Veteran K-Pop idol Rain recently talked about encountering impolite juniors with scathing remarks.
On August 22, KST, Rain’s YouTube show, Season B Season, hosted SHINee’s Taemin as a special guest. During the episode, Rain expressed his genuine appreciation for Taemin as a junior, praising him as an all-rounder.
Taemin, who himself is a senior K-Pop idol now, confessed that he still finds some aspects of his job difficult and often finds it hard to believe that people might think of him as a cool person. To this, Rain responded with his own perspective, saying that hearing his juniors refer to him as their childhood idol often made him feel burdened.
Honestly, I’m very grateful and happy. But when people come by to tell me, ‘Oh, I’ve been a huge fan since I was a little kid,’ that puts a bit of a burden on me.
— Rain
Though he wanted a more easy-going dynamic with his juniors, Rain also emphasized the importance of maintaining basic manners like greeting.
When I go to a broadcasting station, you know, people come to say hello. But I think that kind of thing is no longer necessary — coming all the way to my room and knocking and all. But for example, if someone passes by and doesn’t greet you, that’s actually rude and disrespectful.
— Rain
When Taemin asked if there really were people who were so rude as to not even greet a senior artist like Rain, he implied there were new artists who had treated him that way. He then added that such artists are bound to be lost in oblivion.
I just think to myself, ‘You’ll become irrelevant soon enough.’ When an industry senior passes by, you should greet them.
— Rain
As scathing as his criticism might be, Rain is not the only idol who calls out the changing greeting culture of newer idols. A popular third-generation girl group member also aired out her frustration over it during an interview. Read more about it here.
