When DPR Ian first left his K-pop days behind him, he made a promise to himself.
After the Aussie-born star completed his stint as the leader and main rapper of C-Clown and had seen the highs and lows of the K-pop idol industry for himself, he told 9honey, “I always kind of vowed to myself, ‘If I leave this in industry, I’m going to make something that is based completely on giving the artist the spotlight, giving the artist a say, and giving the artist the credit that they deserve for doing that – it has to come from them’.”
That is precisely what he did with DPR, a collective made up of multi-talented artists first based in Seoul, which he co-founded. Now Ian, as well as his group mates Cream and Arctic, have recently wrapped up the Australian leg of their most recent world tour, the Dream Reborn Tour.
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But many idols who crave that independence still have no idea where to start.
Rosé and Lisa from BLACKPINK are just two of the many K-pop idols who are aiming to become worldwide artists.
New Zealand-born and Aussie-raised Rosé recently revealed it was none other than Taylor Swift that sat her down and gave her advice on how to break into the Western music industry, which she will soon be doing with her upcoming album rosie.
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“I’m really grateful for her because I was at a moment where I was drowning a little,” Rosé told i-D, “She was telling me – make sure to take care of this, this and this – like, logistics. She was trying to protect me.
“Me becoming solo, being independent, it’s not an easy thing. There are a lot of things I should be careful with, and she gave me a rundown on all the things I have to look out for.”
The Korean entertainment industry is famously overrun by entertainment agencies that are competing with each other, with many acting proactively in order to carve their own space in the cutthroat industry.
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Many prospective idols are snapped up in childhood and undergo training provided by their companies day in and day out in order to debut.
“Everyone was kind of led to think that there’s only one way of doing this, [which was] extensive hours of just pure non-stop training [and] hardly any sleep,” explains Ian.
Once they do that, they are carted off to different “schedules” throughout their promotion periods, with little to nothing left in their control.
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Many of these idols – if they do become successful – don’t break even for many years even after their debut, as the cost of their training, as well as their living and other expenses, have to be paid back to the company first.
Ian claims that when he was undergoing training, it was when “slave contracts” were at their “epitome” in the K-pop world.
This term usually describes contracts between Korean entertainers and their agencies that stipulate clauses around a trainee’s diet, love life, behaviour, and more, usually for long periods of time.
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According to the former idol, a K-pop idol is “literally a product” of “many people in a room – creative directors, board of directors, PR teams, AR teams, and everyone coming together and formulating a certain concept of brand – and you are the face of it.”
“So at the end, you really don’t have too much of a say,” he claims. “You’re definitely walking into something that you will have absolutely no power or control over … because the company will always have more power over you.”
But for those who want to break free of the K-pop mold, Ian says to keep just one thing in mind: “You’ve got to make it so that whoever needs you, needs you more than you need them.”
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He says though the pair are from one of the biggest K-pop girl groups, “If you look at Rosé and Lisa, you’d be surprised. It’s not because of the stature. It’s because they really, really believe in their own potential.
“If you look at a lot of these successful artists, they come off because they want to preserve their self identity.”
“It’s exactly what I wanted to do,” he added, “I had a lot to say, but it had to be through me.”
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As their K-pop sunbae (the Korean term for senior), Ian has some practical advice for the BLACKPINK members and anyone else in their position, as someone who has been in that exact spot before.
The 34-year-old says the question of going independent is one he continues to get from his idol peers to this day.
The root of the issue is “they’re so used to being told what to do”, Ian says, likening it to graduating from high school.
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“Now you have your own say. You have to pay your own bills. You’ve got to find your own job. You don’t have a schedule to go to. There’s no one that’s saying do this as homework.
“So it is very, very new, but – this is what I always say to everyone – it’s only because you’re used to that system.
“You have to understand that you’re more capable of doing and arranging your own schedules, your own things, your own time, and you should be able to manage your own time and your own ways of doing your art before anything else.”
“That is essentially how you would grow and thrive”
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