[Opinion] On Hyorin (SISTAR) and Line Distribution in K-Pop Groups

There they be: the source of this rant. (hellokpop.com)

If anyone happens to follow closely to what I write about SISTAR (and if you are one of these people that do, I suggest that you find yourself another hobby) then it should be obvious that I am annoyed by SISTAR being essentially Hyorin-and-guests. For some reason, this seems to piss off quite a bit of people, which I'm not exactly sure why. But I'm going to use this space to provide some clarification and support for my thoughts on this surprisingly sensitive issue.

First off, I am not bashing Hyorin at all. Why people think I am, I'm not sure. I think she's a fabulous vocalist, she possesses a bubbly personality, and happens a sex-bomb that is perhaps rivaled only to Lee Hyori. In fact, not only do I think she should have a solo career, but I think she'd be very successful at a singular endeavour.

It's the fact that she is not solo now is what frustrates me. More specifically, she essentially serves as a solo artist who is bound to the SISTAR name and other performers who, honestly, can't even rival any of her attributes. Not only does Hyorin possess most of the lines, a topic I will discuss below, but in many songs by SISTAR she is the only one that sings. Notably, in the SISTAR subunit SISTAR19's most recent release "Gone Not Around Any Longer", she sings the entire song and backs Bora on half of her rapping. Why Starship Entertainment didn't just swallow their pride and release Hyorin as her own, I do not know. I'm sure sales wouldn't have dwindled.

But what about me!? (ohkpop.com)

But what about Bora (you may ask)!? She's pretty, talented, and is the best rapper of the group (you may say)! Also, don't you even know SISTAR—Bora has said she doesn't like singing so that's why she doesn't! What a jerk! Idiot! You're so biased!

Oh good lord, not the "biased" card.

Fine. I get that Bora is attractive, but that's where it ends. I'm convinced the only reason Hyorin isn't solo is because Bora is so attractive to many, and we all know that sex sells in K-Pop more now than ever before. Yet that's all she brings to the table. On an artistic level, Bora can't even wish to kiss Hyorin's feet, let alone be in the same room with Hyorin.  Her rapping?  Bleh.  And let's not even bring up Soyu or Dasom. They're fine and dandy, but please...be real.

So I've come to face terms that Hyorin will never be allowed to venture on solo efforts—not that this conclusion dictates the course of my day in any way to begin with. She is part of SISTAR, just like the other members. But if one is going to keep her in SISTAR, at least try to titilate us with the thought that there is a group effort being put forth, rather than just throwing in a few random lines by the remaining members to spell out equality in name's sake only.

But she's the leader!  She deserves the most lines!  Every leader has that many lines and you don't mention anything about that!  You're such a SISTAR hater (all things you may say)!!! >:O

I'm not saying that a leader of a group shouldn't have the most lines, be it in a solely quantitative measure or based on prominence.  There's a reason one is designated a leader: they're usually the most talented of the group, or the face of the group.  In SISTAR's case, Hyorin unquestionably fills these two roles, so she certainly deserves the "leader" status and the vocal prominence that comes with it.

My concern is that Hyorin has significantly more lines than any leader of a girl group should and does have.  So much so that it defeats the purpose of being in a group or calling yourself a member a group in the first place.

I can say this with confidence as I took out my time out of much more important and pertinent research to compile some stats that support everything I'm ranting about (and by stats, I mean entry level statistical analysis that would prompt me to be the eternal butt of their jokes to my multiple friends in the stats field if they ever found out it was me who was doing this work).  As you can see below on a visual level, I analyzed the line distribution of each song from the major album/mini-album releases of the prominent female K-Pop groups thus far in 2013.  The only songs I did not take into consideration were the intro songs (as these are pointless), any purposefully solo or duet songs (as these would skew the group-line distributions), and songs from Girl's Day with Jihae in it (there were a few on their recent album release, and that would have just been awkward to include).

Here are some photos of the stats and distributions.  Member names are initials and the dark black line on the distribution chart is the ideal line distribution mark/percentage. Obviously, click on the images to enlarge them.

Spreadsheet of line distribution of prominent female K-Pop groups with releases in 2013 as of June.

Visual distribution chart of above sample, black line represents ideal distribution mark.

So because I wasted my valuable educational opportunities by deciding to dedicate my life to the humanities, I cannot properly relate the proper statistical framework that may or many not strengthen or weaken this overall argument.  However, there a few general trends on the line distribution which are readily noticeable by the casual observer.

