A couple of years ago, Girls Generation member, HyoYeon launched her YouTube channel, Hyo’s Level Up. At its inception, she used the channel to interview idols, both her peers younger idols, with the occasional drop in from one of her fellow Girls Generation members. Plenty of idols, past and present, have interview shows, so HyoYeon’s channel slipped seamlessly into the crowded eco-system of K-Pop content.
Girls Generation is a beloved group even though they’ve become a legacy act, which makes sense since they’ve been together for about 20 years. They’re the gold standard for other girl groups to emulate, and HyoYeon’s role in the group is to be the main dancer. Obviously, in a K-Pop group, everyone has to be able to sing and dance, but dancing is her calling card. She’s also known to be kind of ditzy and aloof, like when the 8 members of Girls Generation met for their 15 year anniversary and took a Girls Generation quiz created by a super fan, HyoYeon missed more questions than anyone else by a large margin.
About a year ago, a new episode dropped, and a disclaimer was added to the beginning of the video: “Fake Kim HyoYeon / This video is fictional and made only for entertainment.” What followed was Hyo-Yeon doing vocal exercises at the behest of her Girls Generation cohort, Tiffany. It’s filmed like a documentary, even cutting to Tiffany “confessing” to the camera like she were on a sitcom like The Office or Parks and Recreation. Both girls are playing fictional versions of themselves, and Fake HyoYeon is an out of touch, self absorbed, and extremely petty caricature of her real life counterpart. She immediately gets to the core of the matter with Fake Tiffany, she wants to launch a Girls Generation subunit, HyoRiSoo, with fellow members Yuri and Soo-Young. She also wants to be the main vocalist of the group, to which Fake Tiffany deadpans “Can you say that with confidence?” Fake Tiffany is more or less a proxy for the audience when she shows up, reacting to all the madness thrown at her.
While there were still some real HyoYeon interviews with fellow idol videos (no disclaimer beforehand), this faux documentary show became the main focus of the channel over the past year. The idea of HyoRiSoo was supposed to be a joke just for the channel but the popularity of the idea spurred SM Entertainment into making it a real thing. From sparring with the equally fictionally self absorbed Fake Yuri, and Fake Soo-Young, to hiring a task force to help HyoRiSoo with their marketing strategy, the show toggles between petty bickering and jokes about this 2nd generation group of girls being out of touch. While intentional or not, the infighting definitely feels like it’s an homage to Spinal Tap, with the girls sniping at each other over every single detail. How did HyoYeon decide that she’s the main vocalist of the group or why is her name at the beginning of HyoRiSoo opposed to RiSooHyo? When Fake Tiffany tells the trio that they can’t bicker like they’re 17, now that they’re 37, each girl responds to Fake Tiffany in their own way to remind her that they’re all still 36, not 37, unlike her. Also, Fake Tiffany tells them that they can’t disband now because they’re too far along (they try anyways).
The documentary has been ultimately building to the debut of HyoRiSoo and their debut song “Skibidi”. “Skibidi” is a real song, and yes, it is referring to the cartoon Skibidi Toilet. HyoRiSoo has been promoting the song on the music shows as well as the b-side “Low-Key in Love”, with matching outfits, backup dancers, and the whole nine yards, playing it (mostly) straight. Their fictional feuding resumes at the end of their music show performances, as they jockey for the camera’s attention to be the coveted “ending fairy”.
“Skibidi” is a bonified hit, and HyoRiSoo’s story is far from over. One of the major motivations behind HyoRiSoo is to outshine the other Girls Generation subunit, TaeTiSeo (Taeyon, Tiffany, and SeoYeon). While Fake Tiffany has been a willing participant in the HyoRiSoo journey so far, SeoYeon and most importantly, Girls Generation leader, TaeYeon have yet to appear as the fictional selves. Even while playing a fictional egotistical version of herself, HyoYeon dare not rank herself above TaeYeon as a vocalist, and TaeYeon’s absense/silence about HyoRiSoo looms over the project, giving TaeYeon sort of a boss level status.
This is all likely to come to a head within the next year or so, when the rumored 2027 Girls Generation 20th Anniversary tour is unveiled. Will they drop character when they’re all reunited or will they use a HyoRiSoo mini-set mid-show to savagely drag the rest of the group? Will there be a TaeTiSeo vs HyoRiSoo standoff? Whatever happens, I’m 1000% more interested in the possibilities than I was a year ago, so whether it’s just a marketing ploy or an attempt at performance art, it’s working, and I look forward to seeing what’s to come.