Why aren't international K-Pop fans interested in solo artists?

    It seems like 90% of the attention is focused on groups.

    Like almost no i-fans really care about solo artists, despite the trend in Korea moving towards solo artists rather than groups (as you can see from the charts.)

    IU gets a mention here and there, but her achievements and comebacks are rarely as hyped as group comebacks.


    Music trends almost all over the world tends to favor soloists rather than group, even in East Asia (e.g. China), so why are K-Pop fans primarily interested in groups?

    Because the solo scene in Korea is not interesting.


    Kpop soloists are fine, but I find singers like them in any market, they don't have a particular style that set them apart like idols do


    The best part of it is the minor R&B scene from Heize, Crush, Dean, Epik High, etc, but they are minority. Most soloists only releases ballads and OSTs


    I myself don't hate ballads but Koreans go overboard with them to a point it's unbearable to listen, when you go to Melon top 30 80% of the songs are emotional power ballads, which after a few listens start to look too generic for my taste

    I feel like most international fans don't follow Kpop soloists because they are already surrounded by American ones and stan them instead.


    America doesn't have any prominent music groups, though so that's why people stan Kpop.

    I'm not the best to answer since I'm actually more interested in K-soloists than in K-groups.


    I think that their music is not that appealing to the western audience, especially an younger audience. And we all know that it's the younger audience that drives K-pop. My parents liked IU and Taeyeon. My young friends, not that much. I myself have an older musical taste.


    Also, soloists usually don't have the same fanservice appeal that K-idols, especially K-groups have. The most successful K-soloist internationally are former K-idols. Without the fan interactions, there's not much that differentiate them from western artists.


    Also, some people pointed out something important. There are many soloists out there outside Korea. Groups, not that much.

    We are international fans. We literally have hundreds of soloists in our own music industries. People go to kpop to find something they dont have at home.

    And honestly, western solo acts for example make much more diverse and interesting music as a whole. I just dont see much of a reason to get into k-solo acts.

    I think one of the reasons people become stans rather than merely causal listeners is the group interaction between the members themselves the comradeship if you will. Fans love the interactions between the members.


    Its also why we have so many intra-group shippers.

    And the amount of content available to groups through their own variety shows is also what keeps fans interested compared to soloist who don't have such interactions. Eg. BP House, Time to Twice, Run BTS

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