Only old people watch TV. The kids are on the Internet and that's where Kpop markets itself, through Internet based content of every imaginable type.
I mean the internet content that's trending a lot are streamers and BJs which some kpop groups do emulate but I wouldn't say the vast majority. Like there aint really any kpop channels doing stuff like workman or Wassup
Being well known among the public does not equate to anything except for being well known among the public. Cha Eunwoo is one of the most popular male celebrities in South Korea and Astro has only ever been mid-tier.
You also act like the isolation is by their choice. Do you really think companies just aren't sending their rookie idols to variety shows? They aren't being invited at all and if they are, they're being fucked over. There was a bit of netizen buzz when the Running Man spinoff premiered on Disney+ because there were episodes were a bunch of male idols from newer, lesser known groups had to wear masks over their faces and if they lost a game, their group names would revealed, but they couldn't take off their masks and the show refused to identify them by name.
Now how the hell are groups supposed to be well known when that's the offerings they're getting for variety shows?
I never said it was a perfect one to one (edit: Hell in my first sentence following the preface I make note of gen 3). But you'd be really disingenuous if you'd say that Astro before and After Eunwoo's explosion in popularity were in even remotely the same place. They were struggling to hit 40k and nowadays they do 300k, and a large part of that is due to Eunwoo's popularity publicly.
And I'm not blaming them, hell I feel it's not an either or situation. Which came first? The chicken or the egg? Did Companies restrict their idols more from variety or did Variety stop calling on idols. It's hard to say. I'm merely discussing a point of contention that I feel can be very obviously highlighted in this generation compared to previous ones.
I will preface by saying this is not a perfect theory, and that for the most part it only refers to gen 4.
Now the overall idea is that boy groups starting from gen 4(though you could argue for late gen 3) have become increasingly insular in their content. This is not saying that their music or variety has become worse or more self indulgent, but rather that Companies have increasingly geared boy group content to cater to the fanbase than to the public.
Now one would argue that all group content is primarily geared towards the fandom first, and in certain respects you would be correct... HOWEVER the means of distribution is substantially different.
It's no question that BTS is more or less the blueprint of social media engagement for boy groups. However, BTS' media engagement wasn't entirely just social media and company produced content. If you're an old enough army, you would remember the time when RM was the most known member of BTS due to his constant time on variety shows.
And that is where I feel that a lot of 4th gen boy groups have been lacking. Their permeation in general Media is almost zero.
A different example is how quickly DKZ member Jaechan absolutely propelled the group's overall interest through the roof following Semantic Error.
Nowadays there's tons of Boy Group Reality Shows, Vlogs, and Variety specials... but almost none of it in general tv. Going back to gen 3 and especially gen 2, you could find countless male idols all over regular broadcast and film. You may be wondering, if that's the case, why hasn't it affected international fandoms? And the answer is fairly simple... we international fans have always interacted with kpop groups in this format. There's no fundamental change on our side of things cause it's always been via online video and social media that we've gotten this content.
And I feel that ultimately is what has caused an erosion of Public interest in Kpop Boy Groups. It's not cause the music is too noisey or that boy groups are all the same, or that men care even less about other guys now. I posit that companies have essentially created a media bubble around their boy groups which has had the adverse affect of making them a mystery to the general populace who aren't going to go onto youtube dot com to look up boy group #765
Are u ok, i posted the news on Twitter but i didnr give you credit since i dont know ur user name on Twitter
doesn't really matter to me.
I really don't think you can conflate philly gang culture which is a major factor of teen death there with South Korea's Bullying culture.
They come from different societal frame works and reasonings.
Gang violence over drug running areas in Philly isn't exactly the same as a Girl hitting another girl in the head with a pipe cause she thinks she was flirting with her crush.
The girl group's first full length album has replaced Eminem's "Revival" for the #100 spot on overall digitals revenue. It marks the second album to enter the top 100 following the Digital Bulk buy change (The first being Taylor Swift's Red) and the first Korean project to do this following the change.
As an Aside, BigBang's "Still Life" is currently at 102 in the top digital rankings and should join "I Never Die" in the top 100 some time this month.
I think a big disconnect between I-fans and Koreans is what they think Bullying in South Korea is.
I think a lot of I-fans view bullying as very differently due to a lack of any of the major cases having any permeation internationally (other than idols being accused)
Whereas in Korea in the last five years there has been
The Busan Beating
The Padded Jacket Murder
The Double Jump Suicide
N-Room
Ring Ring trend
to name a few
Imagine writing this statement while 3 GG songs are in the top 10 of melon two of which are top 5.
There was literally a trending topic about how Girl Groups have been having an insane year this year off of what they've been doing in 2022.
Like maybe write this post in a year where it doesn't seem completely detached from reality.
It's incredibly loaded to compare someone to one of the most infamous false accuser of the last decade. It rather directly draws parallels.
If you're unsure of the situation it's so easy to just go "I hope they resolve the case as quickly as possible" rather than compare someone to Smollett
yeah in Korea, 2ne1 is much more known for their ballads than their bangers
If we're solely looking in the west... probably. But I don't think it's even 2ne1's biggest. Like it wasn't even their biggest in the year it dropped. And these were in the years well before western permeation for most groups
Ok, and is there any reason to believe they are being forced right now? When are BTS being forced and when are they allowed to make their own decisions?
I'm very against the BTS are grown men with a lot of shares and power in their company narrative because I get the company can overrule artists sometimes and it's not as straightforward everytime.
I just don't see HYBE controlling the musical output with BTS having no say in it and having to follow along Hybe powerless.
I'm not saying Hybe is saying "No music" it's just that pointing out that BTS has control of their musical output doesn't take into account all the business moves that make that statement a "yeah... but" more often than not. Singles could have already been written, mixtapes done and Hybe could be like "We'll sit on this" or "We''l divide this up" to maximize profit/release in a more beneficial period/act as a safety net for whatever gaming thing they're doing.
you do realize that even artists with complete musical control are beholden to the distribution control of their label right? Unless they're in control of both the masters and the stims, music that could be long ready to go can be sitting on the shelf for ages cause an exec goes "Not now" or just plain "no"
hybe definitely is trash and wants to milk them for every last drop, including paying for and releasing corporate pop like ptd but bts says they're always busy working on music. hobi said his mixtape was supposed to come out on his birthday but it couldn't for "reasons". JK and Tae's mixtapes went from almost ready then not ready then deleted. so where is the music. WHERE IS IT
I legitimately forgot about Jungkook and Taehyung's mixtapes.
Does seem like a rather baffling choice. I figured BTS was due for another Wings where half/75% of the album was solos.
Gonna be honest, he shouldn't have directly addressed an age group.
Comes off as patronizing.
Display MoreVery interesting thanks for sharing. 💯
OP there is your answer there is indeed very good evidence to say that tomboy can indeed potentially be bigger than NL.
This is the info you should put in your OP not PAKS. If ppl see these numbers they’re more likely to agree with you than something kind of arbitrary like PAK.
Another question are these these highest ever peaks for 4th gen? Or is there anyone higher?
those are the two highest 4th gen peaks
It remains to be seen. NL had mad longevity, not to mention massive pop culture buzz and public awareness in Korea. Does Tomboy have that - is it being used in campaigns?
Kinda hard to be used in campaigns AFTER elections
I always wonder how much of truth there is in that old money ratio between artist/company chart. According that chart 80% of the profit goes to their artists and only 20% to the company, it's the highest among any company. I hope its true but its hard to believe
It's not real. It's an old pann image with no verifiable source
