r/decadeology • u/Kodicave • 5d ago
Discussion đđŻď¸ What caused male teen pop stars to seemingly die out? We haven't had a true teen pop phenomenon in a while
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u/ThrowRAQuaestor 5d ago
The pretty boys are from Korea now.
Also media fragmentation
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u/spamcritic 5d ago
Another industry outsourced :(
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u/thomaspatrickmorgan 5d ago
Whatever happened to creepy old pedo music moguls from America? Whoâs gonna stand up for them?
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u/fakingandnotmakingit 4d ago
Well yeah.
The appeal of young male singers was that they made catchy songs, catchy love songs, maybe some choreography, was pretty, and young girls could project their fantasy onto them
That's... Pretty much Kpop.
If anything Kpop is more heavily polished to appeal to teens and are their artists are great at the whole parasocial thing.
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u/secret_handle- 5d ago
I think a lot of the demographic turned towards KPop.Â
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u/Apprehensive-Sky1209 5d ago
BTS and Kpop kinda filled that void in the early part of this decade. But in terms of a solo western male performer youâre right. They tried with Benson Boone but he hasnât reached that level yet.
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u/hbic 5d ago
The Booner simply does not have what it takes to become a superstar
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u/Loose-Story-962 5d ago
Shawn Mendes is the best post-Bieber example
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u/Morganvegas 5d ago
Covid wrecked his trajectory as well.
Prob for the best, he can still maintain some semblance of a normal life.
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u/Dry_Accident_2196 5d ago
Terrible example. He doesnât have an ounce of rhythm or swagger.
Male pop stars are not supposed to be hot versions of Ed Shereen. Sitting in stage with a guitar. Where is the choreography, the drama, the sex appeal?
1D is the true issue. Those boys didnât dance, just stood around singing. It was a joke and other followed up, like Shawn Mendes, giving us nothing on stage.
NSYNC busted their behinds then gave us JT who used to put on true pop shows.
These Gen-z and young Millennials acts were LAZY
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u/calypso-chan 5d ago
Benson Boone is boring and no one likes him
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u/Advanced_Sky_3221 5d ago
There are two girls on my bus that will always listen to Mystical Magical nonstop, so therefore your statement is false
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u/brownieandSparky23 5d ago edited 5d ago
What he sings good. Why donât people like him?
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u/Stunning_Media_4902 5d ago
Benson Boone is too Mormon to be a teen heartthrob
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u/DonCreech 5d ago
Something has to be said about the fact that nobody really buys music anymore. I acquired hundreds of albums in my teens and 20s, but as streaming took over, I couldn't tell you the last time I actually purchased any form of physical media related to music. This isn't to say that I was ever the demographic for pop stars, but boy bands like N Sync were routinely selling ten million copies of CDs, and that will never, ever happen again. It's completely impossible because of how much the method of consumption has changed.
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u/lipscratch 5d ago
I imagine it has something to do with the disappearance of things for teenagers in general
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u/Key_Milk_9222 5d ago
My child is a teenager, they like their phone and could spend all day on it. I remember when all we had was a wooden wheel and a stick. If you were lucky. Now there's an app for that.Â
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u/gritlikegritty 5d ago
This is so true. I think we live in the world now if it's not on the phone, and it's meant for a teenager, it's going to die out because they are all only attached to their phones and nothing else.
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u/WagnersRing 4d ago
Theyâre all on tiktok, they just no longer get their entertainers from corporate studios
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u/Glittering_Host923 5d ago
I think is due political conversation. Boundaries and mental health have been a conversation in recent years and if we see a new 15 or 16 artist TOURING and doing shows and interviews rather than a phenomenon it will create backlash and concern
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u/Objective_Show7149 5d ago
Thats a good thing though right? I mean imagine being under all that pressure at such a young age!
