K-pop diva reveals struggle over 'ugliness'

Singer Minzy: “As I've come into my own, I am a different person.” Korea Times file

By Dong Sun-hwa, Park Si-soo

Minzy is, without doubt, a towering figure in the K-pop world. She is even an idol to many K-pop musicians, not to mention star wannabes.

But this does not necessarily means her path to the stardom was always smooth. In the process, she had to endure a critical challenge which she does not yet seem to have fully overcome.

“We were an 'ugly' group,” she told the Billboard, recalling she was a member of now-disbanded girl band 2NE1. “I didn't know how to process that, I held that in. It was tough.”

The singer said that back then many people ridiculed her and the other members for being unattractive. Even the chief of the band's agency, YG Entertainment, said they were ugly, she recalled.

Such remarks were hard to forget, she said. When the group made it to the top, Minzy shone on stage but when at home alone, she felt empty and depressed. Sometime she even had suicidal thoughts, but after holding on to her Christian faith, she has gradually changed.

Later, she left the group and began building her own career.

Minzy released her first English single album “ALL OF YOU SAY” for the U.S. market on Dec. 1.

“I never had the time to figure out how to balance both being on stage and being alone,” she said. “As I've come into my own, I am a different person.”

Minzy started her career in 2009 as a member of 2NE1. The group shot to stardom with hit tracks "Fire," and "I Don't Care.” The band's popularity waned after main vocalist Park Bom was embroiled in a drug scandal in 2014. The group disbanded in 2016.