As a new fan, I was wondering about the reason for Stray Kids popularity even among their 4th gen peers and came up with one of the possible reasons:
1) Being that— similar to BTS even if nowhere near the same extent— they were able to bring in an audience outside of the people who already listened to kpop.
2) Their “noisy” music niche which might make them less appealing to the usual Kpop audience makes them stand out more easily even if it might divide it’s audience.
3) The self-producing aspect also plays huge role than more people would like to admit since the “Kpop are manufactured products who are nothing without labels” Narrative persists to this day as a negative stereotype against Kpop and it’s idols. In the West, I believe, there is a huge emphasis on this aspect to be taken more seriously as an artist.
4) Even if we talk about the Parasocial aspect of it all, them writing all their songs adds to it even more than the ones who do not, Even if it’s not a 1:1 comparison look at artists like Taylor Swift, her lyrics are huge part of what makes Swifties such a Parasocial bunch online. Not many things are as intimate than a writer expressing their thoughts through art.
Of course, these are just a couple of reasons and it’s more complicated in practice since Luck always plays a part in everything. Feel free to disagree with me!
(Note: I only mentioned BTS cuz they’re one of the rare cases to be able to break out the Kpop bubble, I have no intention to start fanwars with anyone or make comparisons cuz the two groups are obviously not the same level)
Honestly, what baffles me more than their popularity in West is their popularity in Japan, while it’s nothing to be shocked about or anything I’m still surprised how popular they are in Japan and wonder how that happened.
submitted by /u/GloomyWitch08
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