Is it better to be nugu in Korea but popular internationally or vice versa?

Key from SHINee said he was jealous of H.O.T's success, a 1st gen group whose biggest hits came in Korea. Koreans care about Korea.

Quote from bbgc

It is futile to use IU for such discussions.

Her fame comes from both acting and singing, no one can really differentiate which is which.

Neither is she a typical K-pop idol.

Best is to compare groups to groups.

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actually, in her drama "Producers" (her first international hit, although mostly in China only) Jisoo , who would become BlackPink, played a bit part along with Sandara Park.

Lee Jieun's stature in acting came from her firm position as a singer in Korea.

If an act is only popular outside of Korea, the act won't get too many opportunities back home.

Quote from kirishiki

IU is more known internationally than Dreamcatcher. She have even had collab with BTS member.

If you wanted to have fair comparison, you could compare Blackpink Lisa to IU

IU not well known before Eight in 2020 to a lot of i fans not in China. In fact prior to that arguably Dreamcatcher was better known in some countries than Lee Jieun.

It is true that BlackPink's Jisoo played a bit role in IU's Producers back in 2015.

Lisa's fame is mostly in the SE Asia and countries where BP is popular, and she does have a firm grasp in Thailand.

Quote from WhyKnock

actually, in her drama "Producers" (her first international hit, although mostly in China only) Jisoo , who would become BlackPink, played a bit part along with Sandara Park.

Lee Jieun's stature in acting came from her firm position as a singer in Korea.

If an act is only popular outside of Korea, the act won't get too many opportunities back home.

In Korea, IU's singing success helped with her acting success.

Internationally, it might be the other way around acting success leading to singing success.

But a recent survey had her ranking higher as a singer in China, than as an actress.

So at this point, it would be difficult to separate out in most markets. Maybe in the West, acting might be more than singing.

In any case, she is unsuitable as an example for this post. She is an outlier in most things Kpop

Quote from WhyKnock

IU not well known before Eight in 2020 to a lot of i fans not in China. In fact prior to that arguably Dreamcatcher was better known in some countries than Lee Jieun.

It is true that BlackPink's Jisoo played a bit role in IU's Producers back in 2015.

Lisa's fame is mostly in the SE Asia and countries where BP is popular, and she does have a firm grasp in Thailand.

IU is well known in Asia, if you take that as "international". She's quiet well known even since Palette era, then she blow up even more after releasing BbiBbi. Bbibbi is like her first international hit.

They probably prefer being popular in the country they promote in. Plus, Korean fans do a better job paying their bills