instigated this matter. As for Seohyun, she had always been cordial with Jessica, being the youngest in the group, her words didn’t weigh as much. When Jessica attended the <I Love that Crazy Little Thing> presscon, a reporter asked if she knew Seohyun was in Beijing too, and she answered “Yes”. This was a huge contrast to when she was asked if she knew Yuri was in Hong Kong, where Jessica replied “Oh she is? I didn’t know”. When asked if they were going to meet up, she replied “I don’t think so”. Her attitude was very different. Another possibility could be that her anger has slowly dissipated with time. Perhaps Jessica simply doesn’t care as much anymore, so her approach to such questions have changed too. As for Sunny, she remained passive since there wasn’t a need for her to instigate anything, because she had nothing to gain from this fight due to her special status. Nothing can change the fact that she is Lee Soo Man’s niece, and her attitude after 930 says it all. She seemed like she got sick of this supposed sisterly bond. Lastly Hyoyeon, being one of the less popular members aside, most importantly, her life motto is “it’s okay, everything’s going to be fine”. She tends to make peace with whatever situation. Jessica once said Hyoyeon gave similar advice to her before. There are similarities between these 4 members, they are neutral by nature and are not good at expressing themselves. Perhaps they have minimal conflict of interests with Jessica, or perhaps their family backgrounds are not too far off from Jessica, or perhaps their talent and field of interests are different from Jessica, so they don’t clash.
But it’s such a shame because everyone has grown up, so their way of thinking and doing things won’t be what you always see in fairytales, where they will thrive and survive against all odds. They can only obey the majority, obey the most outspoken people. Because of the fear of being singled out saying they are antisocial by not following the masses, and also the fear for their future, most importantly the fear that they will not get to enjoy their share of the pie, their share of the success that was made possible by the contribution of all 9 members.
On the morning of 930, Jessica completely gave up hope and did not follow through with SM’s plan (to say her absence was due to health reasons) when the members made such a grave and heartless decision. Let’s imagine, if any of the members had cried and threw a fit, 930 may not have gone down the way it did. Well I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and think that they didn’t waste 14 years of their lives for nothing.
Reality is cruel, even though most fans understand, they don’t want to accept reality. But we have to admit that idols hide all their problems behind their smiles, and behind their smiles is a world of pain that even they themselves don’t want to confront. It is best to not let such darkness and negativity swallow you up, because once you let it get to your heart, you will definitely crumble.
As for SM, their mistake was taking Jessica for a fool thinking they could pull the same trick twice without her figuring out how it’s done. You used the same tactic on Choi Sulli, and then you go tell Jessica, “Hey, Jessica babe, we intend to use the same tactic on you, so please don’t show up for the fanmeet today okay? Don’t show up for future SNSD activities too because you are no longer a part of the group, but please keep it a secret and don’t tell anyone, let’s take it one step at a time.” Can you guess Jessica’s reaction and next course of action? As the saying goes, even an angry bunny bites back, moreover Jessica is a cat. \(-_- )/
With Jessica’s character, she was definitely not going to be a sitting duck just waiting to get slaughtered, and this was also the reason why she was not made the leader. Her life motto is “follow my heart”. A popular artiste once said that no agency was willing to sign him and their reason was that they needed their artistes to be obedient so they could exercise control over them easily, and they should be someone who can’t survive in the industry upon leaving the agency. But he is a highly intelligent man of many talents who can survive on his own even if he leaves the entertainment industry. Jessica will never fall for SM’s tricks like Sulli did because she doesn’t do things against her own will and conscience. Perhaps Kim Young Min didn’t have a good grasp of every artiste’s personalities and thought he could use the same trick on Jessica. So the situation turned into a farce. Drama ensued and Jessica revealed the truth so everyone can have a clear view of what really went down.
3- Backstabbed her former members? Backstabbed by agency and former members?
