GFriend's CEO claims they will never do a 'sexy' concept

[typhlogirl.livejournal.com]

How did you plan out the creation of the group?

CEO: ...When I first decided to make a girl group, I didn't have a clear identity or concept in mind. I just knew that I wanted to make a girl group based around a really good song. I then cast junior, high school members and they became Girlfriend. I needed a team that could earn a fandom and the members are young so I didn't want a sexy concept and decided on an innocent concept but a specific type of innocent concept. It was then that I saw pictures and old resources of SES, FinKL, and SNSD on different community sites and drew inspiration from it. I knew there was a niche in this market and began training the kids to fit that.



OP Note: For those who don't know, GFriend's Korean name (yeoga chingu) translates to girl (or woman) friend, but the English name of the group is shortened to GFriend.

The girl groups that were already out shot their music videos showing off their pretty visuals on film sets. No matter how we glammed up our kids with make up, they were still rookies and it looked obvious. We decided to set ourselves apart from the other girl groups by shooting the music videos not on a set but outside in the real world. It has now become something of their own unique thing and I'm greatly satisfied with it.

I also realized that it's only now that they'll look this way and I wanted to show that so we purposely dressed them in plain white t-shirts and white skirts and barely any make up. The girls are bound to mature and become prettier in 3-4 years but I didn't want to show their prettiness all at once. I wanted to show them as they are in this moment.

Boy groups are also known for strict choreographies but girl groups don't have that. INFINITE and TEEN TOP are known for their intricate choreographies, right? 'Glass Bead' has a harder dance than it looks. I had their dance trainer rehearse with them on repeat for 7 months. We continued the trend of having difficult dance routines with 'Me Gustas Tu' and have slowly made it our unique and distinguishing factor.

What is your ultimate goal for Girlfriend?

CEO: It's still something I'm working on. But, a staff said something to me and it's that we are never going to have a new member or have a member leave in the group. Even if there's a member who is lacking in something or isn't as popular as the others, we're never going to change the members or add new ones. I'm going to find a goal for the group that doesn't shatter what they stand for.




1. [+1,625, -112] I hope Girlfriend doesn't change...

2. [+1,383, -148] You can see why Girlfriend is successful from the interview. The group sticks to one concept that makes them stand out, the concept being 'powerful innocence'. They don't try to glam up the members or make them act like they're above the public, they're like girls next door with a natural air to them that both fans and the public can relate to. I hope that the interview remains true and that the group never does a sexy concept in the future.

3. [+183, -12] It's because their CEO knows what he wants that Girlfriend has grown as successfully as they have now

4. [+166, -13] I like the CEO's mindset. Girl groups nowadays are all so bent on the sexy concept, dressing like they work at late night pubs and doing erotic dances. Nothing about them stands out, they all look the same with long hair and white skin. No different from the girls at the clubs..

5. [+135, -5] I like that the CEO never plans to take any members out or add any new ones in. I hope that he keeps his word until the end!

6. [+118, -13] I also hope that Girlfriend keeps their innocent concept forever~^^ I hate sexy concepts ㅠㅠ CEO-nim, you're the best! And I also like that Girlfriend's lyrics don't have English words

7. [+92, -3] I like that the CEO is willing to wait for the members who aren't as popular with the public... he believes in their potential.

8. [+80, -4] I think the fact that Girlfriend isn't glammed up but dressed simply is their biggest selling point

9. [+79, -8] I'm against the sexy concept as well ㅋㅋㅋ Girlfriend fighting

10. [+55, -1] The CEO seems to know what he wants. I like that he says that he doesn't care if there's a member that falls behind or less popular, he's not going to change the members at all and is going to go with them until the end..

