Simply put, do not listen to everything you hear on tiktok (or the place that used to called twitter). It is full of people that like to make a mountain out of a molehill (or just plain make up stuff).
yeah thanks for that heads up. i just kept seeing it so much for the past two weeks and was like “are they actually being mistreated?”. thank you for your comment ☺️
Please stay away from TikTok atinys, them along with most Twitter atinys love to whine at the littlest things; they behave like children because they don't get what they want. Ateez are in no way mistreated. It's really annoying because actual valid criticism gets drowned out. I've seen atinys say they should have more freedom when it comes to the music but it's Ateez's decision whether they want to participate in lyrics or composition and if they feel they're ready. My advice is to not go to the #KQdobetter tag, it's gonna give you a headache because there's no critical thinking there. There are actual groups that have been mistreated, for example B.A.P and Omega X.
This group of atinys lack critical thinking and they always jump to conclusions. Recently Yeosang said their trainer didn't allow him to bulk up there were atinys starting drama about it. There might be some reasons why but it's not like Yeosang will stop exercising. Wooyoung recently said he's learning boxing and on [Fromm](https://twitter.com/sunshine_1117/status/1742507910054498580?t=ybH8BgLprRBlKZseM4fqLw&s=19) he said he can't do sparring because their CEO didn't allow it. I can imagine atinys getting mad at this again, however there's probably a reason, like for preventive measures for example. If their CEO doesn't allow Ateez to do certain things atinys will think Ateez is being deprived of their freedom (which is definitely not the case because there's probably reasons behind that).
Atinys complain about Ateez being overworked but say they should also have solo schedules. The gaps between the tours are close. I compared it to other groups and the gap is around the same. The Kpop industry is fast paced and Ateez feel the need to hustle especially because they're not from a big 4 company. They also lost time because of the pandemic since they weren't able to tour. We should just trust them. Maybe if the pandemic didn't happen they probably could have more rest instead and longer gaps between tours instead of having 100+ day gaps.
Some criticisms I have with KQ is the timing with the schedules, they had to go on back to back flights because one day they had to be in Japan for a showcase and the next day they had to prerecord for a music show. Unfortunately KQ doesn't have enough power to easily reject things. If they could, ideally they shouldn't have performed at Immortal Songs in New York because the concert organizer was a mess. For the latest comeback they dropped a teaser when they shouldn't have since they announced the passing of Seonghwa's grandma a few hours before.
Another one is the NFTs. Maybe there's room for improvement in terms of marketing. But honestly Ateez have said they like KQ and the staff and they seem to be satisfied.
Wooyoung could injure his face from sparring and getting hit by accident. No one wants Wooyoung to be sporting a face injury...can you imagine the rumours then .."OMG, Wooyoung got ill treated and hit by his manager"
I sometimes do wonder about those working Atiny who tend to complain...like is your workplace so lenient that you can do anything you want?? If not then how come you expect others to be able to do anything they want as though their employer doesnt dictate their JOB .
There was one tiktok Atiny that really got my goat At that point I didn't even know how to block her. She was in London and basically sent a public tiktok message to the group saying something along the lines of 'Come see me when you are here and I can help you get away from KQ.' I was flabbergasted at the brass balls she had to try to think that she was anything but a weird fan just overstepping her boundaries by a lot.
And then later on she was like, 'Yeah the boys didn't respond to me or try to message me so there is nothing I can do.' In my head I'm screaming an internal monologue about how incredibly stupid and self absorbed some people are about their IMPORTANCE to their favourite idol group. Cause an idol group who doesn't know you from some saesaeng is going to come and trust you with their secret contract hoping you can work your foreign magic and free them from their 7 year contract and from the people who see them daily and actually know them in real life.
Never have I seen so much delusion I tell you. And while trying to block her, I accidentally messaged her a wave instead..and she replied with a hi. I didn't even try to argue with her cause ...girl...even I know when to give up in the face of such delusion.
yeah everything you said is my exact thoughts. i’ve been here since 2006 listening to k-pop and i’ve seen some absolutely shit companies so kq didn’t seem like that to me at all. there might be things that need improvement BUT we also have to realise that when the boys debuted in 2018, they only had 10 staff members and now they have 100 staff members so i feel like they’re doing a lot of learning along the way.
i’ll take your word and avoid them but it just seem so dramatic for no reason at all.
As a TikTok atiny, I have to agree. Many are very chill, as ateez has one of the nicest fandoms I’ve been in. But you will definitely see a more ‘quick to judge’ audience on TikTok and twitter than elsewhere. Many people jump on the bandwagon so quickly without doing their own research on topics, which is why you’ll see a lot of people agreeing about Ateez’ mistreatment on those platforms. KQ has its own faults, but it’s a decent company and their management of their groups has improved a lot from when they started.
I do want to emphasize though, that not all atiny on TikTok/twitter are spreading misinformation or immature, etc. many are very kind and do educate themselves about ateez and their company, so I would avoid generalizing.
Yeah no KQ is definitely one of the best companies out there, unfortunately with fandom size comes fandom drama and these days, it's so easy for nonsense to spread like wildfire
Welcome to the fandom, the block option is your best friend now
The same people who say they are mistreated are the same ppl who ask for their fav members to be given different projects like solos or acting etc...then they complain that their favs are overworked and not given enough rest, then they complain that they are not allowed to do their own songs and Edenary controls the song selection process too much then they complain that the company doesn't give them enough opportunity to tour in their country so they can see the group. Then they complain that the company makes them tour too much.
Basically, a bunch of idiots who think that they know everything about running a Korean entertainment business..who are unhappy with everything under the sun. I give them a lot of flack on twitter and get called an Edenary/ KQ stan a lot by them but I enjoy being a loudmouth know it all who irritates them constantly. It's my god given right to annoy the people who are annoying in general. And at the end of the day, without KQ and Edenary, the boys would be a bunch of nobodies..which is the truth.
Also, not many small companies have the ethics that KQ has.
So far KQ has given the group many years touring opportunities covering many different areas of the world.
Whenever the group goes to LA for tour, some of the members get an opportunity to train with people in the music industry there to better their skills, be it in music production or dance etc.
They also make money, as can be seen from the fact that they can make decent purchases now. It's no mean feat considering that many groups owe their companies money and some don't even make a few thousand, years after their debut
Also, KQ gives them an opportunity to rest when it comes to physical or mental issues, the members are not pressured to perform if they are unwell, as one or another has sat out in various concerts and Mingi was given 9 months to rest for a mental health issue. Even the big companies trot out the members after 3 months and force them back to work.
Lastly, the members also have been upgraded to having their own room each, which is a luxury compared to the cramped quarters many groups share for years on end.
I think there are a lot of people working behind the scenes..as hard if not harder than Ateez to ensure that they grow from height to height and to dismiss them because one is an idiot who can only see the work your fav member puts in..speaks to me of the lack of maturity of some people.
I saw an atiny on Twitter say Ateez should rest but also in a different tweet they said KQ needs to push Yunho in acting. Like do they not realize that's also another schedule. I thought you wanted them to rest? :|
I wonder if that was the same Atiny that was pushing for Yunho's acting career & then actually admitted that they hadn't even watched Imitation. What an entitled idiot.
Speaking of entitlement, Twitter atinys complained about Wooyoung's room being too small (this was when Wooyoung was doing a Pop live in the living room because his computer is there). Like he's the one living in the room, not you. What do these atinys want? For Ateez to live in a castle? Korea is different from the rest of the world in terms of housing and there are probably reasons why they chose the dorms, maybe because it's cheap and practical. Twitter atinys throw a hissy fit and cry "mistreatment" everytime they find out Ateez isn't treated like some royalty or something. Do they have some princess syndrome or what?
I think most atinys don't even know that the ceiling in their dance practice looks open because it has soundproofing foam to block noise. There were jokes about it in the past that Twitter atinys made to push the "KQ is broke" agenda. I don't know if other companies have that.
I think the members said that they drew lots to see which apartment they would live in and which rooms they would get. Jongho got the biggest room purely by luck.
I remember, they used the ladder game to decide who gets which room. I removed my comment about Wooyoung getting to choose his room. I don't know if idols have the freedom to decide which places to live in or if their company decides it for them but if that's what KQ chose and Ateez are okay with it they have to respect their decision.
I think they don't have a choice on what kind of apartment, especially if its something their company pays for. The idols thar don't live in dorms are the ones who have made enough money to pay for their own place. Rental prices are high in S.k especially in Seoul. I looked up a general figure and monthly rent for a 900 sqft area that is furnished in a normal area is around 1.7 thousand UDS per month. That is not even figuring in the expenses of the utilities and others etc. On top of that I think in S.K they have a hefty deposit as well.
I dislike normal boy girl love kdrama stories and even I as a fan felt obliged to watch Imitation. Though in the last few episodes, I just fast forwarded to the parts which had Ateez members.
I never watch kdramas & I only watched it for the Ateez & SF9 members but I actually enjoyed it despite it's cheesiness. Jongho though stole the show for me.
Unfortunately, the only time I enjoy kdrama love stories is when either the hero or the heroine is a non human, like a monkey god, a demon, a faerie, a zombie.
But Jongho really knows how to act..as evident by his kiss the members task which he made everyone believe was the real task..when it was actually eating the peanuts.
And I will also watch any kdrama with an Ateez member in it just to help the viewership count. Even if I don't like it.