I think Jessica got backstabbed, so she retaliated and gave them a taste of their own medicine. Let’s be logical, what would you do if you got backstabbed? Smile and let it pass? This is what a monk would do, not how commoners like us would react. The reason why I said Jessica got backstabbed: firstly Jessica posted on weibo at 5am when it wasn’t too long after she got informed of her dismissal. She was absolutely infuriated at this time, perhaps she witnessed the members carrying on with their preparation for the Shenzhen fanmeet as if nothing happened after notifying her of her dismissal. Or perhaps she didn’t even get to see the members after receiving a message for her dismissal, and all the members were not contactable. No matter what happened, it definitely had significant impact on a person who thought there was still room for negotiations. Moreover the people who informed you (be it in person or by written notice) had been your friends for more than a decade. Both scenarios are unthinkable and unbearable but unfortunately, either of this scenario must have happened. I have this conclusion because in both of SM’s and Jessica’s official statements, “company and members” were mentioned. If the rumors are real, it could be less hurtful if Jessica was notified face-to-face, rather than simply receiving a written notice to leave the group, and then go on to find out that all members were uncontactable. Jessica deserved to be treated with at least minimum respect, and granting her a face-to-face settlement is the proper way.
Regardless of what went down, the person who received such news would feel absolutely helpless and angry, and it is no surprise that it led to Jessica’s post on Weibo. Perhaps you think you can handle such news without getting into a frenzy, then good for you, but that doesn’t apply to everyone. What about Jessica? She was once asked about Sooyoung and YoonA’s relationships and she said, “if the members were not informed beforehand and only got to know when the news break out, then that’s rude.” This was exactly what happened to her, and the sheer anger she felt was a tell-tale sign of who the real backstabbers were. Long-time Sones will tell you Jessica is cold and not to be trifled with, something they derived from media reports and the image that SM tailormade for her. I feel that she doesn’t have an overly vibrant personality and is also not easily fooled. She doesn’t accept being shortchanged. How can we be all smiles after being backstabbed repeatedly unless you are Mother Mary? Some would say she did that because she anticipated SM’s actions and wanted to gain the upperhand. Guys, this is not the way to do it. It doesn’t always mean you have the upperhand just because you did something first.
The《Old Book of Tang》has two examples on “take the initiative is to gain the upper hand”, but two different results, positive case - Tang Long coup and negative case - Li Chongjun rebellion case, in the concept of time they are both the first, why they had different fates? Because Li Chongjun at most was a person with a temporary meaning of indignation, and ignored the definition of the first start is “ to surprise the enemy”. However, Li Longji’s “take the initiative is to gain the upper hand” was way better because his “sudden attack when enemy aren’t prepared” such steady ruthless behavior style.
So let’s take a look, did Jessica’s behavior really was “strikes first and gains the advantage”? In fact, from this point in time, you can see, Jessica has no wisdom as Li Longji when she was in the middle of such situation, my analogy may make people feel funny, how is an idol comparable to an emperor of Tang dynasty? Of course not. Return to the matter, what I mean is that 25-year-old Jessica Jung failed with her “strike first”, and it even created dangers for her future situation.
Jessica’s statement was posted at 5:00 AM, but SM released the official statement until 1:00 PM, I would like to ask, is it really “strike first and get advantages” that you gave your opponent such a long time difference? Do you all think that after informing Jessica to leave the group in the early morning, SM’s PR all went back to sleep? Obviously no. Not to mention at 5:00 AM the rest of the members must have got up and got ready to go to Shenzhen in the morning for the fan meeting. We can also see what SM was doing for up to seven hours from the trend of news later. Yes, they began their fancy performance of manipulating the media and news, if you are interested, you can search up, they really calculated every step well.
Since SM informed that Jessica to leave the group, SM must have prepared to solve the aftermath. SM is the No.1 of Korea showbiz and deals with this kind of things for many times, its PR is the strongest and fastest among the three big entertainment companies, you have to admit that inside of SM there’s a complete PR crisis management mechanism model, and this is why the artists who are blocked by SM will never enjoy the status that other artists have. Isn’t there JYJ Law? Yes, but do you see it works? No. We can understand these common senses, as a member of SNSD, a senior artist under SM, wouldn’t Jessica understand all these? She does, it’s just she has to release her emotions.
It is a normal thing, but Jessica react without any time difference, it gives SM a chance to twist the truth and catch breath which gets her into a bad fix, we’re all familiar with the story of “three men talking makes a tiger” (repeated rumor becomes a fact), when most of the media of the country talk about something in a certain way, as someone who does not know the facts, will you believe the media or a litigant who was smeared? To a great extent, the media is the eyes and ears of civilians, people will trust everything the media report, I have watched a Korean movie “Defender”, the lawyer in it was actually defending for the children who got framed, but the media twisted the facts and call the lawyer a bad guy who is bribed, from this, we can see that media can really so someone wrong or even put them to death.
