Miss A reveals their hardships as idols to Sports Chosun

Miss A recently came back with their latest track, “I Don’t Need A Man“, a song that empowers independent females. Although deemed as one of the more successful girl groups of the KPOP industry, and having set their image as confident women, they also have their shares of hardships; which often surround how the public perceives them.

Min has been on the receiving end of “screen captures” lately. In those screenshots, people often point out that she is chubby or that she is making an unpleasant facial expression. Min reveals, “I was a little chubby at the time, but screen captures were really something else. I thought, ‘when did I ever make faces like that?’ and felt sad and annoyed, since that was really my worst face.”

Suzy has been titled “the nation’s first love” after her role in film Introduction to Architecture, but she doesn’t receive pure love either. Some just cannot understand that her role in the hit film is not her true personality. She shares, “It was an amazing and thankful title, but I am me. I’m a singer, and stand on the stage. Sometimes, when I put on a lot of makeup for the stage, many people tell me ‘the first love isn’t supposed to be like that, put on lighter makeup’. In truth, I’m a bit boyish and talk too much. It’s only my image in a film, but I feel pressured since that image is reflected on my true life.”

Jia reveals that when dealing with stress, she often calls her friends or her mother. However, being one of the fluent Chinese speaking members of miss A (the other being Fei), they get judged even speaking in their native language. “When I talk in Chinese with Fei, the people around us think we’re cursing,” she says.

Min and Suzy like to walk to relieve their stress. Suzy shared, “I had a bit of time during Chuseok, so for the first time, I went by myself to the Han River and walk for 3-4 hours. It really got rid of my stress.”

Jia believes that miss A’s debut track, “Bad Girl Good Girl“, is probably their most popular and successful hit up to date. They are under pressure each time they come back to exceed the success of the debut track, and that has been difficult.

Suzy wishes that with “I Don’t Need A Man”, miss A will be able to surpass the success garnered by their debut track. She says, “We did feel pressure about how to jump over “Bad Girl Good Girl” since it was so successful. They weren’t bad, but our other albums had a hard time living up to the success of our debut album. But I think we maintained our style while evolving. I hope that this time, we will be able to outshine “Bad Girl Good Girl”.

“I Don’t Need A Man” is a song discussing young females’ powerful roles in modern society. Suzy commented, “It’s definitely a problem we can all think about. When my mother ran a snack shop in the past, she liked what she did and was proud of it. I think it would be nice if more people can have that point of view. There’s no need to be upset or feel less about yourself just because you make less money, or if people don’t respect you.”

Finally, miss A also touched upon the topic of dating. They all exclaimed that they want to date, however, they will strive to keep it private, in order to protect the other person from the media and paparazzi.

These poor girls are so talented, yet they constantly have to deal with negative perceptions. However, these issues are also unavoidable when you’re an idol. What do you think of miss A’s hardships as successful idols?