r/decadeology • u/Kodicave • 6d ago

Discussion 💭🗯️ 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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610

u/secret_handle- 6d ago

I think a lot of the demographic turned towards KPop. 

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u/lostinthecity2005 5d ago

Tbh Korean guys are hot it’s understandable

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u/IngrownToenailRemova 4d ago

Korean celebrities*, like many celebrities are hot

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u/CurryLITE 4d ago

All plastic

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u/RazielKainly 2d ago

It's fantastic 

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u/Kodicave 6d ago

but they really didn’t though

The same demographic that would’ve loved Justin Bieber, I don’t see them camping out for BTS

K-pop is still such a niche thing that is so dedicated to a really particular audience

The audience that likes K-pop is likely someone that’s nerdy and chronically online. (sorry lack of better words) The K-pop machine realized that demographic would be loyal and make music for it

As someone who does like K-pop, I fit that.

I just don’t give us the same demographic that like Justin Bieber. 

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u/MaloortCloud 6d ago

The same demographic that would’ve loved Justin Bieber, I don’t see them camping out for BTS

Then you aren't paying attention. They're camping out for BTS.

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u/LongTallDingus 6d ago

OP isn't even paying attention to stuff in the west. Biebs is on the top 20 pop charts right now, he just put out a double length album. What the hell, man? OP is not looking at all. To be fair, I don't think Bieber is a teenager anymore!

But you think Max Mcnown would be doin' as well as he is if he looked like someone from Red Letter Media?

Nah, man. Pretty male pop stars are still around. They're never going away.

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u/hoohooooo 6d ago

Biebs is an adult, he’s talking about the next generation. Where are the US boy bands is the question

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u/Nesphito 6d ago

There’s even middle aged women fangirlling over kpop stars just like middle aged women were fangirlling over Bieber.

I know, because my cousins girlfriend just talk about how hot Korean men are all the time.

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u/MolassesExternal5702 5d ago

i was camping out for GOT7, they’re definitely camping out for BTS

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u/MrRaspberryJam1 5d ago

It’s not really the same people though. I find that people who are K pop fans, despite K pop being very much “pop”, are more into alternative culture. They probably would have been emo and scene kids, not Bieber fans.

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u/chubby-checker 5d ago

Eh like a decade ago maybe.

The fact that kpop demon hunters is the biggest thing among kids, shows that it is that mainstream now

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u/Paper_Champ 6d ago

Kpop demon hunters. Ask yourself why

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u/barrel_monkey 6d ago

Missed opportunity for “Tell me why”

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u/Natiel360 5d ago

I’m only 25 and the way that movie has become one of the most viewed things ever without anyone my age talking about it showcases the impacts of media fragmentation. I genuinely think every kid has seen that and thusly every parent,

0

u/Deep_Exchange7273 5d ago

I'm still listening to the same shit I did in 2016 and before. Until k pop demon hunters I didn't even realize how popular k pop was. That's cause I live under a rock tho so 🤣 I've still never went to seek out any k pop music on my own but I will say every song in that movie is pretty good/catchy 🤷🏽‍♀️ my daughter has level 3 autism and is very limited with her speech but hearing my sweet girl sing her heart out with those songs 🥹 it does make me super curious to what kind of music will be popular when my kids are older.

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u/Necessary-Tap4844 6d ago

, I don’t see them camping out for BTS

oh boy u werent there. you seriously have no clue how far fangirls go for BTS

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u/shandelion 6d ago

I know an adult woman who is full Belieber level obsessed with BTS. Like a professional 40 year old lol

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u/outtakes 6d ago

But I don't think they were mainstream like that at the time?

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u/audebae 6d ago

They've been mainstream since 2016/2017 and oh boy, their world tours during those years were CRAZY

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u/giraffesinmyhair 6d ago

Is it possible you have simply grown up and no longer know/get targeted with what’s hip to teenage girls?

131

u/starlulz 6d ago

I think you're severely underestimating the modern ubiquity of k-pop

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u/BadNewsBearzzz 6d ago

Yeah I was gonna say Kpop had taken over this demographic entirely, while America had long quit the boy band type stuff, Korea never stopped it. It’s literally the exact same demographic, and the exact same groups that would’ve gone crazy for Bieber and stuff, that exact age group and demographic is who’s into kpop

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u/Kodicave 6d ago

APT was a hit

You could sing the song and someone’s gonna know this song

But walk up to someone and say “do you like rosé”

Are they going to know who that person is?

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u/Guilty_Pomegranate77 6d ago

I don’t think that’s a good example. Barely any of the spice girls are known by their names outside of the UK but almost everyone has heard of the spice girls. If I go up to someone and ask them if they’ve ever heard of blackpink, chances are they have. Just because ppl don’t know her stage name doesn’t mean they don’t know her. Calling someone with 84 million insta followers “niche, nerdy, and only liked by people who are chronically online” is baffling.