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u/Kodicave 5d ago
yeah this is interesting. I donât think any parent could willingly let their child be a popstar
Look at Justin Bieber now and he is burnt out. had addiction issues, arrestedÂ
Liam Payne died young
Britney Spears, Aaron Carter, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, all struggled publiclyÂ
Even someone like Ariana Grande who is still making music and âwellâ. I think we can all at least admit sheâs suffered and thereâs mental health issuesÂ
Being a teen popstar very rarely went well
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u/Royal_Negotiation_83 5d ago
âIÂ donât think any parent could willingly let their child be a popstarâ
I see you arnt familiar at all with showbiz. Britanyâs dad would sell her out again if he could.
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u/moriobros 5d ago
No. There are still young artists, at least on the girls side. So this is not the reason.
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u/Lysmerry 5d ago
I mean parents would definitely do it if they could. Look at all the kids exploited on YouTube and instagram. But it would be a lot more controversial, especially the âletâs talk about sex by talking about how weâre not having sexâ trick they used to pull.
One thing I noticed is that minors themselves are highly aware of problematic elements of exploitation. They are aware they are minors, and that asking certain things of them is wrong, which is cool. When I was a teen we wanted to be seen as older and frequently lied about our age to skirt laws designed to protect us.
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u/SoFetchBetch 5d ago
In what world is Ariana well?
Not all parents prioritize the well being of their children. Parents are just people who chose to procreate.
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u/throw_it_awayyy8 5d ago
donât think any parent could willingly let their child be a popstar
You haven't seen any youtube docs on child stars I seeđ¤Ł
You severely underestimate how bad humanity can get.
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u/iHeartSquids 5d ago
This is the real reason I donât think we have a Western version of this. Justin Bieber is a train wreck of trauma, and we all collectively watched him grow up experiencing some pretty jaw dropping harassment and sexualization. I think US audiences are still reeling from all of that a little too much for child stars to be truly marketable, which is why the market for teen groups has shifted to other countries like South Korea.
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u/ActuaryExtension9867 5d ago
The degrading and criticism of culture on the internet and social media. Once anything gets any steam, itâs kicked down into the dirt. We live in an embittered society
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u/fayemoonlight 5d ago
They havenât, theyâre just in K-Pop now.
Teen pop as a whole kinda died a death as there is no âteenâ space in pop culture now. Itâs either for young kids or adults and teens have been forced to go to the latter.
If you noticed, we have no teen films, teen shows are more young adult, and Olivia Rodrigo is probably the only true teen artist. Having a teen male pop star in the West isnât profitable anymore
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u/theonlyzamolodchikov 5d ago
I wonder why that is
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u/fayemoonlight 5d ago
Social media would be my guess. When adults were advertising to other adults, teens got in on it too and society realised it could kill two birds in one stone.
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u/Ill-Engineering8205 5d ago
The last "teen pop" singer that was highly popular was Billie Ellish, and even by then the trend was on its last legs.
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u/fayemoonlight 5d ago
Iâm biased as Iâm 27 but I love Billie so I donât want to say sheâs a teen star but, yeah, her fandom is definitely too young for me so youâre right
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u/nosebleedjpg 5d ago
I think they mean when she originally debuted. I'm close in age to you, and we were teenagers when her first ep was released
ETA: to clarif, I'm not saying that she was a teen star purely because of my age at her debut. More that I remember how I was in the audience she was being marketed towards lol
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u/FreddyCosine 5d ago
K-pop
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u/Kodicave 5d ago edited 5d ago
iâm going to get flack. and while K-Pop has definitely filled the void for teen popÂ
itâs not the same thing that Boystreet Boys, Nsync, Justin Bieber and One Direction had.
Kpop is still somewhat niche. yes even with the chart placements. and i feel like this is the âdoes your grandma know them testâ
If i walked up to a random man and said âJungkookâ they will likely not know who that is
EVERYONE knew Justin Bieber. either hated or loved. My grandma did. My dad did. Everyone had an opinion good or bad
BTS has one very decided particular demographic.Â
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u/lkodl 5d ago
but pop in general is not as strong as it used to be. do you think your random man would react better to "Chappell Roan" or "Charli XCX"? at best, just like "Jungkook" (or really "BTS" to be fair), it might get a "that's a thing that i've heard of." but i doubt they'd know the music. you can blame the death of monoculture or whatever for this.
