Idol like "a mold"
In recent years, Kpop has witnessed the explosive development of rookie groups. Major companies continuously release new music groups to extend their achievements and maintain their position in the market.
The success of IVE, aespa, Le Sserafim, NewJeans comes from catchy, addictive songs, trendy, youthful styles.
However, if we look at it more broadly, Kpop is lacking in richness. There are dozens of "na nam" music groups of the 4 groups mentioned above, and hundreds of idols are molded with the same formula.
Recently, girl group ILLIT debuted and received a lot of attention. ILLIT has 5 members, along with HYBE Group with NewJeans, Le Sserafim.
These three groups have many things in common: with 5 members, modern Y2K style, even body shape, fun choreography to easily create a "trend".
Not to mention, the ILLIT members have the same hairstyle, continuously causing controversy because the concept (identification image) is similar to NewJeans.
Compared to previous generations, Kpop has existed in many different genres and concepts. With music groups with diverse appearances, music, and number of members, the Kpop market was once really vibrant and had many options for audiences.
According to Soompi, a new trend that is dominating Kpop is songs under 3 minutes. ILLIT's debut album has 4 songs but is only over 9 minutes long. The same situation happened to NewJeans, IVE, Le Sserafim, Fifty Fifty...
The songs do not have a climax, lack bridge sections, or empty lyrics, but can still be compensated by the beauty of faces.
The shortening duration of Kpop songs reflects changes in public listening habits, or is a "rac race" of producers to make a profit in the era of the development of short video platforms such as Tik Tok, Reels... .
Kpop is in disrepair
In recent years, the number of teen idol has increased sharply, debuting very early such as Eunchae (2006), Hyein (2008), Leeseo (2007), and Boeun 2008...
Because they are young, they have a short internship time, which leads to a lack of soft skills and poor vocal ability.
Many times the public was bored and disappointed when the young idols did not sing, their voices were weak and shaky. Meanwhile, good vocal technique was once a prerequisite for an exchange student to become an idol.
A group without a strong vocal, without an impressive "dancing machine", without a talented rapper can still sell millions of albums.
However, Korea Times believes that recent industry reports show a decline in the domestic market of many Kpop girl groups.
Music critic Kim Do Hun affirmed that the sudden increase in the number of rookie girl groups has led to a situation of market saturatation and stagnation.
The Korean public has no longer held a monopoly in the Kpop fan community structure. Without domestic audiences, music groups can still make a fortune from other markets such as Japan, China, and even Europe and America.
The hiatus of Blackpink and BTS left a big gap, opening up opportunities but also posing many challenges for the next generation.
However, in reality, Gen 4 groups have begun to move away from the core values that make Kpop unique and distinctive.
That is the result after entertainment companies took on the form, turning artists into "industry chickens", chasing after revenue and without a long-term strategy.
Park Jin Young (founder of JYP) and Bang Si Hyuk (founder of HYBE) both expressed concerns about the sustainability of Kpop. They emphasized the need for a strategy to maintain K-pop and maintain identity in a rapidly changing music market.
