mjohnso

[mjohnso]

Long Live K-Pop In Japan

The Korea JoongAng Daily headline, “J-pop slowly dies as K-pop takes its place,” has not aged well. The accompanying article published in 2022 intoned on all the ways that the Japanese market failed to adapt to a changing world, too slow to transition to social media and digital, as CDs became passé. Meanwhile, k-pop “had never been more successful around the world,” including in Japan, where, due to its years of brand-building, it was able to claim a share of the market for itself (“the Oricon Chart is home territory to Korean acts,” crows this same article.)

And yet, despite the bullishness of that article, k-pop’s winning streak in Japan has not lasted. According to an article by Kim Jae-heun published in The Korea Herald earlier this year in 2024, “Japan, one of K-pop’s top three export markets alongside the US and China, recorded a sharp decline in demand. The export value to Japan dropped 24.7 percent to 130.3 billion won in 2023.” This decrease is reflected in the annual year-end charts as well. While in 2023, k-pop groups took six of the top 10 spots on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums charts, in 2024, their share shrank to three.

This post will not explain or speculate why k-pop exports have declined in Japan; that is already well-covered by other outlets, including the articles linked above. Instead, my intent here is less to explain the slump than to trouble this framing. These numbers indicate that k-pop in Japan is in “crisis” or “decline,” a fair assessment to make, but one based on incomplete information. Numbers alone can never provide a complete picture of the state of k-pop in Japan.

History bears this out. Between 2012 and 2013, amid hallyu’s waning novelty, anti-hallyu sentiment, and heightened political tension between Korea and Japan, k-pop’s sales numbers—and reputation—slipped. A 2012 article in the Japanese newspaper Asahi reported that based on data from the Oricon charts, “the average debut album sales of a K-pop artist also declined from 37,000 in 2011 to 18,000 in 2012”. This same report quoted an anonymous representative from a record label lamenting, “Because they do not attract new fans anymore, we are having a hard time selling CDs. We are worried about the rookie K-pop group we are working with. I hope they make it to the next year.”  Even former k-pop powerhouses were not immune from the downturn. In comparison to their previous sales numbers, both groups, KARA and SNSD, saw a dip in sales when they released their November 2012 albums Girls Forever and Girls & Peace, as recounted in a December 2012 Time Out Tokyo article:

Kara's Girls Forever entered the charts at number 2 and swiftly nosedived towards the lower reaches of the Top 20, while Girls' Generation II: Girls & Peace comes in the wake of the group's lowest performing single to date (it was called 'Flower Power', in case you missed it – apparently the Nayutawave Records promotional department did too.

Due to this downturn, many major agencies pivoted, shifting their focus from the Japanese market, which had an unintentional effect. Specifically, without these groups pulling focus, a light was shined on an under-recognized subset of k-pop in Japan, populated by groups like Tahiti, BIGFLO, Pungdeng-e, and High4, who struggled to gain traction in Korea. These groups signed not with major labels but to what I have previously described as "boutique k-pop labels," most of which had been founded to capitalize on the hallyu wave. Their sales numbers are unimpressive, although that is not generally where they concentrate their efforts. Instead mimicking the model pioneered by indie and underground idols in Japan, these groups held small, intimate events at both k-pop-specific venues like K-Stage O!, FC Live Osaka Hall and FC Live Tokyo Hall, as well as spaces also utilized by j-pop indie groups, including event spaces at Tower Records, malls, and department stores.

In the ensuing years, this subset of k-pop in Japan has neither disappeared nor shrunk as much as evolved. Much of the scene is still composed of low and mid-tier groups, some of which primarily promote in Japan, but with the addition of a new group—idols from groups once big in Japan, like KARA. Although the group paused group activities in 2016, the members still maintain fan clubs and have held annual individual fan meetings in the country. Seungyeon and Jiyoung are both signed to two of the aforementioned "boutique k-pop labels," alongside groups that were not even around during their own heyday. Moreover, the label Seungyeon is signed to, HUB Japan, in addition to organizing fanmeets for groups like RESCENE and ONE PACT has also organized KARA's 6th Japanese tour, KARASIA: Magical World, to be held this July.

Although these older idols may boast more impressive résumés than the other groups also signed to these smaller labels, they both share the same “infrastructure.” For example, just in May TI-MA Japan, which bills itself as a 'k-pop artist management, fan club management and live concert planning company', organized fan meetings for second-generation idols like TEEN TOP’s Niel, BOYFRIEND and UKISS’ Kevin Woo, Hoon and Kiseop, as well as fourth-generation groups including NINE.i, and ABlue. All in-person events were held at one of three venues, including FC Live Tokyo Hall and TIAT Sky Hall.

'Celebrity management/Korean style concert planning and production/exhibition and event business’, Whoop Japan, is similarly agnostic about the groups they work with. They organized Japan fan meetings for Apink, their subunit Chobom, and Jeong Eun Ji, as well as for groups like Drippin, The Boyz, and Weeekly.

Admission to these performances is sometimes tied to an album release, whereby a ticket is bundled with a physical album. Most of the time, ticketing is straightforward. To attend, a prospective attendee simply needs to purchase a ticket—no album bulk buying is necessary. Although this means a group sacrifices, potentially boosting their album sales, it may not make a difference. Most of the venues where these groups perform have a capacity of 250 seats or less.

Neither of these is a flaw. Far from it, they are the keystone of its appeal for both rookie and lesser-known groups, as well as legacy groups and idols. In the case of the former, the space provides them a refuge from the more hypercompetitive domestic market, allowing them to build their own small but dedicated fan base. Similarly, for legacy groups and idols with existing fans, it offers the opportunity to engage with their fans, many of whom have grown up alongside them, on an intimate level.

While such events may not show in export numbers or dollars earned or spent, they should not be discounted. If anything, they should be considered part of the larger picture of the Japanese market, proof of life in a market that contradicts the image of a market in decline.

(Header source)

[mjohnso]

Co-Opting Trainees' Dreams

Note: I published this post in May 2016, and due to a quirk on Tumblr’s part, it disappeared from this blog’s archives. I am republishing it because while the examples may be dated, my main point remains timely. Despite limited changes meant to improve the trainee experience, it continues to be difficult, precarious, and excessively stressful, which the industry justifies using what I term “dream rhetoric.” As this unfortunate reality will not dramatically change soon, it is worth revisiting the post below.

Yoon Jong Shin has never been a trainee, but he knows what it is like to be one. It is, according to his 2015 song, “The Trainee” which is sung by MYSTIC89 trainee Y.E.T, and its music video, difficult, frustrating, and often lonely. Those who are training struggle with feelings of doubt, questioning whether all of the effort and sacrifice is even worth it, especially given that neither debuting nor success is guaranteed. Consequently, this leads many to consider giving up and returning to a more “normal” life. However, it has been attested to by the continual steady stream of new groups — 34 in the first half of this year alone — they do not. This is because they, so the story goes, have a dream.