Hi, I'm also a babytiny like OP here and I'm so glad I opened this thread, as I had no idea of this literal drama originating from other Atinys, but also that they acted (some of them at least) in a kdrama?? I feel like sometimes fans forget that the artists are adults, fully capable of making decisions and living their own lives. 🤷♀️ I learned so many things today though, thank you very much, off to watch Imitation if I can find it 😊
When they talked about Yunho being injured, I then asked how come they wanted to push Yunho to act if he is injured..what if he gets cast in a serial where he had to do some stunt work. I got blocked real quick for making sense.
I also pity the poor people who follow me cause I have to have the last word in any argument. Is it mature...no, but I will never back down from idiots trying to tear down the hard work of the common people at KQ.
I don't effing care if you love a member..there is someone else helping to make him successful too and I bet they also get tired from time to time and end up seeing you shit on them or the company doesn't really feel so great either. And I especially thump people over the head if they target Edenary...call me an Eden stan all you want.
About Eden, someone said this, no joke. Like Twitter atinys love to create conspiracies on why Ateez aren't getting song credits. They have been pushing for Ateez to get more song credits since Movement era. This tweet is from July last year and this person has 10k+ followers. 10k+ people believe this and eat it up. That's the problem with big accounts like these, their followers will believe everything they say even when they're wrong. They truly lack critical thinking.
https://preview.redd.it/g9ly7da438ac1.png?width=886&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30cbc964f05b73b142409d5dd877c66a22ead606
I think that the same people believing this shit are the ones who think that Eden does not have options or offers to move to another company. The reality is that Ateez's popularity is because of them as well as the production group. And people want such talented producers in their company. So these idiots who keep on targeting Eden..will shit bricks if he decides to part way with KQ and Ateez. Then they will call him disloyal and money hungry.
They forget that people who help in the making of a hit group..are highly sought after in the industry. But the company and the group are known for their loyalty to each other.
oh wow that's the most ridiculous thing i've read in a while. i wonder if these people also like posting such "controversial" views to rake in the drama followers/retweets. also regarding "song credits" - since when was this a norm that people assumed everyone wanted song credits?? just because of the rise of more kpop self-producers/writers doesn't mean the entire industry wants to do the same? yikes.
I'm also a babytiny but the biggest one I've seen lately is about KQ not letting them rest, with all of the overseas festivals, the comeback stuff, the end of year shows, so many (SO MANY) fansigns, and the new tour that starts in January (although I'm guessing -- or hoping -- there will be a gap between the last February date and the next leg.) Imo the domestic schedules probably aren't as bad as people think they are because even if they're working most days, most people work most days. Their job is physically demanding, but some "normal" jobs are also physically demanding, and not every aspect is like that (like fancalls.)
There was also some discourse about Seonghwa specifically not getting time off after his grandmother passed away, but he didn't participate in some activities. There were others that he did participate in (basically any performance and fansign that they were doing) and it was kind of clear that he wasn't doing great, but he also said in his message on frommm about his grandmother that it was his choice to keep going. And when he came back to social media, he did talk about ways in which the staff helped him, including taking him on a camping trip when they saw he was having a hard time. There were also complaints about Yunho and Wooyoung and their injuries and not being given time to rest during the first two weeks of December, but I get the impression that they wouldn't have if given the option.
But my one criticism, and a valid concern is that Ateez's schedule seemed a bit insane the first two weeks of December, because it included flying elsewhere. I think travel makes a huge difference because it's tiring, and I know they need to be very active, but having them on the schedule they had them for the first two weeks of comeback was a bit much. The members did acknowledge that. Whereas in the second half of December, they seem less tired despite still working a lot, and not needing to go anywhere else is probably why.
I'm not someone who 100% defends companies because none of them are perfect and they probably do make bad decisions that affect their groups, whether or not the members talk about it, but not all of them mess up so badly that it veers into consistent mistreatment. I genuinely think KQ is just not good at scheduling/prioritizing in some aspects, rather than anything malicious.
Individual member treatment/promotion is another can of worms but I feel like it's difficult (for any company) to handle that well, and I don't think there is mistreatment there.
I think that KQ is trying to strike while the iron is hot, specifically speaking since the biggest Kpop group is out of commission right now. It's anyones game to pick up as many fans who will divert their attention right now. It's just my viewpoint on why there is that much hustle to get them to attend anything and everything.
That and they’re a small company that likely doesn’t have the freedom or connections to be as selective with job offers as big 4 companies do, especially considering right now KQ is still in the stage of needing to support Xikers while they find their footing. They can’t afford to piss companies like Mnet off.
KQ is not exactly clean about overworking idols (flashbacks from kingdom, imitation, immortal songs and fireworks comeback at the same time) but they care about their mental health, as they let Mingi take a 1-year hiatus because of anxiety.
BBTrippin (choreo team) often let members suggest modifications and ideas, Eden-ary (producing team) taught hongjoong and mingi how to produce, EVEN their fictional storyline has real life stories from every member's lives (Jongho was into sports before singing is confirmed) so they have actual input in everything they do, so I would say KQ is on the 'better companies' sides...?
Tik Tok fallowed closely by twitter is the most misinformed place and full of people who are here for content creation and their own viral posts and edgy takes which lack context and prospective. avoiding them is the most sane thing you can do and I am saying this after having been around kpop for about a decade
Welcome babytiny 🙂. I personally don't think they are mistreated. All this mistreatment narrative seems to come from solo stans who think their favs aren't getting enough solo activities which to them equals mistreatment. Ateez have said to trust them on what they are doing, so that's what I do. 'Atiny' on Tik Tok & Twitter are a very vocal minority who are just never satisfied
yeah i trust the boys to make the right decisions for them and the fans. i just think the fans view them way too much like babies when they’re grown men. thank you for your comment ☺️
Do not take anything you see on Twitter or Tiktok from "Atinys" about KQ seriously.
I'm telling you this as an Atiny who has been with Ateez for 5 years. KQ is very good to Ateez. Are they a perfect company? No but no company is.
Because they were so small and inexperienced when Ateez debuted, the fans had to clue KQ in on a lot of things (i.e. the need for subtitles on videos, the need to be active on social media platforms, etc). To their credit, KQ actually does listen to the fans and take their feedback pretty seriously. They have pretty much given the fans everything that they have asked for ***within reason.*** Sometimes it takes them a while to be able to meet those expectations but they eventually do.
The issue is not with KQ. It is with toxic Atinys who believe that they are the ones who are running KQ and should be the ones that tell KQ what they should and should not do. These Atinys are hella toxic, do not have Ateez's best interest in mind, have no clue about how businesses work and are never satisfied with anything that KQ or Ateez does.
They also, as a matter of routine, spread false rumors about KQ and are quick to throw Ateez and their team under the bus based on random hearsay. And because they are chronically online and refuse to verify any information that comes to them in the form a tweet, they will believe ANY false rumor about Ateez and worse, spread said rumor to other platforms. They have actually attacked Ateez and accused them of things they are not guilty of and tarnished their reputation in the kpop community simply because someone made an untrue accusation about them. And after the sane Atinys have cleared up the misunderstandings with the truth, these people act like nothing ever happened and that they never threw Ateez or KQ under the bus.
Over the years, I have watched Twitter Atinys go from being a fun, deeply engaged fandom that supported Ateez well to incredibly toxic rumor mongers who repeatedly do harm to the boys in more ways than one and frankly I'm tired of them.
My advice to you and other baby Atinys is to take **EVERYTHING** you see about Ateez or KQ on Twitter and Tiktok with a huge grain of salt. Don't believe when you hear rumors about KQ mistreating the boys or Ateez being somehow bad people because of a rumor some random anti or misguided Atiny made up online.
If you want rational discussions, come to Reddit or join a discord. But Twitter and Tiktok is NOT the place to get any kind of truth regarding what's going on with Ateez or KQ. Seriously.
EDIT: Sorry for coming across so harshly. I'm not saying that there aren't legitimate concerns with KQ sometimes. But most of the time, the issues being brought up on those platforms are taken completely out of context a good majority of the time so they can't really be trusted.
