Kpop groups and sticking to a sound/concept (a semi rant feat. Weeekly and else)

(sorry it got way longer than intended please persist )

This thread comes after seeing reactions for the highlight medley of Weeekly's comeback Play Game: Awake

Weeekly, whose comebacks have been pretty bright/young/cheerful shows a darker side and sound with this space inspired concept.

Comes in a flooding of "where is after school??" "I preferred before" "they are like the others" etc etc.

Right. You can prefer a concept, a song.

But as a daileee it's kinda infuriating because:

1) most of the commenters are certainly paying dust to everything that's not After School. You can look at the numbers. Yes it's a great song and it's normal that it's the go to weeekly song but it's not all weeekly can and will do.

2) gatekeeping them to not only a concept but a style is not allowing them to grow and to explore. Youth and fresh is part of their identity but also the space theme and it is just taking them to something new for them

So yeah, as someone whose favorite weeekly tt is also After School, let them grow, explore, go back or not to brighter sounds or delve into new ones.

This phenomenon isn't just for them. I remember txt going from run away to CYSM and from blue hour to Lovesong. For the first it was "oooh they are getting dark" and it kind of baffled me that for some it was a sign of getting "darker and never coming back" like look at blue hour lol!

And then the emo phase swept most but that image of txt associated to brighter concepts prompted some to say they were better before.

When they can do it all and well! Part of their concept is about growing up and it has its highs and lows.

Finally, still talking about the groups I know, and although the English lyrics also have to do with it,

Bangtan has gotten a lot lot of "it was better before" and saying the past two years had nothing good and their darker concept were better.

Black Swan that wasn't that appreciated upon release suddenly became the last remnant of the "real Bangtan".

Like again, I can get preferring some sounds, but some comments reeks of trying to keep bts under precise styles and concepts and what personally irks me is the persuasion that they do not enjoy what they have done as of late.

If you read through all of it, I applaud you. Now let me know your thoughts

Also anticipate weeekly and ven para on March 7 and enjoy listening to PS5 with txt's yeonjun and taehyun and stay alive with jk by suga!!

Quote from jvniper

Omg I thought this was going to be about something like Momoland with Bboom Bboom and Baam.

In regards to what you actually meant, I agree. Though I can understand complaints about groups potentially appealing to the norm for the sake of attention/fame/money and not for the love of making music. But for your specific examples, it seems some fans don't want to see their artists grow or try different concepts or genres, which is just wrong.

For Momoland and Bam it's the group and company themselves that did a similar thing but yeah there's a hypocrisy from fans when they started other things and those who mocked the similarities suddenly went back to wanting those older songs.

As for my point, I agree although it' s not just fans,its sometimes casual or even non fans and it's kinda upsetting to see dictate what a group should be like.

Quote from blingyblinger

Is Ven para gonna be the TT? It sounds good so I'm sure in a few months the ones yelling about it not being bright will have it grow on them

Yes and it does sound good. But the visual and sound contrast made a lot of people share their "opinion" about regretting the old them or theorizing the reason of the switch.

I do hope so but it would mean go behind the concept of well concept and appreciating a song and a group beyond that. For kpop stans, that's a lot lol

Quote from quarkie

I think the main problem is that people don't realize the difference between a single comeback being a different concept, a natural evolution of sound, and changing the entire concept of the group.

Yep, for now it's only a comeback. Nothing says it's the new and definite direction of the group.

Quote from leinadluzd

i do agree that weeekly should be allowed to explore more concept diversity but the transition is too sudden imo

That's fair, I think it's a little too abrupt as well. I just don't want people to want the same thing from weeekly even when they will be 30 lol although they are far from it

Quote from leinadluzd

is there any weeekly members that have shown interest in pursuing girl crush concept ? honestly i think they should've solidified their concept diversity through bsides before actually attempting to switch concept. ( or maybe they had but non-fans like me aren't aware of it )

oh also what concept do you think weeekly will pursue in further comebacks ?

I haven't seen much about it. I think Monday is quite keen on doing various concepts and all of them said they were excited and stressed to show a new side.

I'm not certain if the switch was IST trying to see if it works or not or if it's all planned but I think ultimately there's a middle ground. Weeekly will grow up so it might not be as cute but I think brighter concepts are not finished for them. Tbh I'm interested in seeing different sides. Perhaps a more elegant one (kinda like izone)?

Zoa in this comeback was particularly good so I think they could still do girl crush and more badass as well. The issue this cb imo is the lyrics but they are not the only ones lol and some of the production but they did well.

After all their debut was cute ish but the rap and dance break had some elements of girl crush that were mixed in well.

Sorry for not being very clear, to sum up I'm interested in everything and don't know if the change is definitive