KPop companies' overcautiousness in 2021 really hurt KPop's long term prospects - instead of a repeat of the "British Invasion" it went nowhere.

But kpop is still a niche and that's what forced bts to break the language barrier to achieve their goals. The language barrier is hard to overcome for kpop companies.

2021 was great. Much better than 2020 with all the bullying and scandals.

Be thankfull for what you get instead of complain about something that never happen.

Quote from WhyKnock

Granted, the pandemic was at its height in 2021.

However, by the end of the year it was receding and concerts were being held around the world, although it was not easy to leave a country when it was in

Both BTS and BlackPink did not release a proper album on that year. BTS released a few digital singles and BlackPink had two individual solo albums, but they were still short of expectation.

Meanwhile people like Olivia Rodrigo did rise and began to challenge the order a lot.

BlackPink's weaker showing is not because of bad marketing or higher album prices . A lot of people who were tired of waiting moved on to other acts, which is why its showing is not as strong as expected.

A worldwide BTS-BlackPink rivalry with a life-or-death struggle between them seen around the world, and newer acts taking sides in this titanic struggle felt around the globe, would really have cemented KPop's position , somewhat like the British Invasion of 1960s.

The British Invasion was not just the Beatles. The major acts included Rolling Stones, Animals, Kinks, Cream and The Who; and there were plenty of other acts which were a bit less prominent but still well known.

The Americans could not strike back. A less well known singer, Robert Zimmerman, met the Beatles and found he had no chance winning in rock , so he became a folk balladist, taking the name Bob Dylan (after the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas). Only girl groups like Diana Ross and the Supremes (acts belonging to the British invasion were all male) and some psychedelic style of music like Janis Joplin remained in USA until Beatles disbanded and the Invasion largely ended.

Again, I think the KPop companies located in K-O-R-E-A limited their thinking.

When USA began to open concerts, I think the companies with US ambition should have moved their acts to USA immediately and do promotions there, instead of wasting a full year in K-O-R-E-A.

I think it would have broken the back of pop in other genres, and the Korean Invasion, led by BTS, would have lasted until around 2027.

The Great KPop Era already seems to be ending. It will remain to some degree but its chance of dominating the entire world for years appears to have passed.

The company owners were too overcautious. Caring about the K-O-R-E-A-N opinion. Listening to the demands of the K-O-R-E-A-N fans who demanded no promotion outside of the country before they were served first. Showing how much a drag K-O-R-E-A was for the growth of KPop. I don't think the people of England behaved like that when their best acts were conquering the world.

(The tale of IU inserting herself as the chief nemesis of BTS, instead of BlackPink, is worth its own essay and won't be mentioned here.)

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As a Korean. I'll explain some of the reasoning behind the caution. First is cultural, everyone was and is following the societal norm of the time, when covid hit we made quite alot of strict requirements, which made concerts etc either impossible or heavily restricted. The same thing was true regarding covid infection. Most agencies could not afford to have an idol sick because that lost them too much money. If they are kept mostly isolated they can still make money selling CDs and doing online concerts.

Them going overseas to do a concert was too risky for what if xyz didn't catch on or the local government in xyz location changed its COVID policy. Which has happened before ie= stray kids had multiple USA concerts rescheduled due to covid changes. Plus the increased chance of getting sick overseas and then the mandatory 2 week quarantine when they return to Korea regardless of being positive or not. With all that being the issue is why nobody made a move not even hybe or bts tried anything because at the time shit was too dangerous or uncertain if not both.

Hindsight is always 20/20 nobody could have known during that time, that the current covid situation wasn't going to be as serious as previously projected

Quote from kazuyakamenashi

As a Korean. I'll explain some of the reasoning behind the caution. First is cultural, everyone was and is following the societal norm of the time, when covid hit we made quite alot of strict requirements, which made concerts etc either impossible or heavily restricted. The same thing was true regarding covid infection. Most agencies could not afford to have an idol sick because that lost them too much money. If they are kept mostly isolated they can still make money selling CDs and doing online concerts.

Them going overseas to do a concert was too risky for what if xyz didn't catch on or the local government in xyz location changed its COVID policy. Which has happened before ie= stray kids had multiple USA concerts rescheduled due to covid changes. Plus the increased chance of getting sick overseas and then the mandatory 2 week quarantine when they return to Korea regardless of being positive or not. With all that being the issue is why nobody made a move not even hybe or bts tried anything because at the time shit was too dangerous or uncertain if not both.

Hindsight is always 20/20 nobody could have known during that time, that the current covid situation wasn't going to be as serious as previously projected

"As a Korean"?

You are on WhyKnock thread, don't you know what his theme is...here let me help you

"Koreans don't deserve K-pop",

They are keeping a boring folk-ballad singer, singing self-written poignant Korean poetry, to dominate their digital charts for a decade now, instead of supporting the industrial bop producers singing English mish-mashed sounds set to upbeat dancefloor music, who are out to conquer the world for Korea.

That is a sin and Koreans are an embarrassment to K-pop.

And now you are telling him that in addition to IU, they are letting a minor inconvenience like the pandemic, a further excuse to have not conquered the world?

Tsk.. tsk..