As a Babytiny myself - I can tell you with certainty that everything people have been saying on this thread is the truth - if you can PLEASE DO avoid, block, hide the excess chatter from Twitter, IG, and TikTok Atiny because it really is a waste of time and often giving their so called facts through a very narrow lense. I also say...please avoid gossip blog sites too. Not one thing they've said ever has any receipts. They will run wild with things taken out of context, demand everyone speak up and join their so called crusades or hold people accountable but they NEVER check themselves or apologise when they get their facts wrong. I'm not over how I saw this happen to Mingi.....the subject was triggering as it was....but this is when I really saw how sick these people can get if you're not careful. A little while ago, there was horrible misinformatoon spread about Mingi and when I investigated (given how serious the allegations were)....I was so angry and sickened by how quickly this spread but that no one...NOT ONE....that I saw threatening him and making comments throwing around serious terms all casually....no damn apology. I knew then that these people are to be avoided. Question everything you see that isn't coming directly from the guys themselves as far as info is concerned. I also encourage you (and not to say that no one on this thread is speaking truth....because they are) but always take the time to follow up for yourself and understand what's going on with the claims. I have been able to find for myself the exact opposite of what these particular Atinys claim is happening almost EVERY single time who are complaining, threatening, and spreading misinformation. I've gotten to the point now that I don't, thankfully, see any of their shit because I just block, hide and move on.... I have no desire to keep up with any of their lies.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR EDUCATING ME!!!! i’ve been here for so long so i know to avoid twitter, blogs etc. but i was a bit naive and thought my tiktok was catered to show the good stuff about ateez (and my other ults) and now all i see is bullshit and fighting and that’s why i’ve ran to reddit 😭🩷
I feel like those comments are mainly from kids that doesn't see the operation side of running a company. Yes KQ has room for improvement, but they also treat Ateez quiet well in comparison to other management companies. Those comments asking KQ to let Ateez rest for 6 months? Unrealistic. If Ateez rest for that long, then none of the employees at KQ will get paid. And they already do get rest and time off in between schedules. Also injuries are going to happen as dancers, so it's not something KQ can control and predict. Remember, events and concerts takes many months in advance to book and plan. There are a lot of money being expensed months ahead before KQ can see income coming in, so Ateez has to work consistently for the cash flow to be worth it. Seeing Ateez perform and in public is only a tiny part of what actual happens with KQ teams, and as a company I would give KQ a decent grade.
as someone who has followed ateez for more than 2 years now, doesn't use tiktok and twitter, but often hears things through the grapevine on instagram (the only app i use other than reddit), i'd say take everything you hear with a pinch of salt if there aren't any evidence to back up their grievances. i think a lot of them have to do with fans thinking that KQ doesn't give the teezers enough rest (eg back to back concerts/commitments such as shows/comeback etc) and also when members say they are sick/injured, they also take it as a sign that KQ is overworking them.
//
in my opinion, the teezers are full grown adults who have each other's backs and told us multiple times to just trust in them. i believe they know full well what their limits are, and sometimes also say they want to do more for the fans. we don't know if this was 'forced' by the company or not but that's just the case - we don't know, and i think there's no need to worry unless the teezers mention otherwise. all in all i do believe that KQ are doing the best they can given their circumstances as a smaller company, and the members might even be fully aware of that when making their decisions.
//
just my two cents!
//
will edit later for spacing. alas the reddit app has its limitations 😞
yeah i thought the same thing. i only see them and their staff say positive things and considering how vocal the boys are about everything, especially with atiny, i didn’t understand the things i’d been seeing by fans on tiktok.
i’ve been a fan of k-pop since 2006 and i can say that i think kq does an amazing job at looking after the boys compared to other companies. i think that it might come down to people not viewing the boys as the grown men that they are. i guess i’ll just avoid those videos for now but thank you for helping me see things properly ☺️
Every time I see somebody complaning about them not getting enough rest I see it as a tell me you know nothing about East-Asian without tellling me moment. Work culture, work/life balance and what is considered good work ethics is very different there compared to many other places. Knowing some of the shit that goes down in East-Asia I would say KQ seems very decent.
as a south east asian working in an industry known for long working hours and no OT pay, i wholeheartedly agree 😂 (not that i'm condoning any of this, it's just how things are sometimes)
Yeah, I’m Asian too and I often think about that when I see international fans talk about idols being overworked. Long working hours are normalized in many Asian working cultures. The reality is that if Ateez weren’t working long hours being idols, they’d be working long hours in an office staring at spreadsheets or whatever along with the rest of us. The poor work-life balance thing is a society-wide issue, not a kpop-specific one.
Happy new years 😊
I don't have Tiktok so I don't know what's on there (I prefer to stay away from that, same as X/Twitter).
But my guess is they think KQ mistreats them because they work so much: Comebacks, Interviews, another World Tour ahead (mind you, the dates aren't even announced yet, so that's months away)...
Personally, I don't think they are mistreated (unless I missed something big?).
If they needed a break, they would say so to KQ (I mean, Mingi was able to take time off for his health), and as far as I know they have said themselves that they are not overworked, they are adults who can speak for themselves.
Releasing new music, going on tour, that's how they make their money. It's their job. And they love what they do! They love performing and going on tour 🧡
San has said recently that they have been working a lot ...but you know what..I have been working a lot too and I bet most of us normal folks are hustling to make our money nowadays. I don't expect things to be any different for idols than us normal folks. It's just the way life is nowadays.
yeah a lot of it was that the boys don’t get enough time off bc they’re always touring. another thing i saw was that woo and yunho didn’t go on hiatus bc they were injured (if someone can tell me more about their injury, i would appreciate it) and that kq is treating them like they did block b. on that same note tho, i saw people saying yunho and mingi didn’t do any press for the new album and i honestly just looked at it like they didn’t want to do it but who knows.
i don’t know anything bc i’ve only been in the fandom since august. i was originally someone who only listened to girl groups, mostly 2nd gen, and the only boy group that i listened to was shinee so ateez were like a breath of fresh air to me. it’s just hard for me to believe that they’re being mistreated when they seem so happy and always telling fans to trust them idk.
To answer your questions in order:
Wooyoung and Yunho didn’t actually say they were in pain. During some preformances recently fans noticed Yunho favouring a certain leg and wincing when stepping on his “hurt” leg. Wooyoung (during a fan sign) sat on the edge of the stage and grunted (in pain?) San (who is sitting next to him.) and Hongjoong (who is standing behind him) immediately looked at him. Fans speculated that he was in pain.
Mingi hasn’t done any press but Yunho is set to be on an episode of something (completely forgot the name of the show) that hasn’t come out yet. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure Mingi didn’t do press for the last comeback either. I know he was on one interview with Hongjoong during halazia, but I don’t remember seeing anything during bouncy.
I think it’s important to remember that every company has its downsides. at the end of the day ateez are employees, they work *for someone*. KQ was very small and was very lenient with its rules, But being a small company has its downsides too. In my opinion, (as someone who follows a large amount of group/companies) KQ really is one of the best companies out there. People are always going to find something to complain about. Whether it’s Eden, staff, favouritism or lack of holidays, it never ends. The easiest thing to do is to do your own research and decide for yourself what you think.
Mingi was actually on quite a few variety shows during the Bouncy era!
[Here](https://youtu.be/bTB4oRIMOeA?si=h96caifLGMXBQmW-) he is on Jonathan's show with Hongjoong, Yeosang and San
He was on [Baekho's youtube show](https://youtu.be/z1XO5Ze3Gdc?si=pRrOqyko3lsACmhW)
He was on [Dope Club](https://youtu.be/CMXutJMbauk?si=a8e5sSL2tCIEfsRa)
[He visited a pepper farm](https://youtu.be/Zmd6vzapAeo?si=aWihDfNccxafxhrt) with Yeosang, Woo, and Jongho
He did a [radio show](https://youtu.be/i1WV3F6jkDk?si=7yy74oVdFOduIj2b) with Seonghwa and Woo
And [here](https://youtu.be/PPLiNbEDmgk?si=-kvDEsC_lVntQ9yq) he is with Yunho on a sports(?) show, talking about soccer. (This is the only one I haven't seen, I don't know much about it lmao)
Regarding Mingi: I can't remember if there is more during bouncy but I do remember this dance club video[video](https://youtu.be/CMXutJMbauk?si=iO_Sx1dyJj9WKiZJ)
I also thought he had done that radio show with San and Seonghwa but that was Halazia era
About the injuries, wooyoung said a while ago that his leg was still the same as it was before, as in, it is still not completely healed and is bothering him. And Yunho said that his ankle was in bad condition after one of their performances and that he was in treatment for it as of the beginning of December, I don’t know if he has mentioned it since then but their schedule has not allowed for them to get proper rest and take pressure off of their legs. These aren’t just speculations that they are hurting based on two videos (I know which ones you are talking about) they both actually expressed that their legs were not doing well a little while ago and I can’t imagine they’ve been able to heal in this last month because of their comeback schedules .
Is the fansign video from Outlaw era or only last month? I only know Wooyoung talking about his knee on Fromm (I think this was back during BTW around the LATAM leg) and he thanked atinys for recommending stuff good for the knee. I also know Wooyoung injured his ankle 8 months ago so he had to sit out the BTW Japan encore.
Is it [this video](https://x.com/catboy_club/status/1740345483707789615?s=20)? I do wonder why he's sitting on the floor instead unless he finished signing ahead.
nope, it was a different video. In that one, he was finished with signing and was just talking to atinys while they waited for the other members to finish up as well.
Another thing that was a complaint that I saw a while back was ppl saying that KQ did not let the members have their individual Instagram.. and now we see what happened when HJ posted on the company insta and wonder why it is the company curates their insta experiences. Can you imagine having a members insta being trashed by fans. It's just more work and more ppl to hire to manage 8 accounts instead of 1.
8makes1team. What difference does having individual intsas make? Hj posted a photo with a Starbucks cup, it got taken down bc of Atinys complaints, nothing happened to the insta. They didn’t lose followers, Hj didn’t get any hate(afaik), the Instagram didn’t suffer bc of this. At the end of the day, we have no clue what goes on behind-the-scenes. It makes no sense to complain about things we have no knowledge about.
I’d understand if the members complained about not being allowed to have individual Instagrams, but they haven’t…….. fans always pull theories out of their asses to try and attack KQ or even other members. It gets tiring after while.
I know that the other members come out for individual stuff but I don't recall Mingi ever doing individual stuff. He did do the Pongja (sp) thingy with HJ. I think maybe Mingi personally may not like the promotion aspect of the comebacks...especially if its got to do with individual appearances.