That is why I say that Jessica is actually not the people who catch all the ball before the bound because she posted this statement under her impulsive anger, she did not think too much nor did she prepared anything to protect herself, and that gives the opponent a perfect chance to flip the card.
If I was Jessica, and I really wanted to ruin SNSD like some people said, I would announce publicly that it was the company and members forced me out and wanted me to take the blame when everything is ready, on the evening of the SNSD fan meeting, when the members who attend the fan meeting followed the script and say that I cannot make it to the fan meeting because of sickness. What do you think? I would call that perfect.
Come, everybody, let’s take a minute and think, is the situation that I suggested “pre-emptive”, or post the news at 5 AM and give the company and PR plenty of time to get ready “pre-emptive”?
“Isn’t mentioning members means that members knew about it and even pushed it behind?” Many people who saw Jessica’s Weibo posts thought like that. Of course what we think is not important, what matters is what Korean people think and how they choose. Alright, even people believe this statement and know it is not Jessica’s fault, so what? Because it is impossible for them to condemn their bias, it is also impossible to condemn a party of eight because of a party of one, and it is impossible to allow SNSD - the name card of Korea - get dirt on it, so, sorry we have to blame you. So we see a very funny thing that under the news about Jessica, in the Korean comment section, as long as there’s a news about Jessica, they always leave negative comments and hates, but the only exception is when she releases her album, people comment with good word to affirm her singing skill, is it her singing skill that good, good enough to overcome all those hates before? All the people who always comment her with bad word suddenly stopped on the day? I don’t think so.
Compared with the announcement came later from SM, the content of Jessica’s Weibo posts are really simple and clear, it’s just like, “I can’t meet you at 10:00 PM tomorrow because my friends don’t allow me, I can’t go now”, such a casual and normal message, I feel so funny when I see those “betray” arguments.
“In the end, it is just whose fan you are, you stand by whom, isn’t it?” Yes, I agree with that, but it’s obvious there’s right and wrong between standpoints, and I feel right to stand on the standpoint of Jessica to make sense of this issue. We may as well imagine it, if Jessica only mentioned the company and did not mention members, will her ending change? No, SM had already prepared many public notices for her, say that she is just selfish and wanted to leave, sooner or later, fans of SNSD will believe this allegation and turn to condemning Jessica. But if Jessica didn’t mention members, will rest of the members and fans end differently? Yes, because like that, the reputations of other eight members would not suffer a bit, and their fans can continue to follow their bias without any guilt, meanwhile, criticize Jessica who got kicked out from time to time.
Can people be so selfish to such great degree? Just for your self-interests, you can step on other people’s genuineness and yell at other people said that he or she is setting you up?
Apparently in today’s society, speaking the truths is betrayal, and telling lies and empty words is honesty.
4- Prepared to leave the group? Whom to blame for losing group spirit? (SNSD fans)
Before I get to the main point, I still want to emphasize, the truth is the more you debate about it, truer you will find it is, put it anywhere works the same. Started with this post, fans from every side started to put on a show, both sides hold strongly to their arguments, looking back, the truth is actually crystal clear.
Here I want to introduce the background of both sides, first, Jessica’s side, obviously her bias fans. And another side, are they really group fans, I don’t really think so, at least official SNSD fansites didn’t state they are OT8, and I believe, those who separate Jessica and SNSD from the beginning are definitely not group fans, I asked those who were group fans back then, they struggled inside for a long time, didn’t know whether to believe Jessica’s post or not, but they never publicly showed which side they chose. But at that time, bias fans with their hearts belong to someone have already started to choose side, what did Jessica’s leaving exposed, it exposed the inside structure of SNSD’s Chinese group fans has already turned from mostly group fans to mostly bias fans, I see that some people who become SNSD’s fans later or just became a group fan a while ago complain that Jessica made SNSD’s fans lost their group spirit, I want to say that you misunderstood, SNSD’s group fans were already losing to the bias fans of the three popular aces (Tae, Yoon, Sic), the only difference is to see it falling apart on the surface or storming under the waves.
