Is Korea relevant to KPop ? No more.

  • BTS' forced military service will probably make a lot of companies change their focuses.


    I have advocated KPop saying goodbye to K-O-R-E-A for quite a while, and it is likely that companies will develop more local acts in other countries in KPop style, never letting them set foot in Korea again and if they see any trainees like GDragon who might have talents, they will move such talents away from Korea before debut, get a citizenship or so from another country, and will operate them as someone belonging to another country.


    With Korea's declining populatRhion, it is no longer viable to use Korea as a base. These acts might visit Korea to get training and so but they can choose to debut in some other country and keep out of Korea's hand.


    The K-O-R-E-A-N men brought this to themselves. There will be KPop idols in the future, but they won't be 'Korean' anymore. (Female idols are another issue, but most of the bigger girl groups depend on foreign members anyways. Gidle already has a foreign majority. That will be the trend.)


    If Korea treats KPop acts like shit, companies will vote with their feet. In time there will be 'KPop' idols who never really saw K-O-R-E-A but that has to be accepted.

  • Kpop cannot exist without Korea.


    It's become much more international focused, and specifically expanded outside Asia.


    But it can never be unmoored from Korea.


    It is part and parcel with the entire thrust of Hallyu.


    Korea is intrinsic to its being.


    The zeitgeist and its focal point on Korea Proper may wax and wane. (We're perhaps in a waning at the moment.)


    But the untethering of that link would be definition be it's destruction.


    It would be kpop no more. An empty ship at sea.

  • Lol what are you talking about, each and every idol will kill to be relevant in Korea regardless of their international popularity. Korea is imp for kpop.

  • If you see Korea as only a consumer of kpop, then I can start to understand some of your take


    But by ignoring Korea (the culture, the infrastructure, the media, the talent, the national identity) as a PRODUCER of kpop, you commit a grievous error. The Koreanness is part of its international AND national appeal. Severing that without intelligence and foresight is a breeding ground for controversy and failure.

  • I will never say korea is irrelevant to kpop it will always be relevant even as acts veer more and more international since that's where the money lies...

  • We're seeing a renaissance in Kpop actually with the sacrifice that Izone made last year.


    Next Level's shocking rise to national hit status, the unleashing of Izone's daughter groups, and the end of BTS have marked a transition to a new Golden Age of Kpop.


    The 4.5 generation is upon us. Prepare to see the new Holy Octuplet dominate the Korean music scene until 2025 when the Fifth Gen begins.


    Ive, Lesserafim, Gidle, Itzy, Aespa, StayC, Newbeans, and NMIXX.

      

  • Kpop is most relevant to SK. That doesn’t mean that a Global act can’t come from SK. A global act doesn’t need SK. If they dominate in most of the top ten music markets in the world then SK becomes irrelevant. BTS is the only Korean act in history that has a chance at this. SK seems determined to sabotage that though so we will see what happens after enlistment.


    For all the SK Incels: Let me put it this way. SK has a chance to have their own Cristiano Reynaldo but it’s more important to send him into the military just as he was peaking.

  • Or, transforming into something else. Someone will name it, like Meta-KPop.


    Very few Korean composers are used and the Korean lyricists just add some icing on the cake in songs mostly sung in English. Otherwise, the best lyricist of Korean Pop, whose face graces the left of this post, will have more demand just on lyrics but except for a few vocalists few KPop company asked her to give lyrics since her lyrics, mostly conveying Korean ethos, are largely useless in the world setting.

  • Lol what are you talking about, each and every idol will kill to be relevant in Korea regardless of their international popularity. Korea is imp for kpop.

    Not any more with declining population and older people leaning toward trot. There will be fewer and fewer younger pop in Korea to support Kpop for too long

  • I think it is, but savvy agencies don't have to depend as much on a SK-audience for profit.

    Yes the game has changed.


    Boy groups have a lot lower digital points in Korea. In other words they have mostly given up Korean audience and rely on foreign fans.


    Girl Groups have some way to go, but the transformation has already occurred

  • Kpop is most relevant to SK. That doesn’t mean that a Global act can’t come from SK. A global act doesn’t need SK. If they dominate in most of the top ten music markets in the world then SK becomes irrelevant. BTS is the only Korean act in history that has a chance at this. SK seems determined to sabotage that though so we will see what happens after enlistment.


    For all the SK Incels: Let me put it this way. SK has a chance to have their own Cristiano Reynaldo but it’s more important to send him into the military just as he was peaking.

    That's why Korea will be largely abandoned by the henceforth KPop companies, who will use their formula to develop other stars like JYP in Japan developing NiziU.

  • I will never say korea is irrelevant to kpop it will always be relevant even as acts veer more and more international since that's where the money lies...

    As K-O-R-E-A's younger pop declines, it will become less relevant every year

  • You realize this is the doing of your lord and savior IU, right? You've long prophesied that she would destroy Korea and now the day is upon us! Melon charts will be useless. Naver will sink to the bottomless pits of the darkweb. Kakao will be bought out by Weibo. Offer IU a tribute of many more allkills and perhaps some of us will be saved!

  • You realize this is the doing of your lord and savior IU, right? You've long prophesied that she would destroy Korea and now the day is upon us! Melon charts will be useless. Naver will sink to the bottomless pits of the darkweb. Kakao will be bought out by Weibo. Offer IU a tribute of many more allkills and perhaps some of us will be saved!

    She gave some people of Korea the false impression that Korea does not need KPop.


    Melon Charts are now the hunting grounds of girl groups, the boy groups given up on it


    Which means allkills will become meaningless as well.

  • You again make the classic mistake of considering only the top 1% of the acts or exceptions like DreamCatcher, KARD.. which have achieved success beyond Korea, so can afford to reduce focus on Korea. But the rest 90-99% have to cater to Korea first.

    So Korea will continue to be the eco-system for new acts to rise.


    If Korea becomes irrelevant to Kpop, then it will be just 'pop' and cease to be Kpop.

    The korean association will be needed to sell the act as Kpop.

  • Moderator

    Moved the thread from forum KPOP to forum KPOP.

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