Page 9 - 東華三院盧幹庭紀念中學（學生報2019-2020）

Can Make

Another Idol Again? Ng Lok Kan, Kenneth 4C (15)

Last year, the reality show ‘Kingmaker’ from ViuTV was a significant success. Later, some participants
and winners of Kingmaker formed a local boy group called ‘MIRROR’, which consists of 12 members. Although
the team was quite popular among some teenagers when it was formed, it has gradually lost its popularity in the
mainstream media as time goes by. At the beginning of ‘Kingmaker’ last year, the producer of this programme
stated clearly that the show aimed to find the next idol in Hong Kong. Can this dream still come true?

To achieve this dream, MIRROR has to overcome plenty of difficulties. First, it is the fading popularity of
Cantonese pop music. It is undeniable that the market of Cantopop is shrinking. In the past, Hong Kong owned a

numerous number of pop singers and idols. The Four Heavenly Kings, for example, were the most famous stars in
the 1990s. They even had a huge sphere of influence in East Asia, including Taiwan, Korea and Japan. However,
the market for local music and songs has declined gradually. Nowadays, the Cantonese songs produced in Hong
Kong are mainly consumed by a small group of local music lovers. Nevertheless, teenagers in Hong Kong tend to
listen to K-pop or Mandarin songs as they think Cantopop is dull and old-fashioned. Therefore, MIRROR, as an
idol boy group in Hong Kong, must admit that their competitors, like K-pop idols, are having a greater influence
in Hong Kong, which is not likely to be changed in just a few years.

Besides, MIRROR does not have its own speciality. In Korea, every member of the idol group is chosen

under strict and harsh requirements. They need to be talented in all forms of performance, like singing, dancing
and acting. Therefore, the idol groups like BTS and TWICE can be in a vogue. Comparatively, the members of
MIRROR are not that talented. For instance, Lokman, the captain of MIRROR, is criticized for his poor singing
skills sometimes. Thus, in most people’s view, MIRROR is just copying the style of those K-pop idols when they
perform dancing and singing. If MIRROR can’t show its uniqueness, it will lose its following soon.

Then, can these problems be tackled? Of course, the answer is yes. After Kingmaker, MIRROR has had
have some job opportunities, like the show ‘MIRROR GO’ and the situation comedy ‘Showman’s Show’. Still,
these are not enough for the 12 members of MIRROR to become idols. In order to attract more fans, ViuTV should

produce more shows for them. It is not necessary to be a big production, for example, a talk show featuring all of
them can simply help them attract avid fans with a limited budget.

As a Hongkonger, I really hope that Hong Kong can have more famous pop singers and idols like Leslie
Cheung, Leon Lai and Danny Chan in the 1980s and 1990s. It is never too late to see this dream come true!

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