BTS on hiatus means death of kpop wave in the west?

  • Let's be real kpop is in a bind. It's not growing beyond its pre-existing niche and in fact I think it's actually shrinking. BTS as solo artists will do different things, tap into different audiences and will do things that might set them too apart from the idol industry that the industry might not be able to keep up. Look at Jhope's solo. I don't think the goal there is mainstream success.


    Remember the KSA president's letter? That so called reputed critic who was shading BTS for not being grateful to the industry and criticizing them? Lamenting their "lack of consideration" for the industry? The idol industry desperate to become successful in America. Has always been. BTS's name gave the genre weight and the narrative kpop is growing some power. But now what?


    I do not think they are growing much in Asia too. Japan seems resistant largely. Groups do well enough for a narrative but not THAT well. Chinese market is becoming more resistant too and it's hard for korean artists to navigate the landscape there. South East Asia has always been a consumer but I feel like kpop has maximized their audience there and it's stable.


    Groups who are already established are doing well like Twice, BP, etc. But why does it seem that the newer groups (4th gen and beyond) aren't gaining new fans? If people are checking them out it's the pre-existing fans in the kpop community. SKZ went #1 on Billboard but why do I not see anybody talking about them? Where are the fans? Where are the articles?


    Now ofcourse I also understand not every artist wants a break out and that should not be a standard but talking about the industry (you know folks like the singers associations, critics, journalists, executives) they are desperate to push a narrative. It's a business and I wanna see how they do in future.


    Edit: I am talking about music solely. Movies and dramas are a wider conversation and maybe we can talk about them later.

  • quantumphysics

    Changed the title of the thread from “BTS on hiatus means death of hallyu wave in the west?” to “BTS on hiatus means death of kpop wave in the west?”.
  • There was never a K-pop wave in the West.


    K-pop is an industry like say Hollywood and not a distinctive genre to have waves.

    The distinction is just Korean association, and that's not enough.


    So each groups success is its own, nobody is paving the way for another, because nobody can ride on the success of the earlier group.


    But your are correct in the sense that BTS had caught the fancy of Western audience to the best extent and that's lost now.

    The solo work will not have as much traction as the group did.


    BTS or no BTS, it is upto each company to build the brand.

    BTS only proved that this extent of success is possible for Korea based groups.


    So there was a BTS wave, and BP wave in the West, but not a K-pop wave.

  • this is like so opposite of what bts are trying to do lmao

    they are literally adding the bts tag to their solo collabs

    they are trying their best to balance out their grp and solo activities


    and kpop will be just fine, i don't think anyone is expecting a bts kind of performance from any of the current grps

    u talked about skz but then expected a bts kind of buzz around their number 1 on bb

    i think its time ppl accept bts are most likely an outlier

  • I expect Momoland to appear on the Tonight Show any day now! Do not despair! :pepe-clown-gear:

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  • I don't think BTS wants that tbh. They seem pressured by the commotion around them and just want to do their own thing for sometime. Ofcourse it's not a disbandment but still a huge change and as we can see by the reception in the industry folks over there are startled and wary.


    It's not an attack on SKZ. I am merely asking why is the industry which badly needs a new face to carry it right now is not scrambling behind them with a lot more push?

  • I am merely asking why is the industry which badly needs a new face to carry it right now is not scrambling behind them with a lot more push?

    but its not the industry that pushes...its not the industry that pushed bts, its the fans

    and for any asian act to make it big in the west, its the fans who have to push

    its pretty obvious that US labels donot care and korean labels dont have enough resources to make a big push

  • just because bts is on hiatus doesn't mean the millions of international fans now will just disappear :miyeon-nod:

  • also I just came from an SKZ concert in U.S chicago, 20k plus people filled out the entire arena. The fans are def coming and coming, new ones plenty.

    :cheer-bunny:

    spice why are you taking refuge in main2x

    come back to guild chat 2x


    @ultraaviolet

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    let us gather around for the lord’s prayer:

    Nævis we love you. You are the one who protected me when i was in trouble. MY victory, one SYNK DIVE. I know your sacrifices. Let’s meet surely after the resurrection.

    Æmen

    :pepe-pray:

  • but its not the industry that pushes...its not the industry that pushed bts, its the fans

    and for any asian act to make it big in the west, its the fans who have to push

    its pretty obvious that US labels donot care and korean labels dont have enough resources to make a big push

    Good point. US sees kpop as a means to tap into a new market and the social capital it brings in the form of engagements. They are not interested in artist development so the success of an asian artist will always have to be fan driven there.

  • guessing you missed the day and week fandoms did a temporary get together to create a top trending hashtag on twitter to call it a scam and drag SKZ through fifth because they were that bitter, it was discussed, a lot by fans and non-fans. Well after as well. We posted multiple threads on here with articles.

    I hope that clears things up if you didn't witness yourself.

    Billboard even had a twitter space interview with the group about it, to also call out the people crying about the "cheating". I can link that thread. We listened to it live on main!

    I was there. I am talking about the following weeks when it seemed everyone just moved on. BTS and Blackpink generated interest in a way they kept people talking even when they were not doing anything. I do not see that happen with any other group and knowing how heavily dependent the industry is on engagement it's baffling and worrying for the industry POV.

  • I do not think these people are really interested in kpop in a tangible way.

    idk, i've been hearing a lot of concerts selling out in US, and tons of people going.

    bts was huge, and there will def be a difference, but saying that kpop will die out seems like a strech, especially with the growing success with other artists. just because because bts is on a pause, doesn't mean anything else will. not every fan only follows bts, there's still a lot to look forward to for groups and fans.


    if kpop dies out, then it would take a long long time for a large percentage of fans to lose interest. kpop caters to international fans a lot more now, and makes it more accessible for them to enjoy other artists a lot more easily even if its not in person. kpop really, really grew over covid with the help of online contests.


    although bts has a lot of fans, i think its not a fair evaluation to assume that there aren't other groups that fans can be just as invested in.

  • even if it "dies out" its built a pretty solid core international fandom if that makes sense :pepepizza:



    im lacking sleep bye

    LAFBL0s.gif

    let us gather around for the lord’s prayer:

    Nævis we love you. You are the one who protected me when i was in trouble. MY victory, one SYNK DIVE. I know your sacrifices. Let’s meet surely after the resurrection.

    Æmen

    :pepe-pray:

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