Jimin Bio Part 3 - Tumblr Posts
Chameleon Park Jimin 3
~ Written after seeing several people expressing resistance to Jimin evolving over time ~
BTS extensively used social media platforms, vlogs, fan meets, fan signings, and other creative events to help increase their fanbase and name recognition. In spite of the huge learning curve, long work hours, and meticulous practice sessions, Jimin always appeared to be upbeat and enthusiastic. He had chosen to take on the risk of learning his craft on the job with possible failures and slips on display, and then the company upped the vulnerability of exposure by having Jimin be the one who would expose his body on stage as well. He was required to be muscular and fit to titillate fans as he lifted his shirt to show his cut abs or tore off his shirt or performed shirtless.
The pressure surrounding this act was likely both internal and external. Jimin began doing heavy exercise and strict dieting. Severe dieting is more accurate. Although all the guys were required to commit to dieting, Jimin’s now self-imposed restrictions became so severe he would pass out, become weak, and be moody due to the lack of energy. He has expressed that he felt uncomfortable exposing his body then and also remarked that they were instructed to do some risqué things that were uncomfortable at those ages. Now not only could fans witness any mishaps that might occur from the untrained voice being asked to perform while sometimes jumping around, dancing, and maintaining your breathing, but now those ill-intended audience members could add criticizing his body and overall appearance to the mix as well.
I feel Jimin appeared to have possibly developed an eating disorder at this time due to the high expectations and requirements. I say this because after that very muscular phase finally passed, Jimin became painfully thin at times, losing muscle mass and strength. Being that Jimin is a perfectionist at heart, he often does everything he executes to the extreme - to his mental and physical detriment.
There was a time when the group became so concerned they had what seemed to be a filmed, group intervention for Jimin, where V explained that they wanted him to eat well because his health was more important than his looks. That was a brave and loving thing for V to do, even if, at the time, Jimin resisted and felt uncomfortable with the exposure. I feel the unhealthy dieting was an ongoing problem that he has hopefully overcome, although I presently still hear him talk quite often about weight and eating in a less than healthy way. I’ve observed that Jimin also gains weight to a normal amount then loses a significant amount of weight when performances approach.
Fans were not - and are not - always nice or polite and some were intentionally hurtful, and it’s only gotten worse since then. Jimin was one member who was highly engaged in social media from early on, and most certainly saw the comments and conversations being had about it all. Between the company’s requests, his own personal pride, as well as the ongoing stress of his chosen career, Jimin had a lot of pressure on his young shoulders. Considering how young they all were, they handled the stress incredibly well, but it at times took its toll in other, less obvious, ways.
As BTS’s talent, success, and popularity increased, they understood more and more what they wanted to say, how they wanted to say it, and how they wanted to show it on stage. Jimin went through some intense struggles, especially with his voice, but compensated for that with intense stage presence and performances. While he was working to find and improve his full voice, he enhanced and elevated his dance and appearance. He was always a very good singer with a good voice, but due to the sore throats and limited training, he suffered at times with the effort. The situation really ate at his confidence and security, I feel. Fan criticism didn’t help the matter, yet he worked harder and continued to persevere. The company and band recognized more and more what a commodity Jimin was and how he could be used. His unique voice was found to be very useful in his higher range and his unusual tone added uniqueness and richness to the songs. He was given more singing lines and more elaborate dance routines.
Jimin also seemed to become a focus of humor for many of the episodes in the various reality type shows they filmed. Jimin can actually be very funny and would create interesting moments when he was involved. V, during Festa 2020, described Jimin as often surprising them and was unofficially in charge of bringing surprises to the group. In other words, Jimin was innovative and interesting when doing the things he did. However, I feel the company often set up Jimin to lose some of those games intentionally because no one is that unlucky or unskilled that they would lose as often as he did.
