Rebel Sisters: Female Korean artists defying ageism in the music industry
Co-written by Amanda Lopez and Verónica Bastardo
“30 is actually young ! I don’t need to try to look younger”
— Korean singer, SUNMI.
In a culture where emphasis is placed on beauty and youth, a handful of female Korean artists are working to push against the narrative that they have a shelf life in the industry.
The global entertainment industry is abundant with instances of women being forced out once they reach a certain age, or when the male gaze no longer wants to see them. However, many women are taking back their power by continuing to reach new heights and staying active in the music industry. Few K-Pop comebacks were as historic as BoA’s in 2020 when she celebrated her 20th anniversary by releasing Better and her 10th album. Only 34 years old internationally, BoA is already considered a veteran of the industry. While the number of years spanning her career plays a major role in this, there is also emphasis placed on the age gap between her and rookie groups like Aespa who debuted with members born between 2000–2002.
A big part of what shapes society’s behavior is the media industry. The creative spaces within it have always been led by male directors, scriptwriters, producers, and lead actors through whose lens we see the depiction of women; filmmaker and theorist Laura Mulvey called this ‘the male gaze’. Mulvey states, “The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure… with [her] appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact.” There are plenty of examples of women being sexually objectified in the media. Even if writers give them deep backstories, their main purpose remains in being figures of erotic desire for both the hero and the male spectator. A standout contrast of this can be seen in the difference between Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Harley Quinn in the male-directed Suicide Squad versus the female-directed Birds of Prey in which the actress also had direct input.
Furthermore, there is a constant trope within power role dynamics: active/male vs. passive/women. Passiveness is often associated with younger females since patriarchal society expects them to be innocent, naive, and in need of a helping hand. It also reinforces the idea that a youthful appearance is what a “visually pleasant” woman should have in order to fulfill her duty as a sexual object. This puts pressure on women in the spotlight to avoid signs of aging in order to stay ‘relevant’ to the public and, especially, the men who lead the media industry.
In recent years, actresses began to speak out on the male casting directors who refuse to give them roles as they age. In The Problem With Telling Women To “Age Gracefully” Is That We Don’t Mean It, it’s noted that “actresses are considered to reach their professional peak in their 20s… roles start drying up for women after they reach 30, while the big 4–0 is when their acting opportunities dramatically drop off by around two-thirds. Meanwhile, their male counterparts still have access to 80% of leading roles.” Showing the global scale of this problem, A Witch’s Love made headlines in 2014 when the K-Drama cast Uhm Junghwa as the lead actress with Park Seojoon, nineteen years her junior. While the plot centered around a fourteen-year age gap and although Uhm is an icon, it still became a topic of discussion.
Last year, Uhm came up in headlines once again for her age but in a much more interesting way. The multigenerational girl group Refund Sisters debuted DON’T TOUCH ME, with Uhm, music legend Lee Hyori, rapper Jessi, and idol Hwasa of Mamamoo, representing women in their 50s, 40s, 30s, and 20s respectively. Talking about the group on K-Pop Daebak with Eric Nam, Jessi mentioned, “But I think it’s so dope because it’s almost like the four girls….[Lee] always wanted to form a group that’s so out of the standards…We’re tough in a way where we all say what we want to say.”
While Hwasa dared to be more provocative and is curvier than what people would expect from a Korean woman in her 20s (something that Lee also faced earlier in her career), her group members Lee, Jessi, and Uhm fight the idea of how a more “mature” woman should behave (refined, aged out for the game and more conservative). In her 30s, Jessi undertook a whole new course in her career with a rebranded public persona, now being unapologetically herself with all her layers (honest, sweet, funny and sexy). Lee Hyori showed that a woman in her 40s can be as sexy as she pleases and broke music records participating in two successful groups during 2020 (Refund Sisters and SSAK3). Uhm reminded everyone that a woman in her 50s can rock strong, red hair and explore more sultry styles and moves like she did in the 80’s hip-hop style track, Hop in.
The Refund Sisters’ warm welcome and inspirational message set the stage for new things in K-Pop, and it shows how groundbreaking the topic is when considering the discussion surrounding women in music from the documentary Miss Americana released earlier in 2020. In it, Taylor Swift commented on approaching age 30 and her fear that her most recent releases would be the last the public would be interested in.
“It’s a lot to process because we do exist in this society where women in entertainment are discarded in an elephant graveyard by the time they’re 35. Everyone’s a shiny new toy for like two years. The female artists that I know of have reinvented themselves 20 times more than the male artists. They have to or else you’re out of a job.”
