Does Your Favorite Group Have What It Takes To Survive?

Contrary to common belief in my crew, I listen to or fangirl only over certain groups not because I’m a stubborn, ancient K-pop fan but simply because I understand certain facts that can be summed up in two words – Shelf life. And after DBSK, I do not need another short shelf life group to break my poor fangirl heart.

Believe it or not, K-pop is an industry and all our idols mere products. Like all products, idol groups have shelf lives — some shorter than others. So my advice to you is to make a list of your favorite K-pop groups, stare at it, enjoy it for a moment then trash it. Most of them — if not all of them — are going to break up soon. Members willingness to renew contracts, the CEO’s attitude and scandals not factored in, there are four main characteristics that determine a group’s durability – seasonal marketability, group dynamic, talent of individual members and gender.

 

1.SEASONAL MARKETABILITY

If f(x), Miss A, Infinite and Shinee coming out of the dungeon every once in a while didn’t give it away then let me make it clear for you – K-pop groups are seasonal products. There is a reason why SNSD almost never releases new songs in summer or f(x) never releases new songs in December. Oh, so you thought it’s because they are working hard in the studio making new music? Well, let me burst your bubble. For the exception of the odd GD or Bang Yong-guk, and some very few others, none of these groups write or produce their own songs. Pop! Yeah I know, your mind’s been blown.

So if they aren’t making new songs, why aren’t we seeing our favorites more often? Because you can barely market Sistar or Block B in December or SNSD in summer and you can blame that on image. If you haven’t read my articles about branding, go ahead, read. They brilliantly talk about branding and groups’ image (no, really go read them, I need the ego boost). Like the articles mentioned, SNSD has a specific brand. Loud and sexy is not their forté. SM, leaves the loud for f(x) and we all know they don’t really do “sexy”… at least not that well.

SNSD has the image of demure, classy, young ladies and you cannot market that in summer when most people are ready to drop their inhibitions and along with that half of their clothes and morals. And Block B’s fast beats and image don’t really match cold Christmas season when most people are thinking about Church and little Jesus and not how to do the gorilla dance.  Hence, the span of their marketability year-round decides the lifespan of a group. Obviously some groups can be marketed for more than one season. However, if your favorite is like f(x) – an exclusively festive group, then they won’t last long in this K-pop jungle. We all saw what happened with that.

2. GROUP DYNAMIC

Seasonal marketability is one thing but another quick but very important determinant of a group’s longevity is the group dynamic. And when I say dynamic I am not necessarily talking about how well the members get along with each other but their shippability.

Unbeknownst to many, shipping is a big deal. Where most fans may not like or, if you’re like me, remember every single member, they will however remember and get attached to famous shipping pairs and the idea of the Family. Hence fans are sometimes more hurt that their pairings are breaking than the group itself.

Can you imagine not having to see Eric and Hye-sung or GD and Seungri bickering on TV anymore? What if Woogyu were to break up? And groups like SNSD is the closest we will ever get to the idea of “sisterhood” in K-pop. Watching theses “couples” or “sisters” shenanigans on TV is variety gold and endearing because it gives the fans the impression of groups truly belonging to a fan inclusive big family. Nothing sells more than the idea of family. Why do you think SM released their documentary “I AM…” and Yang Hyun-suk is lovingly called papa YG? It’s all about selling their products, baby! Companies love when we buy into their big family schemes. It gets fans attached to the group, induced loyalty and as a result we buy their expensive knickknacks like 100 dollars hoodies and concert wands. All this to say groups with the closest dynamics gets fans to spend money and companies will do the most to keep a money-making group happy and alive. 

3.TALENT OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS

I’m one of those fans who always wonder why conpanies put certain members that are obviously too talented in a groups of, to put it nicely, talent challenged members. I think it’s a great injustice that member like Sunye of the Wonder Girls, Sistars’s Hyorin or SNSD’s Taeyeon have to suffer the disgrace to be in the same groups as the likes of Sohee, Dasom and Yoona who have proved over the years that they are merely pretty faces with no talents whatsoever. And get this: Yoona and Siwon are the highest paid idols of SM. That stings for the other members I am sure because neither of them are that great of singers or actors. However, it wouldn’t be as hurtful or unfair if the other were making, maybe not an equal amount of money, but a fair amount based on their individual talents. And most of them can only do that by going solo.

Listening to GD and Young-bae talk about all the trials and tribulations they had to go through before debut, we can all agree that after more than seven years of training, most idols deserve their own spotlight. However, what if the companies grant you the spotlight but you suck? It would be a big loss of time, energy and money for them. And these companies run on profit, hence they would never make a move that would impede their fiscal flow. You thought when I was talking about family, I meant real family? Wrong! I said “look” like family. Don’t get it twisted. YG would cut any one of them suckers in a swift blow if they were draining the company financially, as reflected by the SuPearls situation.

Most idols want to do solo work such as acting or variety shows. After all those years of training and those 360 contract portions  given to the company (not a measly chunk) these kids need the solo work. That’s where the big money is. Not to state the obvious but, individual talent assures that each individual member can safely pursue a solo career under the umbrella of the group. Such financial and creative freedom gives each member the grit to endure, and each group the diversity to survive the whirlwind of change that is K-pop. And this is especially true for girl groups.

4. GENDER

The subject of gender in K-pop is a very sensitive one because there are many things that should be taken into consideration, especially the cultural aspects. And I am not into deep analyzing a culture that is not natively mine. However I can tell you this: it’s harder for girl groups than boy groups to survive in this industry. If we were to carefully place the cultural bombs aside and look at the superficial issues such as fandoms and concepts, the reasons for girl groups struggles are self-evident.

First, there are more girls in the fandom than boys. Do I need to elaborate on why that would cause a problem for girl groups?

Let’s do a quick exercise. Name your top 3 biases and you will quickly understand why it is so. As stated before, there is money in obsession and most fans are fangirls obsessing over K-pop boys. Yes like I do, many fangirls have some girl biases too but they’re not in my top 3. Honestly as the broke students or broke entry level employees that most of us are, if we had to pick and choose who to spend our money, it would obviously be on the top 2.

Another damning thing is the fact that K-pop runs on concepts. Although very entertaining, concepts are limiting especially for girls. How many concepts can you come up with during 5 years really? More importantly how many versions of sexy can a girl group do in a that span of time before the fans gouge their eyes out out of pure boredom?  We all know the girl groups’ pattern. It’s what I like to call the SNSD blueprint. It usually spans from cute to sexy, with some slight variations – but who are they fooling? They are all the same, dark Sochi, sexy Kara, sexy Sistar, sexy Secret, Cute Girl’s Day, Cute A-Pink, cute AOA. Whatevs! It’s just semantics really.

In a world of Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, short to dancing on stage naked (like that tiny weenie bikini can fool anyone, Lady Gaga), as a child of this generation I have seen it all, and I am bored to tears by K-pop girl groups and they are not helping either. My deepest wish is for K-pop to get its shit together and focus on music instead of concept, especially for girl groups. Because really, women are very complex creatures and talking about boys and status all the time is boring.

But until that day comes, girl groups are gonna debut and drop like flies. The truth is, fangirls would rather spent their money on hot boys showing us their abs then a bunch of girls with whom they can hardly relate since most of us are neither cute nor sexy. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy their theatrics on variety shows.

I understand that I need to give a chance to new groups and that some have released dope new music even. But honestly that will make me like them more and I don’t want that. I don’t want to fall in love with a group that’s bound to break up soon. Let me ask you the same questions brokenhearted people ask after a bad breakup “Is it safe yet for me to open my heart to another group after DBSK?” Or more importantly, “Should I?”