Ugly groups/members 🥀

Maybe a controversial take, but I genuinely think a lot of 5th gen stans have become way too obsessed with visuals, especially when it comes to dragging other groups 🤦🏻‍♀️ And I don't mean every 5th gen stan, obviously. I'm talking about the type of stan who jumps on hate trains and constantly needs to bring another group down just to make their own group look better.. Because lately, the arguments are always the same: “they're ugly,” “visual hole,” “my group is way better looking” blah blah blah And I'm sorry but… do you guys actually hear yourselves? Like lmao Like, apparently your eyes aren't working, so what other senses should we check? 😭 And BTS is such an easy example because you guys STILL use the same J-Hope picture every single time. Sometimes it's literally the exact same picture with a slightly different edit Please find a new argument 😂 But okay, let's play along. Let's assume BTS are ugly. All of them. Fine, I'll give you that for the sake of the argument 🤷🏻‍♀️ Do you genuinely think Big Hit picked them because they were pretty? No. RM was the first member brought into what would become BTS, and the group was built around his musical ability. He was already known as a rapper and songwriter before debut. SUGA had his own experience as an underground rapper and producer. J-Hope was an accomplished dancer and performer. These were people who had actual skills worth investing in! They didn't need to be the prettiest people in the room. They needed to be fucking good. And obviously, yes, BTS being successful means they have money now. Of course they take care of themselves. Of course styling, skincare, makeup, hair, clothes, etc. make a difference. 🤨 What do you expect? For them to stay broke, sleep four hours a night and walk outside looking like they just crawled out of a basement so you can keep calling them ugly? 😭 Your idols do the exact same thing. And that's also why I find the “my group was chosen because they're just more talented AND prettier” argument so funny Do you genuinely think there aren't thousands of talented trainees? Thousands of people who can sing? Thousands who can dance? Thousands who can rap? Thousands who can perform? Of course there are. So do you really think visuals had zero role in the casting of your idols, especially when we're talking about groups from huge companies? 🦧 Be serious. K-pop is an image-based industry. Visuals obviously matter. And in 5th gen especially, companies are debuting groups where basically everyone already fits conventional beauty standards. So why are you pretending your group was chosen in some completely objective talent Olympics while everyone else was just there because they looked good? And here's the thing I REALLY don't understand: Being attractive and being insanely talented are not mutually exclusive. An idol can be gorgeous AND insanely talented. An idol can be considered unconventional-looking AND insanely talented. An idol can be called “ugly” by people online and still be the most important member of their entire group. Look at Soyeon. People have literally treated her as the “less pretty” member of (G)I-DLE, while she's one of the people most responsible for the group's music and identity. She writes, composes, raps, produces and has shaped the sound of the group. Or Jongho from ATEEZ. Main vocalist. Ridiculously strong singer. One of the members people constantly praise for his vocal ability. And let's say, hypothetically, Jongho was the ugliest man alive. I'M STILL TAKING HIM. Did his vocal cords disappear? No. Did his talent disappear? No. Did his stage presence disappear? No. Did his ability to contribute to the group suddenly get deleted? No. 😭 So if I'm forming a group and someone tells me, “You can have Jongho, but he's ugly,” I'm like okay??? Give him to me??? And honestly, I've started thinking that being called “the ugly member” is almost a compliment. Because think about what it actually means. If an idol doesn't perfectly fit whatever beauty standard people are using, and they still made it into the group, that means something else about them was so fucking good that their appearance didn't matter enough to stop them. They were THAT talented. THAT useful. THAT irreplaceable. So at this point, if someone tells me my fave is “the ugly member,” I'm taking it as: Congratulations. Your fave is so fucking talented that even people who don't think they're attractive still can't deny that the group needs them. And honestly? That's a bigger compliment than being called pretty, cause dw we already know they are 🤭