reminder that WOMEN in the kpop industry paved the way for global success. The disrespect from men, boy group supremacists, and fellow women is ridiculous and undermining the strength and dominance women and kpop girl groups had over America and Japan.
Girls’ Generation was the first kpop group (not to mention female kpop group) that appeared on live US television- on the Letterman Show and Kelly Ripa. They also won a YouTube mv award for I Got a Boy (the FIRST kpop gg mv to get over 100m views) over big American names like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, which further brought exposure to not only snsd but the ENTIRE industry. And, not to mention, they performed at Madison Square Garden with their ICONIC Genie remix (and Miss Tiff’s rap god skills!!!)
the Wonder Girls are often overlooked when it comes to global exposure. They toured with the Jonas Brothers, released English singles, and were the FIRST kpop group to ever chart on the Billboard Hot 100 with the english version of “Nobody”. I literally can remember hearing Nobody in Justice when I was still in elementary school…like the Wonder Girls worked really hard to break into the global scene.
We also have BoA, who, for older fans, is LITERALLY the queen. She’s the woman who inspired Taeyeon of snsd to sing in the first place! BoA took Japan and South Korea by storm, but also released a full-length english album and headlined San Fran Pride in 2008.
Hyuna also made waves when she released Bubble Pop in 2011 and was the first kpop mv to get 100 m views, and remained at the top of YouTube’s “Most Watched” videos for quite some time.
Disrespecting female kpop artists is so ignorant considering the fact that they’re the whole reason the industry has expanded its platform in the way that it has. To make the counterargument that they “failed to gain momentum” or “they flopped” is also totally uncalled for- as asian artists, FEMALE asian artists, they tackled something no one before them had ever attempted before, broke through many barriers, and each achieved what no one had (or has yet to, even) conquer.
Kpop’s statewide success is because of women who led the movement. Show credit where it is due…women run the world.
Here is an article Forbes wrote about the female dominance in overseas activities and how that has changed due to the generational group shifts.
To add to this, new generation girl groups most definitely DO have the ability to achieve more than the ggs that came before them, and before the bgs that are doing so well now- they just aren’t getting enough support.
The argument I see regarding ggs is that “they always use the cutesy concept” or “i hate bubblegum pop” etc etc…which is completely false. Girl groups are so versatile conceptually. Red Velvet? Blackpink? CLC? f(x)? Just to name a few.
The biggest issue is that these female groups now are not getting the management they did before. Most of the ggs that came before them achieved first in Japan, then moved to America. The new generation ggs sometimes don’t even do well domestically. With male ceos, male managers, with men running venues, broadcast stations, record companies, etc, these women cannot get what they need to lead the new generation as those that came before them.
That’s why supporting girl groups is SO IMPORTANT. If you like a group, but an album, stream, vote…ggs are being sabotaged by their own companies and the misogyny they are ridden with.