On August 18th, a netizen on X (formerly Twitter) made a tweet expressing their frustration about idols’ backup dancers, saying “Can the dancer unnies stop showing off? I noticed them and it bothers me so much. Why do they keep biting their lips and sticking out their tongues?”.
Since this netizen is a fan of aespa, many believed that they tweeted after watching the new challenge video of Karina. In particular, the dancer on the right of Karina made a lot of facial expressions while dancing with the aespa member. Therefore, some aespa fans criticized the dancer for trying to steal attention.
이 트윗 보자마자 이거 생각남ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— 썸머 (@ssummercuba) August 18, 2024
오른쪽 하ㅜㅜ https://t.co/1fhSYsQQ06 pic.twitter.com/v0OSg5vBvh
This Twitter tweet spread widely among K-pop fans and gained huge attention with over 119 million views. Fans of other groups, such as Stray Kids and SEVENTEEN, also complained about moments when backup dancers acted as if they were the center of attention at idols’ concerts.
나는 실제로 스키즈 콘서트 갓다가 이거 보고 기겁함 https://t.co/rxdnLcOLen pic.twitter.com/9hJyGY8Vex
— 감자 (@__potato99) August 19, 2024
Korean K-pop fans believe that the job of a backup dancer is to help idols shine brighter, not steal the idols’ spotlight. Therefore, they should not harmonize with the dancing style and power of the idols to highlight the idols in performances instead of showing off all their skills. Many think backup dancers began to think they are superstars after the success of “Street Woman Fighter”.
Amid the hate and criticism towards backup dancers, some people, mostly international K-pop fans, pointed out that it was absurd to criticize dancers for dancing properly, which is literally their job, and if any idol lost the spotlight to the dancers, it was the idols who lacked charms and abilities to captivate the audience.