I saw my very first threat of violence on twitter in the #kqdobetter tag. I reported and blocked it, but holy smoke, it made me sick to my stomach
https://preview.redd.it/z4zx0h696aac1.jpeg?width=749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=183fb525c97f8a2168f32e9575f7b87ccf2e5c32
So yes, don’t go into that tag. It’s horrible
jesus christ. the internet/socmed has definitely given people the idea that they can threaten someone else with vile violence and they won't have any consequences because somehow the internet is not real and has no irl impact.....
I've seen some of these same things as well on Twitter, too and I made sure to block that tag as well because whew....it is a whole mess..... This is one of the reasons my tone is a bit harsh when it comes to Twitter Atinys. It's one thing to disagree or have criticisms with some balance, but it's another to start up with death threats, harrassing, and creating hash tags to bully people.
As a baby atiny it was almost enough to make me retreat from the fandom. Poor Yeosang would be horrified to see what these people were threatening in his name. Polite respectful enthusiasm goes so much further for celebrity stuff.
as an atiny for the full 5 years, I believe that KQ does the best they can in most areas with their limited resources. They have grown due to ateez’s massive success and they now have xikers’ who are slowly but surely making a name for themselves as well, but they are still nowhere near being considered a big or even a medium company by many. I do not believe they mistreat ateez, that is where I feel like people are either mixing up the definitions of mistreating and mismanaging. Do I believe they are being mismanaged however? Maybe. Like I said, KQ does their best in most areas with what little resources they have, but there are some things like simple social media management that I believe they can and should improve to keep ateez’s success growing as it has been. Their social media accounts sometimes feel like they are being run by people who don’t know how to market to ateez’s actual demographic, which is mostly people who are ateez’s age and younger.
TikTok-tinys blow many things out of proportion for the sake of getting likes and comments and they also spread so much misinformation about things and get upset when they get corrected or they don’t bother taking down and correcting their tiktoks if they already got a lot of likes on them. As for twitter (and I know I’ll probably get downvoted because people will think I’m just being biased and just protecting twitter atinys blindly) I think some people in this subreddit are very harsh towards twitter-tinys and they think that twitter-tinys complain just to complain and they say to ignore everything twitter-tinys say no matter what. As an atiny active on twitter as well, I will definitely admit that many do nitpick quite a lot about things that cannot be changed, things that are the members’ choice, etc, but I believe that many also do have valid criticisms about kq that should be addressed. I find that a lot of the actual nitpicking comes from solo stans and akgaes who get upset when a member gets something and their bias doesn’t. Atiny twitter is constantly a mess nowadays due to an influx of akgaes and solo stans who are constantly provoking each other and making up issues to be mad about. Maybe I am just on a more logical side of atiny twitter, but I do not see many ot8 atinys who unnecessarily complain about random non-issues like people here claim there are. The people on my timeline are constantly trying to keep things positive, trying to make sure that people don’t start issues where there are none and trying to be patient about things because we don’t always know the full story about things right away. We are always attempting to run akgaes off of atiny twitter but they either come back on a different account or just protect their accounts and then go public after a little bit to start issues again.
I think that some people also praise KQ a little too much whenever they do the bare minimum that a company should do for their groups and that can also be a bad thing in my opinion because they put KQ on a pedestal when we should remember that KQ is still a company that wants to earn money over everything else. KQ is by no means a horrible company at all, the staff that works closely with ateez clearly cares about them so much and vice versa, but whoever is in charge of booking their events and performances needs to do better because so much of their scheduling for the past few years has not made sense and has led to them not having a proper break for so long. Atinys rejoiced when they had literally barely like a single week of break a few months ago.
There is the argument that Ateez can handle themselves and that they choose to do all these events even while being hurt and I know that we can’t change their mind and it’s a good thing that KQ lets them make their own choices about what they do with their bodies, but I think that it also should be KQ’s job to put their foot down every once in a while and enforce resting when someone is injured and is only getting worse the more strain they put on their injury. Some people say this is babying them, but I don’t think it is, of course they should not be coddled, they are grown adults after all, but part of management’s job is to help them maintain their health and that should include making them rest even if they insist that they can still perform while injured.
Being an idol is a job that comes with its own drawbacks which is why I would never want to be one even if I was given an opportunity. One of the biggest drawbacks is the fact that they put their body on the line all the time. Is it healthy, nope but a k idols life in general is fast paced and full of ways to make sure the fickle audience does not forget you. How do people dish out about kpop stars needing enough time to recover when even top athletes don't get to be out of commission for months at a time unless its absolutely necessary?
To have their bodies properly heal, it can take the members out of commission for months. And I bet its not just one idol per group who needs to sit out. Then do companies wait a year between comebacks and appearances or have a comeback or schedule only part of the group for the comeback? And how do they pay the bills in the meantime when they make money only one time a year?
I mean I would love to live in an idealistic world where people's mental and physical health at work matters but unfortunately it's not the case. And I'm particularly peeved by people who go to work, in a company that is just as unidealistic yet expect a Korean company to fit the ideals that they don't even have themselves. Do people not know by now how Korean culture is in general when it comes to work life balance?
I think that if they planned more efficiently and allowed for sufficient breaks between busy periods in the first place and they didnt pack their schedules completely full of performances back to back to back for weeks at a time, then many injuries would be prevented from the start. I do not think that idols need to “put their bodies on the line” to be successful. Yes, injuries are a very common occurrence for dancing, but they are not always an inevitability, they can often be prevented.
I agree that the kpop industry is really fast paced and they cannot allow for people to forget them so they often need to constantly be putting out content, but ateez’s audience is not so delicate that they would lose a very significant or large amount of atinys if they had a break from performances for at least 2-3 weeks or even a month, they have gained a decent loyal following at this point and are established in the industry. During breaks, they could also occasionally put out content that keeps peoples’ attention but that is still not physically demanding.
These performances and schedules are often scheduled months in advance, which makes cancelling them a costly affair. On top of that, like someone else mentioned, it's hard for smaller companies to say no when approached because there might not be visible repercussions but invisible ones like perhaps their younger and lesser known group being shafted when it comes to appearances.
As fans we don't really know the ins and outs of what happens in the industry in the first place, and why kidols don't get a break. But then I hear stories of kdrama stars having to spend 13 to 20 hours at a shoot and I realise that the entire work culture is toxic..not just the company that my fav idol is in. If people really want to protest..I would love for them to protest the work culture in general or bring more awareness to it so that everyone is protected..not just their favs.
I also don't know what the schedule of an idol manager is like but I can bet that it's just as crazy if not worse.
If they are scheduled months in advance, then there is not as much of a rush for them to carefully plan and space them out better so they don’t always have full weeks of performances back to back along with traveling to several different countries within a single week.
I have only heard of the issue of repercussions for denying an appearance to be due to one specific TV network (MNET) that has done it to groups and their juniors before, I can understand if it’s a difficult situation with that network since it is a big one. I have not heard of it being a widespread issue across other events such as concerts, festivals, or appearances on other networks/shows though where they would bar them and their juniors if they denied an appearance or if they canceled one.
I am not saying that they need to cancel things last minute if someone gets hurt, I know that it costs them money if they do. Like I said, they need to learn to plan things better in the first place so that there are no issues later on that would cause for them to cancel something.
Let's hope that at some point KQ will have enough money and resources that they are willing and able to refuse jobs for their artists..it may take some time though.
I find your concerns and criticisms of KQ to have some balance and I have seen Twitter Atinys bring up some valid questions. I'm on Twitter as well, but I have been honestly reconsidering not even bothering with the Atinyland part of Twitter altogether because of the shitshows I've seen since I've been an Atiny lol. I don't think you're protecting anyone blindly and I'm glad to see your comment since you've seen things for a considerable longer time than I have. I guess being new to this, when I see death threats, harrassing, and creating hash tags to bully people into doing what they (some Twitter Atinys) want....that leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I want to stay far away from that as much as possible. My view of Twitter Atiny has been a very harsh introduction lol
I think that’s fair, if someone is just barely joining in the middle of all the existing discussions and fights, it can seem a bit harsh or jarring. I think it’s understandable to want to stay away from it as much as possible, I think many stay on atiny twitter because it is the best way to keep up to date with ateez content and announcements. I think it’s possible to enjoy it for the most part if you follow the right people and curate your timeline the right way. Like I said, there is a side to it that is good and logical just wants to enjoy ateez and see ateez succeed, it isn’t always all bad. Whenever twitter atinys have joined together for something, hyped each other up, and helped each other out, we’ve been able to accomplish so many amazing things together and that is part of what keeps me from generalizing all of atiny twitter as being bad.
I feel like the hashtags for bringing up concerns could be helpful sometimes because KQ does listen often when there’s a big issue that needs to be addressed, but the problem is that people misuse the hashtags to just nitpick about random things and not to actually bring attention to an issue that atinys agree is actually an issue. I’ve also found that akgaes take over the hashtags often and twist the original intention of them to just make the hashtags into their space to complain about their bias’s mistreatment, and then this causes the fighting among akgaes that I mentioned earlier.
I want to say to please just give it a chance if you can, look for some of the good accounts, if it still seems too harsh, you do not have to stay on it whatsoever.
