Fetzering
Noun: 1. The act of making an unfounded or unsubstantiated claim.
2. In philosophy, a method of debate or discussion based of the premise of: I think, therefore I am. I think you're wrong, therefore you are.
3. The act of disagreeing by employing rancor, name calling, ad hominem attacks or straw man argument.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fetzering
(In the first installment, we saw where the public created a living hell for an entertainer and even with the media's help, he couldn't convince the nuts jobs that they were wrong in their assumptions and accusations.)
Prologue: This episode has been years in the making. While researching the event I was at the mercy of Korean language news sites and Google Translate. I have said before that the K-Pop industry is like no other. Imagine Hollywood, Bollywood and Dollywood on steroids, shoved into the same container and placed in a paint mixer.. I became a fan of the genre by researching what happened to the subject of this story. When I started this, I wasn't sure of the ending....it looked grim.)
To be honest, K-Pop in it's best forms, sounds better than 90% of what you hear on American radio. It's a blend of youth, color, choreography and synthesized back beats presented by junior models and tough guys, that try to look prettier than the gals, while keeping that urban edge about them.
Groups are categorized by the generation of their debut. In 2009, a 2nd generation girl group went on to set records and change K-Pop forever. That group was 2NE1.
2NE1: Minzy, CL, Dara and Park Bom
Until the debut of 2NE1, most k-Pop girl groups were cookie cutter cute, singing a jingle with just enough English in the tune to hook the Anglos. The industry in Korea is well established. Each entertainment company has their factory housing, training and pumping out chart topping wannabees. Everything about these groups is meticulously thought out. From dance moves to costumes, from hair styles to personal life. Companies such as YG, Cube, JYP and others pour millions into pop-star farms, not unlike Disney and Nickelodeon, on this side of the pond.
2NE1 hit the ground running. Made up of 4 unique members, 2NE1 was a long time in the making. As early as 2006, one member had already been featured by existing acts.
Park Bom was born in Seoul, South Korea in March of 1984. In middle school,she moved to the United States as an exchange student. She went through Jr. High and then High School. She attended Berklee College of Music in Boston Mass. ( https://college.berklee.edu/news/park-bom-tops-korean-pop-chart )
Bom decided that she wanted to become a singer for YG Entertainment. She auditioned and failed. For three years.
From Soompi.com:
Persistence paid off for Bom as well as YG. For the next 5 years, 2NE1 went on to rule K-Pop. Setting many firsts in the industry, in 2014 they were the first Korean group to chart in the top 100 on the US Billboard 200. They had the highest charting Korean album for 2 years.
Bom also released solo works during this time. Her single 'You and I' won best digital single for 2010 at the MNET Asian Music Awards (MAMA).
Park Bom performing 'You and I' on music show SBS Inkigayo ...
Her next solo effort, 'Don't Cry' hit a perfect all-kill (#1 on seven different local music charts).
(Shout out to chico4jones Youtube Channel for the above video. YG Entertainment had scrubbed it from their YG On Air series.)
Park Bom at this time, was one of the unique voices in K-Pop and one of it's most popular stars. Former 1TYM member and producer Teddy Park once described Bom's voice this way... " In Korea or in Asia, even if you shake them and look you won’t be able
to find that kind of voice. Her voice is natural and full of color". Big Bang's TOP said "in Korea there is almost no other tone you can find like hers, her voice is very unique". TOP's bandmate G Dragon said "“In every song, If you add Park Bom’s voice, it gets better. Nice voice".
In 2014, 2NE1 was on top of the K-Pop world. They had set several landmarks. They had become the biggest girl group by changing the image of what a girl group was. Promoting self assurance, strength, and edge, they dominated the genre. Major companies from Channel to Adidas chained themselves to 2NE1 and banked the profits. Microsoft even used their hit 'I Am The Best' in their Surface Pro vs. Macbook commercials.
2NE1 MV for 'I Am The Best" (currently over 397 million views)
2014 saw the release of their 2nd studio album "Crush" and their second world tour. It would also be the year it all came crashing down.
On June 30, 2014 , the Korean media outlet Segye Ilbo ran a story about an incident involving Park Bom and the smuggling of amphetamines into Korea in 2010 (almost 4 years earlier).
The "large quantities of methamphetamine" turned out to be a 82 tablets of Adderall (a common treatment in the U.S. for ADHD containing amphetamine salts). The headline sounds pretty bad and was intended to be so. The story goes on to describe the "lenient" treatment of the situation by the Ministry of Justice. It also goes into a pretty serious description of amphetamines and thusly, why they are illegal in Korea.
