Here’s How Poorly Lesser-Known K-Pop Groups Are Treated At Music Shows, According To Former Idol DPR IAN

DPR IAN, also known as Christian Yu, appeared on the Zach Sang Show to dive into deep conversations with host Zach Sang. While opening up about his mental health, he also shed light on what happened during his years as a K-Pop idol.

Debuting in 2012, C-CLOWN promoted as a group before disbanding in 2015 with DPR IAN as the leader, rapper, and dancer. He witnessed the positives and negatives of the competitive industry, including how poorly lesser-known groups were treated at music shows.

DPR IAN noted that popular groups receive special waiting rooms while lesser-known ones don’t have that luxury. He said, “The waiting rooms are also divided into a VIP waiting room and all that.”

As if it wasn’t chaotic enough for multiple groups to share a waiting room, including all of their staff, there was a particular room that took it to the extreme. DPR IAN revealed, “And one of the lower waiting rooms, they have about fifty groups that don’t even get on to the stage.”

The reason all of those groups showed up and squeezed into that room was to fight for a small chance to appear on stage. Unfortunately, most of them wouldn’t succeed.

They just arrive in the hopes of convincing the PD to let them on just [for the day]. And a lot of them would just go back.

— DPR IAN

Though C-CLOWN came from the small company Yedang Entertainment (then becoming Banana Culture before closing), they were fortunate enough to perform on music shows for all their title tracks. Sadly, so many other groups didn’t even get that chance.

Listen to DPR IAN talk about how those groups were nonchalantly brushed to the side.