K-Pop idols get a lot of flack for apparently being airheads when, obviously, that is far from the truth. Just because an idol decided to pursue arts and music, doesn’t mean they were ‘too dumb’ for education. I see female K-Pop idols go through these judgements the most, which is insane because the smartest female K-Pop idols happen to be STEM queens alongside holding notes higher than my grades.
Is there a little sexism at play here? Well, yes. Korea is still majorly conservative and some of that spills into their entertainment industry. But in the immortal words of Huh Yunjin of LE SSERAFIM, idol doesn’t mean your doll to mess around with. After all, idols are multi-faceted human beings with lives outside of just being on stage. So, let’s give these girls their flowers and count down the top 8 smartest female K-Pop idols in Get Ranked!
Table of Contents
8. Miryo – Brown Eyed Girls
Yes, I’m talking about the Brown Eyed Girls. Though the group was known for being pioneers in shaping that particular K-Pop sound we know and love, their rapper Miryo is also known for being whipsmart from the beginning. She’s widely appreciated for her eye for business, despite dropping out of high school to become an idol. But not going to a traditional school, doesn’t mean you can’t be exceptional.
7. Seohyun – Girls Generation
Being a Girls Generation stan means you have a girl with every personality type in a singular group. And yes, you even have a nerd in Seohyun. Seohyun is often regarded as the group’s resident bookworm, as she is said to make time for reading before practice starts everyday. Plus, she went on to graduate from Dongguk University with an achievement award, even getting accolades from the Ambassador himself!
6. Hyerim – Wonder Girls
We love Polyglots in this household. So, I can’t be more impressed by Hyerim. Wonder Girls is already regarded as one of the first K-Pop groups that went truly global, but that holds doubly true for Hyerim, who can speak four languages. She graduated from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies with a 4.0 GPA, and a major in Competitive Translation and Interpretation. Linguistic queens, rise up!
5. Yuqi – G(i)-dle
Yuqi is regarded as a real dark horse in K-Pop, for her beautiful deep vocals and musical ability. But did you know that she was also a star pupil when it came to her studies? Yuqi was an early acceptance at the most sought after schools in Asia, the Beijing 101 Middle School. And even there she excelled, being the second best amongst the entire student body. With her exceptional grades in Korean as a subject, maybe Yuqi was always born to be an idol!
4. Chloe – Cignature
What is with K-Pop idols winning the Obama President’s Education award? I say this because Chloe from Cignature isn’t the only one on this list with that under her belt. Though in her case, it’s because she’s a literal data scientist that has been known to teach her fans C++ and coding while livestreaming. She graduated with an almost perfect 4.0 GPA from the University Of Michigan, after all. Talk about looking up to an idol!
3. Sojin – Girl’s Day
Looks like the music wasn’t the only thing that was ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ about Girl’s Day. Apparently, the group hosts a resident genius in the form of Solji. Solji had graduated as a freaking Mechanical Engineer from the illustrious Busan University, all before she even debuted as an idol. Clearly, she put education first before pursuing her dreams of being a star, which is something to appreciate.
2. Hani – EXID
I think everytime people talk about Hani, it’s because of her amazing stage presence. Which makes sense, considering her fancams going viral is what saved EXID from obscurity. But what many people don’t know is how genuinely intelligent Hani is. The girl has an IQ of 146, which is insane. She aced her TOEIC examination with 90 points to spare, despite studying for only a couple of months. On top of that, she’s also well versed in 4 languages!
1. Wendy – Red Velvet
Would I be wrong to say Wendy from Red Velvet is the smartest on this list? Well, I’m not going to pit amazing women against other amazing women, but Wendy is really, really smart. An honor student and an athlete, Wendy is the other recipient of the Obama Presidential Award on this list. It is said that she never got a grade lower than a B+, with an overall 3.93 GPA in high school. She even has her name engraved in her high school’s Hall Of Fame!
Of course, you can never measure smarts and intelligence from examinations alone. Some of the smartest people in the world never even completed university. Still, credit where credit is due for these lovely ladies that balanced both artistic endeavors and academics, at the same time!!
What do you think?
It is nice to know your opinion. Leave a comment.