Popular Artist Publicly Bashes Singers Using Autotune, Sparks Heated Debate

Recently, singer and musical actress Ok Joo Hyun garnered widespread online attention for her remarks about autotune on a fan messaging platform.

“These days, people who are all for live vocals are not in a good mood because no matter how bad you sing, they will always use a ton of autotune when editing. (These are things singer colleagues, seniors, and juniors talk about when we meet). For total live performances, you need to study to grow.

Those who use autotune for broadcasts and totally ‘cannot be used for broadcast’ have become a strange standard, and honestly, that makes me mad. I don’t even want to interact with them. You might think that my remarks are harsh, but it’s the truth. Seeing them edit everything with autotune makes me think they’re just using anyone to sing.”

— Ok Joo Hyun

It’s because we can’t let those strange dreamers, who can’t sing yet have a career in singing, grow. We have to cut them from the root.

— Ok Joo Hyun

At least, I have never lip-synced in any project. But some people who lip-sync end up legends… at shows with the biggest ticket prices. Are you scared? But if I sang that song using lip-sync, everyone would’ve been after me.

— Ok Joo Hyun

Fan: So not just idols, but singers use autotune too?

Ok Joo Hyun: A lot. Many musical actors go on broadcast and broadcast it with tons of autotune. They wouldn’t get caught if they used just a little bit, but they use it so much that it shows. I hear this a lot from people working in that field. Even singers who see this type of case say, ‘musical actors can’t sing as well as I thought they would. And because I am both a singer and a music actress, I think I can say these things more easily. But the funny thing is, there are tons of singers like this. MR removed means nothing these days for broadcasts.

— Ok Joo Hyun

However, netizens were divided by her straightforward remarks.

• “She’s right, though…”
• “She is really consistently unlikable.”
• “So these remarks came out while attacking musical actors…”
• “Even if what she is saying is right, does she need to attack like that? Her personality doesn’t change…”
• “I like her songs, but she seems to like to attack other people.”
• “She is correct. Especially with female idols, they j get worse. They only put the hook into their songs. How different are they from goldfish? If they are just going to dance, then they should become dancers.”
• “I agree that the fact you get praised for singing well when you have the autotune, but when you go live, you get all sorts of judgment and end up with an image of being untalented.”
• “I don’t want to even sympathize with her. Does she not realize that speaking in that way is only making it worse for her?”
• “It’s partly true, but I don’t understand why she would go out of her way to attack them on Bubble.”