Spoiler Alert: Some parts of this post is dedicated to dissing Korean pop stars. You've been warned!

Previously while browsing around the Internet while looking for more songs to download into my iPod, I came across this blog about utaite's looks and how disapppointed when they realize said singer doesn't live up to their expectations at all. (utaite a.k.a 歌い手, a Japanese term for people who cover previously released songs and post them on Nico Nico Douga and YouTube under the utattemita category. The term "utaite" is unique to Nico Nico Douga singers, making it different from Kashu (歌手), which means "singer" in general.)

Generally, utaite do cover songs for VOCALOID original songs, anime and game related songs, and J-Pop. They also do parodies with different lyrics for popular songs, intended for amusement. Most utaite exclusively cover songs and upload under the utattemita section, but some of them have doujin circles and release original music/drama CDs during events like Comic Market and VOCALOID M@ster, frequently referred to as Comiket and VoMas respectively. A few utaite also have become partly or wholly professional singers and have released/will release their albums under official labels. Some examples are Valshe, Piko, clear, 96Neko, and Lon.

Just to just quote 2 of my personal favorite utaite turned professional musicians: ナノ (Nano) and Glutamine. An image of them as avatars on the Utaite Wiki prior to being famous:

~Image Source: Utaite Wiki~

Now, another image of ナノ (Nano) and Glutamine in front of the cameras for their music videos:

~Image Source: Google~

Well, sadly in our current world and the social media influences we live in, looks are pretty much everything. Back in the 1990s, there was this male Taiwanese or Hong Kong singer who never once revealed his real face on his CD Album cover art finally showed his face for the first time. Oh boy, were all his female fans disappointed sorely. He was wasn't what the female fans expected him to look like based on their imagination. Needless to say, his popularity went from high to an all time low. Fast forward to 2016 now, looks are practically everything and nothing can escape the fans when they're dedicated to uncovering a person's looks in real life.

But personally, I pretty much have enough of this kind of bullshit. Do their looks even really matter when they can sing, dance or even act? If they look all so pretty, like the current K-crap stars from all your favorite boy-bands and girl-bands, but ended up being a factory molded pop group with no distinct personalities or whatsoever. It doesn't even remotely help that Korea is the capital of plastic surgery, with some stars such as So-young Park even conveniently forgetting she had plastic surgery and still look shocked and unsure until she was busted on National TV whereby she admitted to having a slew of other plastic surgeries for aesthetic enhancement.

Not saying the Japanese entertainment side doesn't have their fair share of plastic surgery tales, although, in Japan, I doubt plastic surgery really took off there. But at what cost do we have to focus on our looks, to the point where having plastic surgery is the equivalent of an afternoon tea and money being spent on these surgeries can probably be used to buy a home or a car? I blame social media and maybe China for it. Coming up with ridiculous methods to prove that one has the ideal body type and so on. Just exactly when did we stop focusing on one's abilities to focus on how hot, pretty and young one can look.

Sure, no one looks like they've stepped out of fairytale with prince charming or princess looks, but isn't it okay to overlook the fact that some people aren't born exactly the way they want but to focus on what they can bring to us on a whole? Take for instance the case of Sia, we all know her famous song Chandelier that instantly propel her to fame. Good song, good music video, but she hides her face under wigs and hats. Sia for one knows that talent or the ability to carry out a tune, or even write a song is more important than how she actually looks in real life. Personally, I don't care if Sia looks like a goblin in real life, as her songs speaks volumes for itself. Even ナノ (Nano) ensures her face is covered enough in her album art and in her music videos, we'll probably be able to see how she actually looks like in real life if we go to a ナノ (Nano) concert.

Honestly, I don't really care how current pop stars or rock stars looks like anymore, as long as they give me a wonderful time listening to their music, watching their videos and knowing that they took the time and effort into writing out a song that means something instead of using all that time to look perfect because social media demands so. Because in the end, as we age, looks will go. It's impossible to look like a 20-something when you're already in your 70s. Therefore, looks aren't that important. What's important is the "talent" your favorite celebrity has that makes them endearing to you and makes you look up to them. On the contrary, Piko looks utterly blah with that haircut that he claims "is dedicated to his mother". He doesn't look that bad, but that girly hairstyle just gives me the creeps sometimes :/