Hannibal vs Scipio, Napoleon vs Wellington , BTS vs Iu.

In the famous Asian tale of Romance of Three Kingdoms, the warlord Cao Cao controlled most of China, but he was never really able to defeat Liu Bei, a minor warlord who started with nothing. Liu Bei's only claim was he had a (very, very distant) lineage to the Imperial Line, but Liu Bei basically did everything Cao Cao didn't (Cao Cao was domineering and strict, and Liu Bei did the opposite - whatever Cao did, Bei did the opposite) and although Bei never really became stronger than Cao , they are considered rivals to this day.

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Hannibal vs. Scipio and Napoleon vs. Wellington are topics which are still being talked to this day.

The various KPop rivalries which got the attention of the people of the world also deserve to be remembered as such.

I have argued for years that in the end, history will record that IU, not EXO, BlackPInk, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd or Adele, was BTS' greatest rival.

BTS

Conquered the world

Eventually switched to English lyrics

7 Korean men - a group

Emphasized dance and performance

Had a distinct worldview (although later weakened)

Sold millions of albums

Not the owner of their company, having to answer to Mr. Bang

IU

Remained in Korea

Did not give up using Korean lyrics

1 Korean woman -a soloist

Did not emphasize dance and performance

Did not have distinct worldview (although later began to develop it).

Sold around 150,000 albums until the last one

Was the owner of her company at the height of her fight against BTS, answering only to herself

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Rivals are formed because they are polar opposites. BlackPink falls short as BTS' rivals because BlackPink did not fight BTS during the latter's height, no matter what reason is offered.

IU did fight BTS during the latter's height, and actually succeeded wresting Korea from it, BTS' first loss since its loss to IU's Autumn morning in Sep 2017. I have said a few times that if the giants of pop around the world gave her some more support the whole situation might have been overturned.

One might argue that Vo Nguyen Giap is not a rival of William Westmoreland because Giap did not march his PAVN (North Vietnamese Army) across the Pennsylvania avenue in Washington D.C. But Giap's aim was to remove Americans from South Vietnam, not to conquer USA.

So, although IU's reputation mostly remained in Korea and she did not make a significant inroads into the pop of other countries and mostly remained somewhat influential only in Asia, because BTS could never really conquer IU she does qualify as BTS' greatest rival as the one act it could not subdue.

Quote from bbgc

Liu Bei.. is immaterial.. the true hero is Zhuge Liang.

Again you are giving a hidden compliment that "IU is the Zhuge Liang of Kpop".. so nice.

But why are you leaving the story half way,

Eventually Cao Caos fell to the Simas and ZL(Liu Bei) ran out of resources, and Simas were left ruling the 3 kingdoms, but for a short span.

So if BTS is Cao Wei, IU is Shu Han, BP is Eastern Wu - then someone has to first capture BTS from inside - Enhyphen/Txt?, then push IU out with a "honourable retirement" and then devastate BP.

That is a better analogy than Hannibal/Scipio or Napoleon/Wellington.

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If there is a ZL it might be Jehwi or Lee Jonghoon, Lee Jieun's composers. But unlike ZL, IU was a monarch , the owner of Edam Entertainment, so LB is the better analogy.

Two members of txt went to IU's concert and another, Huening Kai (whose younger sister Bahiyyih is a fan of Lee Jieun) paid a tribute so txt won't destroy IU.

IU had some role on the formation of Enhypen by singing the signal song of i-Land, which every contestant sang at the end of the show

so they already paid filial duty to er.

Maybe The Kid Laroi, Hybe but not Korean, might challenge and defeat her but that will be some time away.

Quote from bbgc

Suga is like Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, he betrayed BTS, when he decided to work with IU - right WhyKnock ?

I compared Bernadotte to VIVIZ which was part of Hybe . (They did attend IU's concert.)

But it is true that Eight became a yoke to BTS. IU clearly intended to call Suga in the last concert, using Eight as the title song, but that did not materialize so it was not a full conversion

Quote from bbgc

So GFriend got kicked out because of their allegiance to IU bei.

Suga is vacillating,

Now Easter Wu Jennie is 'trapping' a Cao general V.

Cao is indeed in trouble.

History does not repeat but it does rhyme.

KPop is a world event, and in time the historians will rewrite this as the Game of Thrones, with the person on the left of this post to be portrayed as a strange creature (normally a human but..) who did indeed live for 1,340+ years.

Quote from paradis

You definitely are a professor of history, aren't you?

I just love history, that's all.

And KPop is a historical event.