Netizens are debating how “age appropriate” a recent performance by IVE‘s Leeseo at the group’s show.

IVE’s Leeseo | @IVEstarship/Instagram

IVE recently kicked off their world tour with shows in Seoul. During the recent show, Leeseo performed a unit stage with Yujin where they performed Little Mix‘s song “Woman Like Me,” and it quickly gained attention online.

Your browser does not support video.| @on1ykyun/Twitter Your browser does not support video.| @on1ykyun/Twitter   

Yet, one fan quickly shared their concerns about their performance, explaining that while the song speaks about “Women,” Leeseo was just a child, as she is only 16 years old.

excellent song but that is not a woman that is a child. https://t.co/K0RU3RYm5C

— saz ❖ (@miyagender) October 8, 2023

Yet, while the OP gained a lot of attention for their tweet, most of the comments seemed to disagree with the negative narrative.

Many fans pointed out that Little Mix created the song to be empowering, while others shared how the song was not problematic at all and the way she performed was appropriate for her age.

the song’s not even about what ya’ll are thinking..?! it’s all about empowering women, the og singers said so. keep the same narratives pls… cause the forced hate is showing https://t.co/bFVO29gz2m

— a 🝮 (@anyudins) October 9, 2023

I don’t think the song is problematic at all??? The dance wasn’t even a sexy type of dance, which I believe is appropriate for her age. So why the concern for her age just because she sang and dance Woman Like Me?? https://t.co/IYfxLpw2Dr

— I WANT dreyyyy (@IVE_kyn) October 9, 2023

leeseo may be young but she’s still a PERFORMER and this is a song that she wished to show her charisma off to. she wouldn’t do something she was uncomfortable with, and there are no malicious undertones so I’m really not sure where all this fake sympathy is coming from https://t.co/J23bropGEn

— ☆z 🩸 I’VE MINE (@lionheartyujin) October 9, 2023

More pointed out that it was a hypocritical narrative when it came to the treatment of Leeseo.

Last year, the young idol got criticized for acting too “childish” when accepting an award, and now they say she is too young to dance to a song. While some understood the sentiment, they shared that it proves that idols can never do anything right. Either she acts innocent and young and gets criticized, or she tries to be mature but gets the same response.

i get ur point but where were you guys when she was bullied for her acceptance speech at MAMA? y’all only care about this minor situation when it’s come to this I guess… https://t.co/cCCb9sLDHz

— jen doesn’t care what’s wrong or right (@yunjiniac) October 9, 2023

I get the point but where was this energy when she was being bullied by her age for being a pick me and her mama speech? In the future if she gets bullied again I want you all to keep this energy to defend her https://t.co/srgVXJufIC pic.twitter.com/HP9N5g9YUB

— Juli (@dubusmile) October 9, 2023

this could be a valid concern if only we got viral tweets worrying about her well being back when she was getting brutally bullied for not knowing pikachu, crying in her daesang accepting speech or not reacting the way ppl wanted her to to a fucking prank https://t.co/Y3g8YClQjs

— (@gaeulhao) October 9, 2023

Yet, the debate reignited when the topic was brought to Reddit. In the post, the OP shared that while they are an IVE fan, they found watching Leeseo and Yujin’s performance “Uncomfortable.”

Like many other fans, it was Leeseo’s age that was a concern, and while the young idol wasn’t wearing or dancing in a sexy way, the song and the dancers still exuded more mature themes.

Yujin and Leeseo’s subunit performance of Woman Like Me has been a skip for me.
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When the post was shared, it sparked a debate online, with many netizens having differing views on the topic.

While some pointed out that K-Pop has much more serious issues, others shared that the members probably chose it themselves, and Leeseo is at an age where she isn’t a child, feeling mature enough to handle different concepts.

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The topic of idols debuting young and the concepts they are given will always cause a debate amongst netizens.

 “There are a lot of issue in K-Pop but…”