This “dream” is the linchpin of this narrative as it softens it, not necessarily downplaying negative aspects as much as reframing them. And so, under the dream rhetoric, trainees are not merely engaged in a grueling and harsh process that only benefits entertainment agencies but is actually principally for themselves. Likewise, entertainment agencies are cast in the guise of benevolent, if not magnanimous, benefactors helping trainees achieve their dreams. Furthermore, their training, while difficult, is necessary to increase the odds that the trainees will succeed post-debut in an industry as crowded and tough as k-pop.

Given this flattering image of entertainment agencies, it is not surprising that the dream narrative has become both the party line that is actively pushed. It can be seen in the theme for SBS’ reality competition show, K-Pop Star, which is BoA’s “One Dream feat. Super Junior-M’s Henry and SHINee’s Key.” Although the basic premise of this show is aspiring singers competing to join one of the three entertainment agencies, this is not a typical competition show. This show has loftier ideals as the lyrics of BoA’s remind viewers. The lyrics are all about giving singers who have struggled and gone through hard times a chance — “They look at me with expectant eyes/The light that shines on me is bright/My desperate dreams are now in front of my eyes” — to achieve their dreams — “To me, there is only One voice (One voice)/One dream (One dream), One chance (One chance).” Dreams, specifically those of the 101 unpaid trainees who competed for a spot in an 11-member project girl group, were also a major part of the marketing surrounding Mnet’s reality competition show, Produce 101, which aired earlier this year. For example, in the lead-up to the show, Mnet released a promotional video titled “Girls’ Dream!” Set to a sad piano instrumental, the video features shots of the contestants, often alone, dancing or looking pensive in practice rooms, intermixed with footage of participants discussing their training. They—all of whom are in the minority among the participants, having trained for at least four years, while most had trained for two or less—tearfully recount their struggles and working towards a debut that never seems to get any closer.

Still from Mnet’s Produce 101’s “Girls’ Dream!” (2016)

Lest it come off as too depressing, dragging down audiences instead of hyping them up for the show as it was intended, though, the video ends on a more upbeat note. True, they had struggled, but they were not doing it in vain. As the end indicates, where a voice off camera asks one of the participants, “Why do you want to do this? " It is, as the participant says, “Because…I have a dream.”

Of course, as covered in another post, due to its very design, Produce 101 was never going to give all of the participating trainees a fair chance at their dream. There were only so many minutes in an episode, and just too many trainees. Although it did not necessarily have to; merely giving trainees the illusion of the opportunity was enough. It was always up to the trainees themselves to seize this chance and work hard, which, as the dream narrative says, is how goals are achieved.

This is the flip side of the dream rhetoric. In reframing entertainment agencies as those that provide the means to achieve dreams, the burden of making them happen is placed upon the shoulders of each trainee. Although they are told they share the same dream as others, their struggle is not a collective one, but portrayed as being theirs and theirs alone. This encourages trainees to view issues like dieting, long hours, and years of training not as evidence of a toxic work culture but as personal problems to overcome. If they cannot handle the stress or fail to make it to debut, the problem is not the system; it’s them. In essence, this lets entertainment agencies off the hook regarding trainees’ working conditions. After all, if trainees view their struggles as personal, they are less likely to band together to demand better treatment, especially if they feel it would jeopardize their chances of a debut. And it is also not as if the process of becoming an idol has ever been shown to be anything but long and arduous. The industry is often more than willing to own up to that fact, but not to change it.

[mjohnso]

UNDER15, a Response in 5 Parts

1. Imagine a diptych. On one side, this quote, regarding promotional materials for the show :

“The designer is a female in her 30s. We thought of this (audition show) set as a school. We thought they were here to receive training from good teachers. The concept (for the content) was a student ID. It's an image that comes up immediately when you search on Google. Modern student ID cards include barcodes and birthdates, but we couldn't include birthdates. So, we only included ages instead," she further explained.” (Bolded emphasis mine) — "Controversial 'UNDER15' pleads for broadcast despite child sexualization claims" - The Korea Times (March 25, 2025)

2. On the other side of the diptych, this quote:

“…many parents highlight the importance of "educational support" for their children from a young age. The "support" includes: sending their children to proper training programs and finding good agencies; discovering their children's talent at a young age; and taking care of their children's media schedules as a manager-and-mother. However, these parenting practices occlude children's labor and exploitative conditions common in the child media industry.” —Jin Lee, Tama Leaver, & Crystal Abidin -"Child idols in South Korea and beyond: Manufacturing young stars at the intersection of the K-pop and influencer industries" - New Media & Society (November 23, 2024)

3. UNDER15 was not the first survival show to co-opt the language of education to soften the competitive aspect of the show. Mnet's 2017 survival show Idol School, which also featured participants as young as 12 and like UNDER15 was accused of sexualizing minors, did something similar. Unlike the harshness of Mnet's Produce franchise with its pyramid motif highlighting the show's divisive hierarchy, Idol School positioned itself in an early recruitment advertisement as less a competition than an "education process". Participants were referred to as 'students', trainers were described as "teachers", and sets mimicked real classrooms. Challenges were referred to as exams, while the winning participants did not win so much as "graduate".

4.

— From "[Worldwide Recruitment] Mnet IDOL School 'We are recruiting Beautiful Freshmen.'"

"More contestants talked about the harsh conditions that the contestants experienced while filming, without revealing their identities. “There were girls there who were just 12 years old,” said one trainee. “They’re still growing so don’t they have to eat? They’d cry because they weren’t given food. My head hurt and I’d think, ‘What kind of filming set is this?’ There was one point in the middle when some people broke a window and escaped. They were so stressed out from being locked inside that they broke the screen and glass and escaped.” A trainee also said, “We were always indoors, so we had no idea whether it was daytime or nighttime. We’d go get ready when they told us to, eat when they told us to, sleep when they told us to, and get up when they told us to.” —“Idol School" Contestants Talk About Poor Filming Conditions And Effect On Health” - Soompi (October 15, 2019)

5. This language not only softens; it obscures. To borrow from #2, much as "parenting practices occlude children's labor and exploitative conditions common in the child media industry," so too does using language associated with education reframe the role of the survival show. They are not exploiting but helping. If things are difficult or conditions are poor, even when directly caused by production staff or the very nature of the survival show, that is part of the process. Enduring hardships or learning to work through them becomes a test meant to prepare them for the arduous path to debut and the rigorous nature of an idol career. In other words, it is for their own good, or at least that is what the industry wants them to believe.

[mjohnso]

Quick Take: Woo Yerin - “Red Rose”

Woo Yerin's recent “Red Rose” music show stages have been bare bones. There is no elaborate floral set dressing, and besides that one Inkigayo performance, no flowers decorate her keyboard or microphone stand. She rarely wears or accessorizes with roses beyond subtle callbacks through color as evident with her red dress. Except for the occasional backing band like for her February 8th performance on Show! Music Core and February 21st performance on Music Bank, she has no backup dancers. In fact, she does not dance beyond some swaying and gestures. Mostly, she stands next to her keyboard, turning to play it intermittently throughout her performance.