The company enjoyed dressing Jimin up in silly costumes and having him do the humiliating penalties because he was “so cute”, and unfortunately for Jimin, he was an attention magnet for viewers and fans. It appears to me that Jimin was not in on this joke because it seemed to wear on him at times. Even recently he made a remark that he was bad at games and lost often, but maybe his luck had changed. I feel that while his bandmates were happy for the attention brought to the group (3 minutes), it sometimes bothered them that Jimin would often become the focus of the host or interviewer or fans at a frequent moments. I’m sure that created some unintended tension in the group occasionally.
As I said, in the midst of this hectic professional life, Jimin was growing as a human being as well. He is not perfect and had some learning to do as far as interacting with his members at home, being a bandmate on stage, or just existing personally. They were all under stress, and as they have said many times, they would become touchy when tired and stressed and frustrated.
Jimin had his moments where he said the wrong thing or used the wrong tone. Jimin could be sassy and has admitted that he has a blunt way of just saying what is on his mind. He says he can be clumsy with his words. Sometimes he was too playful or too flirtatious to his embarrassment or others. All of this was done with cameras often in their faces, filming the work and behind the scene moments as well.
I feel another way Jimin and the other maknae (younger) members were somewhat exploited was that more of their private lives were shown than the hyung (older) members. I don’t know if they were aware of how it would impact them over time or if they were told they didn’t have a choice, but they were at the editors’ mercy as far as the narratives created or shown about them. They may have been too young to understand the consequences and the permanent Internet presence of everything you had ever done, even if you had outgrown situations or later realized the effects.
In spite of the stage persona that Jimin executed so well, Jimin still was able to show that off stage he was genuinely an authentic, caring, warm individual. He started the birthday celebrations and gift-giving culture within the group. RM said people often have trouble complimenting or celebrating others’ accomplishments but Jimin never did. RM said he was grateful for Jimin’s ease at doing that for others.
However, I don’t feel, for reasons I’m not sure, that others returned the favor for Jimin. And sadly, due to personal insecurities he already had, he was one who really needed to hear the positive feedback. There was a time he would ask things like, “What about me?” or “How’d I do?” when compliments were being given to others, and it may have looked as though he was seeking attention or praise when he actually really needed the approval for his peace of mind. With all the uncertainty created by his unsupported professional development, he needed to know he was pulling his weight and hitting the needed marks.
Later, I feel Jimin had gained enough confidence not to need or to seek out external reassurance (and/or possibly others eventually gave him the feedback that he needed more freely). On a very recent RunBTS when they were doing flying yoga, Jimin chose a back row to participate but then lost a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors initiated by V to have to move to the front row instead. He did not seek out the attention of the front row or the teacher’s praise, but you could tell it still affects him when he receives affirmation for his efforts. When the teacher said that Jimin was good at the activity, you could tell Jimin appreciated and was proud of the recognition but no longer was desperate to hear it. He even seemed surprised at the teacher sharing those words.
Jimin also likely needed the positive encouragement because the hate and criticism he was receiving online or in the media for anything and everything he did - or didn’t do - was continually growing and still exists to this day. Over time, the online comments escalated from criticism to death threats. It became - and remains - very hostile and vicious. The Jimin who would once talk openly and frequently on vlogs and VLives, began to withdraw and not share as much and not show up as much. The Jimin who would post often and keep fans informed about what was happening in the group, while still respecting his and his bandmates’ privacy, began posting less and less. To his credit, he still remained positive and caring in spite of an almost organized effort to discredit, diminish, and devalue him.
I have explained how Jimin was transforming physically but also emotionally and behaviorally up to this point. Some changes were empowering due to positive experiences and events, and some were destructive due to harmful actions and intentions. All of the experiences were contributing in some way to who Jimin had become so far ----- and then came the Covid pandemic…
See Chameleon Park Jimin Part 4 - This possible final chapter will more specifically address the current thoughts about Jimin’s evolution as pandemic and post pandemic situations and transformations took hold.