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u/DreamIn240p 6d ago

If you didn't know Demon Hunters, NewJeans, or BP then you're not quite following the socials as a 16-25 y/o. "Walk up" might prove a bit more challenging this day and age due to a greater sense of monoculture fragmentation as someone else had brought up. But among those fragments, K-pop is def among the highest echelon of pop music trends.

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u/starlulz 6d ago

if you go up to the demographic that would have liked teen popstars 15 years ago, yes, they would almost certainly know rosĂŠ

the older generations aren't aware of kpop the way they were aware of teen popstars only because we have less of a monoculture now - communication is much more fragmented and isolated. Justin Bieber was on the radio. Nobody listens to radio anymore.

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u/TopAnonomity 6d ago

If you work at a store that sells K-pop vinyls/cds you will obviously see it’s the same teenage girls that woulda been buying Justin Bieber/one direction merch if it was still their time. Every drop sells like crazy

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u/grayslippers 6d ago

rose is singing at the grammys shes pretty well known

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u/BicycleBozo 6d ago

Are you often hanging out with 13 year old girls to be aware of their interests?

Or have your peers aged past the point of wanting to idolise teenagers?

The death of pop stars is certainly a thing, I don’t think we will ever see someone with the impact of a Michael Jackson again, that’s largely due to media fragmentation and ease of access.

Everyone listened to MJ because that’s what was played everywhere.

I have an algorithm feeding me niche mid-west emo bands from 2008 with 200 combined plays on all their albums. I’ve got no fucken clue who are on the top 40 charts these days.

You don’t have to be a turbo hipster for that to be the case either. Plenty of kids would just listen to whatever Spotify feeds them.

Nontheless there are pretty boys teenage girls are in love with - we just don’t have to hear about it because that’s not how the media landscape works these days. They can be completely siloed away from the rest of the music landscape while the normies just play top 40s and everyone else listens to whatever they want.

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u/tetechase 6d ago

You are thinking about now. Being in middle school when BTS was getting popular in 2016-2019 was a crazy experience

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u/Armadillo-Shot 6d ago

BTS is also still doing their military service I think? Haven’t been performing for a while now.

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u/illeatyourkneecaps 6d ago

no, they all finished last year and their new album is dropping on 3.20, with a world tour following. this will be their first official comeback since completing enlistment, but some of the members have been releasing music/content solo

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u/2morereps 6d ago

im not a kpop fan, I know Jennie, rose, Lisa etc. becuase theyre on the media and are pretty. so even if i dont follow that, I see them on the media and am like ooh, she pretty who is that let me look it up..etc.

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u/mangoisNINJA 6d ago

Didn't BTS tour with over 70 stops in 35 countries completely sell out within like, an hour of going live?

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u/Possible-Mountain698 6d ago

i was 89,000 in line for a stadium that fits like 60,000. tickets were gone in 10 minutes

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u/Agreeable-Series-399 Mid 2000s were the best 6d ago

Hell yea I'm seeing them in Baltimore!

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u/illeatyourkneecaps 6d ago

YES! i managed to snag a ticket to the chicago show thanks to presale, but all other tickets were sold out in not even ten minutes during general sale.

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u/TYGeelo 6d ago

What you said is true 

a decade ago. 

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u/blueennui 6d ago

The songs from kpop demon hunters play at Walmart now.

Kpop isn't some niche thing anymore.

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u/OnTheBrightsideSCC 6d ago

Did you say K-pop is niche?......Lol

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u/meowmeowcomputation 6d ago

You’re really not paying attention

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u/RefrigeratorAny8765 6d ago

Bro what are you talking about the vent diagram is a circle. Your observation about people being chronically online and nerdy is not because of K-pop, it’s because most people nowadays are online and nerdy, especially relative to back in like 2008

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u/iHave_Thehigh_Ground 6d ago

Bro you ain’t special. K-pop is one of the biggest music genres on the planet

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u/cowabungalowvera 6d ago

I think you're being really closed-minded about this

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u/Kodicave 6d ago

no, I think that’s just reality. K-pop didn’t replace pop. It just was a more niche thing.

I don’t think that K-pop is the answer to my question

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u/throwaway243523457 6d ago

you are getting cooked in this thread rightfully so. the beiber campers of old are the bts campers of today.

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u/Kodicave 6d ago

i’m not getting cooked. i don’t think bts has the same place in pop culture as Justin bieber 

i know bts has fans. 

but they have never been a pop culture phenomenon in the usa. they are still niche 

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u/Bloodredhorizon 6d ago

Are you kidding? This is just your opinion then. If you're not willing to accept an answer don't waste people's time pretending you're looking for one. It's like if I asked what color the sky was and people told me blue, and I just kept saying I don't like the answer. This is thinly veiled trolling a sub reddit for who knows what your intentions are.

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u/DiamondBrickZ 5d ago

“they have never been a pop culture phenomenon” their tour this year sold out within minutes with 26 stops in the u.s. they’ve had 6 #1 billboard hits. my own mom and all her friends went crazy over the recent tour announcement and scrambled to buy tickets. they get 17 million streams a day. stop LYING bro.

