Rounder eyes, narrower faces, bigger breasts: a South Korean girl band is celebrating the country’s obsession with surgically-enhanced beauty by going under the knife to praise the virtues of “Becoming Pretty“.
All four members of obscure K-pop outfit SixBomb went through extensive plastic surgery, from nose jobs to breast implants, before releasing their new single on Thursday.
“Everyone follows me, they know I’m pretty,” they sing in Becoming Pretty, an electronic dance number with a hook reminiscent of South Korean singer Psy’s 2012 global phenomenon Gangnam Style.
Despite a population of only 50 million, it is the world’s third biggest plasticsurgery market, with thousands of clinics performing an estimated 1.2 millionprocedures a year.
Adverts showing dramatic before-and-after pictures are omnipresent on streetbillboards, subway trains, bus stops and toilet walls, urging women to “Change” their lives or admonishing them: “Everyone but you has done it.” – ‘Come out ofthe closet‘ – SixBomb’s lead singer Dain had her breasts enlarged and hercheekbones shaved to make her face look smaller for the song.
“We all wanted to get some surgeries done to look prettier… and thought, ‘Whynot perform a song about it instead of trying to conceal it?'” she said.
The project was funded by their management, which spent 100 million won for “Almost every kind of surgery that could be done on a face” and breastimplants, said head manager Kim Il-Woong.
Korean Wave aka K-pop has conquered much of Asia and spread beyond it in a “Korean Wave“, with top girl– and boybands, their good looks often surgically perfected and performing dance moves with military precision, enjoying huge followings.
Their popularity has itself fuelled the surgery business, with many fans –including from overseas, particularly Chinese – having procedures in the hope oflooking like their favourite stars.
None of the four were forced to go through surgery, they said, although rapper Soa had to think “Long and hard” before having the “Double eyelid” procedure to make eyes wider and rounder.