So, at the beginning both arguing sides’ backgrounds, put it plainly, is just three popular aces’ bias fans divided into two sides and fight, only this time one side picked up “group fan” such noble weapon. Group fans’ noses got pulled by others, this is why someone became nobody’s fan, because group fans have no enough strengths to fight three aces’ bias fans, the purpose of one side is to explain the issue of Jessica leaving the group, another side wanted to shame about Jessica’s leaving, group fans were forced to choose a side, some people chose SNSD for a more certain future, some people chose Jessica for their reconciled minds. Some people didn’t choose because SNSD died after 930, eight people are still SNSD is just nonsense, what you like is it just the brand of SNSD, SM’s strategy? Let them say whatever they want to say, let them manipulate whichever way they want to manipulate? So after that, OT7, OT6? Till there’s no one left? Looking at those people who chose the side right after and desperate Jessica out of the group but also claim themselves as group fans, I feel chilly at my back, since when the meaning of group fans became following the brand and the name? What is more disappointing, that those people became OT8, and for proving their choice are correct, they started to seek for excuses.
First, “unexpectedly, got informed suddenly” this point got griped by every bias fans group led by SNSD’s two big aces bias fans and zoomed in, they found that before and after the middle of September, some words said by some of the leaders of Jessica’s fans, they think that Jessica leaving the group is well-known among people, but herself didn’t know about it, it is such a show. About this, I want to use a metaphor don’t know if it is appropriate. I remember in 《西窗法雨》(a Chinese book about law) there is a famous case in England, 19th century, the “crew murder” case, it’s about a ship crossing ocean and the ship got into shipwreck, there were only four people left, a kid drank sea water and was about to die, and there’s no more food left on the ship, so the captain had an idea, egged other people to kill the kid and save himself. This case is a very famous case in Case Law, I alter it a little bit, for example, there are three people on the ship, the ship is leaking and they have to through one people out, at that time, the other two have already decided to through A away, but the A who got chosen to be through away do not comply, he grabbed onto the ship, he is negotiating with the people on the ship, maybe there’s some other way to solve the problem instead of having to through him into the ocean. This is a survival instinct, everyone is like this, someone asks how can he be so stupid, that’s because you are not on the ship, you don’t know for A now, leaving the ship means death.
People around who cares about the ship are watching, too, they got to know about the situation a little earlier than those who were watching from the shore far away and waiting for the ship to return, but due to their love for the ship and their respect to A, they didn’t send out the information that they know about beforehand, they just turn around to those people on the shore who cares and complain, “maybe this time when they come back there will be no more A”, because they knew that A may not pass this difficulty, but meanwhile, people all have some hope, A had hope, he thought that people on the ship may consider his suggestion, they will take him back home together, people who care about A, thought that A has the ability to make things turn around. All of sudden, someone on the ship found a tool and threw A into the ocean, what a clean cut. This is way beyond the expectation of A and people around who cares.
May I ask, for A, is it the suddenness and panic that he felt at that moment he got through away conflicts with the idea that he knew he may get through away? This moment that A got through away caused people around who knew about the situation anger and indignation, is it conflicts with the action of telling people on the shore “don’t wait, A may not make it” when they saw A struggling?
So, got informed all of a sudden conflicts with there were disagreements among members and leaving the group was about to happen? No. Is it the anger and shocking they have when actually see a confirmed statement of having to leave the group conflicts with that some head of fans knew some inside news in the middle of the month and complain about it on Weibo? No.
So, where did the argument of premeditation come from? Form the mouths of OT8 who purposely making a clearly “got forced out of the group” issue into “leaving the group on her free will”, why do they do that, because they couldn’t face the fact that “my idol was involved in this act of forcing someone to leave”, what’s funny is that a lot of smaller/younger fans got pulled away, followed such idea and believed in it, yelling about that Jessica wanted to leave, making me a new fan feel embarrassing. An argument can be so easily laid bare, surprisingly got make into the truth for so long. This really fulfills those OT8’s purpose of saying such thing.
