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

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.)

Quote from nevermindmejin

“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.”

This is interesting.

How about during Spice Girl and 1D? Did they call it the British Invasion too?

Not as extensive as the first Invasion.

Quote from Poetry

The British Invasion didn't have to deal with racism and a pandemic which is thought to have originated in Asia.

Still the Koreans could have distanced themselves from the Chinese, but the companies didn't want to lose the revenues from China

Quote from KpopJop

good point, the British Invasion was whites on whites

tbqh I don’t know if an Invasion has ever really crossed racial lines. If we take the example of hip hop, it became a worldwide thing after literal decades of being ignored and pushed back, even though the potential was always there. With reggaeton though you could make an argument that it has reached the west in a rapid timeframe across racial lines, but idk if the crossover is complete

Also don’t forget that there wasn’t that much of a genre shift for Americans listening to British pop in the 60’s. Kpop the way it is, is miles from Anglo chart music. Let’s not forget the language barrier too

Still a fun read!

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The origins of what we call KPop ultimately comes from the shows Koreans performed for the US troop stationed there in the 1960s. So, it kind of exudes old style , pre-beatles music, although laced with modern influences.

Raggaeton did become a permanent presence so i think it did cross the racial lines.

KPop largely abandoned the Korean lyrics and adopted words which can be mostly understood anywhere on earth. Weakening the language barrier significantly, something the person on the left of this post tried to prevent for all her life.

Quote from z1

Did you major in literature or what

I just read a lot of literature.

Quote from Amsuej66

*After BTS*: every rookie groups are getting international record label deals from debut.

Some random people: no no. BTS didn't do enough.

They could have raked at least a few hundred million if Mr Bang sent them to USA to do concerts when it opened up in the spring of 2021