The Battle between the 2nd and 4th Generations is now around the corner

After Mao Zedong died, his third wife Jiang Qing, along with her three minions, took over China in late 1976. They were called the Gang of Four, since they were from Shanghai and their way of operation was similar to gang operations. (Shanghai was famous for its gangsters in the 1930s.)

After Mao's death, Jiang Qing was the highest in the party ranking, so by default, she became the ruler of China. She quickly began to remove her many enemies.

Other party leaders and the military could not tolerate Jiang's antics, while Jiang, having become the de facto leader of China, became a bit lax. One month after Mao's death, the generals launched a coup, and arrested Jiang and her three minions, who were caught by surprise and could not summon their forces.

After that they purged Shanghai, the power base of the Gang of Four, and the Gang was never heard again.

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With both BTS and BlackPink effectively inactive, the spectre of the Senior Singer is growing much larger than it seemed earlier this year.

The 3rd Gen truly dominated, but the failure to extinguish the last of the 2nd Generation is going to hurt a lot.

As the 4th Gen KPop grows without a clear leader, with Newjeans not being the type to dominate the scene, they will all defer to the Senior Singer who will be the final authority in Koran Pop, whether you like it or not.

Akmu's return to the #1 position in Melon, removing Jungkook, shows an ominous sign that the Korean public never really gave up the older style of music and if there is a passable song they will return to their old ways.

Meanwhile, IU, who by default became the #1 singer of Korean Pop because both BTS and BlackPink became inactive

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Top singers and actors in the 2022 Korean Wave survey by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

SINGERS
1 BTS
2 BLACKPINK
3 IU
4 Lisa
5 Psy, TWICE
7 EXO
8 BIGBANG
9 SNSD
10 G-Dragon






ACTORS
1 Lee Min Ho
2 Hyun Bin
3 Gong Yoo
4 Song Hye Kyo
5 Song Joong Ki
6 Lee Jong Suk
7 Jun Ji Hyun, Lee Ji Eun (IU)
9 Jung Ho Yeon
10 Kim Soo Hyun



The gap between BTS and everyone else and congrats to IU for making it onto both lists

Individual country breakdowns for singers:

The US
BTS - 29.6%
Blackpink - 5.6%
IU, Psy, Twice - 2.2%

Japan
BTS - 29.8%
Twice - 10.3%
Blackpink - 2.8%

The UK
BTS - 21.8%
Psy - 4.7%
Blackpink - 2.4%

Vietnam
…

pchromo4

Feb 14th 2022

1 BTS

2 BLACKPINK

3 IU

4 Lisa

5 Psy, TWICE

IU had a strong rally with her followers in the Gymnastics arena, singing her songs which were rarely performed in her concerts. That showed she was at least strong among the Koreans, and having been emboldened, she said she will release something soon and also do a tour, although she was skimpy on the details.

It seems after the 3rd Generation has left the building, the 2nd Gen, led by IU and Akmu, is now launching a comeback bid.

Who would have expected that the two giants of KPop would no longer be available, and a lifelong enemy of KPop, who spent her entire life undermining KPop's worldwide success, to reach the top position of Korean Pop, after all these years, with the newer generation unprepared to deal with this challenge?

It again comes down to the young king and his Dowager Queen, who is the young king's mortal enemy but he has to pay Filial Duty to her because in a Confucian ideology she is technically his Grandmother even though she has nothing to do with the king - her only claim to fame was the King's grandfather took her as a trophy wife some time ago.

A resurgent 2nd Generation, with its chief singer hell bent on destroying KPop and making everything to return to the 1990s when things like singing ability and rhythm were emphasized, fighting against a disjointed, less experienced 4th Gen without a clear leader to oppose someone who is known to have battled KPop's top acts (SNSD, EXO, BTS) and mostly won, would be a very interesting sight.

It seems Akmu's success emboldened the former owner of Edam , who might have thought that her days were over after the 4th Gen acts dominated melon , but having seen Akmu's success, deciding she has a chance to wrest the control of Kpop from the 4th Gen acts, snatching victory from the very jaws of defeat.

It almost looks like the Providence is giving her one final chance to destroy Kpop, with a very favorable strategic situation where there seems to be no acts which can stop her bid to return to the top of the heap.

Will the KPop gods have some mercy on KPop? Or Not? We will probably learn in late Nov.

Quote from xx-jenn-xx

tldr stan 2nd gen leaders Infinite, Highlight and SHINee

They will also join when IU and Akmu defeat 4th Generation acts.

Quote from Catgirl

idk as long as red velvet and twice dont disband

They will mostly concentrate on the overseas, and now Red Velvet is under Kakao and its operations can be controlled. I can imagine all of them showing up in Palette sooner or later.

Quote from oneinamiyeon

Jiang Qing was a real one, even after being imprisoned, beaten and tortured, she remained defiant 'til the end.

What she lacked was enough paranoia to keep her safe and see her through the completion of the purge and consolidation of power. She also lacked an advisor like Zhou Enlai.

Jiang Qing's was ousted by a group led by Hua Guofeng. But Hua himself didn't last long as he was replaced by Deng Xiaoping - who had the benefit of the advice and support of Zhou Enlai.

Zhou Enlai, a counterbalance working behind the scenes to quietly moderate Mao's reckless and radical initiatives such as the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, is said to be responsible for preventing the gov't from collapsing during those periods. Kissinger described him as "one of the two or three most impressive men I have ever met." A master diplomat, he once was held at gunpoint by officers belonging to political opposition, talked himself out of being killed, and proceeded to walk home safely.

NewJeans could possibly be more analogous to Deng, with Min Hee Jin working her magic behind the scenes and supporting their moves like Zhou Enlai. In fact, Mao viewed Zhou as a threat and publicly attacked Zhou before they met. It was only after Zhou's version of appearing on Palette to pledge filial piety did Mao accept him and did Zhou rise to power as Premier while Mao was Chairman.

And just like Deng received credit for enacting successful economic policies that Zhou initially proposed, NewJeans might also one day receive the credit for successfully rejuvenating Kpop and taking it in a new direction.

Of course, the Senior Singer could have some tricks up her sleeve yet. And she could just have been humoring the young grasshoppers' display of filial piety. "Within her smile was hidden the dagger" as the Chinese idiom goes.

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Zhou Enlai had died before Mao died. It was the generals Ye Jianying and Wang Dongxing, a minion of Hua, who launched the coup, with Hua mostly tagging along. Hua was a good figurehead, being a nobody, and didn't do too much himself which is why he was pushed out so easily later.

That aside, IU is comparable to all these crafty figures of history, ahd she has already survived the rules of SNSD, EXO and BTS. She will probably enter world history books since KPop will have a place in the world history; she basically is her own advisor, plus she does have the backings of the industry insiders who don't want foreign elements to dominate Kpop. Her old friendship with Shinee, especially the late Jonghyun, did pay off.

It seems removing Akmu, who has become the Senior Act in YG since GDragon has mostly retired from performing, is the key for ending IU's power since AKMU represents a strong portion of her force now. Baemon has to express that they don't like AKMU and wants it out of YG. If Baemon pays Filial Duty to the Senior Singer, then it is over.

Quote from BEG4DAWIN

Apink will be queens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quite possible. The ethos is now turning around

Quote from Jasque-O-Part2

The singer that can't fill a stadium, TSTCFAS, now will reign alone at the top

And reverse all the accomplishments of Kpop and make it domestic again

Quote from pwswan

And if Baemon goes the way of MixNine or JYP's Loud group?

Then no changes from the current picture which is favorable for IU and akmu

Quote from selfmate

but but I thought the 5th gen is incoming and will blow the rest of these oldies and newbies out of the water!!!

5th Gen won't arrive till around 2027-28, 4th Gen began on around 2021 so it will take a while before 5Gen becomes relevant