Source: Netizenbuzz via Naver

After all the awful comments Umji has been getting, I was so pleased to see that the CEO has her back ♥ hmmmm @ all this sexy concept hate, though

Comments

[sethelaezekiel.livejournal.com]

He seems decent I'm happy he isn't rushing to sexualise the girls

And I don't mind sexy concepts for age appropriate groups I just want good choreo for girl groups aoa have a lot of potential and the choreo they get makes me mad Sistar too

[chimpansee.livejournal.com]

I'm glad he chose not to do a sexy concept because the members are so young. The nostalgia concept + great choreography really works for them.

Nhf people hating on sexy concepts and praising ~innocence though. That's creepy. As if ggroups with a cute concept don't get sexualized.

[nana-the-dwarf.livejournal.com]

It's good for now since they're young, but if they plan to go for the long rum, then their current cutesy & innocent concept will get boring really fast like Apink's.

I forsee an atmosphere similar to SNSD when they perform Gee for the nth time unless they let these girls and their sound mature naturally; sexy is fine as long as the girls are feeling it and it's not ott sexualized.

Right now their concept is too trite for me but I can see their appeal and potential, so hopefully one day the'll release better stuff.

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

Eh, I saw a comment I agree with on NB that was something like the hate for sexy concepts is dumb bc a lot of the innocent concepts that exist are just as contrived, unrealistic and harmful so it really doesn't make sense to make this nasty, OTT comments (@ #4, #6). Maybe it's just this week with the Chloe v Kim thing but I'm really over the demonization of anything "sexual" and somehow the fact that by being sexual adult women are responsible for girls. It's 4am so idk how to word this better but it seriously pisses me off seeing as there's a lot of CODIFIED ways the sexual victimization of minors is essentially acceptable.

Anyways, I'm glad the CEO really seems to be a good person based on what he's said here and I remember from weekly idol how quick he was to grant their wishes and stuff. I'm glad bc already Gfriend seems to be getting a lot of shit for so many things so it's nice there's someone in a place of power who has their back. Still won't forgive him for Glam tho.

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

what did he do to glam?

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

sexy can be done well though with good choreo and with them having agency but that doesn't even seem to fit them anyway. they can still do powerful choreography with empowering or inspirational songs rather than cute ones like some of the ones they have on their album. it doesn't have to be one or the other. and when is the ceo finally going to give them cellphones. how are they supposed to make idol friends without them? :/ and that promise about keeping the members. the fans will be even more angry if it happens because of the promise, so he better keep it

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

I like Gfriend, so I've seen the angles of the shots in their MVs. Yeah, the girls aren't acting sexy, but their actions are definitely being filmed in a titillating way. see: upskirt shots. also, there's a large market for infantilization b/c it plays into the fantasy of the man leading and controlling the relationship. and, let's be honest, these girl's are definitely being infantilized.

I like that he's not planning on adding or dropping any girls. know your market. fans hate losing members even when they didn't care about them beforehand b/c it changes the dynamics of the group.

[kaninasan.livejournal.com]

It's like there are only two concepts for girl groups, either innocent or sexy....

Why can't these ceo's be a bit innovative and come up with something that's neither??

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

ikr, I wish girls could do concepts like Sixth Sense of BEG. lol

[lazmy.livejournal.com]

even tho sexy isn't the only OTHER concept for girls, i like that he has no plans to sexualize them. it would be inappropriate to do so. their songs and dance are great and the girls are sweet. both boys and girls like their style.

i like them and hope they continue to gain success. they're amazing performers.
/pours myself another tall glass of gfriend kool-aid

[tungatunga.livejournal.com]

I like that it seems like he knows where he want go with this group and adjust to the members strengths and weakness.

Neither concept do anything for me,"innocent" make me angry with all that up-skirt shots and "sexy" gives me too much of second hand embarrassment because of how hammed up and in your face it usually is, like "sexy" seems to have such a narrow definition like "sexy dance" is always body wave butt sticking and open legs squat.

