The rising girl group ILLIT, candidly opened up about the pain they feel from negative comments.
In the 435th episode of JTBC‘s popular show ‘Knowing Bros‘ that aired on May 25th, ILLIT joined the ‘bros’ for a fun spring picnic.
During the day, the ‘bros’ were curious about how ILLIT felt about their skyrocketing popularity, asking, “You’ve only debuted 50 days ago, how does it feel to be this famous?” Minju modestly replied, “I still can’t believe it and I’m so thankful, but I feel like I need to push myself more.”
Yunah shared, “I’ve been training since I was 15 and now I’m 21 in Korean age. That’s 6 years of training.” She revealed that her parents were initially against her becoming an idol, and added, “My dad has never really wanted anything until now, but he told me to give it a shot because it was my first dream,” explaining the tough journey she had to get their approval.
Unlike Yunah, Wonhee had a very brief training period. She became a trainee in her first year of high school and debuted in the second year, and shared a unique story of how she was cast. “I was in Seoul looking for a subway station when a man approached me and cast me.”
Wonhee continued, “He didn’t give me a business card at first. It felt like a scam. He only asked for my phone number, so I said ‘I don’t think this is going to work,’ but then he asked ‘Don’t you have something like a business card that I can contact?’ So I took it on the condition that I don’t post it on my social media,” and added, “I was unsure if it was right to do a survival show, but I ended up doing it.”
Later, Kang Ho Dong asked ILLIT, “You must have really wanted to debut when you were trainees. But there must be a lot of challenges after debuting,” he asked. In response, Wonhee said, “I think I tend to be a bit more self-conscious. I think it’s because my training period was short. I make a lot of mistakes.”
Minju and Moka both expressed their worries about negative comments. When Minju said, “I’m a bit sensitive, so when I see comments, I get really affected,” Moka also confessed, “I’m the same as Minju, but I tend to read a lot of comments. I don’t get hurt that much, but sometimes I remember those comments when I’m on stage. It scares me sometimes.” Moka asked the ‘bros‘ for advice on how to deal with it.
Lee Soo Geoun advised, “I wish you wouldn’t read them. Even if you get 100 praises, if there’s one negative comment, it sticks with you. I hope you focus more on the positive comments.”
However, Kim Hee Chul, a senior idol, empathized with the feelings of ILLIT members, saying, “You can’t avoid seeing them. Even if a thousand or ten thousand people in the audience are showing love, if one person is swearing, that’s all you see.”
Shindong advised, “If you worry about every single comment, you’ll break down. You have to overcome that. What you guys can do at this level is to prove them wrong with your skills. If you practice hard and deliver a great performance, that’s enough.” Lee Soo Geoun also said, “If you let it get to you, you lose. The members should stick together and overcome it.”
When asked about ILLIT‘s ultimate goal, Iroha said, “I hope our fans feel ‘I’m glad I supported ILLIT’,” and Minju said, “My ultimate goal was to be on the Billboard, but since we’ve already achieved that, what I’m thinking now is to be happy without regrets and finish our activities.”
In response, Yunah revealed her big dream, saying, “We only made it to the Billboard, we didn’t receive an award or perform on stage. I hope we can also be number one on the Billboard, perform on the Billboard stage like our seniors BTS, participate in the awards ceremony, and give an acceptance speech.”
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