The stages' plainness comes as no surprise. Woo Yerin is not (yet) a star, and this is not a comeback as much as it is a reversal. When she initially released the song in May 2023, and then again as part of her second mini-album Day: RUNNING GREEN IN THE CLOTHES OF THE WIND in May 2024, the song was not an immediate success. Instead, its popularity has been building organically. According to comments on the “Red Rose” music video and the performances, some first discovered the song when the YouTube algorithm surfaced the music video in their recommendations and auto-generated playlists. Others found the song because a BJ or VTuber recommended the song or covered the song for a video. Eventually, this interest built up enough to propel her to music shows eight months after the song's release.

Virality is a tricky thing; it does not come with any guarantee of future success. In the case of Yerin though, she has a few things going for her that may help this be more than a fluke. For one, she has been releasing music since 2018 and has an extensive back-catalog of songs, from various genres including pop, funk, and folk. That could help convert curious listeners, especially if they are willing to look beyond the algorithm and auto-generated playlists and take a look for themselves.

*Here is my bonus mood board for how Woo Yerin's stages and styling could have been handled given the red rose motif in her song:

Davichi - "Turtle" (Performance on MBC Music Bank (April 13, 2013))

IU - "Lilac" (Performance at 2021 Melon Music Awards)

Lee Hi - "Rose" (Performance on SBS Inkigayo (April 28, 2013))

Song Ji Eun (SECRET) - "False Hope" (Performance at SBS Inkigayo (October 6, 2013))

Baek A Yeon - "Looking For Love" (Performance at Mnet M! Countdown (June 18, 2020))

JUNIEL - "illa illa" (Performance at SBS Inkigayo (July 1, 2012))

Song So Hee - "Spring Day" (Performance at KBS Immortal Songs 2" (November 14, 2020))

[mjohnso]

Quarterly Debut Review: Q4 2024

Quarterly Debut Reviews are a supplementary series to my biannual Periodic Rookie Group Reports, which are published quarterly. Each installment covers three rookie groups that debuted over the past three months. For the eighth installment, I covered ANGEL NOISE (October), izna (November), and T:EV (December).

As always, a full list of rookie groups that debuted in 2024 is available here: 2024 Rookie Groups Debuts

October / ANGEL NOISE Debut: October 1, 2024 Debut Song: "TOY TOY"

It is not clear how, in the video for their debut single, the chibi versions of the Angel Noise members Haena and Kepi end up in an alternate world, only that one second Haena is sitting on her bed texting and next she, dressed in a magical girl-esque battle costume, is dropped in front of a row of claw machines. At first, it looks like the claw machines are full of toy dolls until it is revealed in a horror-style twist, softened by the animation style and color palette, that they are real people who have been turned into dolls.

This is not the work of any mad scientist but a byproduct of their actions (and a function of a clumsy metaphor). Dolls are what people turn into when they chase trends, emulating and buying what they see everyone else doing. This fate could have befallen members had they chosen to conform, but they do not. Instead, Kepi pushes over one of the dolls, being supported by a doll stand, dancing in their place as Haena sings, “Hey mama mama, I'm not a toy/Oh ma oh ma oh mama I'm not a doll/hey mamama I'm not a toy”.

Angel Noise is not the first group to utilize the doll concept this way or even for this metaphor, but their use does have a particular resonance given its timing. Between the Hybe-New Jeans situation and the KG-JYP Entertainment situation, the industry has been in the midst of a reckoning regarding control and power differentials. Whereas labels expect idols to behave as dolls that they can act upon in exchange for the fulfillment of their dream and success, idols are increasingly questioning the cost of this arrangement and fighting for an alternative.

That is another way to read Angel Noise's declaration that they are 'not a doll'. Not only as a commitment to maintaining their own identity and color but also a refusal to yield to the status quo.

November / izna Debut Date: November 25, 2024 Debut Song: "IZNA"

In theory, Mnet's Produce franchise is dead, but in reality, five years after the scandal, Mnet continues to benefit from the show. In the early seasons of Produce, Mnet sold agencies and participants on the line that even if they were eliminated or not among the winning group, they would still receive a consolation prize: "exposure." This, however, was quickly exposed as an untruth, as most participants who did not win did not springboard to success, although by the time that came into focus, it no longer mattered. They have a track record of successful groups like izna created out of survival shows whose origins offer the tempting possibility that that could be you.

That was more or less the message of one of their audition announcement videos for the second season of Mnet's survival show, I-LAND2: N/A, which aired from April to July 2024. After opening with an orange ellipsoid shape, upon which scenes of ENHYPEN, the winning group from the first episode of I-LAND, are shown, a cube containing that same ellipsoid comes into focus against a sparkly pink mountainscape. "GROUNDBREAKING ADVENTURE BEGINS" and “Ready to be the biggest K-pop girl group of 2024?” flash on the screen quickly. Then the final call to action: as the background fades to black, below the white cube and ellipsoid, reads "Join us now" with the website for the audition application.

This is a compelling sell and accounts for why survival shows have, for better or worse, been able to find participants. Despite revelations about the conditions and treatment of contestants (including on this season of I-LAND) in an industry where success often hinges on chance and survival shows offer the promise of a concrete debut to those who make it to the final group, why not audition? Much like with their initial promises of exposure, there is always the chance that you could be the one to make it through the audition to the show itself and eventually the group. For the more than 20,000 applicants, who Mnet said applied, that is more than enough.

December / T:EV Debut Date: December 5, 2024 Debut Song: "Summer Day Story"

Congratulations, T:EV !

You were one of the final groups to debut in 2024, a year that, despite early signs that things may be improving for boy groups whose debut numbers had declined, ultimately did not. In comparison to the previous year, where boy groups had increased for the first time in three years, they once again dipped, even as girl group totals remained mostly steady.

But don’t worry, T:EV; it is nothing you or any other boy group did. Instead, the issue is, at least in part, systemic. As I noted in a previous post, agencies have struggled to attract trainees, especially males.  According to Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)’s 2023 Pop Culture & Arts Industry Survey, which surveyed 2,753 agencies, the number of trainees affiliated with agencies has decreased since 2014. In fact, between 2020 and 2022, numbers dropped from 1,895 to 1,170. This decline has been particularly significant among male trainees, who not only accounted for a smaller number of trainees (512 male trainees versus 659 female trainees) but experienced a greater decline than their female counterparts.   

The 2023 Pop Culture & Arts Industry Survey attributes the decline in trainees to rising costs. Even if a label employs the break-even method where trainees pay back the money for their training costs through their post-debut earnings, agencies still must lay out the money initially. Taking on trainees then becomes a matter of cost-benefit analysis, with agencies weighing whether increasing their roster or cutting trainees makes the most sense for their bottom line.

Even if their analysis comes out on the side of increasing their roster of trainees though, agencies would have a tough time finding them, particularly male trainees. According to a July 2024 Korea Herald article,

"K-pop agencies report difficulties in finding male trainees, both in quantity and quality, as many young men now prefer to become influencers or YouTubers, which potentially offer greater profit and more freedom."

