ALi teared up during her performance on M! Countdown. Why?

[nobodyelse-care.livejournal.com]

Watch the performance first!

Singer ALi released her first full-length album ‘SOUL-Ri‘ recently, and one of her songs, ”Na Young“, has drawn strong criticisms from the public due to its lyrical content.

ALi had personally written and composed “Na Young” in an effort to offer some encouragement to the young girl who was violently raped and assaulted in 2008.

Some netizens felt that it was disrespectful to Na Young to bring up the issue again, while others felt that ALi was blaming Na Young for the assault.

ALi addressed the controversy with an official statement, which read:

“Firstly, I would like to sincerely apologize to Na Young and her parents. No matter what my intentions were, if my actions have caused you to relive that pain all over again, I want you to know that it breaks my heart and I am deeply sorry. The song “Na Young” was one I felt especially attached to while working on this album, and I wrote the song very cautiously. I simply wanted to tell her to “trust her mind” and to never lose hope.”

“The lyrics that got criticized the most were ‘You threw away your youth, selling your body, selling your soul, your entire helpless life has been stolen from you’, which was my way of passing judgment on the heinous and shameless character of the assailant. I am solely and completely at fault for not being able to accurately deliver the intended message with the right words. But I hope that all of  you will believe me when I tell you that when I wrote those particular lyrics, I was in no way trying to say that the victim was at fault.”

“I understand that as a rookie artist, I have provoked much confusion and controversy, and I humbly bow my head in apology to Na Young, her parents, and everyone who has supported my music thus far. I learned a valuable lesson from this incident, and will use it as an opportunity to grow and mature as both a person and an artist, and I will work to bring you better music. Thank you.“

Source: AKP & Star Today via Nate & FionCHD & nobodyelse09

There, she said she wasn't trying to blame the victim and she apologizes for the misunderstanding. Now lay off her back, netizens.

Anyways OMONA, some of you may have heard of this and currently side-eyeing her but I ask of you, please give her another chance to prove herself.  

Comments

[izabera.livejournal.com]

Even if her intentions were good, it was a terrible idea to use this for a song. She may not have realized it, but you'd think her management or someone involved in the production of the song would have advised her better :/

OT she has a beautiful voice.

[izabera.livejournal.com]

Sorry about your loss, and this is exactly the kind of situation I was thinking about. Na Young and her parents are going to face this pain their entire lives because it will be brought up in the media everytime a child is attacked or legislation on rape is discussed etc.

I wish ALi had done a song about her own experience of rape instead, like Tori Amos did. Then no-one could have criticized her.

[raviolikenshin.livejournal.com]

You don't make a song titled about a victim of rape and include the lyrics:
"‘You threw away your youth, selling your body, selling your soul, your entire helpless life has been stolen from you’,"

wtf, even if she meant the lyrics towards assailant, why is it in this song about the victim?


tacky anyways tbh, she didn't have to name it na-young...don't be so literal bitch! you could have written this song as a message to all victims, but instead you plastered a poor girl's face to your basic ass song. hope you enjoy your popularity!

[nobodyelse-care.livejournal.com]

You have the right to be angry at her, I don't blame you. But at the very least, she realized her mistake, apologized and even removed the song from her album.

Please, I hope you can find the heart to forgive her.

[shaunriley.livejournal.com]

God forbid somebody makes mistakes. A person is a person, no matter if they are a singer or not. She meant it as a message of encouragement, and the lyrics were taken the wrong way. She's obviously VERY stressed over the incident, has apologized profusely, and has it weighing heavily over her shoulders.

The intentions were there, and people took them the wrong way. It's not her fault people can't see past it, and I for one feel really bad for her, especially as she is a rookie trying to make it in the industry. This will forever hinder her career. /:

I hope she can recover from it, because she's obviously very talented.

[orenji13.livejournal.com]

I am sorry, in this case Na Young is much more important than Ali career. People will probably forget this scandal the minute some idol caught dating. But not for Na Young, and for her to even put the poor girl name on the song is already tacky.

She should know better, and as a public figure, she should familiar herself for being on spot.