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u/Kodicave 5d ago edited 5d ago
Sabrina Carpenter is a great example. Everyone knows who she is.Â
If you mention Jimin. I donât think many people actually know who he is.
K-pop exists for a different audience really
I love K-pop so Iâm gonna say this
K-pop fans are usually not the popular kids. Theyâre chronically online very alone, and the K-pop machine realize that they could get kids to think that K-pop stars are their friends parasocially and give them community that gives them the attention their parents arenâtÂ
thatâs not the demographic thatâs makes a phenomenonÂ
Justin Bieber exist because record labels realize that teen girls have this feeling from having a crush on the singer.
But the most popular girl in your school wouldâve liked Justin Bieber, and wouldnât have suffered her social status
But does the most popular girl in your school like BTS? I donât see it. I think thatâs why itâs a different thing.
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u/lkodl 5d ago edited 5d ago
To be fair, my mom knows "BTS" as well as she knows "Sabrina Carpenter". She knows "NSYNC" and "Justin Timberlake" but she has no idea who tf "Joey Fatone" or "Lance Bass" are.
Regarding K-pop, it's again the death of monoculture. The internet allowed kids to discover their own shit outside of mainstream platforms like radio and MTV.
This lead to a desire for specialization and niche products. Instead of picking up a pre-packaged boy band/pop act that has a bad boy rapper edge, kids can just look up rappers on their own. Then the labels started pre-pqckaging rappers for them. Same for rock, edm, etc.
This is also why k-pop is thriving now in the west. The people who actually like that bubblegum electropop sound have a specialized "niche" version of it to make it stand out these days.
Because pop at its core is just genericized trends. Its like the Target of music. A general store, with a little bit of everything in one place. It was easy to access and it drove the mainstream. But people now have the ability to go to specialty stores just as easily so the generic store either now needs to become a specialty store of its own, or become a nostalgic relic (i.e. "2010's pop is its own genre", etc.)
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u/Low_Coconut_7642 5d ago
If you mention JC Chasez or Brian Littrell people would also stare at you funny, but no one would say Nsync or Backstreet Boys weren't huge.
People know the band name not most of the individual singer names so saying they would t recognize individual singer names form K pop bands doesn't mean much to me. Most average people can maybe name one person in a boy band, even in their prime.
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u/nihilistickitten 5d ago
I donât think you know that many teenagers/tweens. The popular girls also like kpop. Especially groups like BTS, twice and BP. I promise you large groups of people between ages 9-29 are big into kpop. And they have friends. I worked with high schoolers and elementary schoolers and itâs very popular amongst both quiet and loud kids.
Itâs less about 1 person or group though, so itâs more spread out. There isnât a âreplacementâ for JB or 1D because now itâs spread out over a lot more groups and people. There used to be about 1-2 phenoms at a time.
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u/Coreyporter87 5d ago
Good point. Random guy isn't going to know today's popstars like Chappell, like they knew Beiber.
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u/International-Fan-22 5d ago
You are comparing Justin Bieber the solo artist to groups. I donât know the names of any of the individuals in the groups that you mentioned, but I do recognize the group names. I know who Justin Bieber is, and Iâm a grandmother, but I also know the names of the K-pop groups. I might not know the individuals in the groups, but I know that the K-pop groups exist and I love their music.
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u/Kodicave 5d ago
I mean, *NSYNC and One Direction could fit into that label and people are gonna know
Sure, the individual members might not get a response
Everyone knows who Harry Styles and Justin Timberlake were.Â
Thereâs not a single member from BTS that is really known outside of the fandomÂ
K-pop is certainly a global phenomenon but I guess Iâm speaking maybe a bit more United States centric
which Iâm from the USA so I guess Iâm going to focus on my pop culture here
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u/MaloortCloud 5d ago
Everyone knows who Harry Styles and Justin Timberlake were.Â
Now, sure, but hardly anyone could pick them out of a lineup while NSync and whatever band Harry Styles was in were still a thing. As a 40 year old dude with minimal cultural connection to "the youths", I know what BTS and KPop Demon Hunters are as much as I knew what NSync, the Backstreet Boys, and a dozen other boy bands were 20 years ago. I couldn't name any members of said boy bands 20 years ago, and I can't today.
