And why does it have so many fans and views? I don't think I know anyone who listens to it and the Americans that apparently do I highly doubt they understand Korean.
It's really fucking weird. And some of it even seems directed towards American viewers.
K-pop is like Bieber, N-sync, Etc. It’s a bunch of women who want to sexually molest teenage boys, like female teachers, female weaboos, disgusting hambeasts, and well I’m repeating myself. Heaven forbid we have big tits in video games and anime though.
Accurate, the western music industry kind of abandoned the market, but the market didn't go anywhere. So a foreign market that rose up to mimic the western market attracted them, and then the foreign market started marketing directly to the west.
Had a friend a decade ago that was into the k-pop scene when it was still just a minority fanbase, smaller than the Manga obsession which was first exploding in popularity around that same time. I don't think it was anywhere near as toxic then as it is now that it's 100x bigger.
It wasn't just the boy bands then either, the girl bands were more popular as it was that "I wanna be a pop star" expression that existed in the 90s. Most of the community was like my younger friend, people who had just missed the 90s pop craze, but didn't really get one of their own. Now I think it's a lot of older women who are trying to relive their 90s pop phase since all those boy bands have grown up and aren't attractive to them anymore.
There are girl groups, but they are definitely dwarfed by the popularity of the males.
American women really like swooning over K-Pop idols. It’s not uncommon for them to refer to their favorite singer as “my baby”. Koreans have also made a considerable effort to market and appeal to American degeneracy, you can see it in their cultural trends for the past 10 years.
This wouldn’t be a problem if the K-Pop fandom wasn’t one of the most mean-spirited groups online. The majority like to go after traditionally masculine/feminine things as though it’s a sport.
The fanbase are mostly zoomer girls in their late teens/early 20s, living their modern Beatlemania with the usual single-minded hormone-driven fervour and engaging in the typical adolescent bullying against people who call them out on how stupid it all is. There's nothing new about any of it: it's just amplified because of the internet.
Worse. These K-pop stars are are treated inhumanely. They live in tiny, shared dorm rooms, aren't allowed to sleep, to eat properly, can't date, can't even meet their own families. They are forced to get plastic surgeries.
Their pay is nothing. They have to "pay back" the company for their training and of course for their living expenses (which are fucking sub par, so no way they cost much).
Their phones get randomly checked by their management, they are banned from driving.
Some girl band's fans held fundraisers because the company didn't provide them with clothes and while they worked basically all day (remember, they live together, often even with their manager and inside the management company's building) and were only allowed like 5 hours of sleep, they didn't earn enough to get their own outfits.
So basically these women, more often than note wokesters, support glamour slavery.
A few years ago they squealed over some idol dude being "cute". What did he do? He was finally allowed to meet his mother after YEARS, but he had to do it on stage, in the middle of a concert. Dude got emotional, like anyone would. They thought it was cute.
My god, this sounds even worse than how Japanese Idols are treated.
Sad to see that the music industry is fucked up in multiple Asian countries.
I guess so. Also, the thing is, we know this. We actually know about these things and people still fantard about these people. Like sure, the fact they ALL have eating disorders, get plastic surgeries galore (then a bunch get botched...), etc., but like UWU, they are so amazing.
From time to time, one of them kills themselves and toxic fans badmouthing them get the blame. But I will be honest, being constantly broke, starving, sleep deprived, simultaneously being forced in 24/7 contact with your coworkers while banned from being close to anyone else, being forced to change your looks, get mentally abused by management every day, etc. probably result in mental health so bad it's unfair to blame people talking shit about you.
Sure, it probably doesn't feel nice. But it happens to many people in many industries, but having a good meal, sleep and relaxing time with people you actually love fixes a lot.
That's WAY beyond the "price of fame", makes the casting couch system look like toddlerville, and the "company store" system has always been pure, unadulterated evil. At least be forthright about your slavery, and be responsible for the welfare of your slaves.
They're in the territory of terrible pet owners, and kpop sounds no better than those awful children's beauty contests and dog shows.
They don't even do it to get their own music out there. They get everything handed to them, from music, to dance, to fashion, to the persona they have to portray.
I mean, even if it was their own art, it would be hell. But apparently, when young people audition for these companies, sometimes they don't even end up doing the art form they wanted.
Let's say, I audition to become an actress. They see me and some agent says nah, I should be in a k-pop band. That's that, I either accept that, train and suffer and all, then maaaaaybe possibly I get allowed some acting years later down the line on top of the band. But if I refuse, then I get nothing.
