An interesting analysis. OFC it goes without saying that earlier groups paved the road for K-pop internationally & self-producing groups did exist even before BTS, but I do think Bangtan are defining a new standard in international presence & what it means to tell a story through your music. I do say this as a fan of BTS, and also as someone following trends generally.

Within SK however, I think the newest thing is not BTS-style music but Wanna One style groups brought together and debuted by broadcast stations, not training agencies. Sadly this is even more exploitative a system than the traditional K-pop model since the broadcast system has zero investment in the human artist, and is free to focus entirely on monetary profits.

Also, this, “The point is not to see which strategy wins the race; rather, it is to anticipate the path of global K-pop in the coming years by observing the two models’ call-and-response.” I discussed BTS above because I’m most familiar with them. 🙂 This was pretty interesting. Hmm…