ILLIT’s Wonhee Thanked Bang Si-hyuk’s Advice, Leading to Fierce Criticisms

On the afternoon of the 21st, ILLIT members Yuna, Minju, Moka, Wonhee, and Iroha held a media showcase at Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, to commemorate the release of their second mini-album *I’LL LIKE YOU*.

*I’LL LIKE YOU* tells the story of a girl who becomes deeply immersed in the moment, meets someone she wants to get closer to, and after some contemplation, ultimately trusts her feelings and boldly approaches them. The album contains five tracks, including the title track “Cherish (My Love)”.

Following their debut album, Bang Si-hyuk, the chairman of HYBE, was credited as the producer for most of the tracks, including the title song.

In fact, Wonhee even expressed her gratitude to him at the showcase, saying, “Bang Si-hyuk gave us detailed advice on how to express this song, including dance details and facial expressions. Thanks to his guidance, the song was able to come together in a fuller, richer way.”

However, Wonhee’s comment about Bang Si-hyuk led to fierce criticisms from Korean netizens, who mocked the man for trying to polish his name using HYBE artists. Some even pointed out that HYBE previously said that Bang Si-hyuk has face blindness and so couldn’t even recognize NewJeans, so Wonhee thanking him for helping them with facial expressions feels ridiculous. 

Below are some comments from netizens:

• I thought he has face blindness? How is he even giving them advice on facial expressions? This man is f*cking ridiculous 
• Bang Si-hyuk is actually dumb as sh*t. He need to realize that staying out of the radar is the best course of action right now, instead of whatever he’s doing 
• First, this man used BTS as a shield. Now, he’s trying to make the rookie artists to praise himself only for it to backfire
• This is their showcase and yet they are promoting Bang Si-hyuk.
• Is Belift Lab led by Bang Si-hyuk? Why are they thanking Bang Si-hyuk. We all know he’s behind it
• There he goes again, using his artists to polish his name… Give me the ick for real

On the other hand, as ILLIT’s “I’LL LIKE YOU” was released, the demographic for this album’s buyers are drawing concerns. In particular, according to sales platform Aladin, men in their 40s are known to account for 27.8% of the album’s sales, followed by women in their 30s. Men in their 60% contributed 16.7%, while women in their 50s constituted 16.7%, meaning that ILLIT has a rather old audience with more men than women. 

Many netizens have found this demography to be rather “gross”, leaving comments such as, “If people in their 60s get their heart flutter by teenagers, including a minor, they have have something wrong in their head”, “Grandpas in their 60s buying albums for a girl group their grandchildren’s age…?”, and “People are making excuse that these old people are buying for their kids, but kids of people in their 60s are in their 30s right now..”.

This situation is even more concerning considering that ILLIT and NewJeans were once suspected to be a victim of sexualization by HYBE.

Source: theqoo, Pann Nate