Do you think that viral songs help artists with GP?

as with most things it depends

if having a viral song gives the artist increased brand awareness that turns some of those people into fans - that's a success no?

if the viral song helps the artist get other endorsements like variety show gigs or cfs or being able to tour or feature in others songs - that's great

I don't think any individual has two viral songs come out one after another the close - the only one I can think of is

"The follow-up song to Psy's hit "Gangnam Style" was titled "Gentleman" and was released on April 12, 2013. While it garnered over 18 million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours and even became a top five hit on the US charts, it didn't achieve the same level of global impact as "Gangnam Style"."

No, MOMOLAND went back to flopping after 2018's BAAM and Bboom Bboom. Brave Girls went on Queendom S2 after their mega hit with Rollin' and nobody cared. FIFTYFIFTY & ablume is a much more complicated legal case, but CUPID or the name recognition that it brought didn't make their careers any more stable. Weeekly flopped immediately after releasing After School.

If you want a boy group example, Pentagon had one semi hit with Shine and the song they released literal months later went absolutely nowhere.

You need a fandom to keep the songs in the public eye and hope that you can turn more casual listeners into dedicated fans because the public will always be there, fickle and ready to drop you at the earliest chance.

Because what makes an artist famous is not just their music but the way they are promoted by their company. The Big 4 groups are not more popular than those from smaller companies because their music is better, but because there is much more money invested in their promotions and because they have more connections in the industry. The amount of popularity that a Big 4 group will achieve is already estimated from the beginning. Nothing is a 'surprise', as fans would like to think

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

No, MOMOLAND went back to flopping after 2018's BAAM and Bboom Bboom. Brave Girls went on Queendom S2 after their mega hit with Rollin' and nobody cared. FIFTYFIFTY & ablume is a much more complicated legal case, but CUPID or the name recognition that it brought didn't make their careers any more stable. Weeekly flopped immediately after releasing After School.

If you want a boy group example, Pentagon had one semi hit with Shine and the song they released literal months later went absolutely nowhere.

You need a fandom to keep the songs in the public eye and hope that you can turn more casual listeners into dedicated fans because the public will always be there, fickle and ready to drop you at the earliest chance.

Eh. Not always the case though. I can easily point out a group that capitalized brilliantly on a viral song: EXID with Up and Down. They went from being on the verge of disbandment to carving out a very successful career, even still doing some events together ten years since the song blew up.

I could also say the same thing happened with Mamamoo and Um Oh Ah Yeah in Korea. That took them from the fringes of nugudom to one of the top girl groups of their era.

What defines the story that follows a viral song is how the company and artists handle the success once they have the attention of the public.

EXID and MAMAMOO are both supremely talented groups who had great leadership during those years.

Crayon Pop, Momoland and Brave Girls were not so fortunate.

Quote from Yama-Chan

Eh. Not always the case though. I can easily point out a group that capitalized brilliantly on a viral song: EXID with Up and Down. They went from being on the verge of disbandment to carving out a very successful career, even still doing some events together ten years since the song blew up.

I could also say the same thing happened with Mamamoo and Um Oh Ah Yeah in Korea. That took them from the fringes of nugudom to one of the top girl groups of their era.

What defines the story that follows a viral song is how the company and artists handle the success once they have the attention of the public.

EXID and MAMAMOO are both supremely talented groups who had great leadership during those years.

Crayon Pop, Momoland and Brave Girls were not so fortunate.

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Your message and mine weren't that dissimilar. I just laid out examples of groups that flopped whereas you had examples of groups who built on that viral success.

In my opinion having a big hit/viral song isn’t a boost to your career in the internet age. I feel like back in the days of radio when you had to either wait for the song or buy the album that it was definitely a huge boost with the general public. In the internet age with so much music being played on demand or just consumed via TikTok videos it makes it incredibly hard for the artist to not be completely diminished by the song because it’s much easier to detach the artist from it.

