Why don’t AKP kpop stans seem that interested in 5th gen girl groups?

jeanZ is coming to save 5th gen

5th gen just isn’t that interesting yet. Their songs are mediocre and the groups are mediocre as well.

It’ll probably be a couple of years before you see the 5th gen super stars.

Well... I am kinda interested in BEWAVE.

but maybe I should post more BEWAVE related stuff.

Am I the only o‍ne w‍ho's n‍ot convinced that the Fifth Generation has even started?

I’m interested in Kiss Of Life the best 5th gen gg

As the girl group aficionado and globally recognized expert on this forum, I feel obligated to weigh in on why the next generation of girl groups haven't made a significant impact on the industry yet.

I'll exercise brevity and try to be as concise and simple as possible.

When I think of the current crop of girl groups, I think of one word: derivative.

Yes, every generation of girl group, even as far back as first generation groups, are at least loosely inspired by a predecessor or pull from a formula or combination of formulas, but this generation has been the most formulaic of any generation.

One group was lambasted for sounding like a dated replica of a sound and group from two generations prior

Another group was at first mistaken for a peer group, due to their extreme similarities, and it was later exposed their entire concept was stolen from said peer.

And all the other groups, with a couple of noticeable exceptions, are trend chasing instead of trend setting

If you look at every top girl group from each era, they brought something new, or at least had a novel twist on a classic formula, and they set the trends of the generation.

GFRIEND was your typical cute and innocent girl group, but they differentiated themselves instantly with the knife-like precision of their choreography and powerful vocals.

Mamamoo really had no historical precedent for their combination of diverse concepts and incomparable talents. An idol group going on Immortal Song 2 and competing against the best vocalists in the country? Unheard of back then.

Red Velvet were even more experimental than f(x), often fluctuating between traditional upbeat bubblegum pop (Red) or a smooth, more subdued sound and aesthetic (Velvet).

I could do a similar short summary for every top girl group of each generation. For example, I don't even think I need to explain how NewJeans or IVE or GIDLE stand out so much, but for this generation so far?

Not really.

There is still time. SM's next girl group could change all of that, since they never ever miss with their girl groups, but so far, I haven't been blown away and that seems to be the consensus opinion so far.

1. I'm "Irene" years old and set in my ways. Breakthroughs either happen or they don't.

2. 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen still keep me well-fed, with 4th Gen sometimes entering heavy rotation.

That's pretty much it. #1 is especially important, because I don't typically seek out new groups. If Google Music throws a new song in my rotation, I might get into it, I might not. There are several GGs and female soloists that have been thrown into the radio mix that I've been like, Oh, I like that... but I'm still so focused on keeping up with 2, 3, and some of 4 that I put my "new artist discography deep dive" onto the backburner.

Also, I shouldn't have answered because I'm not a "stan," so I don't get too heavily involved in K-Pop spaces in the first place.

Maybe kpop just have peaked, maybe it's not harder than that. But it could also be that Twice and BP was/is so huge and dominant at their peak and they are still lingering in the background so it steals a bit of the space from newer groups. Feels a bit similar to the end of the 2nd generation before Twice and BP took off. They years 2013-2015 was not that hot and fun.

Quote from superyeah

For the longest time, AKP forum has been more about charts than music. It should be renamed to allkcharts.

These 5th gen groups aren’t coming anywhere close to the top groups of 4th gen, which I assume would be NewJeans, aespa, and (G)I-DLE, so a lot of AKP users aren’t interested.

Once a 5th-gen group gets a viral song going like “Cupid,” then they’ll hype the group up even if they didn’t care for the song in the first place.

So why don’t they stan illit ?

Outside of few groups like Rescene or KIOF none of them are interesting.

Because companies are still pushing 4th generation groups.

I don’t find their music interesting enough so far except for Kiss Of Life.

newjeans ruined ggs . specially those who debuted after their legendary 2022 debut. they are perfection, nobody is any near time could compare .

i think njs debut had such major impact on the gp, that now eveytime a new gg debuts, they get instantly compared to debut njs. and honestly, it's gonna be an impossible task to compet with that.

there may be better vocalist or better dancers or even very pretty girls out there, but they could never be njs. not necessarily identical but as impactful overall. the girls, their vocal colors, their personalities, their vibes, their concepts, their production, everything is top tier. nobody on the fifth gen that debuted after njs can take the spotlight on the scene right now because it's all over them still!

national ggs are actually not that common. the last real national gg was snsd, and it was almost a decade ago. many great groups got overshadowed by them at their peak.

also the market is so oversaturated i swear, that if you don't propose something unique and of very high quality, it's gonna be quite difficult to make a name. personally, i think kiof and meovv and to some extent fifty fifty have the most potential. it's just propably gonna take some time.

i don't even think we're yet in the 5th gen in 2024 anyway.