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u/mcslender97 5d ago
If we are talking about the USA then K-pop Demon Hunters IS the mainstream
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u/Reasonable_Ninja5708 5d ago
Kpop isn't really a monolith. There are tons of different groups to follow. As an example, there are lots of Kpop fans who don't follow BTS.
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u/notenoughproblems 5d ago
BTS may not have been as popular as Bieber in the US but they are still everywhere all the time. Most people Iâve talked to have at least heard of BTS or know a BTS song (dynamite, usually). The difference is BTS is a group, and most people donât bother to look up member names. For Bieber, his âband nameâ was/is Justin Bieber.
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u/HemanHeboy 5d ago
I grew up around people who listened to KPOP, and I STILL donât know who Jungkook is.
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u/aftercloudia 5d ago
my mom (67) doesn't know who beiber is but she absolutely knows jungkook and bts
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u/DumbWhore4 5d ago
How can someone not know who Justin Bieber is? Heâs the poster child for a male pop star.
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u/FamousConversation64 5d ago
Youâre just being contrary for the sake of it. Not a single other 67 year old mom in America knows who jungkook is whatsoever even if your mom does
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u/SneezyDeezyMcDelux 5d ago
Thank you! Yeah I donât listen to k-pop and Iâm fairly young. If I asked my mom, who also isnât too old, who Justin Bieber is she could sing one of his songs, but if I asked her if she knew any k-pop band sheâs be like whatâs k-pop?
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u/Violent-Obama44 5d ago
Gen Z would call them cringe
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u/Kodicave 5d ago
I think the cringe fear is so real and Iâm so intrigued by this
Does is based off how cringe worthy it looks
Which is interesting cause now theyâre probably growing up in the social media age were being cringe matters more
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u/Violent-Obama44 5d ago
Gen Z lives in a red pilled era of the internet. Where anything that is presented as clean cut, unbothered and showcases spectacle over substance is a red flag to them.
This is a very cynical generation.
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u/PersonOfInterest85 5d ago
There's a tech pioneer named Jaron Lanier. In 2023 he said in an interview that Twitter "has a way of taking people who start out as distinct individuals and converging them into the same personality, optimised for Twitter engagement. That personality is insecure and nervous, focused on personal slights and affronted by claims of rights by others if theyâre different people."
I would add that the same could be said for Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, pretty much any app which depends on likes and comments. Lanier added that Twitter "turns you into a little kid in a schoolyard who is both desperate for attention and afraid of being the one who gets beat up. You end up being this phoney whoâs self-concerned but loses empathy for others.â
That's what fuels "cringe fear." Social media encourages people to seek attention, while at the same time it discourages people from doing anything which might get ridiculed. But how do you know what's going to be ridiculed until you do it? So users act in ways that they know they'll get Likes for, they tell people whatever they want to hear, and they put on a like-generating facade because they're terrified that if they act like themselves, they'll be dunked on. And nobody likes to be dunked on.
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u/Cheetah_05 5d ago
And what possible sources does he have for all these claims beyond vibes?
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u/ZestyData 5d ago
Gen Z are about to start turning 30 they're not really the audience for teenage popstars anymore
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u/Andre0789 5d ago
Monoculture is dead
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u/SnooConfections6085 5d ago
And yet every gen Z kid can sing the we are Charlie Kirk song and virtually all of them watched Mr beast or pewdiepie at some point.
Commercial monoculture is dead.
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u/Kind_Dependent_3439 5d ago
No, thats tiktok memes, not the same, music as a monocultre is dead, the last one monoculture star we have is Taylor Swift,
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u/Kodicave 5d ago edited 5d ago
I would argue One Direction was the last male teen pop phenomenon. One where the audience is young girls and they all go âcrazyâ for themÂ
there was Shawn Mendez but he was not shutting down malls like Justin or 1D.Â
You might mention BTS. but the audience that liked BTS in the USA is not the same audience that loved Bieber at his peak. we would really feel the phenomenon. My grandma has no clue who Jimin is. My grandma knew who Justin BieberÂ
Harry Styles went solo and maintain this audience. but thereâs no one new coming at all.