Well, they probably get fed the usual nonsense like "you have to suffer for your art". Well, no, it's that suffering is supposed to help produce good art, by giving the artist the life experience and the emotional growth that feeds true art.
But then, look at what they did to Elvis. Though what you describe is more like the Jackson 5 on steroids and without benefit of blood relationships.
Dan "Get her in the Van" Schneider would like to know your location.
What the fuck, so basically they are mk-ultra like slaves?
I... guess so? Never thought of it that way, but yeah, it's really fucked.
If you read Korean comics online, they idealize and fetishize abusing those weaker than oneself. I'm not even slightly surprised by the state of North Korea after exploring a bit of South Korean culture.
A Japanese woman I know really hates this, since Japanese boy bands aren't much different and they've been a thing for decades. (like SMAP, Arashi) She would've loved for them to break into the US market. But Koreans got better at copying creative ideas and perfected how to sell them to the West.
Looks at US and Korea
I think your friend might’ve dodged a bullet, even if she hates it. Popularity is rarely a blessing.
Teenage girls like boy bands. Teenage girls like girl bands. Teenage girls love boys that look like girls bands.
When the entirety of western music is black "culture" -- materialism / unrestrained violence / drugs and addictions / sexual promiscuity -- any music that departs from that becomes appealing.
Can't say I really see the appeal of most k-pop (other than the obvious scientifically-generated earworms tailored to human brains), but I'd rather be a friend of a k-pop fan than a western music fan.
At the very least and most minor, there are at least harmonies and melodies instead of just vocals over a beat.
The entire top 100 is black music right now. I'd rather listen to bubbly kpop anthems.
Eh, a lot of the famous Kpop groups are just aping black hip-hop. It's pretty damned annoying. Yes there's more "pop" sounding ones at least. I'm into a "Krock" group right now and that's more my style.
I would say that it's that the DJs and Pop artists in Seoul "get" the Los Angeles music scene in a way that other communities just don't.
To be honest, I just chalk this up as a thing that I'm too old to understand and move on.
Sigh. Well, I love my wife to death but she is ten years younger than me and K-Pop is one of those things where the age difference really shows.
I fucking. Hate. It. It's not allowed in my house. It's not allowed in my car. When we have company over, I had to discipline her against putting that shit on in the background, no one wants to hear it. If she puts it on in her car and I'm in the passenger seat, I tell her to pull over and I'll catch a cab home, and she knows I'm not kidding. By now I've exorcised that shit from my life, and as a compromise she doesn't have to listen to Tomasz Stanko or whatever pretentious dribble I listen to these days.
I'll give her this though - those little monkeys can dance.
No it's mostly me. She's an angel.
Only because of the discipline.
You know how otakus have their taste in waifus? Now translate the same logic to females (and actual faggots) for their real-life "husbando", which I argue is creepier than fantasizing about 2D characters.
Some of their songs are catchy ngl, but the industry as a whole is "glamour slavery" as BulbasaurusThe7th puts it.
South Korean degnerates realized that North America is just as degenerate as they are, with the increasing feminisation of Western males it leaves room for feminine KPop stars to move in. Further solidifying to young girls that men should be feminine and further eroding Western standards.
I liked SNSD a decade ago. They had some catchy songs.
However, what Kpop has become today is just pure degeneracy. Male Kpop singers are very feminine and female Kpop singers are sexualized as much as possible. Kpop fans are quite possibly the most insufferable fanbase that exists.
Kpop has become a complete blight.
I am embarassed that I ever liked any Kpop group.
Relentless sex appeal to the opposite gender + two decades of marketing and forming a cult fan base. https://youtu.be/AHhEv03iAe4 Also because they censor so much sexual shit, they have adapted and pushed and prodded to be always on the line of sexy/suggestive but still good enough to get past censors.
Western women love themselves so much that feminine looking men (with the usual money and talent caveats) are like catnip
There was once upon a time I was watching them K variety shows.
The shows themselves were mildly entertaining but the communities of Korean entertainment are crazy fucks which I totally can't comprehend.
And they LOVE to ship the males together like all of them are gay or some shit.
Well.. think about it like this, you rather your teenage daughter listen to a love song she don't really understand?
Or listen to Chris Brown telling her to "monkey on the dick"?
It's pop and has pretty boys which teen/tween girls like. It's DEFINITELY marketed towards western audiences as well since the SK government funds and helps export part what they call Hallyu or "Korean wave" as a way of expressing "soft power" politics.
https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/12/15/how-south-korean-pop-culture-can-be-source-of-soft-power-pub-83411
For kpop I only like the songs in the DJ Max video games. I don't really understand music fandom out side of soundtracks from games/anime etc.