Here’s an excellent piece about the evolution of kpop groups over the past ~30 years, mainly about size and changing relevance of roles of different members of the groups: https://pudding.cool/2020/10/kpop/
It helped me understand the maze that is kpop better. I also really appreciated the analogy with football (soccer) to explain kpop “teams” and fandom. Oh, and super dataviz, which is something that *always* excites me!
Nice article. Maybe the analogy with soccer is misleading though? Every soccer player has a role, which is strategic and all about playing the sport, they are needed for the team to play. These groups can have anything from 3 to 30 people. No soccer player is cast because he is pretty or charming, no externals factors matter. None of them gets cast because the process of casting itself became a lucrative game.
Agreed about the sporting factor in football, and how strategy has a role to play in sport which a pop group cannot replicate. I won’t defend the analogy unnecessarily, but if one had to do so, one could argue that topping the charts is the equivalent of the championship; and that “visuals” are an intrinsic factor in kpop teambuilding, just as finding the right midfielder would be in football. The analogy also helped explain – to me – fandoms, and how team support evolves. Also, casting may have become a lucrative game in the construction of teams in sporting leagues as well (not so much in building national teams)?
Yes, professional sport is sometimes as terrible as kpop industry. When I talked about a soccer team it was more about the concept of the game and not about the complicated schemes created by indusytry only to make money from the sport and the fans. Why should a music group need some member just to be pretty or charming? When did they start selling beauty and personality traits as something of equal value ? These groups became disposable objects, the music is just another element of the equation instead of the reason of their existence.
True. It’s really no longer about the music. Just like sport is no longer about the sport. 🙁 As someone who used to watch all kinds of sport (except golf and motor-racing) throughout her teens, by when the idea of “pure sport” was already vanishing, this is especially telling.
1
0
Modal title
Modal title
Modal title
Modal title
A verification email has been sent to your new email address.
Please click the link in that email to complete the email change process.
Modal title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit,
sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna
pickleddragon
October 4, 2020 at 2:07 AM
Here’s an excellent piece about the evolution of kpop groups over the past ~30 years, mainly about size and changing relevance of roles of different members of the groups: https://pudding.cool/2020/10/kpop/
It helped me understand the maze that is kpop better. I also really appreciated the analogy with football (soccer) to explain kpop “teams” and fandom. Oh, and super dataviz, which is something that *always* excites me!
Eazal
October 4, 2020 at 3:49 AM
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.
Lixie
October 4, 2020 at 7:45 AM
Nice article. Maybe the analogy with soccer is misleading though? Every soccer player has a role, which is strategic and all about playing the sport, they are needed for the team to play. These groups can have anything from 3 to 30 people. No soccer player is cast because he is pretty or charming, no externals factors matter. None of them gets cast because the process of casting itself became a lucrative game.
pickleddragon
October 4, 2020 at 9:10 AM
Agreed about the sporting factor in football, and how strategy has a role to play in sport which a pop group cannot replicate. I won’t defend the analogy unnecessarily, but if one had to do so, one could argue that topping the charts is the equivalent of the championship; and that “visuals” are an intrinsic factor in kpop teambuilding, just as finding the right midfielder would be in football. The analogy also helped explain – to me – fandoms, and how team support evolves. Also, casting may have become a lucrative game in the construction of teams in sporting leagues as well (not so much in building national teams)?
Lixie
October 4, 2020 at 9:41 AM
Yes, professional sport is sometimes as terrible as kpop industry. When I talked about a soccer team it was more about the concept of the game and not about the complicated schemes created by indusytry only to make money from the sport and the fans. Why should a music group need some member just to be pretty or charming? When did they start selling beauty and personality traits as something of equal value ? These groups became disposable objects, the music is just another element of the equation instead of the reason of their existence.
pickleddragon
October 4, 2020 at 9:46 AM
True. It’s really no longer about the music. Just like sport is no longer about the sport. 🙁 As someone who used to watch all kinds of sport (except golf and motor-racing) throughout her teens, by when the idea of “pure sport” was already vanishing, this is especially telling.