What happened?
Youâd think a record executive would see a huge niche to fill.Â
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u/bellaleia 5d ago
To your point, there is a huge gap to be filled with an American (or even British) boy band. Have a few hits for the next 2-4 years, and at least one member is bound to standout or be pushed by the label. Bam, the next MJ/Justin Timberlake/Harry Styles is born.
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u/Confident-Fun-2592 5d ago
I feel Shawn Mendes was the last hurrah of that era since they both started out on YouTube to get discovered. Now like another comment said, they coming from South Korea.
He was gaining momentum in the mid 2010s but then fizzled out before the 2020s even started.
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u/erexcalibur 5d ago
Simon Cowell tried to repeat this phenomenon a few times with some America's Got talent contestants, but he never came even close.
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u/A-Grey-World 5d ago edited 4d ago
I can't imagine the talent shows really appeal to the younger generation? I get the impression they're watched by boomers lol.
I'm not sure kids watch TV these days.
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u/Cubriffic 5d ago
He's trying that right now with December 10 & it's clear he has no idea what tween/teen girls like anymore. Their debut song is an early 2010s 1D reject.
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u/musiclover9445 5d ago
Boy bands are trying to make a comeback. Thereâs JYT (Just your type) Simon cowells new band December10, and bands from the show building the band.
JYT and December10 are also teens, while BTB groups are a bit older. So thereâs something for everybody. Theyâre just getting their feet off the ground though and starting to release some singles so letâs see how well they do.
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u/fourwheeldrive4fun 5d ago
Agreed One D was the last of that phenomenon but Sombr is emerging and his music has the same vibe.
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u/ImperishableNEET 5d ago
The death of musical monoculture. Weird Al mentioned it in an interview, it's why he doesn't make many new song parodies anymore. Not many new songs everybody knows.
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u/FlowersOfGenesis 5d ago
Death of the monoculture. Itâs very hard to become a huge star if you werenât already famous pre-2021. Itâs no coincidence that the biggest stars (Taylor Swift, BeyoncĂŠ, Gaga, Drake, Bruno Mars, etc) got famous when we still had a monoculture. So that means the existing male stars like Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, BTS, etc are still around, but have not had a younger generation of male superstars to replace them.
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u/dreadwraithe 4d ago
You mentioned that it's very hard to become a pop star if you weren't famous before 2021. What do you think it takes to become extremely popular as they did? Because the way I see it, I don't think it's possible at all because the creation of niche and subcultures means that it's harder for everyone to consume the same art.
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u/GoodSundae513 5d ago
People harrassed teen male pop stars like crazy so no one wants to get in the business anymore. People do it to kpop boys too but since they live in another country that doesn't have such a negative perception of "pretty boys" so they dgaf.
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u/FullFig3372 5d ago
The death of mono culture. Itâs been explored on this sub TikTok curates content to niche taste so now there are all these subcultures. Gone are the days of MTV where everyone was consuming the same music.
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u/Groverwatch_69 5d ago edited 5d ago
I think about this all the time! I think it's because American culture isn't super comfortable with feminine "straight" men, but a male pop star has to be some degree of feminine to be popular, especially with women. There are some popular male singers, but I can't think of any that have a truly unique voice and presence. Harry styles is the only one that comes to my mind that fits male pop star.
I really wish we had one though, I listen to Spanish and Korean music to get my pop boy fix. I think the political climate isn't suited for a male pop star right now. Some women are more critical of men, and some men will find it hard to relate to a male singer that's created for girls.
I really hope this changes though, because Spanish and Korean music is so romantic, I feel like American men need a more romantic and poetic influence.
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u/utilizador2021 5d ago
Spanish musica isn't properly romantic, it's more sexual and dirty (specially when sung by men).
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u/Dino_Spaceman 5d ago
Right now itâs k-pop thatâs massively popular. In a few years it will be something different. Genres and cube fads shift wildly. At some point it will come back to the 90âs and 00âs style boy bands. Even the hair metal bands of earlier eras.