Segye Ilbo ran mention of the story in their Opinion, Financial and Society segments. They followed up with additional articles as seen here:
The article above goes on to describe "The whole story of the sophisticated drug smuggling". At every possible instance, the author puts their descriptions in the worst possible light.
This was all the public needed. They pounced like jackals. Bom had faced criticism over the years for her weight and her looks so she was used to the normal crap that comes with being an Idol. This was dramatically different. YG Entertainment tried to quell the uproar by releasing a statement concerning Bom's (mental) health and her treatment by U.S. doctors for an episode that took place when Bom was in High School. Park Bom was a member of the girls soccer team and witnessed the death of her best friend on the pitch from an unknown aneurysm. Traumatic to say the least, Bom found herself dealing with grief and sank into depression. Through her treatment, she was diagnosed with ADD and with no known medicinal treatment available, the doctors prescribed her Adderall, used for the treatment of ADHD.
When the story of Bom's High School tragedy surfaced, the media and netizens didn't believe it and shouted even louder for her banishment from society until some of her fans got busy and found newspaper articles from the area that proved YG Entertainment was telling the truth.
Let's throw on top of all this 3 things...
1. The media was relentless in coverage. Taking down a celebrity is sport in Korea. YG had faced bad press over public actions by and accusations of drug use by their artists. From 2011....
2. I have been told in various discussion groups that there were reporters, one primarily, that had a hard on for YG Entertainment and would go out of their way to publish articles denouncing YG and their special treatment of artists. Any little instance that could be blown into a story received column inches.
3. Mental health issues was one of those taboo subjects in Korean society. For instance, all of the articles that discussed amphetamines, rarely took the time to explain the difference between amphetamines or meth amphetamine and Adderall. Nor did they discuss the use of Adderall for ADHD as a common practice in the U.S. It was all about smuggling and hard drugs.
Here is what happened....Park Bom's mother had worried that Bom's medical condition was deteriorating. She contacted Bom's doctors in the U.S. and explained that with Bom's schedule, it would be quite some time before Bom could return to the States. Bom consulted with her doctors and they refilled her prescription for Adderall. A family member picked up the prescription and sent it in a package containing many other items. They put the Adderall in with a bag of Jelly candy (gummies) and sent it Fed Ex to Bom's Grandmother's address in Korea. They wanted to make sure it was sent to a family address where someone would be to receive the package.
The reason for this? Who the hell knows. Maybe....just maybe...Bom and her family wanted the package to be secure because they didn't want anyone to know that Bom was being treated for a mental health issue. That story by itself was enough to derail her career.
The authorities investigated. They let the package through to it's recipient to track the drugs. They found that Bom had picked up the package and she had taken 4 pills during the week. They decided this was proof of her use of the prescription and proof against smuggling for nefarious means. They questioned Bom, her mother, her father, her grandmother. After a month or so the authorities decided not to charge Bom or her family, determining that her use was due to her medical condition and they closed the case.
Bom, at the time was appearing on the popular Korean show Roommate. They immediately dropped her from the show and edited out her appearances in the one episode that hadn't been aired. They continued that season without Bom. She was still traveling for the remaining shows of their World Tour and received hate from the public at any appearance. Park Bom was forced into exile.
Enter the conspiracy theories....
Theory #1: The story of Park Bom being investigated broke nearly 4 years after it happened. Why would a reporter break a seemingly innocent incident from 4 years ago into an earth shattering headline 4 years later?
The tragedy above was about to be investigated and some think that's the reason the hit job on Park Bom happened. It's possible. Probable....?
From the very day the smuggling story broke...
Bom went into seclusion. She was in a living hell having any mention of her name connect to the words "drug abuser" and "drug smuggler". The netizens created an ongoing battle between the nutizens (I prefer the term Kareans from Korean and Karen) and the dedicated fans of the group. Chat rooms and websites were filled with hate for Bom and love for 2NE1.
For the rest of the year and all of 2015, 2NE1 was on hiatus. The group's leader CL had released some solo work and in December 2015, she was invited to perform at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA). CL had an idea and was able to pull off a miracle. She secretly arranged for the entire group to appear with her to perform her second song after performing her current hit 'Hello Bitches'. The audience had no idea that 2NE1 was there, let alone going to perform. Keep note of the audience reaction to Bom's entrance (3rd). Here is 2NE1 performing their debut song 'FIRE' followed by 'I Am The Best'....
