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!! :pepelove1::pepelove1:

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

    :sweatr1:


    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.

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

    :sweatr1:


    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.

  • 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

  • If someone likes sth and wants it to stay the same, they better support it with more than lip service

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  • 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.

  • When you're a fan of an artist for their sound, it's normal to be averse to change. That happens a lot when artists switch genres. You like what you like, you don't have to like everything.


    That's the biggest challenge for an artist. How to keep your music fresh without losing your appeal to your former fans.

  • Here are my thoughts on the matter of Weeekly's supposed concept change :


    Concept doesn't matter. Only Quality and Execution does.


    I feel there's this wrong/disturbing recent tendency to associate the concept of a song with the quality of a song. There are bad girlcrush songs and there are good girlcrush songs. Just like there are good cute songs and bad cute songs.


    Being "Girlcrush" or "Cute" doesn't confer any moral or artistic superiority and stanning or unstanning a group based on the concept that they stick with or departs from seems premature. There is no inherent superiority in a concept, only how well executed and how well matched it is to the group performing it.


    After School and Tag Me were successes not because they were Cute or Teen Crush or K-High Teen but because they were well written and well performed songs and their MVs were well directed, produced and edited.


    I thought the strength and unique attraction of Kpop was that groups could be chameleons and take on different concepts over time AND as long as the end-product, the songs and MVs were good, no one cared about conceptual purity.

    Eg T-ARA, Girls Generation and Apink all had different concepts at different times of their careers yet no one denies these groups are Kpop Legends.


    So why are we holding the 4th Gen Girl groups to such a different standard : Concept Purity? And basically crucify them if they so much as glance at a different direction in their music and art direction??


    I'm a Daileee because of the girls, their personalities, their visuals and their chemistry together, AND because their songs are bops. As long as those things don't change, I'm along for the ride and will follow along wherever their artistic journey takes them, Cute, GirlCrush, Death metal, whatever....

    The Future of K-Pop

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  • 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

    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. :pepestare: ( 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 ? :pepewhat:

  • I feel like the whole being bothered when a group tries a new concept/direction is a thing with only newer K-pop fans. I've been around since 2nd gen and back then it was quite common for groups to change their concept and direction every single comeback. That's what made K-pop so fun and exciting.


    One can bring up that groups need to stick with one concept until they solidify a fanbase but in reality, it's just an excuse for fans to box their group in. They stan a group almost solely for their concept and then don't want to support them when they make a change.

  • 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. :pepestare: ( 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 ? :pepewhat:

    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

  • the concept transition is just too sudden and ven para is just mid to me. CYSM actually was a good song compared to VP imo. I just hope they do what TXT did. I mean groups like TWICE and Cherry bullet switched their concept easily so I have hopes for weeekly. I think they can get their first win on The Show next week if they have ok charting


    (Also I'm pretty sure Apink went from hush to the huge hit NoNoNo, so Weeekly getting a hit next cb?)

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