This same article quotes an official from a music label who notes that "been about two to three years that the number of male trainees has been reduced by more than 30 percent."

The obvious solution to this problem is not one that agencies will like or be willing to entertain. Still, it is necessary if they want to reverse this trend—improve the conditions and process of becoming and being an idol less terrible. To figure out how to do this, agencies should ask idols for their input, although I have a few ideas of where they could start: end the break-even repayment system; fairer profit sharing; and allow idols to have more control and input over their work.

[mjohnso]

Periodic Rookie Groups Report No. 24

Periodic Rookie Group Reports are a series of biannual reports that seek to put a number to how many rookie groups debut and make comebacks in a given year. For Report No. 24, I covered the activity of ‘23 rookie groups in the second half of 2024 and the total number of rookie groups that debuted in 2024.

2023 Rookies Of the 95 groups that debuted in 2023, 23 groups—six boy groups, 15 girl groups, one co-ed group, and one queer group—disbanded in 2024. Twelve of those groups debuted as part of Rainbow E&M’s idol incubator project Future Idol Asia, which explains why the project’s end has particularly affected girl group numbers. Of the 47 groups the project debuted during its run, 42 were girl groups.

I covered six of these groups that disbanded in the previous Rookie Report. The remaining 17 groups are covered below:

Eite: EVA Korea announced in an August 18, 2024 X post that the girl group (November '23) members had terminated their contracts and planned to pursue individual activities.

LIMELIGHT: The girl group (February '23) disbanded after the three members re-debuted as part of the girl group MADEIN in September 2024.

Qi.X: The queer group (March '23) announced in a September Instagram post that they would disband following the release of their farewell single "Dear".

UpToYou: Formed through AfreecaTV (now, known as SOOP) survival show U2U: Up To You 2, the girl group (January ’23/August '23) disbanded following the release of their single, "Crush On You".

ONEST: Formed by students from the K-pop Department at Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts, the girl group (January '23) disbanded following the members' graduation from the college in February 2023.

APACE, Ascension, Blossom, Cherish, Clair, Closer, Delight, Lucid, Peony, Redplum, Stay, and Winsome: A label letting their website's registration lapse is not in itself proof that they are defunct, but in the case of Rainbow E&M, who used their website to recruit participants for the Future Idol project, its disappearance does not bode well. This is especially true when coupled with the fact that Rainbow E&M abruptly stopped debuting new groups under the Future Idol banner in June, following a showcase that seemed rushed and has not updated their Instagram since September. Taken together, it points to a project, and the Future Idol groups, that have run their course.

Factoring in these 23 groups brings the number of groups that debuted in 2023 and were still active in 2024 to 72 groups: 31 girl groups, and three co-ed groups. Of these 72 groups, 65%, or 47 groups released new music at least once this year, with 53%, or 38 groups making their first release between January and June and 12%, or nine groups doing so between July and December. 39% or 28 groups released music in the first and second half of the year.

For reference, 52% of groups that debuted in 2022 made a comeback the following year, while 72% of groups that debuted in 2021 made a comeback in 2022.

Korean Releases from ‘23 Rookie Groups: July - December 2024

Note: Releases marked with an asterisk (*) indicate an additional release from a group following their initial release

July 01 BABYMONSTER - “Forever” (Single)* 18 n.SSign - “Tiger” (Album Repackage)* 19 KAMBI - “Cream Soda” (Single) 26 AJAA - “BES I LUV U” (Single) 29 Hi-Fi Un!corn - “Left or Right” (Single)*

August 07 EVNNE - “Badder Love (MINDA Remixes)” (Single)* 08 Catch the Young - “Dream It” (Single)* 13 HORI7ON - “SUMAYAW SUMUNOD” (Single)* 14 LUN8 - Awakening (Mini Album)* 20 PLAVE - “Pump Up the Volume!” (Single)* 21 YOUNG POSSE - ATE THAT (Mini Album)* 23 Ikling - “Trip Go” (Single) 26 ADYA - “Rizz” (Single) 28 Hi-Fi Un!corn - Fantasia (Album)*

September 02 Loossemble - TTYL (Mini Album)* 04 RIIZE - RIIZING : Epilogue (Mini Album Repackage)* 06 xikers - HOUSE OF TRICKY : WATCH OUT (Mini Album)* 09 BOYNEXTDOOR - 19.99 (Album)* 10 ANTARES - “Counting Stars” (Single) 10 RuViche - “Red Love” (Single)* 10 xikers - “wichi (WITCH) (FURY VER.)” (Single)* 19 EVNNE - “TROUBLE (arcon Remix)” (Single)* 23 POW - “Sunset” (Single)* 23 QWER - Algorithm’s Blossom (Mini Album)* 25 XODIAC - Some Day (Mini Album)* 27 QI.X - “Dear.” (Single) 30 WHIB - “Rush of Joy” (Single)*

October 07 The Wind - Hello: My First Love (Mini Album)* 15 Kiss of Life - Lose Yourself (Mini Album)* 15 82Major - X-82 (Mini Album)* 18 ONE PACT - [falln] (Mini Album)* 18 Young Posse - Year 1 : We Still Loading (Mini Album)* 21 POW - Boyfriend (Mini Album)* 22 AMPERS&ONE - One Question (Mini Album)*

November 01 BABYMONSTER - Drip (Album)* 05 EVNNE - “Keshiki” (Single)* 10 Libelante -“Journey of Love” (Single) 11 8TURN - “You Are My Reason” (Single)* 14 Kandis - “Alice” (Single) 14 PRIMROSE - Steal Heart (Mini Album)* 18 A-Plus - “Error” (Single) 26 ZEROBASEONE - “Checkmate” (Single)*

December 09 SEVENUS - STAY TUNED (Mini Album)* 09 8TURN - “Like A Friend” (Single)* 12 X:IN - “Keeping the Fire (2024 Rock Ver.)” (Single)* 13 X:IN - “ACHA(%)” (Single)* 13 Young Posse - “Street Carol (with John Park)” (Single)* 24 ONE PACT - “Everyday X-Mas” (Single)* 30 n.SSign - “Love Potion” (Single)*

2024 Rookies In 2024, 83 groups—31 boy groups, 47 girl groups, and five co-ed groups—debuted, a 13% decrease compared to last year’s total. Both girl groups and co-ed groups saw a slight increase in new groups, with girl groups increasing by one group and co-ed groups increasing by one group. The same cannot be said for boy groups. Although their numbers increased for the first time in three years in 2023, boy groups saw a significant decline this year, dropping by 30%. This marks the third-year boy group numbers have decreased compared to the previous year. Additionally, it is the fifth consecutive year that more girl groups have debuted than boy groups, making last year's numbers seem more like an anomaly than a sign that things were changing. It seems far more likely that at least for a while, will be one where girl groups outnumber boy groups.