Quote from superyeah

They’re too afraid of persecution from thebadguy , Yama-Chan , and Adelaidestevsn probably. I know someone who stand ILLIT, but I won’t out them!

Don't include me in the list of ILLIT haters. I was the original AKP ILLIT stan

I do stan some 5th generation girl groups.

But, I must admit that I think the reason why there are not a lot interested fans of 5th gen is because none of the groups generally seem to stand out, popularity-wise and musically, unlike 4th generation groups such as Blackpink, etc.

They weren't interested in 4gen until Aespa hit big, then they claimed Aespa "opened" the 4th generation. Same thing will happen when SM's ngg debuts, they will claim 5th generation just started then

Timing and lack of anything new I think are big things. The top 4th gen groups are still very much active so rather than replacing groups that are winding down, they are just competing with the top groups, some that only debuted 2-3 years ago. Maybe some of the 5th gen groups could have overcome this had they brought anything new to table, and the consensus seems to be that they didn't. And as if it wasn't tough enough for 5th gen groups, now they gotta compete with 4th gen groups becoming 5th gen groups!

Regardless, BABYMONSTER is the greatest group ever and we should all be stanning them.

i love illit

Quote from JesseAlex

unlike 4th generation groups such as Blackpink, etc.

Having debuted in 2016, they are definitely not Fourth Generation, which starts in 2018 at the earliest.

I think it's really just the kpop fad died down a little.

But I think we should also get into the big world event that happened right at the tail end of 3rd gen and the beginning of 4th...

The Pandemic.

A lot more people worldwide suddenly found themselves locked indoors for weeks/months, either with nothing to do or doing WFH jobs/study that allowed them to get sidetracked a lot more.

So a lot more time for new hobbies and interests and a lot more time to spend online. At some points people were literally not allowed to touch grass.

Interest in kpop, already fermenting and bubbling away, really surged. People had time to really discover groups, find their favourites and really go through their back catalogue of not just music but other variety content. A lot more time to really get attached to a group or groups. A lot more time to discover communities of like minded individuals, or more negatively... a lot more time to find places online to fight about which group and idol was better. To really scrutinise charts and graphs and tables and fight fight fight about them.

Basically, a lot more time on everyones hands to get really passionate about either their existing love of kpop or their newfound love of kpop.

Some companies and groups really capitalised on the captive audience the pandemic provided to really build connections with fans. A lot more lives, some more variety (when they could make it), a bigger pivot to social media and biggest of all, Live Online Concerts. Pre pandemic, kpop world tours were a bit more limited, so fans would be lucky to get groups visiting their cities, luckier still to afford tickets and get to see them. But with the pandemic and rise of Online Concerts, any fan, anywhere with a decent connection and the ability to afford the much cheaper tickets (if the concerts weren't free) could see a "live" concert of their favourites, up close and with a lot of fan service. Really built a bond between group and fans. I know my love for Blackpink and Dreamcatcher was really cemented by their pandemic error live conerts.

With the pandemic a fading memory, and people very much back into pre-pandemic school and work routines and a growing return to workplaces instead of WFH, people just don't have the same time anymore to really dive in as deeply. You can't sit around consuming non music content or arguing about charts all day when you're back in the classroom, the office, the store etc.

And 5th gen started in the post-pandemic world, so people just don't have as much time for them.

Post pandemic, kpop isn't bringing in as many new fans that are coming in with their first exposure being 5th gen groups, and even for new fans, 3rd and 4th gen groups are still big and dominant enough that they are probably catching these fans as well.

And the Pandemic era fans, if they stuck around four years later, are probably already attached to groups from that era.

I also think the composition of 5th gen groups compared to 3rd and 4th is a big factor, and I think theres a few elements to it, but theres more of my personal opinion in this.

One is age of groups. A lot of the 5th gen groups have minors making up a significant portion of the group. I genuinely believe this does drive away older/adult fans (and keep in mind many new kpop fans from the pandemic error are now 3-5 years older). I'd say a lot of adult fans find it harder to identify and bond with a group with an average age of 16-17 and don't want to feel weird watching variety content that is kids doing things. Like... some of my favourite variety content from groups I like is when they are clearly drunk/tipsy and things are chaotic.