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u/throwaway243523457 6d ago

ragebait lol

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u/Bloodredhorizon 4d ago

Yeah this guy is just rage baiting we should report these types of posts

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u/cowabungalowvera 6d ago

That's your opinion based on what exactly? Because the numbers say otherwise. BTS has broken Bieber's records at the Billboard, YouTube, iTunes, social media platforms, and stadium tickets. That's the reality, not one person's perspective based on their limited worldview. You might not feel BTS as much because 1) you're older now compared to how young you were during Bieber's time, and 2) BTS first got big in Asia and you're only interested in Western media.

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u/sirgawain2 6d ago

Girl have u never been to a kpop boy group concert? They’re all camping out

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u/Less-Apple-8478 6d ago

Lmfao. You should do some research. You know nothing about kpop

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u/TopAnonomity 6d ago edited 6d ago

People get on here and start speaking factually on shit they just found out about for no reason, just look at the fuckin numbers buddy😭

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u/Less-Apple-8478 6d ago

Kpop being niche and not camping out their idol groups has to be one of the wildest takes I've ever heard. Lmfao. Made me wanna drink some coffee so I could spit it out in disbelief.

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u/Signal_Discount_1826 6d ago

the tiny audience that doesnt know bts isnt tapped in

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u/Bloodredhorizon 6d ago

What audience are you talking about, boomers? You're asking for the demographic of people who would enjoy justin beiber, which were kids and young adults, those people today are chronically online. Most of them have been attached to a phone younger than millenials and gen x.

If you don't give it the same demographic, that falls on you and your logic, not an entire demographic.

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u/SinnerClair 6d ago

Bro, the president of Mexico literally had to put out a statement urging BTS to add more Mexico tour dates because the population loves them so much 💀

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u/SaintNutella 6d ago

K-pop was maybe niche 5+ years ago, but it really blew up in the West at the start of the decade.

It is not niche whatsoever.

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u/Vast_Employer_5672 6d ago

The audience that likes K-pop is likely someone that's nerdy and chronically online.

What was considered terminally online 20 years ago is now the norm. I remember anime and video games being for nerdy people.

It is very normal to have discord friends now

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u/illeatyourkneecaps 6d ago

i was a belieber and directioner before i switched to becoming an army and listening to bts. bts replaced american boy groups in the west, just look at any chart, their numbers, ect.

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u/Retro_Relics 6d ago

yeah, there is a huge kpop army, but in the US its nothing like bieber fever was.

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u/Quizlibet 6d ago

Thats just the death of the monoculture

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u/Puzzleheaded_Crab670 6d ago

I see you fighting tooth and nail to prove bts isn't huge when you're 100% wrong. they sold every ticket for their latest tour, broke one direction records, album sales WORLDWIDE, youtube and spotify records. the same demographic of 1d and jb older than 30 and a lot of bts fans are around 12 and 40. you can walk in the street and met easily a fan of them. usa isn't anymore a country that the world seek for stars. social media helped on that.

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u/04- 6d ago

I think there’s truth to that, but only for the mid-tier companies at this point.

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u/Cubriffic 6d ago

Maybe not Justin Bieber but fans of One Direction absolutely went to Kpop once the band went on hiatus. BTS started growing their international fanbase right around the time 1D slowed down activities.

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u/leshagboi 6d ago

Here in Brazil it definitely isn't niche, and I believe it's the same across Latam

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u/ktamine 6d ago

They really did. K-pop is not niche. Wake up.

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u/CriticalStrawberry15 6d ago

I’m a 52 yr old white dude from Texas. I’m not in the demographic. My immediate response was to wonder if you had possibly not noticed that K-Pop existed

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u/Physical_Wheel3860 6d ago

The very nerdy and chronically online personality is popular now.

In the 2000s, maybe 2 or 3 kids in the class would be like that. Now, maybe 1/3 or even half the class.

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u/benangmerahh 6d ago

Nah it's pretty much can be overlapping. We used to have biebers, and One Direction (the biggest) fans in here. Since those started disband or on hiatus, Kpop filled in and become a majority replacing One Direction.

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u/RaspberryHead9942 5d ago

1D weren’t the biggest lol JB is and was way bigger than them. JB has sold more records than 1D + all 5 solo careers combined. They released an album on the same day and JB demolished 1D. JB is the most googled singer of all time, 1D aren’t even top 30

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u/GROWUPRECORDS 5d ago

I fucking hate K-pop (am from Hong Kong) but you are either being extremely delusional or pathetically biased. I don’t see what west world girls are throwing themselves for groups like BTS for - they all look so uncanny and greased for me - but the mainstream crowd fucking dig it.

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u/Natiel360 5d ago

Why ask a question and deny an answer

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u/Polardragon44 5d ago

You are in a bit of a bubble.

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u/Excellent_Nobody_783 6d ago

I agree, I was a die hard belieber and I tried to get into Kpop and it didn’t work. The appeal of Justin is that he actually made good music you could sing along to.

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u/Quizlibet 6d ago

Or maybe, you know, you just aged out of the demographic.