I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and with the criticism CORTIS’s recent concert has been getting, I wanted to share my two cents (Side note: this isn’t part of the concert discourse. I do think it was disrespectful that some K-fans reportedly had their phones out the whole time, though that’s a topic for another post).
Before anyone comes for me: I’m a COER, I love the boys’ music, I own their albums, and I think they have the potential to go somewhere really big. I just don’t think HYBE is handling this correctly.
For context, I listen to a lot of trap, rap, and underground music (particularly in Spanish, since that’s my native language). That said, I’ve also been into K-pop since 2022. I’ve been an Atiny, a Stay, a Moa and a Bunny. I stopped listening to the genre because of bullying irl, and I came back with CORTIS. I loved the concept: “youthful, cool kids trying to put their music out there, being teenagers, etc,” which we saw in COTL. Songs like “Fashion” and “GO” were greattt, and I think that’s where they started tiptoeing into the hip-hop essence they clearly want to move toward.
Here’s the first problem: CORTIS comes from a company that puts out whatever’s trending. Their debut song, “What You Want,” was reportedly written for Trainee A, so wayyyyy before CORTIS even existed, way before the members had any say in it. No matter how much they lean into the “authentic self-expression” angle now, it doesn’t feel real — because it was built for them, not FROM them.
For example, another thing CORTIS did to “connect with the youth” was to show that they thrifted. But the hip-hop artists I listen to didn’t dress secondhand before they were big because they liked it. Some of that might be personal taste, sure, but a lot of it comes from genuinely not being able to afford big names. One of my favorite singers, Darkeer (he’s goated, go check him out), recently had his phone stolen and asked fans to buy some of his clothes so he could get another one. You can tell when thrifting is survival vs when it’s a curated, trending concept.
That’s the core of it: trap and hip-hop culture comes from being yourself in a world that doesn’t want to hear you. And that’s what CORTIS is trying to tap into — but the difference is they come from a major studio, with a fanbase used to pop, not to a “niche” underground show where you pay 20 bucks to see someone perform at a club.
Quick caveat: I didn’t watch the clips myself, so take this with a grain of salt. But from what I saw people discussing, YCC was played five times at the concert. That could work at a rap show with a crowd used to that kind of repetition — but these are K-pop fans (pop being core part of the word lol). At one point, the members reportedly asked what song they wanted to hear. Fans were yelling for a slow song, and instead they got yet ANOTHER round of YCC. Like come on.
I hate to make this comparison, but since both are 5th-gen groups with a similar concept, I think it’s worth noting: LNGSHOT. Everything about them is steeped in that culture (look at the Wasted Area thing they did recently). They have that Hiphop background. If CORTIS actually wants to separate itself from the idol identity, they need to start doing stuff like that.
And it really doesn’t help that a group that just debuted is being taken to Dior and Louis Vuitton shows during PARISFASHIONWEEK. It feels fake, especially while they’re trying to “relate to the youth” — no average young person can afford those things. A brand like streetwear brand like Supreme would’ve made more sense (though still a stretch not even one year into debut). If you want that connection with your fans, you need to show some struggle, some rawness. You can’t have it both ways.
As much as I hate to admit it, I think Max Proxy was right on this one: these are songs coming out of a studio with around 20 producers credited on a single track. That’s not really “real”, no matter how much CORTIS wants us to believe it is. How do you fully express your own point of view when 20 people are making the song alongside you?
LNGSHOT, by comparison, has some real hip-hop grounding, and the spaces Jay Park puts them in are helping slowly establish a solid identity and a loyal fanbase. Tbh I think LNGSHOT has exactly the kind of fanbase CORTIS wants.
Overall, there are two forces pulling against each other here, and eventually something has to give: the company pushing the K-pop idol machine, and the members, who clearly want to be seen as “hip-hop and cool.” The thing is, the company always has the final say, so that tension isn’t getting resolved anytime soon.
The boys need to find their actual audience before doing anything else — before running a concert without enough songs to fill it, and before forcing a concept on a fanbase that doesn’t want it.
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