Second, I remember that I have read some Jessica’s Weibo posts about parting the group, at first on Weibo there weren’t so many complaints about “8 others”, and then I verified about it, this argument was brought up on that afternoon, why needed verify, because when I came into the fandom this actually became a main point of such debate, what can I say, this just makes me laughing me tears out. At first, when I encounter such argument I even thought about it carefully, this can only blame the word “others” which wouldn’t be controversial in any other language besides Mandarin. This is not that I am boasting Mandarin and despising English, this complaint about “others” really need to blame that Mandarin is so broad and profound, one speaking tone has one explanation, whatever you want to think, whatever you want to say, you can always find a version. In addition, Jessica also posted Korean version, this time about how to translate group members nobody seemed to care. OT8 tirelessly bring up “8 others”, make me feel confused. The word “others” upsets who? Does it really have so many deep meanings that they need to bring that up every time talking about parting the group? It is necessary to make up explanations and twist her words just to make it fit into the meanings you wanted it to mean when she didn’t even know about the Mandarin translation of that word?
But soon after, when I see more and more such arguments, I realized even though such argument seems very unreasonable but how smart it is, this is just an ulterior motive, how many others doesn’t matter, what matters is that Jessica mentioned members in her statement, why keep following a group if it is not what you sign up for any more? It is that Jessica mentioned members in her statement made OT8 angry, no other reasons just because she broke the “my idol is innocent” image in their minds, because it would make their idols get involved. The best solution is to draw in those group fans who were swinging, create a “Jessica is the villain” image, don’t allow you to rethink why Jessica would mention members, what was the background story, just a simple word “others”, drawing those swinging group fans whose bias was not Jessica, and also got Jessica fans attention, it was a righteous and clear statement, after that they keep grabbing onto that word and make up explanations.
Seriously, fandom wars are most splendid when comes to crisis PR.
Today, I return this strange argument about “others” back to OT8, also advise Jessica’s fans no need to explain so many grammars or translations, this is just a tool they use for brainwashing, how possibly they don’t know about those. Also, among all those whitewash reasons, only this one works the best, because it will not be refuted as time passes, it is just a word, no need for proof, all they need to use is their hypocritical whiny to blame her.
Third, why Jessica posted on Weibo, my idea since I got into the fandom has not changed till now, although there was some intention to come develop in China, but that intention didn’t develop just then, but in 2013, this intention was developed not only because Jessica herself wanted to come to China, but the whole SM had a strategic incline to China after 2013, our country’s market is huge and strong, and K-POP market was not saturated, it was in its heyday, it was a wonderful choice for SNSD which needed to develop a new market, so we could see that after 2013, SNSD had more and more activities leaning towards China, also in 2014 tested the water on TV shows and national tour, so someone needs to open up the popularity for SNSD as pioneer, SM needed Jessica’s intention to be the pioneer, so there could be a signal that she’s developing in China. Why choose Jessica, is to balance the 3 top aces, especially Jessica and Taeyeon, they have similar positions, both are main vocals, but there are only so many resources, if you got it, I won’t have it, if I got it, you won’t get any, competing for so many years, put Jessica to China in an appropriate way, is a strategy to ease the conflicts a little bit. SM did some good calculations, it is the same reason later putting Yoona to replace Jessica’s position on opening up Chinese market, it’s always choosing paths for SNSD’s future consumption, if it wasn’t for the Korea’s ban, with Yoona’s fluent Chinese, leading SNSD to gaining more fans in China is no problem. Meanwhile, to keep aces conflicts from happening, Taeyeon have never entered the Chinese market.
Also, she did not have any other social media back then, it is unrealistic to make a new account just for posting this thing, getting verified would take a while, she would not have the mood to set up a new account, and the first post is, “excuse me everyone, I am no longer a part of the group”, no one would do that, unless their brains not working, serious face.
On top of that, why not posted within Korea, I am wondering about this, too, within Korea itself, why don’t they design their own social media app? You just making celebrities have no choice when they want to announce something, got no sense of privacy that it is exclusive to my country, everyone uses INS, once it’s posted the whole world know about it, so not low-key. All right enough sidetrack, you guys all know that Korea doesn’t have its own social media, then someone says, isn’t there some official website comment section? Oh so you got kicked of SNSD, and then you went to SNSD official website and leave a comment saying that I got kicked out, how awkward and embarrassing is that. Jessica was angry, but not ruthless. Or tell the media, let them publish news overnight, but is media any good? Your statement is just about that I got forced out, but media which always likes to add oil onto fires, their news may be like “Shocking! Jessica got pushed out of the group by members, members shouting ‘if you’re going then I’m not going’!”
