Red Velvet Joy Opens About Being Herself Despite Pressure To Maintain ‘Idol-Like’ Appearance

Red Velvet Joy recently opened up about the difficulties of maintaining a certain persona on stage.

Red Velvet Joy and Kim Hee Jung has been chosen to feature in in a global campaign video for American shoe brand UGG.

In the promotional video for the campaign, the voiceover of Red Velvet Joy can be heard, she speaks about draw backs she received for trying to be herself in this idol world,

“I was told it was excessive when I showed my real appearance and not who I was inside a concept that was chosen for me.

I heard people tell me they liked me better when I looked cute. There was a time when I thought to myself, ‘why do people want me to maintain the idol-like appearance?’

But the person on stage is me and the person off stage is also me. So to the people asking if it’s okay for idols to dress like that, I want to say, ‘Yes, this is me.’”

Red Velvet Joy words started a discussion about what fans expect from idols. Idols are asked to maintain a clean perfect image and once they make a mistake their image gets tarnished and sometimes they’re unable to get it back. Fans wonder if idols are being asked to do too much.

Do you think idols should maintain an ‘idol-like’ persona or be themselves instead?

Related: Veteran Kpop Idol Exposes How Poorly The Kpop Industry Deals With Idols Mental Health

Check out the full promotional video here.