That goes for the groups of ‘non-traditional’ origins I wrote about in Rookie Report No. 21 and the previous Report. They accounted for a third of all groups that debuted this year, and even with the end of the Future Idol Asia project, I anticipate I will still be talking about them in 2025.

Miscellaneous stats:

April saw the most debuts with the debut of 14 new groups: six boy groups and eight girl groups.

For the first time ever, August saw the least amount of debuts with the debut of only two new groups.

For the fifth consecutive year, more girl groups debuted than boy groups.

Methodology: https://blog.mjohnso.com/methodology

[mjohnso]

Favorite K-Pop: 2024

Favorite Albums

ARTMS - DALL

Red Velvet - Cosmic

Oh My Girl - Dreamy Resonance

Twice - With YOU-th

VIVIZ - VOYAGE

Favorite Songs

KARA - "Hello"

ITZY - "Imaginary Friend"

aespa - "Supernova"

Yves - "Viola"

Nayeon - "ABCD"

Kiss of Life - "Midas Touch"

(G)I-DLE - fate

Chung Ha - "I'm Ready"

SISTAR19 - "No More (Ma Boy)”

EVERGLOW - "ZOMBIE"

Bibi - "Bam Yang Gang"

Gyeongree - "Cherry"

Moonbyul - "Think About"

(G)I-DLE - "Super Lady"

IU - "Shhh feat. HYEIN & JOE WON SUN”

Taemin - “Heaven”

Davichi – "Stitching"

Kim Boa - "Trick"

Kiss of Life - "Te Quiero"

Nicole - "5! 6! 7! 8!"

Favorite Rookies

ARTMS

Yves

RESCENE

Gyubin

Favorite Music Videos

Red Velvet -  “Cosmic” (Dir. 2hyein)

Red Velvet - “Love is COSMIC” Trailer (Dir. 2saurus)

Yves - "Viola" (Dir. EEHOSOO (cpbeq)

Kiss of Life - “Midas Touch” (Dir. DIGIPEDI)

BIBI - “Bam Yang Gang” (Dir. Beomijin aka Paranoid Paradigm)(VM Project Architecture)

(G)I-DLE - “Super Lady” (2024) (Dir. SAM SON / High Quality Fish)

Gyeongree - "Cherry" (Dir. Yena Kang (Latchkey Kids))

QWER - “Fake Idol” (Dir. Jooyeong Yun (EARTHLUK))

[mjohnso]

Quarterly Debut Review: Q3 2024

Quarterly Debut Reviews are a supplementary series to my biannual Periodic Rookie Group Reports, which are published quarterly. Each installment usually covers three rookie groups that debuted over the past three months, although this quarter is an exception. For this installment, I only covered Celest1a (July) and ARrC (August). This series will return to its regular format in next quarter's installment.

July / Celest1a Debut: July 31, 2024 Debut Song: “Panda"

Celest1a did not mark their debut on July 31st as other rookie groups do with a press showcase or Korean music show performance. Instead, that day they were in Japan serving as the opening act at UTO Fest 2024 in Yokohama, a choice not so much helped by context as made all the more curious. That appearance matched a pattern predicted by their pre-debut promotions at the KCON Japan 2024 “zone” at Tokyo Girls Collection, in which the group, as of writing, only promotes in Japan.

This idiosyncrasy is not enough for me to disqualify them from inclusion on my 2024 Rookie K-pop Group Debuts list—a power I have never wanted. After all, their focus on the Japanese market is not all that unusual for k-pop groups. As I wrote when I covered Antares, since the k-pop boom of the early ‘10s, a cottage industry has emerged in tandem with the development k-pop specific “infrastructure.” In turn, this has upended previous practices, whereby agencies treated Japan as a satellite market where a group debuted after promoting in Korea. Now, groups will sometimes follow their debut in Korea not with a comeback but with a debut or pre-debut promotions in Japan. In the future, this may evolve to resemble Celest1a's approach, with groups bypassing Korea entirely and promoting only in Japan. If that does happen, expect to see it among lesser-known groups, who despite lacking major labels, have been at the forefront of change to k-pop's place in the Japanese market.

August / ARrC Debut: August 19, 2024 Debut Song: “S&S (Sour And Sweet)"

This past August may make history, although we will not know until the end of the year. It all depends on how many rookie groups do—or do not—debut each month. If more than one group debuts in each of the next four months, then August 2024, which only clocked one debut with MYSTIC STORY’s ARrC, would rank as the month with the lowest number of debuts for the first time since I began tracking rookie groups. Furthermore, it would be the first time since I began tracking rookie groups that December does not rank as the month that saw the fewest debuts.

If this comes to pass, this may be less a harbinger of trouble for rookie groups and instead a quirk of distribution. Historically, compared to the first half of the year, the second half often sees a dip in the number of new groups debuting, and 2024 has been no different. The first six months of this year were particularly front-loaded, with two months seeing a double-digit number of debuts. Meanwhile, the remaining four months saw at least five new groups debuting.

Those numbers were all buoyed (or you could say skewed) by debuts from the Future Idol Asia project groups, one to two of which debuted every month. Notably though, since July, the project has fallen into a lull with no new debuts or recruiting advertisements. They did not even follow their June showcase with their customary flurry of Instagram posts trumpeting which entertainment agencies had invited the members of certain groups for additional private auditions.

This could mean that none of the agencies were interested in any of the participants. It is just as likely that this was a sign that the project was temporarily hitting pause, pivoting, or ending, a not inconceivable option considering the cracks that were showing at their June showcase. If, however, that was the case, it would only mean the end of the project. The trainee 'incubator' systems that the project modeled itself on would not only still exist but would continue to increase. After all, the project lasted so long in the first place, not only because people were interested in becoming idols but because the landscape had changed. As I noted in my Q2 blurb on their June showcase, not only has the number of trainees signed to agencies decreased, but those seeking to sign trainees have struggled to find talent. Incubators like Future Idol Asia solve both of those issues. Whether you are an agency that cannot afford to have a roster of trainees or one struggling to find talent, they can offer sourcing, training, and organizing of aspiring trainees—although not always in already debuted groups. That was Future Idol Asia's thing.

[mjohnso]

SM Japan Showcase Ephemera

If ‘pics or it didn’t happen’ was anything but a dated Internet meme, SM Entertainment’s “2001 S.M. Showcase Live in Japan” Showcase would never have existed. As I covered in my previous post, “Remembering SM’s First Japan Showcase” there is little to no photographic evidence of the event, and most of what survives does so precariously. If YouTube ever follows through on its plan to delete inactive channels, we would lose the only video footage of the show, which doubles as proof that somewhere, at one time, a video of all of the performances did exist. Any blow to the Internet Archive, the force behind the WaybackMachine, risks losing archived versions of pages with SM’s official account of the showcase.

With all of this in mind, I am sharing some of the ephemera I collected throughout my research of this post, mostly screenshots of the section of SM’s Fantagio website about the event. I am also including the set list, which is hardly a substitute for actual footage of performances, although it is better than nothing.