Last but not least, also the most understandable reason, why posting on Weibo, because she needs to inform Chinese fans, originally she was going to Shenzhen fan meeting that day, but she could not go now, who else should she tell besides Chinese fans? Tell Japanese fans? Sorry I couldn’t come to the Shenzhen fan meeting tomorrow. Japanese fans would be like: where is Shenzhen? Of course you tell the fans in that country what is going on about me within that country, such simple reason, still got many criticisms, I even feel sorry for her.
5- Fans turn into haters VS. Tool career?
A few days ago, Korea had a vote about fans turn into haters on DC, I saw that Jessica gloriously got listed again, the reason is still the one I talked about in the beginning - marriage blalalala, selfishly leaving the group blalalala, really, if this is not called love, what else is? In fact, if a fan being fan for a long enough time, he or she will become the head of fans, get to know a lot of things that people would not know, but also have to keep a lot of secrets that people do not know about, because to some extent, your relationship with this idol is difficult to unbound, your love towards them may not be as strong as before, the reason why you stick to it is because you can make profits out of each other. According to group fans and individual strong-biased fans, before the whole thing of parting the group, all the fansites higher-level managements received some signals. What does it mean by received signals? I found the answer later in a Korean Sone’s statement. Received signals means that after the Dispatch’s eighteen questions once was released, they immediately published a “why we do not support Jessica” statement, yes, immediately, the speed of writing is so fast that makes me feel that they didn’t even struggle inside, makes people really sad, when fans in China or other countries are still swinging between OT9 or OT8, Korean Sones have already given out a statement, told Jessica, they no longer choose to support her, I don’t want to post all those logic errors of that statement out here to have you joke about them, I just recommend everyone do not take it serious about the group spirit and statement of Korean people, in their eyes, what idol really is, do not matter, they can support them today and against them tomorrow, It seems very easy for them to issue a “stop supporting” statement, because the status of Korea idols is just too low, and they are not actually loving the idol, is that brand, is the kind of marketing only.
When Jessica Jung leaves you can do that, you can do it again when Jessica Zhang leaves, all that you will ever publish is only “Why don’t we support xxx”.
Forget about justice, what we want is to a definite career of following idols, just the brand a company created, as for who is a member in there, how she’s vividly alive, it doesn’t matter.
This is K-POP, the individual appears insignificant under the flow, they are just tools, they are just some dispensable parts which made up the whole valuable industry.
6- When is the end of “you” and SNSD? Is the argument of exploiting childish or not?
Before the talking about the argument of exploiting, I want to talk about some facts that I got “brainwashed” heavily after I got into SNSD, and later I find out those sayings are not true.
1. Jessica invested 40 million dollars into her company, but there is no official statement proving that.
2. Jessica was back to Korea in the early morning, it was in the early morning, but it was the early morning of 29th, not the 30th as SONEs said.
3. Yoona and Taeyeon scapegoat for “Lan Kwai Fong”, in Korea there was no any public comments on that, the news of Yoona and Taeyeon came from Hong Kong Apple Daily, there was one version stated Jessica went to Lan Kwai Fong, but the most news was pointing at Yoona and Taeyeon. The “scapegoat” argument was just nonsense. Because that back-view never matched a front face, you can not say that the main character was Tyler Kwon and now he is close to Jessica, and you just inferring it was Jessica, such way of interpretation is, emm, unintelligible. Or here’s another example, one day the police came and arrested you, the reason is that your friend killed someone, the murder crime that your friend did three years ago just got solved, now you and your friend are so close, then you guys must be complicity and did that together. If such interpretation got put onto your head, do you think is reasonable?
So in the whole K-POP fandom, come to convincing, I was convinced most by SONEs, like for me I didn’t know, a lot of things got carried away by their comments, if I didn’t have a brain which likes to think, maybe my standpoint could have got lead astray.