First, taking aside SISTAR, the highest percentage of lines taken by any individual member is by Sojin of Girl's Day (32.5%), with Rania of After School at (31.89%).  Hyorin, on the otherhand, had a whopping 49.61% of the lines for her entire group, and the most of any of the sampled individuals on a percentage scale.  However, reading this in this manner is inappropriate considering the ideal distribution mean represented by the black line.  In this case, even though her percentage is high, Sojin is only slightly higher than the ideal distribution mean (7.5%).  Overall, the other members of Girl's Day (save for poor little Hyeri) hover around this distribution line.  Rania, on the other hand, is nearly 20 points over the average ideal distribution mark for a group of After School's size (12.5%).  Yet despite this overage, it still is less than the 24.618 points that Hyorin is over the ideal distribution mark for a group of her size, showing an even stronger bias towards her in SISTAR's line distribution.

While Raina's overage can be quite concerning to some, other factors are present downplay the significance of this factor.  Namely, there are two members of After School, Nana and Jung-A, who are also over the ideal distribution mark, and one member, Kaeun, who is slightly below this mark.  This suggests that even though Raina received a skewed amount of lines in the latest release, there are still other members who have a strong presence.  Comparing this to SISTAR, it can be seen that none of the members come close to this ideal distribution mark, with the exception of Soyu who is about 4 points below this mark.  Yet because none of the members are above this mark, and two, Bora and Dasom, are significantly below this mark shows again the high skew of Hyorin.

This brings us to the last point of discussion.  As discussed earlier in this article, leaders should have a higher amount of lines, which naturally leaves some individuals (aka the performers who are there merely for looks or dancing and are dispensable otherwise) with lesser lines.  While in an ideal world, each member in the group would have an equal amount of lines, this cannot simply be true.  The next most ideal distribution method is to then have an equal amount of members above and below this ideal distribution mark.  For example, a four member group *cough* would have two above and two below, with the artists on each respective side of the distribution being relatively close to each other.

This leader-subordinate distribution method actually presents itself pretty ubiquitously (although not perfectly) between the groups of the sample.  For Girls' Generation (a surprisingly well-distributed group contrary to popular belief), there are four members above the ideal distribution mark, one on (well, slightly above) it, and four below it.  Girl's Day shows this can be done for groups of relatively smaller numbers.  The only group that significantly deviates from this is SISTAR, where the standing of the two most dominant members are nowhere near each other, and the two subordinates are significantly below the ideal distribution mark.  While I understand the argument can be made for After School in some respect, the distribution isn't quite as stark as the SISTAR case.  Nonetheless, this shows again that the SISTAR line distribution is not, in fact, equal and highly favored in Hyorin's direction.

While the inequality of lines of SISTAR is not really anything that should draw up immense amounts of shock and awe, comparing them to the line distributions of others prominent female groups (save After School for some naysayers) demonstrates that what this group is doing is not the norm.

This then brings up the question on what is a group?  Are they equal?  Should they be?

While these questions are debatable, I'll conclude with a few brief thoughts.  If this brief sample of groups show us anything, it is that there are leaders who have a higher majority of the lines, but at the same time there is a general sense of equality in vocal exposure.  The cause of this phenomenon of groupness may have many roots, but the two potential sources that immediately come to mind are: Confucian group social patterns in Korea and pleasing the rabid fans of K-Pop so there isn't a revolt against a given group because someone's favorite performer isn't being properly showcased (aka capitalism [but not really in most ways]).

Oh those inside thoughts. (soompi.com)

So then what are we to make of the case of SISTAR (or After School just to appease all ye naysayers)?  Are they hurting themselves by primarily showing Hyorin?  Probably not, as they are riding the tip of the iceberg at the moment.  And if one was to ask a random group, most men would be drooling over Hyorin in the first place, so I'm sure they're not really minding the inequality too much.  Then why not give her a solo gig?  Is it the concept of group that matters most?  Do people even pay attention to the vocal lines?

I'm bringing up more questions than I wish to answer, and I find myself in the same frustrating place as before.

But then there is, just maybe, the fact that I am making too big of a deal about this?  Perhaps I'm only victim to status quo, and my habitus of distribution equality is just being thrown into a wasteland of unfamiliarity.

A special thanks to the folks at Color Coded Lyrics for making this little project way easier than it otherwise would have been.