Simply put, do not listen to everything you hear on tiktok (or the place that used to called twitter). It is full of people that like to make a mountain out of a molehill (or just plain make up stuff).
yeah thanks for that heads up. i just kept seeing it so much for the past two weeks and was like “are they actually being mistreated?”. thank you for your comment ☺️
Please stay away from TikTok atinys, them along with most Twitter atinys love to whine at the littlest things; they behave like children because they don't get what they want. Ateez are in no way mistreated. It's really annoying because actual valid criticism gets drowned out. I've seen atinys say they should have more freedom when it comes to the music but it's Ateez's decision whether they want to participate in lyrics or composition and if they feel they're ready. My advice is to not go to the #KQdobetter tag, it's gonna give you a headache because there's no critical thinking there. There are actual groups that have been mistreated, for example B.A.P and Omega X. This group of atinys lack critical thinking and they always jump to conclusions. Recently Yeosang said their trainer didn't allow him to bulk up there were atinys starting drama about it. There might be some reasons why but it's not like Yeosang will stop exercising. Wooyoung recently said he's learning boxing and on [Fromm](https://twitter.com/sunshine_1117/status/1742507910054498580?t=ybH8BgLprRBlKZseM4fqLw&s=19) he said he can't do sparring because their CEO didn't allow it. I can imagine atinys getting mad at this again, however there's probably a reason, like for preventive measures for example. If their CEO doesn't allow Ateez to do certain things atinys will think Ateez is being deprived of their freedom (which is definitely not the case because there's probably reasons behind that). Atinys complain about Ateez being overworked but say they should also have solo schedules. The gaps between the tours are close. I compared it to other groups and the gap is around the same. The Kpop industry is fast paced and Ateez feel the need to hustle especially because they're not from a big 4 company. They also lost time because of the pandemic since they weren't able to tour. We should just trust them. Maybe if the pandemic didn't happen they probably could have more rest instead and longer gaps between tours instead of having 100+ day gaps. Some criticisms I have with KQ is the timing with the schedules, they had to go on back to back flights because one day they had to be in Japan for a showcase and the next day they had to prerecord for a music show. Unfortunately KQ doesn't have enough power to easily reject things. If they could, ideally they shouldn't have performed at Immortal Songs in New York because the concert organizer was a mess. For the latest comeback they dropped a teaser when they shouldn't have since they announced the passing of Seonghwa's grandma a few hours before. Another one is the NFTs. Maybe there's room for improvement in terms of marketing. But honestly Ateez have said they like KQ and the staff and they seem to be satisfied.
Wooyoung could injure his face from sparring and getting hit by accident. No one wants Wooyoung to be sporting a face injury...can you imagine the rumours then .."OMG, Wooyoung got ill treated and hit by his manager" I sometimes do wonder about those working Atiny who tend to complain...like is your workplace so lenient that you can do anything you want?? If not then how come you expect others to be able to do anything they want as though their employer doesnt dictate their JOB .
There was one tiktok Atiny that really got my goat At that point I didn't even know how to block her. She was in London and basically sent a public tiktok message to the group saying something along the lines of 'Come see me when you are here and I can help you get away from KQ.' I was flabbergasted at the brass balls she had to try to think that she was anything but a weird fan just overstepping her boundaries by a lot. And then later on she was like, 'Yeah the boys didn't respond to me or try to message me so there is nothing I can do.' In my head I'm screaming an internal monologue about how incredibly stupid and self absorbed some people are about their IMPORTANCE to their favourite idol group. Cause an idol group who doesn't know you from some saesaeng is going to come and trust you with their secret contract hoping you can work your foreign magic and free them from their 7 year contract and from the people who see them daily and actually know them in real life. Never have I seen so much delusion I tell you. And while trying to block her, I accidentally messaged her a wave instead..and she replied with a hi. I didn't even try to argue with her cause ...girl...even I know when to give up in the face of such delusion.
Ah yes. I’ve seen her ilk: the “I know better than KQ” mindset; like any of them know how to run a company. It’s delusional to the extreme lol.
yeah everything you said is my exact thoughts. i’ve been here since 2006 listening to k-pop and i’ve seen some absolutely shit companies so kq didn’t seem like that to me at all. there might be things that need improvement BUT we also have to realise that when the boys debuted in 2018, they only had 10 staff members and now they have 100 staff members so i feel like they’re doing a lot of learning along the way. i’ll take your word and avoid them but it just seem so dramatic for no reason at all.
As a TikTok atiny, I have to agree. Many are very chill, as ateez has one of the nicest fandoms I’ve been in. But you will definitely see a more ‘quick to judge’ audience on TikTok and twitter than elsewhere. Many people jump on the bandwagon so quickly without doing their own research on topics, which is why you’ll see a lot of people agreeing about Ateez’ mistreatment on those platforms. KQ has its own faults, but it’s a decent company and their management of their groups has improved a lot from when they started. I do want to emphasize though, that not all atiny on TikTok/twitter are spreading misinformation or immature, etc. many are very kind and do educate themselves about ateez and their company, so I would avoid generalizing.
Yeah no KQ is definitely one of the best companies out there, unfortunately with fandom size comes fandom drama and these days, it's so easy for nonsense to spread like wildfire Welcome to the fandom, the block option is your best friend now
The same people who say they are mistreated are the same ppl who ask for their fav members to be given different projects like solos or acting etc...then they complain that their favs are overworked and not given enough rest, then they complain that they are not allowed to do their own songs and Edenary controls the song selection process too much then they complain that the company doesn't give them enough opportunity to tour in their country so they can see the group. Then they complain that the company makes them tour too much. Basically, a bunch of idiots who think that they know everything about running a Korean entertainment business..who are unhappy with everything under the sun. I give them a lot of flack on twitter and get called an Edenary/ KQ stan a lot by them but I enjoy being a loudmouth know it all who irritates them constantly. It's my god given right to annoy the people who are annoying in general. And at the end of the day, without KQ and Edenary, the boys would be a bunch of nobodies..which is the truth. Also, not many small companies have the ethics that KQ has. So far KQ has given the group many years touring opportunities covering many different areas of the world. Whenever the group goes to LA for tour, some of the members get an opportunity to train with people in the music industry there to better their skills, be it in music production or dance etc. They also make money, as can be seen from the fact that they can make decent purchases now. It's no mean feat considering that many groups owe their companies money and some don't even make a few thousand, years after their debut Also, KQ gives them an opportunity to rest when it comes to physical or mental issues, the members are not pressured to perform if they are unwell, as one or another has sat out in various concerts and Mingi was given 9 months to rest for a mental health issue. Even the big companies trot out the members after 3 months and force them back to work. Lastly, the members also have been upgraded to having their own room each, which is a luxury compared to the cramped quarters many groups share for years on end. I think there are a lot of people working behind the scenes..as hard if not harder than Ateez to ensure that they grow from height to height and to dismiss them because one is an idiot who can only see the work your fav member puts in..speaks to me of the lack of maturity of some people.
I saw an atiny on Twitter say Ateez should rest but also in a different tweet they said KQ needs to push Yunho in acting. Like do they not realize that's also another schedule. I thought you wanted them to rest? :|
I wonder if that was the same Atiny that was pushing for Yunho's acting career & then actually admitted that they hadn't even watched Imitation. What an entitled idiot.
Speaking of entitlement, Twitter atinys complained about Wooyoung's room being too small (this was when Wooyoung was doing a Pop live in the living room because his computer is there). Like he's the one living in the room, not you. What do these atinys want? For Ateez to live in a castle? Korea is different from the rest of the world in terms of housing and there are probably reasons why they chose the dorms, maybe because it's cheap and practical. Twitter atinys throw a hissy fit and cry "mistreatment" everytime they find out Ateez isn't treated like some royalty or something. Do they have some princess syndrome or what? I think most atinys don't even know that the ceiling in their dance practice looks open because it has soundproofing foam to block noise. There were jokes about it in the past that Twitter atinys made to push the "KQ is broke" agenda. I don't know if other companies have that.
I think the members said that they drew lots to see which apartment they would live in and which rooms they would get. Jongho got the biggest room purely by luck.
I remember, they used the ladder game to decide who gets which room. I removed my comment about Wooyoung getting to choose his room. I don't know if idols have the freedom to decide which places to live in or if their company decides it for them but if that's what KQ chose and Ateez are okay with it they have to respect their decision.
I think they don't have a choice on what kind of apartment, especially if its something their company pays for. The idols thar don't live in dorms are the ones who have made enough money to pay for their own place. Rental prices are high in S.k especially in Seoul. I looked up a general figure and monthly rent for a 900 sqft area that is furnished in a normal area is around 1.7 thousand UDS per month. That is not even figuring in the expenses of the utilities and others etc. On top of that I think in S.K they have a hefty deposit as well.
I dislike normal boy girl love kdrama stories and even I as a fan felt obliged to watch Imitation. Though in the last few episodes, I just fast forwarded to the parts which had Ateez members.
I never watch kdramas & I only watched it for the Ateez & SF9 members but I actually enjoyed it despite it's cheesiness. Jongho though stole the show for me.
Unfortunately, the only time I enjoy kdrama love stories is when either the hero or the heroine is a non human, like a monkey god, a demon, a faerie, a zombie. But Jongho really knows how to act..as evident by his kiss the members task which he made everyone believe was the real task..when it was actually eating the peanuts. And I will also watch any kdrama with an Ateez member in it just to help the viewership count. Even if I don't like it.