And in SNSD, there are three people that I admire the most, one is Yoona Im, very high EQ, if she did something, she would tell everyone in the world obscurely that she did it, if she tried, she would tell you she tried without revealing she’s showing off. Also, she never be the one in the whirlpool center, no matter who fell down, she is always still and steady, in SNSD, she actually never wanted to be the thorn in everyone’s eyes, always trying to desalinate that she is in the ACE position, as you all know from interviews, Yoona has always emphasized the saying that “popularity is like seasons.” So many people say that her EQ is high, she is an idol who packaged herself very exquisitely, if you want to follow someone without getting any negative energy, personality setting never falls, always positive and upwards, this person is definitely the best choice, she will never show you the negative side, because she never reveals her true self.
Another one is Jessica Jung, what characteristic that people most afraid of a person, it’s tenacity, is resurrection after death. Maybe someone would say what’s the big deal of it, here here here, the keyboard is yours, you type. Not everyone would be able to face the same “out of group” thing and then come back up again, somebody may go down the wrong pathway. You may not want to admit, but it is true, that she is too notionate, making her road very rough and meandering, she lives very real, she exposes her real “follow my heart” to the public, some people can accept it, some people gnash their teeth in hatred, in the end, it’s just because she can live according to her heart, but most of us, can’t. If you want to follow someone who can help you cultivate yourself and become godly, toughen your personality, and polish your nature, this one would be a good choice. After all, so many blame since debut, but Jessica’s attitude is: no explanation. Never explain, got wronged and got blamed, but she never uses explanation to solve problems. Living in such attitude for long, no wonder becoming godly.
Here I want to say something, actually I do not so agree with Jessica’s way, but seems like she doesn’t have other option. Korean media making her their stunt, after she knew about it, she didn’t say like “hey, my agent company, let’s do a classification or something”, but like “you guys like change my words, right? OK, I will never accept your interviews.” During the first album, because she let Korean medias interviewed her, Jessica suffered on the first day of coming back, later during the second album, she chooses to not taking any Korean media’s interview, no explanation+no intercommunication, even though she’s living by following her heart, but it is a heartbreaking response.
The third one is Taeyeon Kim, this one no doubt should get praise, from background perspective, her family situation is relatively bad among SNSD or most trainees, it’s not like if your family owns a glasses store then you are rich or in middle class, if your civil teacher sees it he or she will criticize you. We (Chinese people) yet care about social status and family class, not to mention Korea is a Capitalism country with our ancient Confucianism influences, over there the class differences are absolutely obvious. But she could use such natural family advantage to make her stand on a winning ground. Some people say she is sensitive, that’s true if it was you, can you not be sensitive? You are not the most good-looking one, not the richest one, there’s plenty of people in the company with excellent singing skill, if one thing that makes you stand out, it is the pureness and obedience, follow company’s decision unconditionally, as I just talked about, SM likes some “nobody” who would listen, she totally qualify for that, no wonder she gets to promote a lot. Also, compared to Yoona Im, Taeyeon Kim would rather show her vulnerability, you would think she’s real, she needs your attention and love, such realness makes her go further. If you want to follow someone who inspires you, who has big dreams, recommend you follow Taeyeon Kim, absolutely an encouragement machine.
OK, now let’s talk about the argument of exploiting, actually “exploit” is pretty much fans’ wishful thinking, whether is the fans of SNSD right now or Jessica’s fans, are using this argument tirelessly, but in fact, technically no one is being exploited. If there is someone (something) is being exploited, is the big pie.
No matter it’s nine or one people, they all have the right and they are enjoying the big pie. Subjectively or objectively, the big pie is the subject of exploit.
Why there’s “former SNSD” title before Jessica’s name from time to time, why in the interview she always got asked how it is after leaving SNSD? Because the band of SNSD is so grand, the brand that those nine people built is so controversial, it’s so necessary for gossips, you think Jessica would really want to hear about these questions? I don’t think so, but you think the media would really never mention it? That’s definitely impossible because it is a stunt that could be dug out from Jessica, it is the point of entertaining of an entertainment industry star, don’t mention this, do you want to ask Jessica what did you eat today? Even if they ask that, will the volume of sales and attention be greater than mentioning the stunts or gossips that people interested in? No.