Taeyeon, 32, is no stranger to being a chameleon in order to stay on top of the industry. As a member of Girls’ Generation (SNSD), the singer transitioned into a successful solo career, dabbling in a different genre with each release. Her extensive work includes ballads, pop, R&B, and alternative with influences of jazz and soul, as well as a variety of music video roles from heartbroken girl-next-door to assassin. Her ever-changing concepts are endearing to fans who continue to eagerly await her next surprise.
But being such an iconic idol also comes with the pressure to adhere to K-Beauty standards as well. In podcast Get Real, host Ashley Choi, 29, of the girl group Ladies’ Code talked about the culture shock when she moved to Korea from America and entered the idol industry. “I didn’t know there were so many flaws about myself or things that people thought there were things that weren’t pretty or attractive until I came to Korea because that’s when people started pointing it out. (..), ‘Oh you need to get this done, you need to get this done, you need to fix this,’ and they would tell me to shave my jaws…”
The controversy of Korean beauty ideals actually sparked a movement in 2019 with people taking to Youtube to fight the ageist standards. In an article on it, the author wrote,
The Korean entertainment and beauty industries are also notoriously obsessed with youth — a pale, smooth and glowing complexion is a prerequisite for most K-Pop idols. In fact, K-Pop artists who survive in the industry past the age of thirty are celebrated as rare cases and even then their flawless skin never shows signs of ageing.
Even though these standards are tough to tear down, there are many more Korean women proving society wrong. Former 2NE1 members Park Bom, 37, and CL, 30, both faced criticism towards their weight and looks earlier in their career, but have been exploring their creativity and individuality through music. While Park Bom gave outstanding performances during reality competition show Queendom and just released DoReMiFaSol, CL decided to completely transform her art and music narrative after leaving YG entertainment in 2019; still as sassy as always but with more honesty and experimentation. Ailee, 31 and nine years after her debut, remains one of the go-to voices for K-Drama OST singles and has showcased versatility by going from a hip-hop, EDM choreography focused track in 2019 to a heartfelt orchestral ballad in the form of a short film in 2020.
Less active but still as relevant, Lee So-ra, 51, is one of the most influential musicians in Korea with a little more than 22 years to her career. She’s also an example of challenging beauty standards — always dressing with gender neutral clothes, shaving off her head and, for the first time in her career, being on the cover of a magazine in her 50s. Hyuna, 31 in Korean age, is a woman that has reinvented herself several times in the expanse of her 14 year career, has challenged conventional expressions of sensuality, adapted to different music genres and even defied her former entertainment company when she decided to make public her — at the time — two year long relationship. As the expectation for idols is to remain available, many are under contractual dating bans and even after these end relationships are expected to be kept secret from the public eye. She’s an inspirational example of taking ownership of your decisions regarding your health and your well-being, regardless of society’s expectations. Then we have IU, just entering her 30s (Korean age), whose approach to ageing is embracing each step of the ascent. Far from lamenting her years, IU celebrates each chapter of her life in public with the sole purpose to offer comfort and share her love for music (her new album Lilac follows exactly that narrative).
In the more male dominated spaces like the underground Korean rap scene or the K-R&B genre, CHEETAH began her solo career as a rapper in 2012. However, after entering the music industry later than typically seen among her peers, CHEETAH was already in her late 20s and early 30s when she began releasing fuller music projects that broke her out of her comfort zone, and she also showed off her groundbreaking edge with an acting debut and a full jazz OST. In 2016, she collaborated with HA:TFELT, 31, (Yeeun of Wonder Girls) who, after 10 years in the K-Pop industry, began a solo journey and entered the R&B genre beginning in her 30s with her first full album 1719. Another example is SURAN, the 34-year-old singer and songwriter who consistently releases quality music, pushes her creativity through visual narratives, and — perhaps for the first time — shows her sensuality.
These female musicians — and the many more we didn’t mention — are strong punches to the thick wall society built that wants to separate aging women from the media industry. The continuation of new creative projects by women to challenge themselves and societal standards while refusing to fade from the spotlight is paving the way for more women in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and so on to remain active and fight ‘the male gaze.’ This is an encouraging example for younger generations of women and girls to stop pressuring themselves since there is no “set time” to make it in the entertainment industry. It shows that being sexy isn’t limited to young adulthood and that constantly exploring your creative side, looks, and narratives is perfectly fine whenever you decide to. Perhaps it’s also a reminder for male peers in the industry to step up their artistic evolution game.