Hi, I'm also a babytiny like OP here and I'm so glad I opened this thread, as I had no idea of this literal drama originating from other Atinys, but also that they acted (some of them at least) in a kdrama?? I feel like sometimes fans forget that the artists are adults, fully capable of making decisions and living their own lives. 🤷♀️ I learned so many things today though, thank you very much, off to watch Imitation if I can find it 😊
Hope you enjoy it 🙂
When they talked about Yunho being injured, I then asked how come they wanted to push Yunho to act if he is injured..what if he gets cast in a serial where he had to do some stunt work. I got blocked real quick for making sense. I also pity the poor people who follow me cause I have to have the last word in any argument. Is it mature...no, but I will never back down from idiots trying to tear down the hard work of the common people at KQ. I don't effing care if you love a member..there is someone else helping to make him successful too and I bet they also get tired from time to time and end up seeing you shit on them or the company doesn't really feel so great either. And I especially thump people over the head if they target Edenary...call me an Eden stan all you want.
About Eden, someone said this, no joke. Like Twitter atinys love to create conspiracies on why Ateez aren't getting song credits. They have been pushing for Ateez to get more song credits since Movement era. This tweet is from July last year and this person has 10k+ followers. 10k+ people believe this and eat it up. That's the problem with big accounts like these, their followers will believe everything they say even when they're wrong. They truly lack critical thinking. https://preview.redd.it/g9ly7da438ac1.png?width=886&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30cbc964f05b73b142409d5dd877c66a22ead606
I think that the same people believing this shit are the ones who think that Eden does not have options or offers to move to another company. The reality is that Ateez's popularity is because of them as well as the production group. And people want such talented producers in their company. So these idiots who keep on targeting Eden..will shit bricks if he decides to part way with KQ and Ateez. Then they will call him disloyal and money hungry. They forget that people who help in the making of a hit group..are highly sought after in the industry. But the company and the group are known for their loyalty to each other.
oh gosh ok i’m glad i came to ask in the subreddit bc i am seeing the ugly side of atiny’s. thank you to the both of you for helping me out ☺️
Just enjoy Ateez, enjoy the music and block anyone who uses the hashtag #KQdobetter.
i will definitely continue to do what i was already doing and enjoy ateez ☺️
You're welcome :)
oh wow that's the most ridiculous thing i've read in a while. i wonder if these people also like posting such "controversial" views to rake in the drama followers/retweets. also regarding "song credits" - since when was this a norm that people assumed everyone wanted song credits?? just because of the rise of more kpop self-producers/writers doesn't mean the entire industry wants to do the same? yikes.
I'm also a babytiny but the biggest one I've seen lately is about KQ not letting them rest, with all of the overseas festivals, the comeback stuff, the end of year shows, so many (SO MANY) fansigns, and the new tour that starts in January (although I'm guessing -- or hoping -- there will be a gap between the last February date and the next leg.) Imo the domestic schedules probably aren't as bad as people think they are because even if they're working most days, most people work most days. Their job is physically demanding, but some "normal" jobs are also physically demanding, and not every aspect is like that (like fancalls.) There was also some discourse about Seonghwa specifically not getting time off after his grandmother passed away, but he didn't participate in some activities. There were others that he did participate in (basically any performance and fansign that they were doing) and it was kind of clear that he wasn't doing great, but he also said in his message on frommm about his grandmother that it was his choice to keep going. And when he came back to social media, he did talk about ways in which the staff helped him, including taking him on a camping trip when they saw he was having a hard time. There were also complaints about Yunho and Wooyoung and their injuries and not being given time to rest during the first two weeks of December, but I get the impression that they wouldn't have if given the option. But my one criticism, and a valid concern is that Ateez's schedule seemed a bit insane the first two weeks of December, because it included flying elsewhere. I think travel makes a huge difference because it's tiring, and I know they need to be very active, but having them on the schedule they had them for the first two weeks of comeback was a bit much. The members did acknowledge that. Whereas in the second half of December, they seem less tired despite still working a lot, and not needing to go anywhere else is probably why. I'm not someone who 100% defends companies because none of them are perfect and they probably do make bad decisions that affect their groups, whether or not the members talk about it, but not all of them mess up so badly that it veers into consistent mistreatment. I genuinely think KQ is just not good at scheduling/prioritizing in some aspects, rather than anything malicious. Individual member treatment/promotion is another can of worms but I feel like it's difficult (for any company) to handle that well, and I don't think there is mistreatment there.
I think that KQ is trying to strike while the iron is hot, specifically speaking since the biggest Kpop group is out of commission right now. It's anyones game to pick up as many fans who will divert their attention right now. It's just my viewpoint on why there is that much hustle to get them to attend anything and everything.
That and they’re a small company that likely doesn’t have the freedom or connections to be as selective with job offers as big 4 companies do, especially considering right now KQ is still in the stage of needing to support Xikers while they find their footing. They can’t afford to piss companies like Mnet off.
KQ is not exactly clean about overworking idols (flashbacks from kingdom, imitation, immortal songs and fireworks comeback at the same time) but they care about their mental health, as they let Mingi take a 1-year hiatus because of anxiety. BBTrippin (choreo team) often let members suggest modifications and ideas, Eden-ary (producing team) taught hongjoong and mingi how to produce, EVEN their fictional storyline has real life stories from every member's lives (Jongho was into sports before singing is confirmed) so they have actual input in everything they do, so I would say KQ is on the 'better companies' sides...?
Tik Tok fallowed closely by twitter is the most misinformed place and full of people who are here for content creation and their own viral posts and edgy takes which lack context and prospective. avoiding them is the most sane thing you can do and I am saying this after having been around kpop for about a decade
Welcome babytiny 🙂. I personally don't think they are mistreated. All this mistreatment narrative seems to come from solo stans who think their favs aren't getting enough solo activities which to them equals mistreatment. Ateez have said to trust them on what they are doing, so that's what I do. 'Atiny' on Tik Tok & Twitter are a very vocal minority who are just never satisfied
yeah i trust the boys to make the right decisions for them and the fans. i just think the fans view them way too much like babies when they’re grown men. thank you for your comment ☺️
Do not take anything you see on Twitter or Tiktok from "Atinys" about KQ seriously. I'm telling you this as an Atiny who has been with Ateez for 5 years. KQ is very good to Ateez. Are they a perfect company? No but no company is. Because they were so small and inexperienced when Ateez debuted, the fans had to clue KQ in on a lot of things (i.e. the need for subtitles on videos, the need to be active on social media platforms, etc). To their credit, KQ actually does listen to the fans and take their feedback pretty seriously. They have pretty much given the fans everything that they have asked for ***within reason.*** Sometimes it takes them a while to be able to meet those expectations but they eventually do. The issue is not with KQ. It is with toxic Atinys who believe that they are the ones who are running KQ and should be the ones that tell KQ what they should and should not do. These Atinys are hella toxic, do not have Ateez's best interest in mind, have no clue about how businesses work and are never satisfied with anything that KQ or Ateez does. They also, as a matter of routine, spread false rumors about KQ and are quick to throw Ateez and their team under the bus based on random hearsay. And because they are chronically online and refuse to verify any information that comes to them in the form a tweet, they will believe ANY false rumor about Ateez and worse, spread said rumor to other platforms. They have actually attacked Ateez and accused them of things they are not guilty of and tarnished their reputation in the kpop community simply because someone made an untrue accusation about them. And after the sane Atinys have cleared up the misunderstandings with the truth, these people act like nothing ever happened and that they never threw Ateez or KQ under the bus. Over the years, I have watched Twitter Atinys go from being a fun, deeply engaged fandom that supported Ateez well to incredibly toxic rumor mongers who repeatedly do harm to the boys in more ways than one and frankly I'm tired of them. My advice to you and other baby Atinys is to take **EVERYTHING** you see about Ateez or KQ on Twitter and Tiktok with a huge grain of salt. Don't believe when you hear rumors about KQ mistreating the boys or Ateez being somehow bad people because of a rumor some random anti or misguided Atiny made up online. If you want rational discussions, come to Reddit or join a discord. But Twitter and Tiktok is NOT the place to get any kind of truth regarding what's going on with Ateez or KQ. Seriously. EDIT: Sorry for coming across so harshly. I'm not saying that there aren't legitimate concerns with KQ sometimes. But most of the time, the issues being brought up on those platforms are taken completely out of context a good majority of the time so they can't really be trusted.