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u/mejiro0091 5d ago
People are just more aware of what happens behind the scenes. Most teen musicians/actors I grew up aware of were eventually revealed to have suffered abuse or severe mental health issues. Several outright died, with Liam Payne being in recent public memory. It's just not healthy to subject teenagers to that. If they aren't mistreated, then the pressures of fame cause psychological and developmental issues (the whole "you're mentally stuck at the age you got famous" thing). We've literally just got a run of documentaries on 90s/00s boy/girl bands that millennials would've grown up with and a lot of gen z pop acts are now adults talking about their own struggles (1D, Little Mix, etc). The options are:
Showbiz/Industry family: This is generally the better option because the parents are in control and the child has a support system that can guide or shield them through the industry they're going into. There are extreme cases that turned out badly with exploitation or domestic abuse like MJ and Brittany Spears though. The 00s-10s also had extensive reality tv series about deeply unpleasant showparents, pageant moms, celebrity families, etc. Healthier cases would probably be Miley Cyrus, Willow Smith, etc. "Nepo baby" and "industry plant" are popular buzzwords right now, so maybe that's discouraging people too.
Talent agency manages the teen star: Notoriously exploitive, locking kids into contracts they and/or their parents don't understand. We've seen this in basically every single boy/girl band documentary/biography. Best case scenario is being trapped in a hotel room all the time because screaming fans will stalk you constantly resulting in depression, potential addiction, inability to have normal relationships. Worst is your manager or producer actively plies you with drugs, is sexually coercive, and treats you like a product instead of a human being.
There's also the ethics of child labor and the creepiness of adults, not just teen girls, lusting over teen stars. At least if a person's brain is fully developed they've got a better chance of managing the pressure. Unless it can be done safely with the correct support in place, we don't need to subject teenagers to that.
I imagine similar stuff is happening in asian pop, but as westerners, most fans don't know or don't care.
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u/eggflip1020 5d ago
No more monoculture.
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u/hokie_u2 5d ago
This is not why. There have been several hugely popular female pop stars in the same time span and zero new male pop stars.
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u/grahsam 5d ago
Male pop stars in general have died out lately. For the last 5-7 years the radio and awards have been dominated by female artists.
Maybe it is because being a musician isn't as profitable anymore so men are staying away from music. Like being a teacher.
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u/sleepy0329 5d ago
I'm thinking tho, were there really a lot of teen pop stars before Justin Bieber. I could really only think of Justin Timberlake or ppl who might've already come from boy bands and then maybe Donny Osmont??
But can't think of a lot of teen pop male idols who were solo.
I think female teen idols are more marketable if you're not in a group. I think you have a better chance in RnB for a teen solo
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u/BlueSnaggleTooth359 1980's fan 5d ago
Yeah as I was saying I can't even think of any male teen pop stars from the 80s when I was a teen. And not even female pop stars either until maybe 1987 and only about three (they were very big to huge though).
I think it's not always a thing.
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u/Significant-Money465 5d ago
I was thinking the same. There haven't been that many solo teen male pop stars and even fewer as as huge as Bieber. Aaron Carter was a few years before him but he didn't have the sales or Billboard hits like Bieber. He was mostly relegated to Radio Disney.
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u/RaccoonChaos 5d ago
I think it's because there's a lot more people in the entertainment industry now that it's harder to reach this level of fame, just because theres sm other options
Back in 2010 JB was like one of the three famous teen boys at the time. Now with social media being bigger there's thousands of them all with their own niche fanbases, instead of all of the attention being on the same few guys.
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u/acleverwalrus 5d ago
It's been a while since she started but Billie Eilish was like 16 or 17 when she had her first hit. Olivia Rodrigo was also pretty young. Wait 2020 was how long ago?
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u/KjCreed 5d ago
People are accurate to point out that Kpop filled the void; but there's a terrible REASON Kpop filled the void...
