How Decisions Within K-Pop Groups Are Made, According To Former Girls' Generation Member Jessica

Former Girls’ Generation member Jessica sat down for an interview with The Daily Ketchup Podcast.

At one point, she explained what it is like to be a soloist compared to being in a group. Her immediate answer was that she is now given more autonomy and control over her choices.

You get to choose everything.

— Jessica

K-Pop groups, at least in her experience, tend to enforce a “majority wins” mindset.

If you’re in a group, the majority wins.

— Jessica

Jessica is a former member of Girls’ Generation who was, at the time, made up of nine members. SM Entertainment, the company who handled them, placed a rule that they would follow what most of the girls agreed on in order to streamline their decision-making process.

Jessica as a member of Girls’ Generation

Deciding what kind of drink their manager would buy for them, for instance, would require them to take a vote.

If you don’t want to have black tea…you need to have black tea if five people want black tea.

— Jessica

Though it was just one instance, she made it clear that the group takes a vote for everything that requires their input. She was thankfully “fine” with this way of running the group.

It’s like that just for example. But this goes for every single thing. From the little things to the big decisions as well. You need to learn how to deal and cope with that and be okay with being in that kind of system.

— Jessica