Will KPop's Generational Change be possible when a 2nd Generation Singer is still going strong?

KPop is unique that it has a senior singer who is barely older than the popular acts, and it appears the last remaining 2nd Generation Singer is going to take the Yearly #1 at Melon.

In the old days generational flow was like the flow of a major river - the previous generation was flushed away, letting a new generation to take over.

However, the first person who received a Grand Prize this year was a 2nd Generation Singer

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Two 3rd generation boy groups, Astro and The Boyz , won their first major #1s this month.

It gets harder for acts to get established, and I have to say this, out of the 4 gen acts only aespa (SM) and Enhypen (Hybe) (txt could belong to third or fourth gen, depending who you ask) are secure.

In the old days, Senior Singers and the currently popular acts did not mix since they belonged to the previous gen and did not participate in the current discourse. But now , a Senior Singer has no intention of withdrawing from competition, and as I have said a few times, 4th gen has to not only deal with the 3rd gen, which had the most international success, but also the last relevant member of the 2nd Generation, who doubles as a Senior Singer as well.

Quote from bbgc

Last remaining - whatever happened to Shinee, Sunmi, Taeyeon, Big Bang and bunch of others.. did they get "snapped" by Whyknock?

WhyKnock seems to come from a primitive tribe, where grandparents are knocked off, as soon as grand children are born.

But the Senior Uaena has spoke, so IU will take the Yearly #1 at Melon.

Hurrah. Chukhahae to IU

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The people you mentioned are not challenging the throne anymore, becoming mature singers content to maintain their existing fanbase

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

She didn't stop 3rd gen lol

But they did not push her aside either

Quote from vilavanilla

What I'm more curious about is how are Kpop generations determined? Is it just by how many years it's been or is it depend on something? I see whenever the big three companies would debut new groups then people would say a new generation happening. But is it really depend on that?

No one really has a definition. When a new major act debuts it is considered to be the new generation.

Virtually everyone agrees the 2nd Gen began with Big Bang (2006), WG and SNSD, and the 3rd Gen began with EXO (2012).

However, since there has been no major act in the 4th gen yet, there is some disagreement about when the 4th Gen began. It might have begun with txt (2019) or with aespa (late 2020), but the debate is not settled yet

Quote from ellenote

Well IU is very lucky that she did not get stuck in the ageism curse that is the washing away of 2nd gen groups, brave girls beat that curse as well, but not every group is like IU, so the generational wash away will still continue, it's already happening to 3rd Gen, slowly but surely.

That is because the 3rd gen did not produce a vocalist who could set IU aside. Ahn Jiyoung came close but no cigar. Lee Mujin, a vocalist who effectively debuted this year, might have a shot but he is a male and won't touch IU's niche