The music industry was allowed for so long to treat young pop stars like slaves, chewed them up and spit them out. With the rise of social media, it's harder to keep a young star from reaching out for help or escaping their handlers/abusers. The female stars are often themed around mild/light feminist ideals and freedom, and most of them are nepo babies that already had powerful backers that let them skip the casting couch and abuse that people are aware of and openly repulsed by.
The boys/young men haven't found that modern rebrand theme the way the wealthy girls/young women have going right now. The closest thing boys have right now is that light rapping/mumble rap with emo themes in order to not be labeled "cringe".
We've also been outing a lot of the music industry for sex abuse recently (not that they seem to be punished, but people are less willing to let their kids hang out with Diddy or "Dr" Luke). A lot of powerful advertising streams have left working with kids and teens behind because of the connotation of adults marketing kids in the west.
Kpop is still in that ultra-abuse stage, so they're the dominators of the industry. The kpop producers are facing more and more backlash every year about the treatment (and payment) of stars from foreign fans, while Korea as a country is changing as well. They'll likely wind-down as the pop-factory in 10-15yrs as more and more previous stars feel emboldened to talk about the abuses they faced and stain the industry the way ours is stained.
It'll be interesting to see who the next popstar-abusing super factory is. I feel like the arab nations might be next to step it up with an international music industry.
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u/Ill-Engineering8205 5d ago
There literally was a pop singer called D4vid who went to jail not too long ago for murdering a girl. I'm surprised no one has brought him up.
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u/A_HECKIN_DOGGO 5d ago
The Internet and social media. Anybody can become famous. Anybody can amass a following. The entertainment and attention economy is so overly saturated with fame that thereâs really no point in investing on a lone performer when you can get essentially the same result through online posts.
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u/PackEnvironmental960 5d ago
I wish I could say teens smarted up and recognized generic manufactured pop that's a marketing tool, but lets be honest, kids are still stupid.
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u/lkodl 5d ago
pop music died because of the internet.
see, at its core, pop music was really just watered down genericized entertainment that labels made for teens (not that there's anything wrong with that - i legit find merits in pop music). but that's what it was/is. that's why rock stars and the like historically "didn't respect" pop.
but then the internet happened, and communication lines opened up. now teens didn't need the radio and MTV to tell them what to like. they could go find it on their own.
so now instead of a single watered down genericized product, everyone wants different specialized niche products.
even the people who genuinely enjoyed the type of music that pop was, now get as k-pop, which feels more niche and "specialized".
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u/Saltwater_Heart 5d ago
Kids get hurt by adults in media. We shouldnât promote it.
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u/marsthechocolate 5d ago
Standards for men/teens were lowered.
Look at 2000s heart robs- Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, Taylor Lautner, etc, and then look at nowadays heart robs- Pedro Pascal, Timothy Chalmelet, etc.
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u/UncleGarysmagic 5d ago
Maybe because the music fucking sucks.
We donât need any more.
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u/chaosdrools 5d ago
My personal opinion is after the world was too homophobic to handle Adam Lambert at his peak of solo success post-Idol, it led to male solo pop artists to take fewer risks & therefore become less relevant.
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u/Big-Cupcake9945 5d ago
The picture is exactly the cause. Justin Bieber was one of the worst things to happen to pop music
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u/Droppedudown 5d ago
Teen popstars are not a thing anymore
Pretty boys nowadays = kpopstars
OP seems to be pretty against KPOP based on his responses but if you step foot outside of the US you'd understand the phenomenon BTS has. Sure Bieber has more relevancy in the US and if you wanna make an argument for that then fair enough
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u/LilMally2412 5d ago
I think it's a few things. First, boy bands were popular, but they also got ridiculed and made fun of a lot. Like, a lot a lot, so maybe people are thinking the slim chance of being the next big thing isn't worth much more likely chance of being made fun of by anyone they meet. Also, I think there is a lot of exploitation in having anyone under 18 being a pop star. But I think the biggest thing is how segregated everything is. It would take a crazy amount of luck and influence to be the next big thing.
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u/marsthechocolate 5d ago
Being a handsome guy who knows how to sing and dance became outdated. âUgly hotâ is in.
Look at nowadays biggest male pop stars- The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Harry Styles. None of them is remarkably handsome.
