Girls Generation - We are Artist not Idols

Girls' Generation Nyeo Shi Dae in Korea or SNSD for short revealed their dilemma in determining where they stood as musicians.

Too much expectation over idols. Back then, someone who sings is a singer. Someone who composes a song is a composer. Someone who writes lyrics is a lyricists. Someone who dances is a dancer. Now for idols. People want them to be a composer, singer, lyricist and dancer to be respected. Honestly, in my country, these idols will be grouped in artist category, because there is no such thing as idol.

Girls Generation SNSD Pics

Anyway, recently on a show program, the staff asked them whether they were an artist or an idol. Girls' Generation debuted at an early age and reached fame quite quickly in both Korea and Japan as well as the world.

Jessica commented, "It is an honor to be called an idol group. However, now it seems that everyone who is young is an idol group." 
Sooyoung commented, "Honestly, we want to be called an artist."  
Yuri added, "It is hard for us to state which one we are. What our fans and the public calls us is what we will be."

Ah, well. Too bad for them the category "idols" exist in their country. It may not make much difference to us but that's just how their industry work. I think a much more valid description for them is that an idol is someone who caters the much younger audience and thus looks up to them [hence, the term idol] while artists are those who had 'experience' and caters those more mature fans.

Being an idol doesn't mean you are untalented, there are lots of genuinely talented idols. I'm aware of the negative connotation the term carries in Korea, so maybe what she meant is that she'd like to be called something else. But I think "artist" is going a bit too far because in Korea, they use that term when someone has complete control over their music. I think so too even when it comes to G Dragon. But then again, I call very few people artists.