About POP!

POP! is INQUIRER.net’s premier pop culture channel, delivering the latest news in the realm of pop culture, internet culture, social issues, and everything fun, weird, and wired. It is also home to POP! Sessions and POP! Hangout,
OG online entertainment programs in the
Philippines (streaming since 2015).

As the go-to destination for all things ‘in the now’, POP! features and curates the best relevant content for its young audience. It is also a strong advocate of fairness and truth in storytelling.

POP! is operated by INQUIRER.net’s award-winning native advertising team, BrandRoom.

Contact Us

Email us at [email protected]

Address

MRP Building, Mola Corner Pasong Tirad Streets, Brgy La Paz, Makati City

Girl in a jacket

American J-pop group Sorb3t becomes the internet’s latest punching bag

The internet can be a little too much and too cruel to people sometimes.

Everyone who is a fan of K-Pop, J-Pop, and is active on TikTok and Twitter must have seen the now-deleted video of three girls, dressed in green, pink, and red, who were saying their heartfelt greetings on cam.

So they’re an aspiring American indie J-Pop idol group named Sorb3t (pronounced just like the cold dessert), consisting of three members—Berry, Alice, and Ashe. They have been active on TikTok, documenting their beginnings as a trio and promoting their in-person performances at various events.

However, after their now-deleted TikTok of the group’s introduction prior to their performance at a local cosplay con, their dreams seem to have been crushed by a wave of excessive harassment, harsh comments AND getting doxed on the internet. This eventually led the trio to take some time to heal and temporarily step away from social media.

Berry, the member who was accused of cultural appropriation and for forcibly trying to sound Japanese, addressed the comments and apologized to the people she had offended.

This, however, did not stop the mean things being said about her and her group Sorb3t. At the same time, people have also started donating more to their ko-fi page and sending encouraging messages to the girls.

Could it be that a lot of people are also misinformed about the entire premise of being a J-pop idol? ICYDK, J-Pop idols can also be from outside Japan! They are called ‘Kaigai’ idols. In Japanese, the word ‘kaigai’ literally means “overseas,” and they are people who have a strong admiration for J-Pop, J-Rock, or Japanese music. Some of these ‘kaigai’ idols are actually very much supported by Japanese audiences, such as LADYBEARD (Richard Magarey) from the J-Pop group BABYBEARD, Paida, Ann Lewis, A-MUSE, and NEONism.

Much like how there are non-Korean K-Pop idols and groups, there are also non-Japanese J-Pop idols. However, because of how popular K-Pop culture has been throughout the years, it’s become some sort of the standard when it comes to judging both aspiring K-Pop and J-Pop idols, especially in the West.

While that is just a tip-of-the-iceberg introduction to the concept of J-Idol culture, the point of this is that people were just too quick to call out Sorb3t for their cultural appropriation without even knowing the basics of it. To some, it may look cringe. Fine! But, considering they were funding the entire project themselves, the group didn’t deserve to warrant such a vicious reaction from chronically online people.

People on the internet are just too mean. Sorb3t just wanted to realize their dreams of performing on stage, but now, their confidence was just taken away by mean people. People like that just deserve a ducking slap on the face.

 

Other POP! stories that you might like:

‘Black Mirror’ creator admits to trying to write an episode for the series using AI

Disney’s ‘Hocus Pocus 3’ is now in the works

Production of ‘Barbie’ movie reportedly caused an international shortage of signature pink paint

Hayley Williams of Paramore apologizes for kicking out fans during concert

Former ‘That’s ’70s Show’ star Danny Masterson found guilty of two counts of rape on retrial

Tags:
About Author

Senior Writer

Related Stories

Popping on POP!