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

But it's not like sexy is the only other option for girl groups? Turn them into cyborgs or superheroes, assassins or idk giant M&Ms, idk, lol. Girl groups shouldn't be restricted to that duality of cute or sexy; one or the other should not be the end all be all. Besides, innocent/cute concepts can only go on for so long before it gets extremely uncomfortable to watch (not naming no names...lol.) For me, it's usually uncomfortable from the jump, I hate cute concepts on girl groups since the target audience is mostly for older men. I believe younger girl groups can still be age appropriate without having to play on the "pure, virginal and innocent" trope or being sexualized.

This entire thing irks me. What does that netizen have against girls who go to clubs? Are they trying to say sexy, girl next door types don't exist? Fight me. Catch this fade.

[cimelleh.livejournal.com]

Very true, i remember reading this article that said there's 2 concepts- sad but sexy or innocent and available.

I think thats why ga-in is so revelationary, because its something new and some of the most empowering music to come out of kpop imo.

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

It was an interesting read.
The CEO and his team obviously thought about the group's concept a lot before debuting them, and it shows. I would bet that they already know what the next concept-era will be (since they're leaving the classrooms). Picking something age-appropriate + using a girls next door image to let them grow into their looks is also a good thing.
But I don't agree with what he's saying about sexy concepts, and I think it's mostly because we don't consider sexy the same way? The length of GFriend's skirts and the camera angles allow a lot of sexualization (especially the Glass Bead MV) so it's either naive, or hypocrite, to say that they'll never be sexy, since they're already using a side of it to sell.

I'm tired of the opposition of sexy/innocent as the only way to see girls groups' concepts, there is so much more than sexy/innocent and so many different ways to express these concepts too...

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

ia with what you say about sexy concepts. call it what you want but groups like these ARE using sex to sell. just because they aren't grinding on the floor and showing skin doesn't mean that they aren't being sexualized...

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

mmmmmm love me some misogyny in the morning, 'my girls worked too hard for us to bother resorting to a sexy concept' is what I got from this. sure you got them in safety shorts but you got them doing moves that REQUIRE safety shorts. plus glass bead's gym uniforms made me so uncomfortable so....someone needs to tell this guy that you don't have to be wearing makeup and low cut shirts to be selling sex.

netizens need to stfu as per. in particular 'wehhhh there are no English lyrics' so Spanish ones are better? gr8 2 know.

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

netizen #6 has never listened to any of gfriend's non-title tracks i guess
anyway there are a lot of directions gfriend could go in as they mature, obviously they can't keep doing this type of concept forever. i mean they could be like apink, doing a more grown-up version of the "pure" concept but hopefully they would stay musically interesting.
but whatever they do it needs to be something that can show off their power dancing. i really wouldn't mind seeing them doing an androgynous/"boy group" type concept... (rip gp basic)

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

I love gfriend but it bothers me that ppl don't see that they're sexualized too, and the fact he says he never wants a sexy concept bothers me because it's equally dangerous to put their virginity on a pedestal

I have a lot of feelings about this I guess cuz I'm a fan of sexy concepts which are demonized but I think Twice are more age appropriate than Gfriend concepts

[typhlogirl.livejournal.com]

nah I totally agree with this comment tbh - I love GFriend because I love the girls and I think they're talented af, but the schoolgirl concept got me like:



it's why I'm really interested to see where their company takes them now that they aren't doing that concept any more

[racquelle2005.livejournal.com]

mm at this libfem bullshit when it comes to sexual concepts. neither are empowering :) but let's stop pretending that gfriend's concepts are on the same level as the concepts that stellar and exid have been putting out. Both are male gazey as hell but there is still quite a difference. I will admit that their debut mv was bad and way oversexualized but me gustas tu and rough are in no way the same. Gfriend got so lucky with their concept because unlike their peers, their music does not revolve around love but instead friendship and they have really good choreo as well as a nostalgic feel. The school girl concept was actually well executed with them minus the first video and it's obvious to see why so many women were impressed by them.

