Singer-songwriter EJAE / Captured from EJAE’s social media
JYP Leisure spent 1.12 billion gained ($765,000) final yr on growing new expertise. The determine seems in its annual enterprise report filed this yr. The corporate operates a devoted rookie improvement division that selects trainees via auditions and supplies coaching in vocals, dance and international languages. Officers from two main businesses say most firms preserve round 20 trainees. If JYP had roughly 30, this may imply the corporate spent roughly 3.12 million gained per trainee every month on classes and different prices — a major funding.
From an company’s perspective, trainees are the engine that drives future development, making early funding important. JYP’s spending on trainee improvement elevated by about 30 % from 850 million gained in 2023.
Shrinking trainee numbers reveal rising class divide in Okay-pop
Okay-pop businesses have sharply elevated their funding in trainees, but the variety of trainees within the trade is quickly shrinking. This pattern emerged throughout reporting for a latest story analyzing how Okay-pop’s once-prominent “rags-to-riches” narrative has pale amid a rising class divide in Okay-pop, as trainees are more and more hailing from rich backgrounds and fogeys ship their kids to trainee preparation courses even earlier than they be a part of an company. The story is a part of the Hankook Ilbo’s “Reversal” sequence, which identifies moments of change in common tradition that mirror broader social and cultural shifts.
Based on the Korea Inventive Content material Company’s most up-to-date survey on the popular culture and humanities trade, the variety of Okay-pop trainees at businesses fell to 1,170 in 2022, down 725 from 1,895 in 2020. That may be a steep lower of 38.3 % in simply two years. Whereas “gold spoon” youths from rich households — in addition to second-generation entertainers comparable to Riize’s Anton and STAYC’s Sieun — proceed to debut in idol teams, the variety of bizarre trainees is dropping rapidly. That is occurring even because the Okay-pop market enters an unprecedented growth, with large world affect and hovering revenues, highlighted by the nominations of each “APT.” and “Golden” for Track of the 12 months on the Grammy Awards in February.
The report attributes the decline largely to the “rising burden of trainee improvement prices.”
Grueling coaching results in well being points, psychological stress
One significantly troubling element stood out. The share of trainees who voluntarily give up after becoming a member of an company reached 34.4 %, up 3.4 proportion factors from 2020. Why are extra teenagers giving up on their goals? Whereas main businesses have improved their coaching environments, many different firms nonetheless have poor working situations.
Based on a doctoral dissertation written by Kang Received-rae — a member of the dance duo Clon — titled “Issues and Enhancements of Okay-Pop Idol Trainee System (2025),” seven to eight out of 10 feminine teenage trainees expertise menstrual irregularities.
“As a result of they’re younger, they don’t totally perceive how critical it’s when their interval stops. Businesses do not likely care about menstrual irregularities amongst feminine trainees. All that issues is having the precise physique form,” one trainee stated. One other trainee identified disorganized administration: “We have been informed to ‘simply apply by yourself’ between 1 p.m. and 11 p.m. I assumed there can be manuals or structured classes with trainers, however that wasn’t the case.”
Many additionally complained of psychological stress. “We’ve got to carry our breath whereas dancing, so most trainees expertise hyperventilation. After repeating it so many instances, I as soon as thought, ‘I would truly die doing this.’”
Trade officers verify that the preparation course of is grueling. At one main company, the system is called “9 to 10.” Trainees clock in at 9 a.m., hand of their telephones and spend the morning studying English and different international languages. After lunch, they obtain vocal and dance classes earlier than persevering with with particular person apply. The day often ends round 10 p.m. Even with such intense schedules, debuting is extraordinarily uncommon. Korean American singer-songwriter EJAE, whose music “Golden” turned a worldwide sensation, educated for 12 years at SM Leisure however by no means debuted.
HYBE headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap
Intense stress of an trade the place youth is every thing
Most trainees are of their teenagers. “As soon as they cross 20, many begin feeling they’re thought-about too previous, and so they give up,” one trade insider stated. In an setting the place youth is every thing, teenage trainees with out sturdy monetary help from their households battle to arrange different profession paths. In contrast with friends who obtain a full common training, these teenagers enter society earlier and face better uncertainty about their futures.
Stepping into medical faculty often results in turning into a health care provider, however coming into a Okay-pop company doesn’t assure an idol profession. Way more trainees fail to debut than succeed.
As class polarization accelerates throughout the trade, trainees with out security nets are left weak. As a substitute of focusing solely on issues just like the droop within the home TV and movie market, the trade ought to think about find out how to help the social independence of those younger folks. Massive businesses may begin by piloting various vocational education schemes.
“I hope there are different pathways, like job coaching, for individuals who fail to debut and depart the corporate. Most find yourself bouncing between part-time jobs,” stated one trainee who contributed to Kang’s dissertation. A wholesome Okay-pop ecosystem might solely be potential when youngsters have a secure setting by which to pursue their goals.
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Occasions, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Occasions.
