I do not know why I did not expect T.K. to have something to say about BTS and k-pop. Enjoy, beanies.
http://www.vulture.com/2018/08/bts-black-pink-and-the-continued-success-of-k-pop.html

4
4

    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.

    2
    1

      I really can’t say what is a new trend, I just recently fell for BTS and had hard time exploring k-pop. Yes, the system is exploitative. I would never survive in such environment. Nice input, @greenfields, thank you.

      1
      1

    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…

    2
    0