Adios

When you’re asked to think of the typical female K-pop artist, Hoody is probably not what first comes to mind. And for good reason: she does not align herself with the idol pop image, favoring instead a more hip-hop aesthetic. While some may see this as subversive female portrayal in K-pop, I don’t think we can say the same about it in relation to k-hip-hop. In this essay, I argue that Hoody’s Adios MV manages to set her apart from the what’s expected of female idols but not from what’s expected of female hip-hop artists.

In K-pop, generally idol performers are presented as conforming to common gender stereotypes. For women, this means often being portrayed as “weak, dependent, submissive, and nurturing” and as sexual objects through “dollification” (Lin and Rudolf 2017: 30-31). We see this in many girl group and solo female artists MVs manifested as revealing clothing, suggestive dance moves, and the filming of certain body parts while the performers act in an innocent or/and cute way (Ibid.). Even groups and soloists with more tough girl concepts often manage to be objectified in their MVs. In Hoody’s Adios MV, however, we see Hoody presented as a subject of the video rather than an object. She is not performing choreography or where revealing clothing, nor does the camera highlight any one specific part of her body. There is a moment where the camera focuses on the butt of another character in the video, but it is intentionally highlighting the gaze of a male character on a female character. Hoody is not presented as weak or submissive either, she is shown as a tough girl who knows how to fight.

Though this portrayal falls outside of how female idols are presented, it does seem to fit under how female k-hip-hop artists are often expected to portray themselves. Female hip-hop artists have to tread the line between being too feminine and too masculine (Song 2019: 146). While Hoody may not be visually portrayed in the MV as particularly feminine, the song itself, with its soft vocals and some-what light subject matter, fits into the “emotional” and “sensuous” aesthetics expected from women in k-hip-hop (Ibid., 152). While this MV is a step in a good direction for K-pop, I can’t say it is the same for K-hip-hop.

Lin, Xi, and Robert Rudolf. “Does K-Pop Reinforce Gender Inequalities? Empirical Evidence from a New Data Set.” Asian Women 33, no. 4 (2017): 27–54.

Song, Myoung-Sun. Hanguk Hip Hop: Global Rap in South Korea. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillian, 2019.