Plenty of groups have dedicated portions of their career to helping social change. With such a big platform and dedicated fanbase, it’s admirable the changes K-pop stars have been able to enact. However, one group stands out from the pack simply because of their dedication to a single cause and image. From the time they debuted until today, (G)I-DLE have been remarkably consistent in their support and encouragement of women worldwide through the messages of their songs, using pre-existing structures, and embodying their message themselves.
The five (formerly six)-piece girl group debuted in May 2018 with an eclectic and confident style. They gained attention with singles like “Hwaa” and “Tomboy” and have released two full-length albums up to this point.
(G)I-DLE have always been focused on empowering women and rejecting the mold of society usually set for women. Songs like “Lion” or “Super Lady” contain high amounts of symbolism and allusions to power and confidence that makes (G)I-DLE stand out from other groups that talk about women’s issues. Consequently, their fanbase is mostly women and girls, and they’ve been cited as an inspiration by many both inside and outside the K-pop sphere.
Before they broke the mold though, (G)I-DLE started off using a lot of the standard ‘girl power’ elements in their concepts and music. Although they are frequently praised for breaking boundaries and stereotypes for girl groups, they have also been wise enough to know when to lean into those pre-existing notions that audiences will be familiar with. Girl power is usually defined by the group being presented in a powerful and confident manner (as opposed to the cutesy, flirty vibes of ‘girl crush’). By blending the concepts audiences already knew with their own flavor of feminism, it made their message even clearer.
Through all of this, one core element of the group is that everyone should remain true to themselves. The group has a lot of control over their appearance and sound compared to the rest of K-pop and have included many elements of self-production in their process that newer groups have been emulating. Their song “Nxde” in particular is not about sex or a lack of clothes at all; instead the song is about being completely and fully true to yourself.
In recent years, there have been a small but vocal subset of fans who feel like the feminism from (G)I-DLE has been a bit contrived, forced, or even just repetitive. However, the band has expressed time and time again that this is the message they want to share, and even if they don’t get it right every time, they will keep trying until they find a way to share it in a way that makes change happen.