News Reporter Faces Backlash For Negative Feedback About A K-Pop Idol’s Solo Debut

A news reporter was recently hit with harsh criticism for an article about a K-Pop idol’s solo debut.

The article focused on iKON Junhoe’s first solo album release since his debut nine years ago.

While most analytical articles are written neutrally, netizens were shocked that the article discussed his album “failing.”

iKON’s Junhoe released his first solo album on July 3, nine years after his debut. Although he included different music genres and participated in the album production, the public’s response was so cold that it was hard to receive an evaluation. According to the music chart, his album sales hit 4,657 copies. This was a disappointing result, ranking 42 on the Circle Chart.

— JTBC reporter

They continued to show disappointment with his reach in listeners and viewers for the songs and the music video.

Could it be because they had much better results as a group? The title song for his solo album reached 14,000 listeners, and the double title track reached only 4,200 listeners. The music video has only 20,000 views even ten days after its initial release. Although he worked hard to release the album, the results show the reality. It also looks like he knows that it’s hard to work alone.

— JTBC reporter

Korean netizens couldn’t understand why they would intentionally release an article about this.

“They really want to criticize him, seeing how they maliciously wrote this article. Don’t they know how hard it is to do better as a solo than a group?”
“Do you have any bad intent towards him?”
“Why are they writing articles like this? There’s only a handful of people that become huge. It’s not common for someone to succeed so easily. He says he’s happy doing music he loves. It’s my first time seeing someone writing an article analyzing his results and saying he failed.”
“It’s really hard for a male solo to do well…”
“Why are you writing an article like this??”
“Why is this article so malicious?”
“The article really is horrible.”
“Do you think it’s easy for a male idol to do well with their first solo album? he did his interview well; I don’t understand why a news reporter is twisting the situation in the article.”
“I thought there was something I was missing when I first saw the article. The article is really filled with malicious intent.”

“The article is too much! It’s already amazing to release solo music without any promotions. My idol doesn’t have good album sales either, but they continue to release music, and I know how hard that can be, so I continue to support them because I want to see them promoted as an artist for a long time.”
“A reporter that writes articles like this wouldn’t know the meaning and thought that goes through a solo album like this.”
“Didn’t even know he released an album. But it is hard for a male solo to succeed..the article is a bit too much.”
“The article is really malicious. I’m even hurt reading it.”
“The article really went too far.”
“They really took it too far.
“What’s with this article? I’m not even a fan and I’m angry about it.”
“I just scrolled down after seeing the title.”

What are your thoughts on this? Meanwhile, check out his music video below.