APink’s new song is out and is crushing the charts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrP_cpcuNEc
The highlight is the partner hand-dance. Here it is in slow-mo.
There is a tech conference called !!con, pronounced bang-bang con. They’ve had it every year since 2014. You may remember it from such hits as Tail Call Optimization: The Musical!!
The band BTS is having a virtual concert they’re calling BANG.BANG.CON.
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KPop has been back in action and really opening the flood gates. Let’s catch up.
New boy group CRAVITY is breaking all the rules.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFlceOv8LMU
GOT7 still has 7.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ladClnnJhqg
And by complete surprise, my boy KANTO has a solo track!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ksXK4tfK4
GWSN is here, and watch out, they brought a bazooka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMj3sLP_azg
MAMAMOO leader Solar dropping the solo track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8FXWf0s7K0
Oh My Girl is going non-stop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDjQSdN_ig8
CHUNG AH put out a pre-release single. And since it’s Chung Ah, you get the dance practice instead of the music video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjX5yj_h7ns
TAYEON is happy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Raj-AuQgCTg
And if all that wasn’t chart-destryoing enough, IU is back with a collab with BTS Suga.
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BLACKPINK who have been around since 2016, and are very popular despite releasing very few songs in that time, have released a song today. Like or hate the song, it’s notable in a Haley’s Comet sort of way.
at least now I don’t need to look up what the top two twitter trends are right now, as they are the same thing.
KPop fans, and seemingly South Korean Internet culture as a whole, are obsessed with charts, rankings, views, any possible quantitative measures of things. TV shows will openly talk about their own ratings on their own show.
So KPop fans will do ridiculous things to artificially inflate the numbers for their favorite groups. Streaming songs on repeat on several devices. Voting the maximum number of times in any possible online vote. Buying piles of physical albums. Companies go along with this also. They’ll put a random photocard in the physical album, gotta collect all 5! They’ll put tickets to autograph sessions in the physical albums randomly, or only permit people to attend who bought a certain number.
This artificial inflation of rankings translates into a genuine one. The cart carries the horse. Because they get a high ranking, the group ends up getting more attention, more radio play, more TV time, etc. Their videos show up on trending lists on homepages and are recommended to other people. Those other people then genuinely discover or become fans of the music because someone else artificially boosted its profile.
And that skill they have in pushing their own content is the same skill that they use to drown out right wing hashtags, flood a police snitch system, or buy all the tickets to a Trump rally.
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You should really do a podcast episode about this.
People didn’t care about KPop until it got in their area, now everyone cares, lol.
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Maybe cuz u don’t have/use Twitter whatever but i fall to see what’s interesting about the video that has anything to do with anything else? (Not saying the video is bad just don’t see a connection to anything) I get there was apparently kpop fan interference plays recently which is cool but its this connected? Is the song slyly saying “Haha Trump! All your base are belong to us” ?
Or completely unrelated? and it’s just cool that they’ve come out with a new video? Which as someone who really doesn’t follow kpop, even I know about blackpink. Purely based on their Lady Gaga track a few weeks back, but still. So gotta say from this perspective I’d assume they’re on a wave right now.
Also this song has a sound that seems like it dovetails right into current pop trends here in the west. I half expected a Gaga feature at any point in the video and it would have just fit fine.
No, the content of the KPop is almost entirely separate from the behaviors of the fandom.
The people who happen to like this music happen to be very well organized. Those same fans also use their organization for other purposes.
The music companies obviously encourage the fan machine to promote their artists, but otherwise don’t encourage the fan organization do anything else. The only exception is charitable donations. KPop companies and artists who are successful will often make large charitable donations and encourage their fans to do the same, and vice versa.
e.g.: BTS and Big Hit Entertainment Donate $1 Million to Black Lives Matter - Variety
Honestly, I still don’t care that much about Kpop, but it’s fun to hear people talk in detail about the things they’re passionate about.
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Much like BLACKPINK
Having listened to the new track… This isn’t even on my top 10 BLACKPINK songs. It’s not even close to like as DDU DDU or AS IF IT’S YOUR LAST.
Pretty harsh considering there are barely more than 10 BLACKPINK songs in total.
I mean, I mean what I said, but thinking about it… There’s not that many songs off the top of my head I can only think of… 5.
So at least I’m calling it not top 5.
New songs from Sunmi and Hwasa on the same day???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8YW1tlsmE8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brZRDjFIFJs
Guess it’s KPop Monday
BTS was already sort of the most recent coming of Elvis, The Beatles, etc. Following the exact same pattern. Early career having enormous numbers of young women scream for them. Later on evolving into legends.
TIL that in South Korea if you commit crimes, then enlist for mandatory military service, your case might get transferred to the military court.
Irene and Seulgi continue to be the It Girls. After SM mysteriously delayed the release of their much-hyped and scheduled MV for 8 hours (I see a lot of speculation about censors, though nothing is confirmed), they came out swinging for the lesbians