The K-Pop Idol Who Had To Change His Appearance… Right Before His Performance
K-Pop idols having brightly dyed hair has become a staple of the industry. On the one hand, a new hair color inevitably notifies fans of an artist’s impending comeback.
Korea sees the single, album, music video, and the first live performance all typically revealed in 24 hours. So, unveiling a new look heightens that impact.
— Jeff Benjamin via allure
Idols’ bright hair colors also allow the artists to explore different concepts and styles, always exciting their fans with something new.
One of the allures of K-pop is the anticipation of change. Fans know that with new releases an artist’s look will be completely different from the last release and the biggest change is usually hair, whether it is color changes or styling.
— CJ Kim via allure
But, while dyed hair has become a common occurrence in K-Pop, for first-generation groups like S.E.S and g.o.d, dyed hair was enough to get them banned from performing at music shows.
SBS, MBC, and KBS said that [dyed hair] was a bad example for young people, so anyone who dyed their hair was considered to be a nuisance and would not be able to show face on TV.
— David Yi via allure
S.E.S got banned from promoting their famous song Love on music broadcasts due to Bada‘s bold decision to dye her hair.
And, in a similar instance, g.o.d’s Park Joon Hyung narrowly avoided getting banned from a broadcast of “To Mother,” which was a song that was already receiving mixed reviews because of the unexpected, emotional message which differed from what the public believed idols at the time should sing about.
At the time, Park Joon Hyung’s hair was dyed blonde. To try and meet the requirements to perform on broadcasts, Park Joon Hyung tried to use hairspray to color his hair black. Although the hairspray ran out, leaving Park Joon Hyung with about half of his hair still blonde, g.o.d was fortunately still allowed to promote their debut song.
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