Jessica’s new novel faces controversy for references to Girls’ Generation

Jessica of Girls’ Generation fame recently released a novel called Shine and it came under fire for elements that allegedly refer to the K-pop girl band. In 2014, Jessica left Girls’ Generation and she recently announced the publication of her novel based on her experiences. After Jessica announced the released of Shine, some netizens raised suspicions asking, “Are you using this novel to expose Girls’ Generation?”.

Shine was in the news when it was announced that it will be released in various languages in 11 countries including Korea, Brazil, and Indonesia. It was reported that the novel will also be produced into a movie. Shine chronicles the life of a young girl named Rachel Kim who wishes to be a K-pop star. She joins DB Entertainment and starts her life as a trainee. The story goes on to be of love and conflict as Rachel meets a top celebrity, Jason Lee. The novel grabbed the attention of many netizens recently when a reader left a review of the English version of the novel.

In the review, the reader wrote:

“What really disheartened me about the book was how catty all of the girls were towards each other. I have no doubt that this cattiness is based in reality, but it left me feeling really negative after I put down the book.”

Fans asked to have the cover image be changed to the overseas version of the novel as it featured elements related to Girls’ Generation. The Thai version of the novel had images of the girl group’s official cheer light stick. Referring to this, fans reacted negatively saying: “Isn’t this light stick the one released after Jessica left Girls’ Generation? So it should be unrelated to Jessica.”

As for the Brazilian version of the cover, which Jessica chose herself through a contest that included her fans, it had reminiscent images of Girls’ Generation’s digital single That Summer as well as images similar to the girl group’s second album, Oh!. Netizens responded, saying, “I don’t understand why Jessica chose these cover images that make people remember Girls’ Generation when already there’s no choice but to make connections between the book and Girls’ Generation.”

In 2007, Jessica debuted with Girls’ Generation but she left the group in 2014. After that, she continued her career as a singer, actress, businesswoman and influencer. Now the artiste took a big step into being a writer with the release of the novel Shine. /TISG