Setlist

Fly To The Sky 1. "I Want You I Need You" 2. "The Promise" 3. "Maybe God Knows"

S.E.S. 4. "Be Natural" 5. "I Will..." 6. "Love" 7. "I'm Your Girl"

Kangta 8. "Rainy Day" 9. "Polaris" 10. "My Life"

Shinhwa 12. "Wild Eyes" 13. "Falling In Love" 14. "Hey, Come On!"

[mjohnso]

Remembering SM's First Japan Showcase

Although 3,000 people—2,000 of which were fans—attended SM Entertainment’s “S.M. Showcase Live in Japan,” held on August 24, 2001, at Zepp Tokyo (R.I.P), there is not much proof that it ever happened. As far as I can tell, there are no articles or press photos of the showcase or the groups and singers’ individual sets. Outside of SM’s short recounting on their website in the early aughts, there are no first-hand accounts from attendees, save two that are both limited in their scope. The first, posted the day of the showcase to the free blogging platform Ameblo by user samuel361 focuses on S.E.S who performed three songs, and BoA—a late addition to the lineup—who performed her new single “Amazing Kiss”. The second, published in 2009 on the free blogging platform Excite Blog, features the setlist, a detailed account of S.E.S' set, and the only photographic evidence of the event: a photo, likely taken on a cellphone, of the three members of S.E.S. dressed in white, mid-performance.

It is not that SM Entertainment and Avex, who collaborated on the event, did not see the importance of documenting what was a first-of-its-kind event. Far from it, most of what I have found on archived versions of SM’s Fandango Korea website that dedicated a page to the showcase, the opposite is true. Although the images were not archived, there are captions for pictures of the rehearsal site, reception site, press conference site, and singers belonging to SM.

Similarly, there are indications that the site hosted a full-length video of the showcase, although it did not survive with one exception. A cut from the footage of Shinhwa’s fifteen-minute set, uploaded nine years ago by Seiko S, survives on YouTube.

The rest of the video and the missing photos undoubtedly survive in the SM archives, although they are unlikely ever to make them public. As a little-known event from groups several generations old, fans have not shown any appetite for their reveal, nor has SM shown any interest in revisiting their brand-building years. While activities like their showcase and compilation albums may have helped k-pop groups ascend to greater heights, highlighting them does not burnish their legacy. It does not sound impressive that SM once held a showcase that attracted 2,000 fans, when today, their groups are selling out Tokyo Dome.

That number would sound more impressive with context. When SM managed to attract 2,000 fans to a showcase, k-pop had not yet formed the niche it occupies today in the Japanese market, with a cottage industry built to cater to k-pop groups promoting in Japan. BoA would not release her breakthrough album Listen to My Heart for another four months. The first Hallyu boom in Japan, ushered in by K-dramas, was still two years away, and the k-pop boom was almost a decade away. And yet, they still managed to attract a not-insignificant crowd. It also did not hurt that the showcase was put on in conjunction with Avex, but that is another story.

The significance of the showcase extends beyond mere achievement, an item to be included in a list, or a highlight reel. It is an event that provides important context to k-pop's origin story in Japan, which was not a fluke or happenstance. It was the beginning of sustained effort, especially for SM and their groups, to lay the foundation for and build the brand that k-pop groups still trade on today.

[mjohnso]

Quarterly Debut Review: Q2 2024

Quarterly Debut Reviews are a supplementary series to my biannual Periodic Rookie Group Reports, which are published quarterly. Each installment covers three rookie groups that debuted over the past three months. For the sixth installment, I covered Triple iz (April), TOZ (May), and Crystal (Future Idol Asia) (June).

April / Triple iz Debut: April 8, 2024 Debut Song: “Halla”

Call me Lettuce90. That is what ifland, SK Telecom’s social metaverse application, dubbed my avatar, a guy sporting a gray overcoat and gray pants with a gray beard and gray undercut. Although I could have changed both, as avatar customization is billed as a “feature, I did neither. I had not downloaded the app to talk to other users’ avatars or decorate the customizable 3d virtual space which in the parlance of the app is called a “room” or participate in k-pop karaoke or any of the other activities, but in the name of research. I wanted to get to know the self-described multinational metaverse girl group Triple iz and considering that they had been formed to promote the app, this seemed like a good place to start.

That I had to download the app to get to know the group is by design. Triple Iz’s whole raison d’etre is to attract new users through incentives and promotions tied to ifland. As of now, this has meant a pre-debut reality show Road to Debut, which although promoted on their official YouTube and Instagram, was only available on the app.[1] The same goes for their debut XR showcase, Global Fan Live show, and weekly news show “Weekly Izland News”, which takes place every Thursday in their official room.

I dropped into one of these weekly shows on a Thursday in early May, my avatar materializing on a bench on a peachy pink island, floating in a purple and pink sky dotted with puffy clouds, the planet Saturn, and rainbow tracks. Navigating around oversized candy pieces, scaled-down windmills, and banners with the group’s images, I joined the dozen other attendees including two whose outfits identified themselves as staff from the English language news site kpopmap (their website describes them as Triple iz’s Official Media Partner).[2][3] We stood in front of a large screen where the two MCs, RaRa and Serri, who wore tops that said ‘Triple iz,’ used to host the show. As their voices were piped in, the screen changed in tandem with the segments, including a quiz. Attendees could answer questions through the chat function, their answers appearing over their avatars’ heads, who are otherwise stationary.

In Kpopmap’s words, the show was supposed to be a “hangout sesh” but felt more like an awkward school assembly, lasting around a half hour. After that, the crowd thinned out as people moved to other “rooms” or onto other activities, like using their avatar to cover the choreography of the group’s song, or like me, logged off. I never went to another of their Weekly Shows and not long ago I deleted the app off my phone. While Triple Iz may have convinced me to try out the app, no virtual fan cafe, contest, or giveaway (all offered through the app) offered a compelling reason to stay.

May / TOZ Debut: September 27, 2023 / May 2, 2024 Debut Song: “Magic Hour”/ “Nu Shoes”

Whether or not my choosing the boy group TOZ for my May blurb violates the spirit of this series hinges on one date – that of their debut. I considered their official debut to be September 27, 2023, when they simultaneously released their mini album Flare in Japan and Korea. My belief in this date is not entirely unwarranted. A Korea JoongAng Daily article published on September 7, 2023, titled “Boys Planet's four contestants to debut as TOZ with 'Flare'” explicitly describes the release as their debut,

The four-member band will make its debut under YY Entertainment on Sept. 27 with the album "Flare," a title "symbolizing the flare to mark the beginning of TOZ," according to the agency.

YY Entertainment would beg to differ. When teasing TOZ’s new mini album TO MY NEW FRIENDS, they announced that as their first Korean mini album, it would mark their Korean debut. This implies that their previous debut referred solely to their debut in Japan and that their debut date, according to their label, is May 4, 2024.[4]

In my ten-plus years of tracking Rookies, this is not the first time I have encountered the problem of determining a debut, but it has become more common in the last few years. Previously, a debut date corresponded to a group’s first release or initial music show appearance, usually in Korea, that no longer holds. Now, between extended pre-debut rollouts that can last months, previously debuted and independent groups “re-debuting” under labels, individual units of larger groups promoting independently, and international promotions a debut date is a moving target, one untethered from a group’s history.

