When it comes to categories like popularity, success, influence, and cultural impact, all three groups check inside of these categories as they had managed to achieve different levels of success and accolades throughout their decade long careers. They were so popular to a point where they were given the nickname TWICEPINKVELVET during K-pop’s third generation. However, the way that fans view them tends to remind be of certain tropes that fits all three groups especially with them establishing their legacies in K-pop. This would be based off of their success and current situation right now regarding them being active inside of the K-pop industry. Now, as you all may know, all three groups had debuted under three of the biggest records labels in South Korea, but under different circumstances.
Red Velvet (The Nerd)- The group had debuted in 2014 with a four-member line-up at first before becoming an official member five-member group just eight months later. The group is known to have one of the most diverse concept and discographies in K-pop cementing them as one of the most experimental groups in K-pop. However, the group often reminds me of the nerd trope who is very smart but is more in the background due to being stuck as the third fiddle behind the underdog and popular girl. Red Velvet is largely respected for their discography, work ethic, and diverse concepts, but is treated more in the background due to the management of their company SM Entertainment. With, this topic, I believe Red Velvet fits more of the forgotten nerd trope that just sits in the background and is stuck behind the underdog and the popular girl.
Twice (The Underdog)- Before Twice’s debut, their management company, JYP Entertainment, was going through a rough financial pact leading to the group receiving a lukewarm reaction with their debut song Like Ooh-Aah (2015). Despite the song gaining some success, it wasn’t until Cheer Up (2016) into which the group had experienced rise in popularity with this song. From 2016-2019, Twice had managed to establish themselves as the “Nations Girl Group” which was a title that was previously held by SNSD. When the group had experienced a downgrade in popularity in Korea, they had started to focus more on the international scene and had eventually gained success to an audience that many fans had thought wouldn’t accept them due to their cute concept. Not only that but Twice is largely respected for their work ethic, musical output, and professionalism from their fans and even non-fans. The group saving their company from financial struggles and achieving success in many areas that people believe they couldn’t fit the underdog trope very well.
Blackpink (The Popular Girl)- Back in 2016, YG Entertainment, at that time, had a massive line-up causing Blackpink to receive enormous hype for their debut which had turned out to be successful. During the next few years, the group had managed to become a global phenomenon and was dubbed the “biggest girl group in the world” by mainstream media outlets in the U.S. and the UK. However, some of the discussions surrounding their success hasn’t been pleasant due to their long hiatuses, exclusive image, controversies, and the individual promotions on the members. Blackpink achieving massive success over other groups (not BTS) many fans deem as “hardworking” can leave a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. This completely fits the trope of them being the popular girl who comes from a wealthy family, operates in the same field as the nerd and the underdog, and still gets most of the attention because she is popular.
I think that the reason why fans like to push this supposed close gap between Twice and Blackpink is because of the trope of the underdog defeating and overcoming the popular girl in the field that they are operating in. K-pop fans tend to value the essence of hard work and professionalism in which both Red Velvet and Twice fit these categories gaining them the respect they have amongst fans and even non-fans in K-pop. When Blackpink achieves massive success and gets all of the attention, it creates a narrative of them not deserving their success or feeling like their success is un-earned. Basically, in many fans’ eyes, it is like the popular girl still getting all the attention and recognition over the hardworking nerd and underdog.
Edit: I had made a post similar to this one already but had decided to redo it involving Red Velvet.
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