Will the Girl Group craze continue in 2010?
The first keyword of the Kpop is undoubtedly ‘Girl Goup’ craze. Unlike in 2008 when Wonder Girls and Girls generation took a central place, TV screens were filled with a number of girl groups in 2009.
Girls Generation, Brown Eyed Girls, 2NE1, 4minute, T-ara, Kara, f(x), Secret, Ham, After School, JQT … the music programs were full of girl group members for a fairly long time. And they swept every entertainment program. They were featured in the entertainment programs titled ‘Girl Group Special’ and eventually the real variety program, ‘Invincible Youth’ was made, which consisted of only girl group members.
The K-pop’s main concern is if the Girl Group craze will continue in 2010. There are three opinions on the question.
The first one is that the Girl Group craze is still alive, Girls Generation and other groups almost swept the year-end music awards, and the spending trends of the public will not change so easily. It is evident in the ‘Pink Paper’ issued by Mnet. Among singing ability, appearance, friendliness, trend, album, entertainment program, performance, TV show, commercial and so on, ‘Bigmama’ was chosen in the singing ability section and ‘MC Mong’, in the entertainment program section but Girls Generation was picked in all the rest by male fans. Especially the fact that there’s no other way of attracting the eyes of the male fans supports the effectiveness of the girl group craze.
The second one is that the late-comers and the groups preparing for their debut might not be able to call public attention in a condition where it is focused on the front-runners. T-ara and f(x), they are said to be the last one. The girl groups who had appeared after their debut dropped the curtain after receiving attention for a short time or appearing on TV once or twice. The Rainbow produced by the large agency, DSP got attention even before their debut, but after that, their impact was practically insignificant.
On this account, the late-starters without any distinct features will have a tough time while Girls Generation, Brown Eyed Girls, 2NE1, 4minute, T-ara, etc, the front-runners continuing their activities in 2010.
The third one is that the power of the girl group craze will completely disappear. If they become similar to each other, they cannot receive any more public curiosity and interest. Also 2PM, Mblaq, Beast, ZE:A, Big Bang and so forth will probably start their activities again. It was not the absence of male groups that led to the success of girl groups. But you can predict that the craze will die down with the appearance of the boy groups.
So some people say that as the Wonder Girls are acting on the world stage, it is the practicable way of sustaining the craze to advance into foreign markets. The Girls Generation’s Asian tour next year may not differ much from it.
An official from the music industry said, “What is clear is that the public cannot find a distinct character from each of the girl groups. Becoming similar to each other, the front-runners will just remain as mere girl groups not as the leading role of the craze”, but also said, “If the society continues to have an atmosphere of solemnity, the influence of the girl groups will continue to some degree, though it cannot be a craze.”
[Source:Segye]
[Translated by FromWonderland] [Credits: wonderfulsworld]
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