Second is that 5th gen groups seem more... homogenous. The members of these groups very much seem to blur into each other. They are just groups of indistinct, pretty girls. This seems by design, like the companies really don't want some members sticking out or becoming bigger than others, so they make them all the kpop equivalent of the Anime moe-blob trope. Another part of this is the seeming removal of groups "roles" (lead vocalist, lead dancer, rapper etc)

Contrast this the the bigger 3rd gen and 4th groups where making the members distinctive and each stand out in their own way, with their own obvious charms and talents, almost felt like a priority. The fits kpop MV I ever watched, Kill This Love, made it super obvious that there were 4 members, they each had distinctive looks and talents and they were all showcased very well. Groups like Blackpink, Twice, G-idle, Mamamoo (from what I've seen), ITZY, LSF, aespa (but I felt it did take them longer to really do this), where it's clear it's a group of different individuals who stand out from each other but still make a team. It's like a superhero team. The X-men, Avengers and Justice League are popular because every member IS different and unique. Every fan has a favourite member they can easily pick in every issue/movie, while still enjoying the group dynamic. No one will read a comic about 6 superheroes with similar powers and similar costumes. Boring.

You didn't have to really drill to deep to get a feel for each member and quickly find your favourite.

5th gen groups... they just don't have this feel. They don't feel as interesting or captivating. They feel more homogenous, less focused on individual members. It's harder to get a feel for who the members are and what they "represent". This also makes it harder to form a bond to the group, to get really passionate or into them. Like, even if the music catches me, I just don't care enough to deep dive because... eh...

Variety content, both on the various variety shows like Running Man and group created, seems more limited. I almost feel like the companies WANT to homogenise the groups and make the individuals stand out less. And of course, like I said earlier, post-pandemic life means people have less time to consume non music content (god knows I do), so they aren't forming as strong bonds to the groups to get passionate about them.

tldr: the pandemic bought in new fans and gave them the time to get attached and passionate. 3rd and 4th gen groups are for the most part still around and retaining their fans. 5th gen groups have compositional issues that make it hard to get into them.

Quote from alexS

refer them to me, I'll handle the prosecution of the persecution.

I'm feeling kinda bunny mood these days.

fixed it for ya

Music is not hitting with most of the 5th gen ggs

5th gen bgs tho have very good music

Examples are Riize, Boynextdoor, Zerobaseone, Nct Wish, TWS

At the end of the day music is the most important part of the kpop, and so far most 5th gen ggs with some exceptions have mediocre or outdated music.

Anyways stan Kiss of Life and stream “Nobody Knows” cuz obviously nobody knows 5th gen ggs😁

I'm sure there are a lot of akp users who stan 5th gen girl groups, they just don't post anything so they're not represented as a fandom of gen 5.

Quote from Owned_by_Irene

They weren't interested in 4gen until Aespa hit big, then they claimed Aespa "opened" the 4th generation. Same thing will happen when SM's ngg debuts, they will claim 5th generation just started then

Funny enough, Illit already hit it big with their debut song both in Korea and internationally. So yeah that narrative already out there and I doubt SM’s new girl group can top that. They didn't have Hybe’s aggressive marketing and global push for their girl group debut.

cause AKP is full of success stans?

You will only see "stans" of the 5th gen when some of them hit big and become popular. Now, even KIOF, ILLIT and BM are performing soso

Nonetheless, the above 3 are the better ones so far. BM will continue to have international success i guess. Illit might have bumpy road ahead but i believe they can pull it off. KIOF can go either way

cause AKP is full of success stans?

You will only see "stans" of the 5th gen when some of them hit big and become popular. Now, even KIOF, ILLIT and BM are performing soso

Nonetheless, the above 3 are the better ones so far. BM will continue to have international success i guess. Illit might have bumpy road ahead but i believe they can pull it off. KIOF can go either way

Maybe because 5gen hasn't fully taken off?

Idc, 3gen is still on...and 4gen are at their peak, why would people still turn on 5gen.

It's time to admit that they are 4.5 and not 5gen

You people and your fascination with having new "generations" every three years. The new groups aren't taking off because they ain't that interesting, simple as.

Quote from Tatiana1820

national ggs are actually not that common. the last real national gg was snsd, and it was almost a decade ago.

Me when I lie.