If APT. came out in the 90s, you could least have millions of people hearing a radio DJ say “and that was Rosé featuring Bruno Mars with APT.” but now you barely take in the name of the artist when it pops up on Spotify.

Heck yeah.

Viral songs are usually bigger than the artist itself, like Cupid. If the cards are played well, the viral momento can bring new fans to the artist in question.

Bibi is a great example. She made the best out of her momentum with Bam Yang Gang. And so did PSY after Gangnam Style, NewJeans with Hype Boy, BP with Dx4 and Oh My Girl with Dolphin. Doja Cat did it with Say so, just thought of that one.

Now, if they pull a MOMOLAND, Fifity Fifty, and that other gg that had a song go viral 3 years after its release they'll just end up one hit wonders. Does Brave Girls count? The company didn't really manage Rollin' sudden fame well, as I see it. Neither did EXID after Up and Down, but I know that's very debatable.

edit: Crayon Pop, one hit wonder. Katseye are getting the much needed fans after Gnarly went viral, point to HYBE for that. Nobody by Wonder Girls did put them on the map. Oh, and Rosé, she's the APT girl. It went absolutely VIRAL and it only brought world wide GP's attention to her and it did push toxic till the end higher ♥

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

Your message and mine weren't that dissimilar. I just laid out examples of groups that flopped whereas you had examples of groups who built on that viral success.

That's fair. Mayhaps I'm just in a contrarian state of mind this week

There are so many mega popular acts that you can attribute their breakout to a viral hit. IU with Good Day, Soshi with Gee, Big Bang with Lies. You might think the last 2 are given because they are from “big 3” companies, but Lies made YG a big 3 company, and Soshi’s career looked like it might pan out more like their seniors CSJH (which didn’t amount to much) before they exploded with Gee, and those 2 songs were pioneers in expanding the Hallyu wave beyond Asia.

Of course there are one-hit-wonders too, but there are so many groups that were put on the map by a breakout viral hit.

fastest way to become a household name

If Jungkook will have multiple Sevens and Rose will have the same, then it will help them, otherwise no.

I think yes, but it takes time and it will not affect everyone who hears the song.

Viral often means something is happening online.

There are some songs I keep hearing when I scroll reels on social media, as people keep adding them.

After hearing only 1-5 times, I usually don't notice it yet and just keep scrolling.

Only after hearing them many times, I might start looking up who the artists are.

What I mean to say is that if something goes viral, it doesn't automatically translate into people instantly knowing who even made the songs when they hear them, let alone stan the people.

Only after sustained virality, people might slowly start to even wonder who the artists are and even if they do, it doesn't mean they will stan.

It will help get some people to stan, but in other ways it's very similar to people hearing songs on the radio without really caring too much about them.

Absolutely, well depending on what defines viral because ALL Top 40s are, by their nature, viral songs although the Singers may not be well known.

This means, even if the GP doesn't know the Singer, they will generally help the Song become more spread.

Yes, in the sense that it gives you exposure and a chance to capitalise on that viral success. Won't work all the time of course.

Viral songs of course help with the general public, but it matters what you do with it. The toughest challenge in any industry is distinguishing yourself from the viral song. If we take Rosé as an example, APT was a mega hit but people outside of the kpop world call it the bruno mars song and rarely heard her name mentioned. IMO she didn't build off the momentum to make people recognize her as a part of the song. I enjoy toxic til the end but it's not the best song to follow up APT with.

I will say Stayc is an example of having a strong follow up after song becomes viral. I believe their song ASAP went viral. Then they worked very hard and had strong follow ups which made them a top 4th gen group at the time. I think they had a good run building off the hype they generated. I just think they had a trouble of maintaining their momentum

Another example of a group carrying on momentum after going viral is I-DLE. They went viral during queendom when they performed Lion and never looked back after releasing strong title tracks. They did hit a road bump of course, but came back even stronger with Queencard which elevated them to being a top 5 4th gen group. I don't think Idle would be as big as they are today if they didn't build on the momentum they gained from queendom. I think that moment is when Koreans start noticing the group and gave them a chance.