Special gift to Yoona's birthday

 Against Anti Yoona

One: Why is Yoona always in the centre?

• Every group has the ‘centre’ member. In this case, it’s Yoona. Right from the start, Yoona was going to be the ‘poster girl’ of SNSD. Even when SNSD hadn’t been fully formed yet. She had the innocent look that SM wanted the group to have, she had appeal, and she’d already done enough work in the entertainment industry for people to recognize her, having been in CFs, magazines and music videos. The reaction to Yoona from the beginning was positive so SM decided to keep putting her in the centre, and the centre-Yoong thing just stuck. You have to understand that Yoona didn’t ask to be put there though. Whatever SM says, goes. She never actively searched for popularity or attention, she just sort of sat there and accepted the fact that she was popular and ‘the face’, as did the other members. ‘Centre-Yoong’, ‘…you are the face of SNSD!’, words from leader Taeng’s own mouth.

• Besides, SNSD wouldn’t have the popularity it has today without Yoona. All the members helped but she really gave SNSD the leg-up they needed in the beginning. International fans might not see how much Yoona affected SNSD’s exposure as we actually have to use the internet to watch Korean dramas, but imagine flicking on the television and seeing Yoona on it almost every day in dramas and CFs and tell me something like that wouldn’t affect SNSD’s popularity.

Two: Yoona’s overrated.

Is she really? Let’s cut this one into subsections.

• Yoona isn’t that pretty.
  When people say Yoona is beautiful, there are people who go “She’s not THAT pretty”. I think they fail to realise that Yoona’s fans (real fans) aren’t saying that she’s stunningly drop dead gorgeous like a model something, they’re talking about Yoona’s innate and natural brightness and innocent feel that makes her even prettier than that. 
  (Beauty is subjective. That’s my personal opinion pfft.)

• Yoona isn’t that talented.
  Yoona’s forte is acting, and after that it’s dance. As someone who has actually seen You Are My Destiny, Cinderella Man, 9 Ends 2 Outs, etc., I’m going to tell you she is talented. Sure, she’s not the best actress and she can be awkward at times, but the girl has potential. Did you know she pretty much filmed 170+ episodes of YAMD on 2-3 hours of sleep most nights, and she would practice by talking to herself whenever she got a break? Did you know that she learnt how to do different expressions by recording herself making faces in a mirror? Keep this in mind, and go watch the first episode of Cinderella Man or something. Yoona’s first appearance in the show will probably surprise you, I know I was shocked. Like I said, dance comes next. She doesn’t have the power or technique Hyoyeon has, she doesn’t have the fluidity or stage presence that Yuri has, she doesn’t have the charisma that Sooyoung has and she doesn’t have the elegance that Seohyun has. But she’s not a main dancer for nothing. Her moves are clean, sharp, on the beat, she never misses a move and she delivers them well. Plus, she’s picked up popping recently which impressed me really. Of course, acting and dancing aside, many people will argue that Yoona can’t sing. Leading me to another point.

• Yoona can’t sing.
  I’m not going to sit here and tell you Yoona’s a great singer. We both know that’s not true. She gets the easiest lines in many of SNSD’s songs so I can’t really tell you the limits of her ability either. But from what I’ve seen, she can sing. Not fantastically, but she’s certainly not tone deaf or anything like that. Kim Jungeun’s Chocolate, MTV Girls On Top…I guess it was enough for little old me to think “Ah…so she can sing”, even if she’s the weakest singer out of the nine. What Yoona lacks is confidence. When she’s singing pop songs and dancing, she does fine, but have you heard this girl sing a ballad? She sounds downright terrified. Her voice trembles and her expression looks like she’s singing before a blood-thirsty mob or something. I feel bad seeing it really. But my respect level for her went way up when she actually sang at SNSD’s Concert. Many people complained about how her performance was boring and how her singing was ‘blah’. That’s not how I saw it though. I thought to myself, this girl who has so little confidence in her singing voice is actually doing a singing performance? I was impressed. Even if her performance wasn’t anything special, she chose to sing even when she could have chosen to do a more dance-oriented performance like Hyoyeon or Yuri. It was like she was telling us she was willing to sing or something. I was proud of her at least. I know many of us fans are hoping she continues to work hard and improve in the future.

3: Why Yoona when x-member could do it better?

• Why does Yoona get to be in that CF when this member is prettier? Why is Yoona the star of the Cabi MV when that member is sexier? Why does this magazine shoot have Yoona when the other member is better at modeling? Nothing much to say here other than what the company wants, the company gets. The mentality of disliking Yoona because she’s super popular…doesn’t really exist in Korea. It’s an international thing. We have a different way of thinking you see. In Korea, Yoona’s super popular, and being super popular, companies like Samsung or Innisfree will want her as a model, and as long as they’re paying good money and SM agrees to it, Yoona is going to be their model whether she wants to be or not. It’s not like Yoona wants the attention to herself. Wasn’t it Yoona that said that Hyoyeon should be invited onto a variety show? Wasn’t it Yoona who said that Tiffany always works really hard and takes pride in her job? If that’s not promoting the other members I don’t know what is. Please realise that while SNSD members will say that SM is a really nice place because their company wants them to make them look good, SM doesn’t give SNSD any control. The members don’t have control over what positions or jobs they get. Wanting your own favourite member to get exposure is fine. Like, there’s no problem with a comment like “Oh, another Yoona CF. I wish Hyoyeon would get a CF…”. That’s fine. But comments like “That b**ch yonna again wtf she should f**k of let soo do it shes better at it”…I’m seriously going to get angry. =_=

I’m not sure if I covered everything I wanted to say…Sorry about the wall of text by the way. But please, if you have something you want to say about Yoona, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll gladly hear you out.

I’m not asking you to love Yoona. I’m not even asking you to like Yoona. What I’m asking is that you give her a chance. She really is a great girl. ^^

The longer you are in the SNSD-fandom, the more you’ll come to realise that the soshi-bond and appreciating all nine pieces of the jigsaw puzzle is the most important thing.

Yoona hwaiting!