[chunsakuma.livejournal.com]

Whilst she probably didn't have bad intentions, intent isn't everything. In my opinion, she shouldn't have been so literal yet so ambiguous at the same time. To have it so obviously be about the girl is kind of disrespectful when she likely had no say in whether the song was written about her or not and the ambiguity of the lyrics is even more insulting.

Songwriters write songs that are inspired by other people all the time, but they usually aren't very specific and also generally don't pinpoint who the subject matter is about, both of which are to protect the identity of the individual. Either that sort of protocol should have been followed here or the song shouldn't have been written to be honest.

[wintersol.livejournal.com]

bad step, really bad.

the idea was good, writing a song about victims of assault, but executed poorly and the fact that no one in her management did anything to correct it points to an even bigger problem.

[orenji13.livejournal.com]

She try too hard to reach into her soul..
Not good Ali, not good at all.

[ori0n.livejournal.com]

http://www.soompi.com/news/ali-im-a-rape-victim-too

This should have come out a little earlier. But haters will hate.

Good intentions, bad execution. Sigh.

[nobodyelse-care.livejournal.com]

O.M.G. D:

[ghost-whisper.livejournal.com]

oh. :|

Well, yeah I guess she meant well, but I really don't think she should have written it about a specific person like that. I mean, I suppose it's one thing to write about victims of a crime (in this case, assault), and perhaps even say "x incident made me think about all the people who suffer...I wanted to write a song of encouragement to them etc etc". Even then, you're probably gonna run up against controversial opinions (which is especially hard for someone *not* an established megastar).
But to write about (and *name after*) a specific person...err...well did she ask the girl? I wouldn't want someone writing about a traumatic thing from *my* past, and slapping *my* name on it for all the world to remark on (unless it was my idea to spread awareness or something, idk, that's been done).

[uniqlos.livejournal.com]

i wanna see the lyrics to the whole song.

[ori0n.livejournal.com]

The sound of the light and wind, falling from the sky
It rides the leaves and it rides the snowstorm

The deep sounds of the ocean from the ends of the earth
It shines on the sun, it shines on the sky

It's hard even to be alive and to breath
So she waits for the sun to set
She doesn't try to run away anymore
She stands there and waits for the moon to rise

The gray light that seeps out of a young girl's wet eyes
You threw away your youth, selling your body, selling your soul
Your pitiful life has been taken away from you

In this dizzy world, when you hope for a warm and brilliant love
Can you feel - can you feel it?
In the soiled heart, when you want a true and pure love
Can you do that - can you do that?

Looking here and there but you still can't believe in this world
Even if the world flows by so quickly, even if time leaves us
Trust your mind, trust your mind


FYI, ALi was a rape victim herself.

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

She was raped though. There's more information here. http://www.allkpop.com/2011/12/ali-reveals-she-is-a-victim-of-rape

[kiminikaeru.livejournal.com]

smh @ ppl who think talking about rape is bad

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

Yes ok maybe the words could have been different, the title and the "YOU" parts. She apologized, I hope they full heartedly accept it. I do not think she did it to harm.
PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO BE REMINDED OF THE SHIT MANKIND DOES so this is why she's getting such backlash. Instead realizing the pain and listen to the lyric and letting them sink in and understanding this was hard to do. They turn on the messenger/victim, how fucked up is that.
Let's all forget about it and never bring it up, keep it quiet and move on in peace. WRONG it will eat you up inside. She knows it and she's reaching out to the girl (anyone).
My heart goes out to Ali, and Nayoung and you, you, you, you and you over there.

[mandyyy.livejournal.com]

I love the song. I think it's beautiful and the way she sings it is perfect.

Talking about rape is the only way to heal from the hurt. You know that feeling you get when you worry about something so much that it makes you sick? As soon as you tell someone about the worry, the feeling lifts because your know that there is someone there to share it with. Why do you think so many people go to therapy? TO talk about their problems and work through them. Korea isn't getting anywhere by trying to sweep things like rape under the rug. It just makes them look bad. There are some people who are fine with keeping their shame and troubles to themselves, and those are the people that become bitter and hateful later in life. There's nothing wrong with talking about your problems.