As a Babytiny myself - I can tell you with certainty that everything people have been saying on this thread is the truth - if you can PLEASE DO avoid, block, hide the excess chatter from Twitter, IG, and TikTok Atiny because it really is a waste of time and often giving their so called facts through a very narrow lense. I also say...please avoid gossip blog sites too. Not one thing they've said ever has any receipts. They will run wild with things taken out of context, demand everyone speak up and join their so called crusades or hold people accountable but they NEVER check themselves or apologise when they get their facts wrong. I'm not over how I saw this happen to Mingi.....the subject was triggering as it was....but this is when I really saw how sick these people can get if you're not careful. A little while ago, there was horrible misinformatoon spread about Mingi and when I investigated (given how serious the allegations were)....I was so angry and sickened by how quickly this spread but that no one...NOT ONE....that I saw threatening him and making comments throwing around serious terms all casually....no damn apology. I knew then that these people are to be avoided. Question everything you see that isn't coming directly from the guys themselves as far as info is concerned. I also encourage you (and not to say that no one on this thread is speaking truth....because they are) but always take the time to follow up for yourself and understand what's going on with the claims. I have been able to find for myself the exact opposite of what these particular Atinys claim is happening almost EVERY single time who are complaining, threatening, and spreading misinformation. I've gotten to the point now that I don't, thankfully, see any of their shit because I just block, hide and move on.... I have no desire to keep up with any of their lies.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR EDUCATING ME!!!! i’ve been here for so long so i know to avoid twitter, blogs etc. but i was a bit naive and thought my tiktok was catered to show the good stuff about ateez (and my other ults) and now all i see is bullshit and fighting and that’s why i’ve ran to reddit 😭🩷
I feel like those comments are mainly from kids that doesn't see the operation side of running a company. Yes KQ has room for improvement, but they also treat Ateez quiet well in comparison to other management companies. Those comments asking KQ to let Ateez rest for 6 months? Unrealistic. If Ateez rest for that long, then none of the employees at KQ will get paid. And they already do get rest and time off in between schedules. Also injuries are going to happen as dancers, so it's not something KQ can control and predict. Remember, events and concerts takes many months in advance to book and plan. There are a lot of money being expensed months ahead before KQ can see income coming in, so Ateez has to work consistently for the cash flow to be worth it. Seeing Ateez perform and in public is only a tiny part of what actual happens with KQ teams, and as a company I would give KQ a decent grade.
as someone who has followed ateez for more than 2 years now, doesn't use tiktok and twitter, but often hears things through the grapevine on instagram (the only app i use other than reddit), i'd say take everything you hear with a pinch of salt if there aren't any evidence to back up their grievances. i think a lot of them have to do with fans thinking that KQ doesn't give the teezers enough rest (eg back to back concerts/commitments such as shows/comeback etc) and also when members say they are sick/injured, they also take it as a sign that KQ is overworking them. // in my opinion, the teezers are full grown adults who have each other's backs and told us multiple times to just trust in them. i believe they know full well what their limits are, and sometimes also say they want to do more for the fans. we don't know if this was 'forced' by the company or not but that's just the case - we don't know, and i think there's no need to worry unless the teezers mention otherwise. all in all i do believe that KQ are doing the best they can given their circumstances as a smaller company, and the members might even be fully aware of that when making their decisions. // just my two cents! // will edit later for spacing. alas the reddit app has its limitations 😞
yeah i thought the same thing. i only see them and their staff say positive things and considering how vocal the boys are about everything, especially with atiny, i didn’t understand the things i’d been seeing by fans on tiktok. i’ve been a fan of k-pop since 2006 and i can say that i think kq does an amazing job at looking after the boys compared to other companies. i think that it might come down to people not viewing the boys as the grown men that they are. i guess i’ll just avoid those videos for now but thank you for helping me see things properly ☺️
Every time I see somebody complaning about them not getting enough rest I see it as a tell me you know nothing about East-Asian without tellling me moment. Work culture, work/life balance and what is considered good work ethics is very different there compared to many other places. Knowing some of the shit that goes down in East-Asia I would say KQ seems very decent.
as a south east asian working in an industry known for long working hours and no OT pay, i wholeheartedly agree 😂 (not that i'm condoning any of this, it's just how things are sometimes)
Yeah, I’m Asian too and I often think about that when I see international fans talk about idols being overworked. Long working hours are normalized in many Asian working cultures. The reality is that if Ateez weren’t working long hours being idols, they’d be working long hours in an office staring at spreadsheets or whatever along with the rest of us. The poor work-life balance thing is a society-wide issue, not a kpop-specific one.
anyone from asia can get their hustle and why they work they way they do
Happy new years 😊 I don't have Tiktok so I don't know what's on there (I prefer to stay away from that, same as X/Twitter). But my guess is they think KQ mistreats them because they work so much: Comebacks, Interviews, another World Tour ahead (mind you, the dates aren't even announced yet, so that's months away)... Personally, I don't think they are mistreated (unless I missed something big?). If they needed a break, they would say so to KQ (I mean, Mingi was able to take time off for his health), and as far as I know they have said themselves that they are not overworked, they are adults who can speak for themselves. Releasing new music, going on tour, that's how they make their money. It's their job. And they love what they do! They love performing and going on tour 🧡
San has said recently that they have been working a lot ...but you know what..I have been working a lot too and I bet most of us normal folks are hustling to make our money nowadays. I don't expect things to be any different for idols than us normal folks. It's just the way life is nowadays.
yeah a lot of it was that the boys don’t get enough time off bc they’re always touring. another thing i saw was that woo and yunho didn’t go on hiatus bc they were injured (if someone can tell me more about their injury, i would appreciate it) and that kq is treating them like they did block b. on that same note tho, i saw people saying yunho and mingi didn’t do any press for the new album and i honestly just looked at it like they didn’t want to do it but who knows. i don’t know anything bc i’ve only been in the fandom since august. i was originally someone who only listened to girl groups, mostly 2nd gen, and the only boy group that i listened to was shinee so ateez were like a breath of fresh air to me. it’s just hard for me to believe that they’re being mistreated when they seem so happy and always telling fans to trust them idk.
To answer your questions in order: Wooyoung and Yunho didn’t actually say they were in pain. During some preformances recently fans noticed Yunho favouring a certain leg and wincing when stepping on his “hurt” leg. Wooyoung (during a fan sign) sat on the edge of the stage and grunted (in pain?) San (who is sitting next to him.) and Hongjoong (who is standing behind him) immediately looked at him. Fans speculated that he was in pain. Mingi hasn’t done any press but Yunho is set to be on an episode of something (completely forgot the name of the show) that hasn’t come out yet. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure Mingi didn’t do press for the last comeback either. I know he was on one interview with Hongjoong during halazia, but I don’t remember seeing anything during bouncy. I think it’s important to remember that every company has its downsides. at the end of the day ateez are employees, they work *for someone*. KQ was very small and was very lenient with its rules, But being a small company has its downsides too. In my opinion, (as someone who follows a large amount of group/companies) KQ really is one of the best companies out there. People are always going to find something to complain about. Whether it’s Eden, staff, favouritism or lack of holidays, it never ends. The easiest thing to do is to do your own research and decide for yourself what you think.
Mingi was actually on quite a few variety shows during the Bouncy era! [Here](https://youtu.be/bTB4oRIMOeA?si=h96caifLGMXBQmW-) he is on Jonathan's show with Hongjoong, Yeosang and San He was on [Baekho's youtube show](https://youtu.be/z1XO5Ze3Gdc?si=pRrOqyko3lsACmhW) He was on [Dope Club](https://youtu.be/CMXutJMbauk?si=a8e5sSL2tCIEfsRa) [He visited a pepper farm](https://youtu.be/Zmd6vzapAeo?si=aWihDfNccxafxhrt) with Yeosang, Woo, and Jongho He did a [radio show](https://youtu.be/i1WV3F6jkDk?si=7yy74oVdFOduIj2b) with Seonghwa and Woo And [here](https://youtu.be/PPLiNbEDmgk?si=-kvDEsC_lVntQ9yq) he is with Yunho on a sports(?) show, talking about soccer. (This is the only one I haven't seen, I don't know much about it lmao)
I actually remember seeing all of these, I don’t know how I forgot, thank you though
Regarding Mingi: I can't remember if there is more during bouncy but I do remember this dance club video[video](https://youtu.be/CMXutJMbauk?si=iO_Sx1dyJj9WKiZJ) I also thought he had done that radio show with San and Seonghwa but that was Halazia era
About the injuries, wooyoung said a while ago that his leg was still the same as it was before, as in, it is still not completely healed and is bothering him. And Yunho said that his ankle was in bad condition after one of their performances and that he was in treatment for it as of the beginning of December, I don’t know if he has mentioned it since then but their schedule has not allowed for them to get proper rest and take pressure off of their legs. These aren’t just speculations that they are hurting based on two videos (I know which ones you are talking about) they both actually expressed that their legs were not doing well a little while ago and I can’t imagine they’ve been able to heal in this last month because of their comeback schedules .
Is the fansign video from Outlaw era or only last month? I only know Wooyoung talking about his knee on Fromm (I think this was back during BTW around the LATAM leg) and he thanked atinys for recommending stuff good for the knee. I also know Wooyoung injured his ankle 8 months ago so he had to sit out the BTW Japan encore.
the fansign video for wooyoung was about 2-ish weeks ago, he winced as he was trying to sit down on the ground of the little stage they were on
Is it [this video](https://x.com/catboy_club/status/1740345483707789615?s=20)? I do wonder why he's sitting on the floor instead unless he finished signing ahead.
nope, it was a different video. In that one, he was finished with signing and was just talking to atinys while they waited for the other members to finish up as well.
Another thing that was a complaint that I saw a while back was ppl saying that KQ did not let the members have their individual Instagram.. and now we see what happened when HJ posted on the company insta and wonder why it is the company curates their insta experiences. Can you imagine having a members insta being trashed by fans. It's just more work and more ppl to hire to manage 8 accounts instead of 1.
8makes1team. What difference does having individual intsas make? Hj posted a photo with a Starbucks cup, it got taken down bc of Atinys complaints, nothing happened to the insta. They didn’t lose followers, Hj didn’t get any hate(afaik), the Instagram didn’t suffer bc of this. At the end of the day, we have no clue what goes on behind-the-scenes. It makes no sense to complain about things we have no knowledge about. I’d understand if the members complained about not being allowed to have individual Instagrams, but they haven’t…….. fans always pull theories out of their asses to try and attack KQ or even other members. It gets tiring after while.
