In the Korean entertainment industry, the male idol career path has always held a special place in the hearts of handsome young men aspiring to become famous. Many young, talented, and often incredibly good-looking boys would dream of becoming idols who capture the hearts of fans across the globe.

However, in recent times, a noticeable shift has occurred. Many handsome young men who could have easily pursued careers as male idols are choosing different paths to become famous. This phenomenon raises several intriguing questions about the evolving landscape of the entertainment industry and the changing aspirations of young talent.

The shift has most likely happened due to the changing times and the advancement of technology that makes it possible for anyone to extend their reach worldwide through social media.

In a recent online community discussion, Korean netizens listed the various reasons handsome young men are no longer aspiring to become male idols.

1. If they want to become famous enough to appear on TV, appear on a reality dating show.

2. If they want to make music, they usually don't like the male K-pop idol genre music.

3. If they want to earn money and also be popular with the girls, they don't need to sing, dance, or do covers but just do YouTube.

4. If they are all-around talented, want to earn a lot of money, have their private life protected, and want to also freely date, they can just film 30-second TikTok videos.

The netizen who created the online community post explained that young handsome men do not want to choose to endure a difficult, lengthy training period while being part of a group lifestyle, exposing their private lives, and being unable to date, smoke, drink, or freely post on social media.

One talent development manager at a major K-pop agency stated, "Even when holding public auditions, there are almost no male applicants." They added, "The gender ratio is quite noticeable, with for every nine female applicants, there is barely one male applicant. While teenage female applicants, inspired by the popularity of groups like NewJeans and IVE, continue to flock in large numbers, male applicants have significantly dwindled." The manager stated, "There are now many platforms, such as YouTube and influencer roles, where individuals can showcase their talents, making it harder to convince them to endure long and arduous training to become an idol."

Netizens joined the conversation and commented, "It's probably because becoming a male idol doesn't guarantee success?" "I feel the general popularity of male idols has gone down," "They have to go suffer through trainee period and it doesn't even guarantee that they would get popular," "It's true, all the good-looking guys are going to these routes rather than becoming idols," "The original poster is right," "To guys, being a male idol isn't that awesome anymore," and "Well you don't become an idol with just good-looks. You have to want to do music and you have to have talent."