Why K-pop girl groups like Twice, Blackpink and Red Velvet are game-changers in a boy band-led industry

By Dong Sun-hwa

K-pop record labels have long been thought to see boy bands as more lucrative than girl groups because they often attract loyal female followers eager to open their wallets for concert tickets and albums.

In terms of global appeal, phenomenal boy band BTS’ 2019 “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” world tour played to a total audience of more than 2 million, while heavyweight girl group Blackpink’s “Kill This Love” world tour drew around 260,000 concertgoers.

Billboard reported that BTS grossed about 136 billion won (US$117 million) through ticket sales, while Touring Data said Blackpink earned 44.2 billion won.

And when it comes to album sales, BTS topped South Korea’s 2019 Gaon music chart, selling more than 3.7 million copies of their sixth mini-album Map of the Soul: Persona. Another all-male group, Seventeen, came next with their third studio album, An Ode, selling 850,000 copies.

Twice secured the No 10 spot on the chart, the highest position for a girl group, with their eighth mini-album, Feel Special, selling around 413,000 copies.

At first glance, it looks like today’s female K-pop bands are comparatively underperforming. But in a deeper sense, they should be seen as game changers who made breakthroughs in the K-pop universe by shattering the traditional beliefs that girl groups – which have a relatively small international following – cannot generate notable profits through concerts abroad. Spearheading the trend are Twice, Blackpink and Red Velvet.

“Thanks to a spike in the number of female fans and the expansion of global fandom, the three are playing concerts overseas, not only in Asia but also in North America, and making substantial profits,” Seattle-based music critic Kim Young-dae says.

Nine-member group Twice played 25 gigs in 16 cities around the globe last year, as part of their world tour. They also performed at the Tokyo Dome, which can accommodate 100,000 people. Up to 50,000 fans were invited to each concert of their “dome” tour. A wave of K-pop boy bands including TVXQ, Exo and BTS previously held concerts there, but Twice were the first female K-pop act to stage one.

Critic Park Soo-jin, who writes for music magazine IZM, said girl groups were rising because many were changing their image from passive girls to active women.

“As can be seen in Blackpink’s Kill This Love, female stars are exhibiting a more active and charismatic demeanour,” Park says. “They are relaying different messages to people through their songs, as the times change. This seems to have appealed to listeners of the same gender.”

But are female fans truly more loyal and willing to spend money on their stars compared to male followers?

“The K-pop scene was jam-packed with male musicians in the beginning,” Park says. “Iconic male groups such as Seo Taiji brought life to new sonic styles in Korea in the early 1990s, while female singers virtually had no foothold, as people in the past regarded them as doing something shameful rather than artistic.

“Therefore, the main consumers of the music have been young girls and the industry has evolved in a way that appeals to their taste. Almost all music-related businesses, such as merchandise and concerts, have been customised to suit female followers. This is why the number of female fans willing to spend on stars is greater than that of male fans.”

Critic Jung Yeon-kyung says: “Female fans also tend to gather together on online platforms, and as they take collective action to affect their stars, they feel close to each other. This sense of connectedness also seems to make them more loyal to their singers, leading them to play more active roles in their community.”

In terms of album sales, K-pop girl bands may be weaker than the boy groups, but they have gained the upper hand in digital streaming, largely because their music is more easy-listening.

“If we look at music streaming platforms such as Melon, the female bands’ tracks are usually ranked higher on the charts,” critic Kim says. “Those who do not know much about music and artists generally prefer the girl bands’ songs, so they have greater appeal to the general public.”

Read the full story at the Korea Times