“Big Bang and BTS are the end of K-pop’s history”... K-pop has stagnated and needs a rebellion from the dirt spoon.

≪Choi Ji-ye’s Epilogue≫
Reporter Choi Ji-ye of Ten Asia objectively and keenly points out events that have occurred throughout the entertainment industry. We carefully analyze the ‘glitch’ you missed from a reporter’s perspective.

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“I think K-pop’s Gae Cheon-yong ended with Big Bang and BTS.”

MTV Korea's 'Real Documentary Big Bang', which aired in 2006, contains the debut history of the group Big Bang. In the video, Big Bang sweats day and night in a basement practice room in a corner of Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, preparing for their debut stage. Big Bang, with their youthful faces, is running towards one goal: ‘debut’.

Big Bang has since become an indispensable global group in K-pop history. Big Bang, who rose to stardom through their passion and effort for music and on stage in a harsh environment, was met with the evaluation that they were 'out of the blue'. Big Bang was the flagship and solid foundation of YG Entertainment, which led K-pop throughout the 2010s.

If we talk about the new era after Big Bang, we can choose the group BTS. At the time of their debut, BTS was just a new group from Big Hit Music, which was classified as a small and medium-sized new agency. Even in 2014, when BTS was at the height of its rise, many media outlets used the modifier ‘dirt spoon’ in front of their team name.

BTS continued to set first and best records and received support from a large global fandom. BTS has reached an unprecedented level as a K-pop group, and no domestic group has yet reached that record. Thanks to BTS' global mega-hit, Big Hit Music has established today's K-pop empire hive.

This trend has accelerated the gap between large agencies and small and medium-sized agencies. Small and medium-sized agencies, excluding the big four classified as Hive-JYP-SM-YG, are crying because they say it is difficult not only to form a debut team but also to recruit trainees. A senior official in the music industry told Ten Asia, "We are looking for trainees to launch new talent, but all of our talented friends are not paying attention unless they are from a large agency." He added, "Apart from capital power, they value the name value of a large agency, so small and medium-sized agencies are not interested. “Even finding the right trainee is a challenge,” he said.

The reason why trainees who dream of debuting as K-pop idols consider the name value of the agency is because they are keenly aware of the reality that ‘no one gets into trouble.’ In fact, since BTS, there have been very few cases where a K-pop group from a small or medium-sized agency has achieved global success. Fifty Fifty is almost the only group launched by Attract, but due to issues such as exclusive contract disputes, they eventually split into Kina and three other members.

There are many reasons why Fifty Fifty experienced such ups and downs, but people in the industry said, 'Would this have happened if Attract had been a large entertainment company?' It is pointed out that although Attract had the capabilities of discovering new talent and A&R planning, it did not have the internal system and capital to support it, leading to this result. Fifty Fifty's 'Cupid' peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 'Hot 100' chart and successfully stayed on the chart for 25 weeks. It is also comparable to 'IceCream' released by the group Blackpink in collaboration with American star Selena Gomez. Although we achieved decent results, we were ultimately unable to continue our activities as the same member.

After BTS achieved a milestone, K-pop seems to be going through a downward trend. Although the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the domestic music industry is cited as the background, the industry consensus is that small and medium-sized entertainment companies should continue to take on challenges and attempts.

‘Gae Cheon-yong’, a ‘dirt spoon’ idol who connects Big Bang and BTS, must emerge and enter the domestic and global world in an enterprising manner. The groups that have led K-pop history so far have never been full from the start. The narrative of those who rose from the bottom may have been more attractive to fans around the world. The next generation of global K-pop stars to succeed BTS may not be in the Big 4.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr