If you have recently seen Le Sserafim’s 2024 Coachella performance, compare it to a live performance from a Kpop group that debuted before 2017 (the end of the “3rd generation” of Kpop) —— you will most likely see a significant difference in vocal ability.
A very significant difference.
Now, add that to the debut of Illit and their very obvious similarities to their senior group New Jeans, and you have this giant amalgamated phenomenon that is happening in Kpop right now—the true commercialisation of Kpop.
Kpop is simply losing its original authenticity in every aspect of the industry—from the music, to the marketing, to the survival shows, but most pertinently, the idols themselves. But this is not due to the fault of the idols—whom we often push the blame to—but rather, the companies and the industry itself. Even you, sitting there in front of your device, are an active participant in creating this increasingly judgemental and herd-mentality consumer base, which has driven one of the worst moves that the Kpop industry could ever take creatively—playing it safe.
Branding over individuality
Today, listeners of New Jeans tune in because of their simple-to-digest concepts that have a rich flavour of nostalgia, pulling them back into their teenage years in the Y2K era. New Jeans was a breath of fresh air into the 2022 Kpop scene when most groups were still clinging on to flashy clothing and jazzy tunes. Their creative director Min Heejin also made an unconventional marketing choice—New Jeans started releasing Music Videos straight away without any member teasers, which kept the public guessing at the members’ identities while also connecting the group to their songs more than the individual members. This homogenisation of their individual identities was also used in their styling, as all five members debuted with long straight black hair, going for a natural-not-natural look that was more relatable to female teenagers of today as compared to permed hair and striking make-up. Even with the “visual” Minji and mixed-race member Danielle, New Jeans didn’t have any instantly recognisable members that skyrocketed their fame. Their fame only skyrocketed because of one reason—their music and their unique Y2K styling. With this unconventional introduction to the public, New Jeans became less about the members’ individuality, and more about their cohesive and refreshing brand as a group.
Though this would be a highly controversial take, I would argue that HYBE could take any other five of the talented trainees that they are hiding in their training facilities with suitable appearances for the soft Y2K concept, and debut them with similar success. While Kpop idols had higher requirements before in terms of that “stand-out” factor, HYBE was so confident in its ability to create a brand instead of a group, that it chose to diminish the trainees’ individuality in favour of their cohesive image.
Lack of Creativity
I would even claim that that is exactly how they modified the minimalist New Jeans sound with a pluggnb/house flavour and debuted Illit, their newest group to great success. In April 2024, Min Heejin, the creative producer and CEO of NewJeans’ company ADOR even explicitly voiced her displeasure that Illit was just another “copy” of NewJeans. While launching a new group by piggybacking on one of their senior groups wasn’t uncommon for the big Kpop firms, Illit’s debut concept was so similar that they were even mistaken for NewJeans in their debut photos. This styling decision was intentional—not nearly the same, but intentionally similar. When Illit’s title track “Magnetic” was released, this writer loved the addictive beat of the song, but was nevertheless disappointed at the direction that their label chose to take. Other successful girl groups like Le Serrafim, IVE and (G)I-DLE were proof that the soft Y2K concept was not the only way to succeed, but nevertheless, HYBE chose to keep it safe with Illit’s debut track.
Cutting Corners
While the Big 3 firms JYP, YG and SM Entertainment debuted groups every 3-4 years, the newly rebranded HYBE Labels has consistently pushed out one to two new groups per year, and one boy or girl group at least every other year. They are pumping out talent at an unprecedented speed to try and take up as much market share as possible. Speed, became their trump card, but it is also their stumbling block.
While the other three big firms were more selective and harsh in their training, HYBE essentially adopted the thought process of a cost-cutting corporation: if they could fake it with money, why invest heavily into it? If success were a formula, HYBE seems to have found their equation for success. Dances were still addictive, but their stylistic choice—for example leaning into the looser hip-hop style or simply making the moves easier to execute—gave the idols more room for error. Live singing was replaced with blaring backing tracks, because why invest in vocal training when you could just let your idols lip-sync? The only aspect in which they were more selective was the trainee’s looks—but even that could be smoothed over with a few minor plastic surgeries (cue a certain boy group’s suspiciously similar nose bridges).
The lack of effort and the intentional decisions to deceive the audience is what I find unacceptable in their business model. Yet, all entertainment firms are gradually veering towards this, and there is no sign of stopping (Starship Entertainment’s IVE had an infamous lip-sync vocal cover of IU’s “strawberry moon”). It has grown increasingly obvious to me that in a market where marketing could make or break a group, a group’s popularity no longer depended on the organic and unique “it” factor in each of the members. Instead, popularity depended on the company’s ability to appeal to the crowd.
However…
Even with all of these arguments in place, I’m sure some readers will rebut me with the view that everything that I had just mentioned—from sticking to current trends instead of experimenting with concepts less explored, to padding heavy background tracks in their idols’ performances, had always been a common practice in Kpop. This is not the first time it has happened, nor is it specific to groups under HYBE Labels only. But I would argue that just because this tendency to stick to the safest option has always been the norm, doesn’t mean that it is necessarily a good thing for the industry and fans.
The Audience
This brings me to the last factor: the crowd. Coming back full circle, the increasing toxicity of growing fanbases has led to greater online sensitivity to idols’ faux pas and a higher intolerance of imperfection. It isn’t the fault of the idols that their companies have pushed them onto the stage with smoke-and-mirror tactics to cover up their half-baked skills. Companies ultimately aim to deliver what the consumers want; and in this day and age, consumers want something easy on the eye and easy on the ear… But they don’t really care about whether that “something” they’re searching for is fake or authentic if they could cover it up with their delusional fantasies. Kpop has become the extreme version of what it was meant to be: a consumer-focused fantasy.
So is the problem “Big Kpop”, or is it us?
Thanks for reading :)
Written by: Jia Yu
Edited by: Jillene and Keris
Designed by: Cayden
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