Same reason, why every time the 8 people SNSD has something happen, Jessica would be mention, accompany them without physically being there? Because in everybody’s heard, they still did not forget that this group is nine people. Everyone is treating this issue with a mindset like “it’s OK, we can still dig out something from it.” So CMIYC nine people MV got leaked out before SNSD’s comeback, Sooyoung Choi used lyrics from “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” to answer the question about Jessica apart the group in the interview of SNSD 10th anniversary, if no surprise, before the 10th anniversary there will be a series of practice room video being released, all from unofficial channels, but the officials are behind it. As I said, “exploit” is naive children’s idea, their interests are related is the reason why they can not leave the other side alone.
Do you guys remember what it was like during Jessica first solo come back, this side Jessica just announced that she will be coming back in the middle of May, the next day SM daddy is telling everyone, “hey guys, Tiffany is coming back on May 11th. Surprise or not? Unexpected or not?” Well done my SM daddy, you can bump someone so confidently and give others an illusion like they are the host instead of the guest, if I was Jessica’s company, I would be so offended that I will be vomiting blood for three gallons, obviously it was us announced first, now you making us so passive. But SM daddy didn’t just stop there, they saw your teaser, and hired the same American backup dancers as you, backup dancers is just doing business, no big deal, but have you consider Tiffany’s feeling? Win or lose, what’s the point? That’s two old friends who fought together for 10 years, pulling them out and making them opponents, is it really delightful?
No, but the company is just company, they don’t care about your personal feeling. So we saw that before and after the time of Jessica releasing her album, the dance instructor of SNSD posted such words on her social media, “I am drunk so I don’t know what I am talking about, in my heart, you nine girls have the same importance to me, make my heart hurt.” Oh, so this is a side proof that SM hires those dancers on purpose.
So that’s why when Jessica releasing her winter album, only announced it one week before it came out (I probably remember it correctly), and her MV and everything (He probably mean the teasers) kept confidential until three days before the comeback, just because she didn’t want to bump into Seohyun, this behavior really slapped some people’s faces, those who said that she is definitely going to bump Seohyun, if like the first album, build the publicity first to get people excited and then come back, then maybe Seohyun’s album would be released before or after her comeback time, according to SM daddy’s habit, should be before her, this way creates an illusion that I released it first, you followed me, you are taking advantage of me, but this time Jessica made a sudden come back, very little pre-publicity, SM couldn’t finish producing Seohyun’s album within one week, so there was no second bumping, some people got slapped on the face, and then said that it is intentional, she is just afraid to bump into Seohyun, err, so for people who hate you, no matter what you do, you don’t even have a way to make them not hate you.
Some people ask, Jessica, when will be the end of you and SNSD?
Probably when SNSD has no one left, or Jessica leave the industry.
Or as long as Jessica is active, and SNSD is still there, the entanglement will never end, and keep going on and on.
I just want to tell those restless people: she is no longer a member of SNSD, the fame and profit of SNSD belong to the eight people, but she is the one who was forced out, and the one who bears the pain, please stop accusing someone who literately burst into tears when reading “she’s crying every day” in her sister’s letter that she wanted to leave the group, if someone’s crying just because of one sentence, this can only prove that the scar is way too deep.
I really understand this feeling that you will cry when people mention something touched your heart, I am from a divorced family and always behave strong, everyone thought that I am mature, that’s true too, I have worked really hard to go to college with my efforts, however, whenever someone mentions my parents’ divorce I will cry out loud, just that word “divorce”. Later, I found out a truth:
Everyone has their own scar, people don’t touch, doesn’t mean that it is no longer exist.
I believe that there is some true affection when members of SNSD cried, their relationships last for 14 years at the most, the shortest would be 9 years too, no matter what they would be touched by the scene. But please think about Jessica who has no chance to catharsis the same feeling, since they are on different paths now, if you can’t forget about her, then please don’t act like you care about her but at the same time discrediting her in order to proof that 8 girls are innocent, don’t even say it out loud like you are right, “even though I know that she did nothing wrong, but I would rather follow someone who pretends that everything is peaceful and fine than to forgive someone who exposes her true self.” Such moral is horrible and difficult to understand.
In the end, I want to use the words from Krystal’s letter as my conclusion:
“When I see my sister crying so hard in pain every day,
I wanted to cry, too, I felt so, so sad and heartbreaking.
My sister is such a vulnerable person, will people ever know?”
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