Blackpink, Twice and BTS really changed the game for the 4th generation.

Quote from Afriyieau1

In the western market, that’s totally true

As a Westerner, the first time I became aware of Kpop was Psy (as a one hit wonder that is not very representative of kpop) followed by the more accurate representation of kpop from Big Bang's 'Bang Bang Bang'. I quite liked the song and video, so it was the first time I got the hype that was just beginning to grow. Then Blackpink's 'Kill This Love' hooked me. YG seems to be the first to draw the attention of the West and normalize kpop. Not surprising, since Teddy is American.

No group alone "paved" the way for others, it's a lot of groups together, but of cource groups like Girls' Generation or Super Junior to name a few have bigger impact than some others. By the time groups like BTS. Twice and Blackpink debuted kpop was established by the earlier groups. The "3rd generation" is more or less more of the same, just on a bigger scale.

Do you know what the "game changer" was?

Internet, Youtube and Social media.
That is what made kpop possible to grow to what it is today. That is also why is a bit meaninless to compare groups from the early years with groups today. Today pretty much every kid have internet on their phone and are able to stream their favorite arist non-stop for hours. How many had that possiblity during the first half of the "2nd generation"? Especially in the important south asian market the access to internet have probably exploded the last ten years or so.

Quote from BRIYANI

I will go ahead and say BTS indeed did open the (physical)market for kpop in many countries. The reason why many US stores sell kpop albums now is bcos of them

People aren't ready for that discussion. Like physical sales were decreasing all over the world while in kpop it skyrocketed after BTS went big.

Some people might have an argument for exo, let's be honest they were releasing an album in 2 languages and making repacks in both languages to get their million seller title. In gaon, not a single exo album reached 500k before 2016 (480k was their best number). In 2016, when BTS reached 750k with wings, this was the first time exo themselves broke the 500k milestones. From that point on, the sales started increaseing with BTS at the forefront.

2016 #1 wings (750k)

2017 #1 her (1.5M), #2 war (950k), #3 ynwa (770k) #4 w1 (750k)

To this day, this is the biggest jump in gaon yearly chart.

P. S: Used exo for reference. No shade. If you disagree, feel free to correct me.

Quote from Wench

They may not be on BTS or BP's level but it's amazing what TWICE have done with a decidedly NOT western friendly concept The success is so much sweeter with a song like The Feels rather than if they chose ie Cry For Me as their promoted English single.

Bruh why are you doing this

As usual military being blind here lol

With or without bts, blackpink is destined to hit Global

Quote from Afriyieau1

Facts! When we say paving the way, we mean breaking physical barriers like this which changed the whole game. And rather not taking random photos with western celebrities

* There is a Kpop Category in American music award shows because BTS paved that way.

* BTS winning Billboard TSA allowed other Kpop fans to follow Army's lead on social media engagements for their faves.

* BTS charting high on Western music charts allowed other Kpop groups to want to do the same thing.

* BTS winning on American music shows has also now allowed other Kpop Groups the drive to also make that happen for them.

* American TV shows are now acknowledging the existence of Kpop. Kpop groups appeared on American shows before BTS, but the reception of the public to them as compared to now is world's apart.

* BTS getting twice nominated for Grammy has now become a dream for other groups where no one dared to dream that at all, before BTS.

* A lot of groups now are aiming for international awards instead of Korean music show awards because of how BTS gained more western exposure and became more popular than ever.

Yes, BTS paved the way.

Quote from Dreamer95

Bruh why are you doing this

Doing WHAT

Quote from Wench

Doing WHAT

You know

SNSD changed the game for the whole of kpop

Quote from Afriyieau1

If 2nd generation indeed paved the way for BTS, then there should have been other groups succeeding before BTS happened

How does a nugu group with no connections and media hype end up beating all other groups from the big companies to succeed there??

And also I’ll always say this. Just because you do something first does not translate into paving the way. To pave the way is to make it easier for something else to succeed after you. If anything, 2nd generation made it harder for BTS to break down the barriers in the west looking at all the stereotypes they built up against them. 2nd generation didn’t make it easier for BTS at all and I stand by that.

BTS success in the US is because of armys and armys alone. Armys were the ones to promote BTS to the general public. Same ones to get US retailers to start stocking BTS albums and the same ones sending gifts to radio stations to get BTS songs played. Even got billboards to announce and promote BTS comebacks. Kpop didn’t do shit for BTS. There were old threads on the old akp sites that got revived after BTS Grammy nomination. 2nd Gen stans were in the thread mocking BTS and talking about the fact that their highly successful faves couldn’t even break the western market, nugu BTS was bound to fail and armys will soon be humbled chasing western validation. See how that worked for them. Now that BTS is highly successful they want their faves so badly to be included in their success. That’s why they started all that shit about their faves being the ones to pave the way for BTS. Mind you their same faves they called failures earlier. I even wonder how your faves pave a way they never walked on before

Anyways this “paved the way” discourse has been beaten to death. So many giant kpop personalities, articles from well established resources and Koreans themselves all admit BTS paved the way. I ain’t gonna bother with the opinions of kpop stans on akp who think otherwise

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Preach

Quote from Afriyieau1

If 2nd generation indeed paved the way for BTS, then there should have been other groups succeeding before BTS happened

How does a nugu group with no connections and media hype end up beating all other groups from the big companies to succeed there??

And also I’ll always say this. Just because you do something first does not translate into paving the way. To pave the way is to make it easier for something else to succeed after you. If anything, 2nd generation made it harder for BTS to break down the barriers in the west looking at all the stereotypes they built up against them. 2nd generation didn’t make it easier for BTS at all and I stand by that.

BTS success in the US is because of armys and armys alone. Armys were the ones to promote BTS to the general public. Same ones to get US retailers to start stocking BTS albums and the same ones sending gifts to radio stations to get BTS songs played. Even got billboards to announce and promote BTS comebacks. Kpop didn’t do shit for BTS. There were old threads on the old akp sites that got revived after BTS Grammy nomination. 2nd Gen stans were in the thread mocking BTS and talking about the fact that their highly successful faves couldn’t even break the western market, nugu BTS was bound to fail and armys will soon be humbled chasing western validation. See how that worked for them. Now that BTS is highly successful they want their faves so badly to be included in their success. That’s why they started all that shit about their faves being the ones to pave the way for BTS. Mind you their same faves they called failures earlier. I even wonder how your faves pave a way they never walked on before

Anyways this “paved the way” discourse has been beaten to death. So many giant kpop personalities, articles from well established resources and Koreans themselves all admit BTS paved the way. I ain’t gonna bother with the opinions of kpop stans on akp who think otherwise

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YEAH BABY!

My first thought...

When BB200 is now K-pop's playground, is definitely due to BTS.