Music is something that has always been a big part of society and my life.  I’ve always been into stan culture when it comes to artists because I heavily believe in praise for artists that truly do everything when it comes to making music.  A big genre with this for me was k-pop.  This was something that I was into since elementary, and it never really left me.  The dancing, live vocals, production, and overall unique talent of each of the members always drew me in.  It fueled a large amount of passion that I have for hip-hop and dance thankfully.  Despite these things having such a large impact on the love of k-pop in the music industry, it feels like it’s been lacking lately.  Rather than things being about the passion of making music, k-pop artists are even more just become money machines, caring about making money much more than the quality of idol’s performance and talent.  

One aspect of this that I’ve noticed lately is that it feels like songs have been getting much shorter compared to all those years ago.  For example, the two most recent title tracks of an extremely popular girl group, Le Sserafim, are under three minutes long.  These songs also follow the trend of afro beats in k-pop which is shown in their most recent song.  This group feels like the most infamous for money grabs due to trend hopping and feeling like a lack of talent, despite their effort.  They are often used for what seems like money grabs but can never make up for it.  For example, they were used for an Overwatch 2 collaboration, a popular game which I played and actually bought the whole pack of for them.  I listened to a bit of their music and thought the skins were cute, so why not.  But delving more into them I don’t think they’re as amazing as making them cover girls for their company.  They can’t really show up to things that even the most basic performers and idols should be able to.  This already shows with their music banks, which are performances that idols do to advertise their newest comebacks.  There are often heavy backdrops and tone correctors during their performances.  Their performances aren’t really them, and it’s as if they weren’t properly trained for things like this, simply just put out there for money.  This came back to bite them when they performed at Coachella.  This was something that had a lot of excitement surrounding them because it was Le Sserafim and another big boy group, ATEEZ.  I really like that second group so stayed up to watch it, which was definitely worth the lack of sleep.  Their vocals, choreographies, stage effects, and just everything were amazing.  On the other hand, Le Sserafim failed to match that standard.  The vocals were shaking, choreography was messy, and overall it was not something that idols who already debut should be giving out.  It’s like the company they’re under, HYBE, couldn’t care less about how these idols really do perform as long as they’re raking in money considering they’re such a big company.  According to the Companies Market Cap, HYBE has a market cap of $6.04 billion.  As they’ve grown bigger, it seems like they mainly prioritize growing in this way over their artists.  

While this is only one company, this is something that has been a big issue in k-pop.  Despite creativity and art being praised, it’s money that makes them happy at the end of the day.  While these huge company giants do represent most of the industry, there still are smaller ones who truly care about quality over quantity.  While it may be hard, focusing on these smaller people really makes k-pop a better experience while continuing to stay as good, if even better.