MAMA represents all of Asia not just Korea. Asia loved what Kareans hated. Based on the crowd reaction, I'd say that YG screwed up big time not allowing the group to perform. But it gets worse. YG had the reputation of not fully supporting their female groups and 2NE1's fan group hated YG for how they treated Bom and her fellow group members. They had refused for years to fully promote CL's efforts at producing her own music. They had promised Minzy a solo album only to keep putting her off. In early 2016, Minzy's parents got involved in negotiations for her contract renewal and pressed YG on the issue. End result, Minzy left the group.
The three remaining members worked on an album to release only to have it held. In November of 2016, YG Entertainment shocked K-Pop by announcing the disbandment of 2NE1. (We would find out years later that the members found out not by discussions with YG, but from the news!) YG resigned Dara and CL as solo artists and refused to resign Bom.
Enter conspiracy theory #2....YG had been working on putting together another girl group during 2NE1's hiatus.
The Black Pink Theory...
YG was putting together a group of 4 (actually 5 members, one of which wouldn't debut but go on to sign with CUBE Entertainment and achieve awards with her own group....but that's another story) females which they promoted as the "pretty" 2NE1.
In fact, songs that were written for 2NE1 were given to Black Pink.
I find it entirely plausible that YG took advantage of 2NE1's situation to capitalize on renewing the contracts of CL and Dara (Dara had gained popularity in the Philippines as a child star before joining 2NE1). They could cast Bom to the side and slide Black Pink right into 2NE1's place. 2NE1's renewal would have cost YG a bunch of money and they took the cheap way out. (I think the ending of this story will reinforce my argument)
CL went on to promote her U.S. activities while Dara concentrated on acting in various K-Dramas. Minzy opened up a dance studio and worked on her solo career.
Park Bom was in purgatory. Every now and then, a story would surface but for the most part she was dead to Kareans.
I stated in the first episode in this series that the Korean Hit job was eternal.
In 2018, Park Bom basically said 'fuck this...I'm getting back in the game.
She signed with D-Nation and in early 2019, she released her song 'Spring'. Even after all of the time spent in isolation, the minute that she announced she was going to release a new song, the media went into overdrive. Immediately she was bombarded with news stories rehashing the entire 'drug smuggling' affair from back in 2010. She couldn't catch a break.
'Spring' brought Bom success. It hit #3 on the Circle Music (Korea) Chart, #4 on the K-Pop Hot 100 (Korean) Chart. 'Spring' debuted at number two on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales
chart as highest-selling K-pop song and highest-charting new entry of
that week.
Bom proceeded to bust her ass performing. It was slow going at first but her popularity while never gone completely, slowly crept up the scale. She was able to finally do again, what she did best.
My personal favorite, from her extended album re:Blue Rose...4:44(featuring Wheein from Mamamoo)
Usher in the second CL miracle....
CL managed to convince 88rising that she wanted some friends to join her on stage with again, a second performance. No one in attendance was to know. There would be no mention of 2NE1 to anyone. In fact her contract stated that if word got out the whole thing would be cancelled. Dara, Minzy and Bom were sworn to secrecy. They tell a hilarious story of having to sneak around to get their hair done and make arrangements unnoticed. They all left for the States from different airports.
Talk began about a real reunion. YG still held the rights to 2NE1 and their music. Any talk of getting back together would have to involve the company. For a while nothing seemed to come of the idea.
Coachella was 2022. Late in 2023, YG Entertainment announced that their money makers, Black Pink were in negotiations for contract renewal. The result was only one member signing a solo contract with the other three going to other agencies. They all signed to continue group activities as Black Pink but everyone in the industry knew what that meant. Limited activity as a group. Their activity over the years was slow, with fans complaining about the length of time between comebacks.
YG stock fell over 13% with the announcement.
I think this one event is what it took for YG to decide to resign 2NE1.
As they say....the rest is history. 2NE1 is currently on their Welcome Back Tour celebrating their 15th anniversary.
I hope that Park Bom can enjoy this time. No one can give her back the 4 years of hatred and abuse. Knowing that she was able to keep her head up through all that she went through, makes her fans very proud in their support of Bom. It was that same tenacity that pushed her to keep returning for audition for 3 years, that allowed her to defeat the media and Kareans.
You can take the girl out of 2NE1...but you can't take 2NE1 out of the girl.
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