As someone who‘s a fan of 4th gen bgs I’ve been thinking more and more about their military era. What some of them will actually do to keep the group name relevant while members are away. Because if a group goes quiet for too long in an industry this fast, it’s easy to slip out of the conversation. Solo activities can keep the members visible and that can help keep the group relevant too.
BTS is an example of that. The members stayed present, the brand never really disappeared, and by the time they came back as a group their comeback was highly anticipated and even reached new peaks. I hope my own faves find their own way of doing that too, even if it isn’t full promotions the whole time.
Seventeen are already in that chapter now and I’m curious to see how their post military era plays out. They’re staggering enlistment instead of all going in at once. It doesn’t feel like the group has fully disappeared. I’m also curious as to whether they’ll be able to keep the momentum they had pre-military. I’m positive they will.
That’s also what gives me hope that boy groups can have a longer peak now. If more groups put out subunit music or pre-recorded content during enlistment, the group doesn’t have to fully disappear. People still have something to hold onto, and the peak doesn’t have to cut off as soon as military starts.
The opposite of that would be if a group wasn’t active at all, or if all the members enlisted at once. I know that’s happened before, like with ONF. I’m more thinking about groups that rely on global fame, touring, and frequent comebacks, and are at a high global peak right now. That kind of momentum feels harder to hold if everything stops for years.
And out of curiosity, I do think that would be interesting to see. With current 4th gen groups , would any of them actually survive a 2+ year hiatus with no promo at all in the current Kpop landscape? Or would too much of the momentum be gone by the time they came back as the industry is very fast paced. Going forward, will groups just have to keep putting content out during a hiatus if they want their name, brand and momentum to stay out there.
submitted by /u/ElectronicDog9654
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