I Feel Sorry for Jang Won Young
Jang Won Young or known as Wonyoung is killing it.
She’s only 17 and yet so successful. She was in one of the most successful K-Pop girl group (IZ*ONE) and now is a member of the hottest rookie group (IVE). Her group’s songs are hits. She is booked. Like… really booked!
She is the global ambassador for cosmetic brand Innisfree, the new muse for women’s wear brand KIRSH, and also the brand ambassador for Italian high fashion brand Miu Miu. Her face is on the cover of so many magazines such as Vogue Korea, ELLE Korea, Beauty Plus… you name it. She is also an MC for weekly music program, Music Bank.
Bottomline is… girly is thriving.
She is dubbed as the newest Korean ‘it’ girl. It is no surprise though. With her beauty, impeccable sense of style, and her overall aura, Wonyoung is enchanting people.
Everything that she does become the talk of the town. She is loved and adored by so many people.
But unfortunately, she is also scrutinized by many.
Due to her job as an idol, she is always on camera, almost 24/7. And since she is known for her beauty, it is understandable that she feels some kind of responsibilities to always look stunning, when we all know so well that it is impossible to achieve that. But when you are an idol, the trendiest idol today, you have to eat that up and be your perfect self 24/7.
And it shows perfectly recently.
Wonyoung and her group mate, Ahn Yu Jin, appeared in a variety show called The Manager. It follows the daily activities of IVE and their manager. On that one episode, the show did the filming in IVE’s dorm.
Considering that the filming started in the beginning of their day, the viewers might expect to see IVE members with their bare faces. While other members looked as natural and bared face as they can get, Wonyoung look very polished with her contact lens on, perfectly brushed hair, and glossy lips. I also notice that she’s very conscious of her pretty image that she would seem unnatural.
In one particular clip that later went viral, Wonyoung is seen drinking a cup of milk. But she did it very beautifully as if she was filming a commercial. There is no way that a person is drinking milk that prettily. But that how Wonyoung drink it, I guess. Here is the clip:
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bashing her for trying to look pretty all the time. But I’m just feeling pitiful to her. At very young age, she feels that she has to always watch her appearance. It must be tiring. She is a teenager, she might want to be carefree sometimes, but she can’t. Because her career relies on it.
Now I’m not saying that she is not talented because she really is. But she is known for her ability to show great facial expressions on stage hence why she has to keep her perfect appearance all the time. She knows how hard it is to secure her place in the industry, that’s why she might thinks she gotta put on a façade to live up to her nickname: “Born to be Center”.
Not only that Wonyoung has to keep her perfect image all the times, she also receives tons of hate comments. Although she is one of the most loved idol in Korea right now, international fans seem to be unable to share the same feeling toward her. She is getting tons of tons hate comments everyday. Saying that she is fake, arrogant, a queen bee, and a pick me girl (do they even know the meaning of pick me girl?????). It seems like everything that she does is wrong in the eyes of international fans.
Being a teenager is already hard enough, but being a teenage celebrity is a whole different thing. I don’t know how Wonyoung does it with the insufferable pressures that she has to face and the never ending hate comments from haters. I just hope that she has a great support system that gives her a never-ending support.
I wish people will stop putting pressure on people to look perfect all the time. Even when they are celebrities. Just because they are celebrities, it does not mean that they have to be pretty all the time. Give them some spaces to breathe. They are just human after all. They are bound to make mistakes just like us. We are the same as the celebrities. They just happen to work in front of camera all the time while don’t.
And for haters… let’s just direct our energy into something that we actually like instead of something that we don’t like. We don’t get anything from bashing a celebrity. We just wasting our energy, time, and internet data by sending hate comments. So let’s just stop that, okay?
Lastly for Wonyoung, just keep slaying cause you are not 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. You are an ELEVEN.
