Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
ALLDAY PROJECT member Annie has announced a hiatus from most activities as she will be resuming her studies at Columbia University for the Spring semester in order to graduate.
On January 14, ALLDAY PROJECT’s agency THEBLACKLABEL stated, “Annie will be returning to Columbia University in New York this month. She will devote herself to graduating.”
Annie plans to use the group’s break period in between comebacks to complete the spring semester, which runs through May, balancing both work and academics.
While staying in New York for several months to focus on campus life, she is also expected to fulfill overseas schedules such as fan sign events during the semester. Even during Annie’s study period, ALLDAY PROJECT will continue as the other members pursue individual activities.
Annie herself confirmed the plans and shared her feelings on things.
DAY ONEs, you must’ve been really surprised, right? I should’ve told you first, but I didn’t expect an article to suddenly come out like this. I’ll explain what you’re probably curious about one by one… I was told at the beginning of last year that I couldn’t extend my leave of absence anymore, so I discussed it with the members and the company in advance and made the decision. And I only have one semester left! I earned a lot of credits before, so if I attend just one more semester, I’ll graduate. That’s until early May, so about three and a half months… Will you wait for me?
I’ll continue going to school diligently, work on a lot of music in the U.S., and I’ll come back often, so please don’t worry too much 🙂 Actually… even on weekends, because of my schedule, I’ll have to come to Korea almost once or twice a month anyway, haha. I’m really sorry I couldn’t tell DAY ONEs first. But when I graduate, you’ll be proud of me, right? I’m going to miss you all a lot.
In response, I’ve seen a lot of discourse from netizens (international, mostly) surrounding this about privilege, which is only made worse because ADP isn’t one to get grace for a variety of reasons. I’m a bit of a fence-sitter on this issue as well.
On one hand, yes, this should be the norm and you’d want this for your fave if they had the ability to pull this off. Artist empowerment would look exactly like this, where they do more things that are beneficial for themselves and fulfill themselves more than constantly thinking of the group, which most of the time is code for the company’s best (financial) interest.
On the other hand, I understand those who are bitter and resentful, because this likely won’t result in any of the above being normalized. More likely is this will be a special exception due to Annie being an heiress, giving her an amount of leverage that other idols simply will never have, much less in their rookie year. That’s obviously what allows her to finish school, while most other idols are forced to have to drop-out of their groups if they wanted the same.
Now ideally, this would further the options of those that follow her and she’d be a trailblazer of sorts, but realistically, this changes nothing and is only for her. Then again, if I was Annie and was able to do both, I’d choose that path as well, and it’s hard to fault her for doing what’s in her best interest.