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

but nobody brought up stellar or exid or called them empowered? 🤔

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

this is interesting
he sounds (and girls success proves him right) like he knows how to read public really well ... but then again there's always this kind of fan that will prefer sexy concepts and let's be honest sexy girls can sell anything

i want to believe he says this because he won't take the easy way to success and he will trust girls talent .... but i hope he doesn't take things to other extreme concept because infantilization is as creepy as sexualitation

let's wait for more concept that fit girls ages, i just say don't put school uniforms on girls that are obviously on their 20s ... and idk, stop making everything about falling inlove or looking for a boyfriend ... nothing wrong with wanting to get some but if you look around and put a little bit of effort ooooooohh you would be surprised how many interest, beside boys , girls have these days

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

I agree with the other topics besides boys especially since they have b-side tracks about believing in yourself and following your dreams. That would be cool to have as a title track. Though their latest mv made it seem like friendship is more important than boyfriends

[boxcuttergirl.livejournal.com]

get back to me when you ditch the school uniforms lmao

[aleksu7.livejournal.com]

I like that he is willing to have gfriend as 6 and same members.
Also if they want to last they will have to keep the innocence aside and do some more mature concepts. It doesn't have to be sexy per se. I mean girls are going to grow up so... But, and that is a must, they have to keep the powerful choreos. That's the difference between them and other rookies gg.
I want them to last long and somehow being the same with an evolution of their concept.

[moomoo-moonstar.livejournal.com]

Only in kpop could they dress a bunch of young girls in teeny schoolgirl outfits and claim they're not going for a sexy look

[boxcuttergirl.livejournal.com]

honestly

[killua89.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad that they are focus on getting more fangirls some of their past stages made me uncomfortable

[cimelleh.livejournal.com]

#justiceforumji people dont like her because she looks like a kid instead of a mature 20 year old...but she is a kid!!

[unicornios.livejournal.com]

No end of the spectrum is good imo. I appreciate that he didn't want to sexualize them because they were so young but I also hope they don't get stuck in the innocent concept all ttheir lives because that's not good either. People change and mature and sexuality is part of that, even if it's subtle.

And also, let's not act as if the innocent groups aren't somehow sexualized either sooo.... How about we just let them act like normal kids. Kids these days are young but still very aware of the modern world.

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

No mater how you want to paint it, everything sounds so creepy. I find disgusting kpop's obsession with ~innocence~

[kaykaydelight.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming they're going to go the SNSD route with rotating concepts that border between neautral cute and neautral sexy with more importance put on the specific theme.

[she-devil666.livejournal.com]

are you saying 'neutral' or 'natural'?

[senshicalico.livejournal.com]

so i just looked up which one's umji and now i'm pissed cause she's the one who always catches my eyes... partly because of her face, which i think is cute and kinda looks like mine at that age.

knowing she gets hates for her looks both surprises me and makes me sad... if anything i thought she was really pretty and would be really popular for her looks?? lol i do not know the korean public at all.

[she-devil666.livejournal.com]

NEVER do a sexy concept? *she_devil666 will remember that*

i like sexy concepts tho (never have been a fan of cute from girl groups OR boy groups. it creeps me out tbh) but there should definitely be no rush to sexualize them (or other groups) either

i wish these companies had other "concepts" for girl groups... you know, other than "cute" and "sexy" >.> can we get a dance group that actually focuses on doing great choreo with good songs, maybe a group who does idk weird concepts (like what shinee does sometimes), or maybe a group who is a bit "dark", hell you can even combine some but ANYTHING other those two same concepts. i guess they think people (mostly the male demograpgic) will only pay attention to them if they do those two concepts, especially in the beginning of their idol career

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

ia
groups like crayon pop,f(x) and 2ne1 proove there's no need to go for blantant sexy choreo/outfit/lyrics .... but i wish we had more examples because girls can be many other things beside "sexy or cute"

i guess its like miranda said