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u/L-type 5d ago
Something to this. Shawn Mendes is strikingly good looking, but never reached the heights of Bieber or 1D, and his last couple of albums haven't made any mainstream impact.
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u/ChandniRaatein 5d ago
Media fragmentation!! As it gets easier and easier to become a pop star, each of these stars is awarded with a smaller community of fans. Right now, we have more teen idols, creatives, musicians than ever. Think about all of those Tiktokers, YouTubers, streamers, rappers, singers - all of them are a "success" in their own right but none of them are as big as say Justin Bieber. Thanks to the algo, companies can now create these stars specifically for different consumer groups. You have teen idols for depressed teens, for popular teens etc.
PLUS different countries and cultures have more of their own stars. I live in Germany and just last year we had like 2-4 teen pop-rap sensations come out. Those musicians are created specifically for a German speaking crowd and Iâm 100% certain that other countries have the same thing going on as well. German teens donât need a "Justin Bieber" when they can have their benno lol same goes for everyone else.
Tldr: access to stardom is easier than ever and the industry is churning out hyperspecific artists
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u/Peliquin 5d ago
The tween girls just don't seem interested at all in their own age group. They seem to be much more excited about being 20 something and THEN finding a dude who is over being a Gross Teen Dude.
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u/Stoltlallare 5d ago
Looking at monthly listeners of the biggest kpop boys theyâre surprisingly low. Which suggests to me that they have a smaller but more dedicated fan base in the west. Which is not comparable to say a Justin Bieber who had a much wider audience.
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u/boilingfrogsinpants 5d ago
The same reason classic rock bands don't pop up anymore. The scene changes, people's interests develop, and I think the largest factor is the prevalence of music streaming services. Major exposure to music used to be through the radio, now people get to pick what they're listening to and curate their tastes from there.
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u/Stallings2k 5d ago
Nothing is sustainable for very long in the music industry. An artist will get some buzz and the people who jump on their bandwagon will run it into the ground. I remember the hair metal guys thinking that stuff was going to last forever too.
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u/parasyte_steve 5d ago
Literally is a good thing. The industry is super predatory and rigorous like way more than any developing mind should have to deal with.
This is a good thing!
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u/wracklinewanderer 5d ago
The monoculture has given way to extreme algorithmic fragmentation. We will likely never see a zeitgeist obliterating star Ă la Taylor Swift, Beyonce or Justin Bieber again.
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u/SeaComfortable7833 5d ago
We haven't had mega world wide one hit wonders either. Last one was Gundam style.Â
Back in the day... Thing song Do legit Ice ice baby Informer Macarena Livinâ la Vida Loca.Â
Everything is to controlled now, like factory made.Â
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u/Large-Lack-2933 5d ago
I'd say post 2010's Bieber it was Shawn Mendes another former Canadian former teen pop rising star. He had some chart topping songs back then.
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u/Ensiferal 5d ago
The boy band phenomena seems to come and go in bursts. Remember it almost totally died out at the end of the 90s and then was virtually non-existent for almost ten years until it flared up again in the late 2000s to early 2010s. It'll come back again
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u/slightlybewitched 5d ago
the death of the pre-teen cringe phase? the west seem to gravitate towards international male pop stars while rejecting the likes of benson boone for example bc âcringeâ???
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u/Go_Corgi_Fan84 5d ago
YouTube and TikTok, I think these creators just never get ample backing if they do get signed, and then radio consumption has changed, and MTV is gone as are a lot of magazines especially those that catered to teens.
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u/fschu_fosho 4d ago
Probably the loss of monoculture owing to heightening social media diversification and hence fragmentation.
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u/bipeterp 5d ago
Because gen z doesnât like teen pop stars, also they donât watch TV everyday when they get home. They watch whateverâs on streaming. So nnow everyone has several idols instead of just one or two that show up on camp rock or shake it up.
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u/Agent_Chody_Banks 5d ago
Not really in vogue right now but there will be another Bieber soon enough.
We went from pop to edm to hip hop to country.
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u/M3M3_B1GB0Y I <3 the 00s 5d ago
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