In other words, entertainment agencies stretched the concept of the debut until it broke. Today, freed from any pretense of convention, if an agency chooses, a group could have multiple debuts like TOZ.  unlike TOZ, whose double debut is a strategic move. With the group’s initial introduction, less than four months after Haruto and Anthonny had joined the label, YY Entertainment tried to capitalize on the member’s association with Mnet’s Boy’s Planet, in which all four members had participated and concluded five months before their debut. Then, marketing their first Korean mini album as a “debut,” not a comeback, lends it the sheen of a traditional debut when the audience’s lack of familiarity with a group is not yet a detriment but an opportunity, a chance for a group to make themselves known.

June / Crystal Debut: June 14, 2024 Debut Song: “Dreams Come True”

Rainbow E&M fell one group short of their ambitious goal to debut one new group a month for the first six months of the year. While they debuted at least one new group in January (Flora), February (Bluebell), and April and two groups in March (Heimish and Pearlys) and June (Ivory and Crystal), they did not debut a new group in May.

This gap in an otherwise prodigious six months could result from their focus being elsewhere, like their third annual showcase. Held on June 10th at the World K-Pop Center in Seoul, the showcase, as I have written before, is the fulcrum of the project, the point around which the endeavor is organized. Rainbow E&M recruits participants, organizes them into groups, and gives them a “debut” song and video so that they can perform them at their showcase.

Alternatively, or perhaps simultaneously, this gap may also indicate a problem I began to suspect last year when they debuted multiple groups of members from other previously debuted Future Idol Asia groups. That is the project has been struggling to recruit new participants, a problem not unique to them. An August 2023 Korea JoongAng Daily article reported that entertainment agencies are struggling to find trainees. Data backs up this finding. According to Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)’s 2023 Pop Culture & Arts Industry Survey, the number of trainees working for agencies decreased between 2020 and 2022, going from 1,895 to 1,170.

This presents a catch-22 for Rainbow E&M. While such a shortage would make their service all the more indispensable to agencies, they would have to be able to find potential trainees, which would be difficult due to the shortage. Without participants for their project, the primary means of promoting their project, like debuting new groups and their showcase, also become more difficult, further exacerbating their recruitment challenge.

It makes sense then that Future Idol Asia has resorted to some creative accounting to pad their numbers. For example, at their recent showcase, most of the groups were not those they had debuted between their third and fourth showcase but “trainee” groups. Unlike the typical Future Idol Asia group, these groups perform not original songs but covers. Their introductions are rougher, and their performances are less polished. They are far from showcase-ready, but at the same time, they are necessary components for its success. Without them, the showcase would be noticeably shorter and smaller, signaling to the audience and potential recruits that the project is struggling. By including these groups though in a bid to reverse their struggle, they can at least create the illusion that the opposite is true.

Footnotes

[1] Post-debut, full episodes from the group's pre-debut reality show were uploaded to their official YouTube page.

[2] Not long after I attended “Weekly Izland News”, Kpopmap instituted a subscription model, hiding most of their articles behind a paywall. As a result, I cannot link to many of their articles on the group and ifland I used for research while writing this blurb.

[3] According to an article on Kpopmap (again, accessed pre-subscription change), members of Kpopmap’s staff join the show every week to “hang out with fans, take ideas and suggestions for future contents, ask for fans’ opinions, swoon over Triple iz, and more.”

[4] For my own purposes, TOZ will be considered a 2023 Rookie Group Debut. This will be reflected in the numbers for Rookie Reports No. 22 through No. 24.

[mjohnso]

Periodic Rookie Groups Report No. 23

Periodic Rookie Group Reports are a series of biannual reports that seek to put a number to how many rookie groups debut and make comebacks in a given year. For Report No. 23, I covered the activity of '23 rookie groups and the number of rookie groups that debuted in the first half of 2024.

2023 Rookies Of the 95 groups that debuted in 2023, six groups — three boy groups, two girl groups, and one co-ed group — disbanded. They are as follows:

DVI: 4NOLOGUE announced on February 29, 2024, on their official Twitter that following discussions with the boy group members (January ‘23), they mutually decided to terminate the members’ contracts and disband the group.

FEVERSE: According to a March 8, 2024, TVDaily article, the girl group (May ‘23) disbanded in September 2023 following the conclusion of their Japanese promotions. A Kakao Entertainment representative quoted in the article confirmed as much saying, “There are currently no activities planned for the future” but that anything could happen in the future.”

HANA: Days before the girl group’s (January ‘23) first anniversary, Art Company Soul announced on January 3, 2024, on the group’s official Instagram that after long consideration and discussions with the members, they decided to disband the group. Some of the members remain under Art Company Soul to continue their activities.

THE7: Ganada Entertainment announced in a statement posted to the boy group’s (January ‘23) official Twitter on March 19, 2024, that due to the expiration of the members’ contracts and termination of their group contract, the group was disbanding. They promised to cheer the members on their new paths.

Unbalance: The project co-ed group (October ‘23) was created as part of the KBS variety show, Beat Coin. Following the conclusion of the show’s run on January 18, 2024, with its final episode, the group presumably disbanded.

URSA MAJOR: The boy group (August ‘23) created for the MBN survival show Show King Night disbanded following the show's conclusion in September 2023.

Subtracting these six disbandments brings the total number of active rookie groups to 89 groups— 41 boy groups, 44 girl groups, three co-ed groups, and one queer group. Of these 89 groups, 43% or 38 groups released new music at least once between January and June of this year, with 16% or 14 groups doing so more than once. In comparison, to data from Rookie Reports that I have compiled since 2017, this year is in line with the average rate of comeback which is around 43%.

Korean Releases from ‘23 Rookie Groups: January - June 2024

Note: Releases marked with an asterisk (*) indicate an additional release from a group following their initial release

January 04 BXB - “The Black Cat Nero” (Single) 05 POW - “Valentine” (Single) 05 RIIZE - “Love 119” (Single) 09 TBIK - “Summertime” (Single) 09 8TURN - Stunning (Mini Album) 11 BXB - Chapter 2. Wings (Mini Album)* 11 Limelight - Last Dance (Mini Album) 12 Golden Girls - “The Moment” (Single) 16 WE:A - “One More Chance” (Single) 22 EVNNE - Un: Seen (Mini Album) 27 Golden Girls - “Bloom” (Single)* 29 DVI - “Close(d) Friend” (Single)

February 01 BABYMONSTER - “Stuck In the Middle” (Single) 02 tripleS - 4study 4work 4inst Vol.1 (Album) 04 YOUNG POSSE - “YOUNG POSSE UP feat. Verbal Jint, NSM yoon, Token” (Single) 14 The Wind - Our: YouthTeen (Mini Album) 15 N.SSign - Happy & (Mini Album) 19 LUN8 - “Pastel” (Single) 19 X:IN - “My Idol” (Single) 25 X:IN - The Real (Mini Album)* 26 PLAVE - Asterum : 134-1 (Mini Album)