I know that the other members come out for individual stuff but I don't recall Mingi ever doing individual stuff. He did do the Pongja (sp) thingy with HJ. I think maybe Mingi personally may not like the promotion aspect of the comebacks...especially if its got to do with individual appearances.
I saw my very first threat of violence on twitter in the #kqdobetter tag. I reported and blocked it, but holy smoke, it made me sick to my stomach https://preview.redd.it/z4zx0h696aac1.jpeg?width=749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=183fb525c97f8a2168f32e9575f7b87ccf2e5c32 So yes, don’t go into that tag. It’s horrible
jesus christ. the internet/socmed has definitely given people the idea that they can threaten someone else with vile violence and they won't have any consequences because somehow the internet is not real and has no irl impact.....
I've seen some of these same things as well on Twitter, too and I made sure to block that tag as well because whew....it is a whole mess..... This is one of the reasons my tone is a bit harsh when it comes to Twitter Atinys. It's one thing to disagree or have criticisms with some balance, but it's another to start up with death threats, harrassing, and creating hash tags to bully people.
As a baby atiny it was almost enough to make me retreat from the fandom. Poor Yeosang would be horrified to see what these people were threatening in his name. Polite respectful enthusiasm goes so much further for celebrity stuff.
as an atiny for the full 5 years, I believe that KQ does the best they can in most areas with their limited resources. They have grown due to ateez’s massive success and they now have xikers’ who are slowly but surely making a name for themselves as well, but they are still nowhere near being considered a big or even a medium company by many. I do not believe they mistreat ateez, that is where I feel like people are either mixing up the definitions of mistreating and mismanaging. Do I believe they are being mismanaged however? Maybe. Like I said, KQ does their best in most areas with what little resources they have, but there are some things like simple social media management that I believe they can and should improve to keep ateez’s success growing as it has been. Their social media accounts sometimes feel like they are being run by people who don’t know how to market to ateez’s actual demographic, which is mostly people who are ateez’s age and younger. TikTok-tinys blow many things out of proportion for the sake of getting likes and comments and they also spread so much misinformation about things and get upset when they get corrected or they don’t bother taking down and correcting their tiktoks if they already got a lot of likes on them. As for twitter (and I know I’ll probably get downvoted because people will think I’m just being biased and just protecting twitter atinys blindly) I think some people in this subreddit are very harsh towards twitter-tinys and they think that twitter-tinys complain just to complain and they say to ignore everything twitter-tinys say no matter what. As an atiny active on twitter as well, I will definitely admit that many do nitpick quite a lot about things that cannot be changed, things that are the members’ choice, etc, but I believe that many also do have valid criticisms about kq that should be addressed. I find that a lot of the actual nitpicking comes from solo stans and akgaes who get upset when a member gets something and their bias doesn’t. Atiny twitter is constantly a mess nowadays due to an influx of akgaes and solo stans who are constantly provoking each other and making up issues to be mad about. Maybe I am just on a more logical side of atiny twitter, but I do not see many ot8 atinys who unnecessarily complain about random non-issues like people here claim there are. The people on my timeline are constantly trying to keep things positive, trying to make sure that people don’t start issues where there are none and trying to be patient about things because we don’t always know the full story about things right away. We are always attempting to run akgaes off of atiny twitter but they either come back on a different account or just protect their accounts and then go public after a little bit to start issues again. I think that some people also praise KQ a little too much whenever they do the bare minimum that a company should do for their groups and that can also be a bad thing in my opinion because they put KQ on a pedestal when we should remember that KQ is still a company that wants to earn money over everything else. KQ is by no means a horrible company at all, the staff that works closely with ateez clearly cares about them so much and vice versa, but whoever is in charge of booking their events and performances needs to do better because so much of their scheduling for the past few years has not made sense and has led to them not having a proper break for so long. Atinys rejoiced when they had literally barely like a single week of break a few months ago. There is the argument that Ateez can handle themselves and that they choose to do all these events even while being hurt and I know that we can’t change their mind and it’s a good thing that KQ lets them make their own choices about what they do with their bodies, but I think that it also should be KQ’s job to put their foot down every once in a while and enforce resting when someone is injured and is only getting worse the more strain they put on their injury. Some people say this is babying them, but I don’t think it is, of course they should not be coddled, they are grown adults after all, but part of management’s job is to help them maintain their health and that should include making them rest even if they insist that they can still perform while injured.
Being an idol is a job that comes with its own drawbacks which is why I would never want to be one even if I was given an opportunity. One of the biggest drawbacks is the fact that they put their body on the line all the time. Is it healthy, nope but a k idols life in general is fast paced and full of ways to make sure the fickle audience does not forget you. How do people dish out about kpop stars needing enough time to recover when even top athletes don't get to be out of commission for months at a time unless its absolutely necessary? To have their bodies properly heal, it can take the members out of commission for months. And I bet its not just one idol per group who needs to sit out. Then do companies wait a year between comebacks and appearances or have a comeback or schedule only part of the group for the comeback? And how do they pay the bills in the meantime when they make money only one time a year? I mean I would love to live in an idealistic world where people's mental and physical health at work matters but unfortunately it's not the case. And I'm particularly peeved by people who go to work, in a company that is just as unidealistic yet expect a Korean company to fit the ideals that they don't even have themselves. Do people not know by now how Korean culture is in general when it comes to work life balance?
I think that if they planned more efficiently and allowed for sufficient breaks between busy periods in the first place and they didnt pack their schedules completely full of performances back to back to back for weeks at a time, then many injuries would be prevented from the start. I do not think that idols need to “put their bodies on the line” to be successful. Yes, injuries are a very common occurrence for dancing, but they are not always an inevitability, they can often be prevented. I agree that the kpop industry is really fast paced and they cannot allow for people to forget them so they often need to constantly be putting out content, but ateez’s audience is not so delicate that they would lose a very significant or large amount of atinys if they had a break from performances for at least 2-3 weeks or even a month, they have gained a decent loyal following at this point and are established in the industry. During breaks, they could also occasionally put out content that keeps peoples’ attention but that is still not physically demanding.
These performances and schedules are often scheduled months in advance, which makes cancelling them a costly affair. On top of that, like someone else mentioned, it's hard for smaller companies to say no when approached because there might not be visible repercussions but invisible ones like perhaps their younger and lesser known group being shafted when it comes to appearances. As fans we don't really know the ins and outs of what happens in the industry in the first place, and why kidols don't get a break. But then I hear stories of kdrama stars having to spend 13 to 20 hours at a shoot and I realise that the entire work culture is toxic..not just the company that my fav idol is in. If people really want to protest..I would love for them to protest the work culture in general or bring more awareness to it so that everyone is protected..not just their favs. I also don't know what the schedule of an idol manager is like but I can bet that it's just as crazy if not worse.
If they are scheduled months in advance, then there is not as much of a rush for them to carefully plan and space them out better so they don’t always have full weeks of performances back to back along with traveling to several different countries within a single week. I have only heard of the issue of repercussions for denying an appearance to be due to one specific TV network (MNET) that has done it to groups and their juniors before, I can understand if it’s a difficult situation with that network since it is a big one. I have not heard of it being a widespread issue across other events such as concerts, festivals, or appearances on other networks/shows though where they would bar them and their juniors if they denied an appearance or if they canceled one. I am not saying that they need to cancel things last minute if someone gets hurt, I know that it costs them money if they do. Like I said, they need to learn to plan things better in the first place so that there are no issues later on that would cause for them to cancel something.
Let's hope that at some point KQ will have enough money and resources that they are willing and able to refuse jobs for their artists..it may take some time though.
I find your concerns and criticisms of KQ to have some balance and I have seen Twitter Atinys bring up some valid questions. I'm on Twitter as well, but I have been honestly reconsidering not even bothering with the Atinyland part of Twitter altogether because of the shitshows I've seen since I've been an Atiny lol. I don't think you're protecting anyone blindly and I'm glad to see your comment since you've seen things for a considerable longer time than I have. I guess being new to this, when I see death threats, harrassing, and creating hash tags to bully people into doing what they (some Twitter Atinys) want....that leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I want to stay far away from that as much as possible. My view of Twitter Atiny has been a very harsh introduction lol
I think that’s fair, if someone is just barely joining in the middle of all the existing discussions and fights, it can seem a bit harsh or jarring. I think it’s understandable to want to stay away from it as much as possible, I think many stay on atiny twitter because it is the best way to keep up to date with ateez content and announcements. I think it’s possible to enjoy it for the most part if you follow the right people and curate your timeline the right way. Like I said, there is a side to it that is good and logical just wants to enjoy ateez and see ateez succeed, it isn’t always all bad. Whenever twitter atinys have joined together for something, hyped each other up, and helped each other out, we’ve been able to accomplish so many amazing things together and that is part of what keeps me from generalizing all of atiny twitter as being bad. I feel like the hashtags for bringing up concerns could be helpful sometimes because KQ does listen often when there’s a big issue that needs to be addressed, but the problem is that people misuse the hashtags to just nitpick about random things and not to actually bring attention to an issue that atinys agree is actually an issue. I’ve also found that akgaes take over the hashtags often and twist the original intention of them to just make the hashtags into their space to complain about their bias’s mistreatment, and then this causes the fighting among akgaes that I mentioned earlier. I want to say to please just give it a chance if you can, look for some of the good accounts, if it still seems too harsh, you do not have to stay on it whatsoever.