I see the entire KPop enterprise as a war against the Established Pop Culture, let it the Anglo-American or whatever you feel like.
The 3rd Gen reached the farthest , even toppling the entire Status Quo of Pop Culture during 2020-2021.
However, it is over. It has ended.
Some people cling on to the idea of "Yet to Come" . I won't argue other points, but will only argue that one.
First of all, the stranglehold BTS had on almost every other acts on earth is now gone, as seen in the resurgence of Taylor Swift, who had been defensive when BTS was conquering the world but is back to power.
And the world tour of Harry Styles, who is now busy trying to recapture the world to the Establishment, with no counters from KPop.
BlackPink's fame was great but it did arena tours in most countries. Not worldwide stadium tours; even in K-O-R-E-A it began with a disadvantage against a certain domestic singer.
BTS' empire is already crumbling like Alexander the Great's Empire after the conqueror died.
The key point of BTS' rise was giving the younger generation some kind of hope and self-importance by telling them to love themselves. Whether people like or not, the covid lockdowns did help BTS' fame to rise this high with other acts not really being able to do anything against it, and it conquered countries after countries at a ridiculous ease.
With them not being able to do anything, the countries they had conquered would be reconquered by their original acts in a matter of time.
Repeat watching of these clips eventually gets old. Which is why I say the half life of BTS' domination is around 1 year. By end of 2024 only around 25%, probably less, of BTS' aggregate fans will remain.
Plus a key factor is the Jungkook does not look like he will want to finish his military service by 2025.
He appears to have some ambition to strike on his own. The 2027 contract end date takes the military services into account, so which means Jungkook's contract will end in 2025, instead of 2027.
Even if he chooses to extend the contract till 2027 with other members, which I don't think will happen, foreign tour schedules will be restricted because of the laws of Korea restricting foreign promotion of military age idols.
So any reunion on 2025 would be just temporary. If lucky, 2 more years. But more likely 2025 only.
Third, after almost 3 years of operating separately, would they want to reunite? Even if that happens, it will be probably temporary.
Fourth, although some of the fanbase will remain and some of those who left will return temporarily if they make their comeback after 5 years of no real albums, times would have changed and the act who would be #1 by then would probably reflect the realities of 2025 better than BTS, who is tied to the covid epidemic which people will completely want to forget by that point of time.
Fifth, the effect of the worldwide domination (164 awards, 121 from outside of Korea) which made every act on earth fear BTS would be gone. It would be just another act fighting for the domination of world, and whoever in power by that time would not be too afraid of it, especially when by 2025 its average age would be more than 30.
Some people think BTS will be able to maintain enough fanbase to tour for a long time like Rolling Stones. Well, Rolling Stones will go on as long as Mick Jagger is around, and I have studied its history. Only Mick and Keith Richards are original members; the late Charlie Watts stayed with the group for 59 years, but he is NOT an original member, joining one year after the group began; and Ronnie Wood, the current remaining member, dates from 1976, 14 year after the band began.
BTS being a dance, trendy group, it is hard to imagine that the ethos of 2025 would be the same as 2022 to maintain them at their halcyon level. Especially when it will have to take another hiatus no later than 2028 because of Jungkook's military services.
Reality is harsh. Yes, BTS might recapture some of its glory on 2025. But it dictating the world opinion back in 2020-21 is unlikely to be repeated.
Es una lastima
Also you have to put up with everyone listening to that crap on their phones on the street WITHOUT earbuds. The world has certainly gone downhill after the pandemic IMO.
I miss the days when music like that was popular.
