Is 5th gen the new punching bag of kpop?

I said it in a different thread, but IVE and NewJeans ruined expectations for new groups. It's rare for groups to have massive debuts like IVE and NewJeans and that ruined what people are expecting from 5th gen groups.

The first year that Illit, Meovv, Babymonster, Hearts2Hearts, and others had is normal. Just because these groups aren't IVE and NewJeans doesn't mean these groups aren't successful. I think that's the reason why you see many making fun of 5th gen groups because they're comparing them to anomalies.

I think people are too focused on charts and sales but most groups are doing fine if you look at charts and sales. I think people aren't ready to accept that there's a correction happening with some of the metrics in kpop. None of the popular 5th groups are flopping imo because they're still charting in the top 100 and getting good sales. I think 5th gen is actually quite balanced because groups from small and big companies have had songs chart in the top 50.

Lastly, I think kpop fans can be nasty because they want a hit SNS post. It's why you see people make mean posts because there's a better chance of it going viral. 5th gen is an easy target because numbers are a bit behind 4th gen groups in their peak. We shouldn't expect rookie groups to surpass the current top 5 GG while they're at their peak. If we're talking about quality of music, then I will say 5th gen has caught up to 4th gen imo. I think this has been accelerated because the absence of NewJeans. I just think concepts need to improve but there's many 5th gen releases better than 4th gen releases imo.

Tbh, good for them. Everyone seems to get about the same amount of hate, so no one really stands out as “the most hated,” and there aren’t any crazy hate trains like we saw with the previous gen. Take 4th gen for example, despite NJ’s debut being super successful, the mocking nickname “pedojeans” has stuck with them to this day. Wonyoung went through nonstop ridiculous hate trains, from that whole strawberry thing to favoritism accusations. Karina got massive hate since debut, and Aespa as a group did too. Lsfm started off with Garam’s bullying scandal, and that whole Coachella situation made them even bigger targets.

Basically, all those groups had weeks or even months of targeted hate, long threads, and endless posts tearing them down even on here. So it’s nice to see 5th gen having none of that so far, you can already see the difference on this site alone. 4th gen gg debut with one after another weird takes from users here and we barely saw this on 5th gen gg. So good for them. We really didn’t need a targeted punching bag like the previous gen because it’s much crueler to be in that position, as all the negative press and hate comments mostly go to them alone. Sharing that burden with the whole gen will ease that up, so good for the new gen.

Quote from StanGIDLE

I said it in a different thread, but IVE and NewJeans ruined expectations for new groups. It's rare for groups to have massive debuts like IVE and NewJeans and that ruined what people are expecting from 5th gen groups.

Unless you think Kpop started with them because it’s so far from the truth. Big5 have higher exceptions because their seniors were topping the charts.

Even during 4th gen era people were questioning if they’d get big, nothing new same old stuff.

There’s a lack a interest overall so we can’t blame it solely on 5th gen groups.

A lot of A list artists underperformed this year, most of the biggest hits this year are from soloists.

It’s also companies fault for mediaplaying this generation because you generally expect big results in return if there’s a new generation only Illit had a massive debut.

Quote from foreveraespaaa

I thought of it in that way too. Other than Illit that did get a lot of hate because of the HYBE drama! They’re are all pretty much hated the same amount and for the same things at least for now!

Honestly, when I think about it again, I don’t even see 5th gen as a punching bag like at all. Dare I say, they probably have much easier start in this context than other gens which is good for them as most of them are super young. If anything, Riize probably the punching bag of this gen since they had it the worst because the whole Seunghan controversy really messed things up for them. As for the other groups, any hate they get usually stays within their own fandoms

or something that every groups with some degree of success will receive.

Illit got dragged for a bit, but that quickly turned into sympathy, and then people just moved on. Like, I'm not even kidding. In general, 5th gen doesn’t really get much hate from the wider kpop community. The general public doesn’t talk about them much, and even when someone tries to start a hate train, it fizzles out. Here too, threads about them usually flop with barely any engagement. That says a lot.

So yeah, after thinking it over, the real title of this post should be “5th gen’s slow-burn success is probably a blessing in disguise,” because it really is.