The person in my sig has announced she will release her album 'in the first half of 2021', which means she has up to June to strike a blow against a major KPop act (most likely BTS).
Meanwhile, this year is already 1/10 past but only Gidle's HWAA has won music bank out of newer idols. The rest of the wins were bts' August song, plus the songs of Yunho (debuted 2004) and Lee Jieun (debuted 2008).
Although they did not collide this time, a rematch of this Jan 2011 bout did take place metaphorically
when DBSK and Lee Jieun had collided.
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Although there are still many acts in KPop, because of the atomization of the industry and the proliferation of trottists, KPop acts now target smaller and smaller segments of i-fans and it becomes harder to maintain its edge around the world.
BTS will still stand like a big mountain, but the slow advances of newer acts do concern me a lot while the older acts show no sign of going away.
Blackpink will be active and Seventeen will probably gain ground, but Seventeen is not a newer act either.
As a philosopher and a student of history, Whyknock is now a bit concerned about the fact that KPop might not be able to maintain its edge in the year 2021, especially when acts in other countries begin to have concerts but Korean acts are not allowed to do so and not allowed to leave Korea to perform.