![]() ![]() A popular music genre originating in South Korea in the early 90s, K-pop is renowned for synchronised moves, photogenic members and a squeaky-clean image. The phenomenon that disproves this theory, however, is K-pop. It left a sour taste in their fans’ mouths and led to people questioning the health of this approach to music. It’s hard to imagine more manufactured pop groups emerging from the Hollywood music hub now, especially given the mistreatment One Direction were rumoured to have suffered at the hand of industry mogul Simon Cowell. They have a vulnerability about them, and young women can relate rather than be sold an aspiration or something to attain. Have their fan bases aged out of this emotional investment? Or are young people craving something more authentic? After all, the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, and even groups like boygenius and HAIM, are singer-songwriters producing heartfelt ballads and songs that fall outside of the typical pop mould. Propelled to international success by the power of social media, their two albums Up All Night and Take Me Home, released in 20 respectively, broke several records, topped the charts. The Backstreet Boys perform on stage in 2018. Sure, the Jonas Brothers are back in full swing, and 5 Seconds of Summer are still putting out records, but they’re missing the hysteria element so synonymous with the “boy band” ideal. As I listen to the fan favourite No Control, I realise that boy bands have disappeared from popular culture.Īs X Factor capsized, maybe its formulaic, hyper-gendered groups went with it. It’s only now that I can look back on the boy band’s discography and enjoy a lot of it it’s nostalgic and I respect that it’s classic pop music. That mentality, if you didn’t already think of yourself as a fangirl, was common in the early 2010s. My high and mighty attitude at age 11, coupled with the idea that I was different to all the other girls, contributed to my boy band boycott. A mere decade later we saw the most recent rise, only for the beginning of yet another end signalled by One Direction’s disbanding in 2016. Then in the 90s, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC dominated the charts. ![]() ![]() Beatlemania in the 60s laid the foundation for what a few young men and a microphone could muster. This was back when Instagram was just emerging and our ability to connect with other like-minded, die-hard tweens got easier by the second thanks to algorithms. My friends were taking Buzzfeed quizzes on which 5 Seconds of Summer members they should date. I remember when all the girls in my classes were losing their minds over the X Factor UK runner-up One Direction. Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan of One Direction perform on stage in 2012. ![]()
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