K-pop artist DARA discussed how she used to feel about SM Entertainment artists when she was a member of disbanded K-pop girl group 2NE1.
DARA guested on the October 12 episode of a YouTube show hosted by Kim Jae Joong, a K-pop boy group JYJ member and formerly of another K-pop boy group TVXQ!.
"People are really curious how you and I got to be close with each other since, as you know, SM and YG artists had very few on-air interactions.", Kim Jae Joong said.
"Yeah, even when they were friends, people didn't say that they were friends. I remember hesitating to wave at you guys whenever we came across.", DARA replied.
Kim Jae Joong said, "There were so many funny episodes about it that I can't even share here on YouTube."
"Now I've become friends with many SM artists and we get along well. But to be completely honest, my feelings about them weren't good in the past.", DARA said, "For example, Girls' Generation and 2NE1 were always competing for first place in music shows, so…"
She admitted that she was sometimes overwhelmed by SM artists when they were on those music shows because they usually had more fans in the audience than 2NE1.
During their conversation, Kim Jae Joong said that the artists at SM Entertainment often shared how they envied YG artists for their music styles.
Then, DARA admitted that YG artists also wanted what SM artists had.
She said, "I was close with Super Junior members. DongHae and I used to talk about how jealous we are of each other's companies. He used to complain about their agency making his group have too many comebacks, while my issue was that our group had too few comebacks.", she stated, noting that the two agencies had very different management styles.
DARA debuted as a member of 2NE1 in 2009 under the management of YG Entertainment, but the group disbanded at the end of 2016.
She left the agency as her contract expired in May 2021, and is now under Abyss Company as a solo artist.
(Credit= '우하머그' YouTube)