March 02 Hi-Fi Un!corn - “ABC is” (Single) 02 HORI7ON - “Lucky” (Single) 08 xikers - HOUSE OF TRICKY: Trial And Error (Mini Album) 13 LUN8 - Buff (Mini Album)* 14 XODIAC - “Heyday” (Single) 15 TOZ - “Magic Hour (Kor. Ver.)” (Single) 15 SEVENUS - Spring Canvas (Mini Album) 20 RuViChe - “Minsu of Delivery (2024)” (Single) 20 YOUNG POSSE - XXL (Mini Album)* 26 AMPERS&ONE - “Broken Heart” (Single)

April 01 BABYMONSTER - BABYMONS7ER (Mini Album)* 01 QWER - Manito (Mini Album) 03 Catch the Young - Catch the Young : Fragments of Odyssey (Mini Album) 03 RIIZE - “Siren” (Single)* 04 Kiss of Life - “Midas Touch” (Single) 15 BOYNEXTDOOR - How? (Mini Album) 15 Loossemble - One of a Kind (Mini Album) 17 EVNNE - “Ugly (Will Not Fear Remix)” (Single)* 18 RIIZE - “Impossible” (Single)* 29 82Major - Beat by 82 (Mini Album)

May 01 BXB - “The Black Cat Nero (Aster Remix)” (Single)* 02 Fantasy Boys - Make Sunshine (Mini Album) 02 TOZ - To My New Friends (Mini Album)* 04 Eastshine - “Heartthrob” (Single) 06 82Major - “Choke (Sped Up)” (Single)* 08 tripleS - ASSEMBLE24 (Album)* 13 ZEROBASEONE - You Had Me At Hello (Mini Album) 14 WHIB - “Kick It” (Single) 15 The Wind - “Sirius Part. 2” (Single)* 25 Kiss of Life - “Sixth Sense” (Single)*

June 04 Hi-Fi Un!corn - “Phantom Pain” (Single)* 07 ONEPACT - “Fxxck off” (Single) 17 EVNNE - Ride or Die (Mini Album)* 17 PRIMROSE - “Freyja” (Single) 17 RIIZE - RIIZING (Mini Album)* 19 BOYNEXTDOOR - “Earth Wind & Fire (JP. Ver)” (Single)* 26 YOUNG POSSE - “On My Scars" (feat. Lil Cherry, Dbo)” (Single)*

2024 Rookies Between January and June of this year, 52 groups—19 boy groups, 30 girl groups, and three co-ed groups. This number is on par with the same period last year that saw the debut of 52 groups, although with a different ratio of groups. While in 2023, boy groups and girl group debut numbers were more evenly matched, continuing the trend that began in 2020, girl group debuts again outpaced those of boy groups.

Of course, as I touched on in Rookie Report No. 22, categories like ‘boy groups’ and ‘girl groups’ do not reflect today's industry's landscape. Unlike in previous years, agencies are not the primary architects of new groups, many of which are formed and debut through alternative methods. In the first half of 2024, almost half of all groups—46% or 24 groups to be exact—fit this profile. Of these 24 groups:

Nine—four boy groups and five girl groups—were formed via a survival show.

Six—all of which were girl groups—debuted through Rainbow E&M’s Future Idol Asia Project (See my Quarterly Debut Review posts for more about the Future Idol Asia project)

Four—two boy groups, one girl group, and one co-ed group—formed and debuted independently from any agency.

Two—one girl group and one co-ed group—debuted as school idol groups.

One—a co-ed group—composed of members from various acts under Pocketdol Studio that was formed to release a special single.

One—a girl group—was a project group formed to promote SK Telecom's metaverse app ifland.

One—a girl group—is the latest addition to the ongoing trend of virtual idol groups.

I am not one for using these Reports to draw sweeping conclusions, especially when it is only halfway through the year and the numbers are softer. After all, within the industry that seems to abide by its temporal logic, a lot can change in six months. It is unlikely that any event that does happen will mean that the industry is returning to the status quo that has held for years. Far from it, 'rookie groups' as a concept seem to be in the throes of a transformative shift, the shape and contour of which are only just beginning to come into focus.

[mjohnso]

Doll People 2.0

I published the original "Doll People: A Compendium on the Doll Concept" in May 2012, on the cusp of a generational shift. Now in a funny bit of kismet in the same month, a decade removed, I am announcing a lateral move for the project moving it from a blog post to its own website: https://kpop.mjohnso.com/dollpeople

Going forward, all future updates (including the batch of new entries I am working on now) will be applied to Doll People at its new home. I will be leaving the original post active, although it will only run until 2023 as I will not be adding future entries to it.

[mjohnso]

Quarterly Debut Review: Q1 2024

Quarterly Debut Reviews are a supplementary series to my biannual Periodic Rookie Group Reports, which are published quarterly. Each installment covers three rookie groups that debuted over the past three months. For the fifth installment, I covered ALL(H)OURS (January), YDS (February), and Heimish (March).

As always, a full list of rookie groups that have debuted thus far in 2024 is available here: 2024 Rookie Groups Debuts

January / ALL(H)OURS Debut: January 10, 2024 Debut Song: “GOTCHA”

Although I have been tracking rookie groups for over a decade, I am no soothsayer. I cannot predict with any accuracy the number of new groups that will debut in 2024 or if more groups will disband this year than last year. Nor can I tell if the recent reversal of a multi-year decline in the number of boy groups I covered in Periodic Rookie Groups Report No. 22 is permanent or a temporary deviation. At best, what the numbers tell me is. 2024 is not off to a bad start, especially regarding boy groups. The four boy groups that debuted this year in January mirrors the previous year's total. While this may not crack 2019’s record of nine boy groups in January, it is better than 2018's where boy groups' poor performance was foreshadowed by a single debut at the start of the year.

No matter how this year shakes out for boy groups, it cannot be said that boy groups did not try like ALL(H)OURS who was one of the four boy groups to debut. Their name externalizes their ambition signaling, according to Korea JoongAng Daily, their intention to “pour everything it has at all times.” Their debut song doubles down on this message with the chorus, punctuated by a deep bass sound, emphasizing their laser focus on their goal.

Of course, it takes more than focus and hard work for idols to achieve their dreams—or stardom —in the industry. Those are only parts of an equation with multiple variables, many of which idols have no control over, including their image, musical director, or whether a group gets to come back and try again or build on the momentum. But at least ALL(H)OURS are committed to doing what they can do and working with what they have control over.

February / YDS (YeoDongSaeng) Debut: February 21, 2024 Debut Song: “A Fluttering Love”

YDS’s debut single “A Fluttering Love” can claim more so-called ‘firsts’ than your average debut single. The song is the group’s first release under a proper label, as well as, their official debut and first single. Contrarily, it is also the first song in the industry's history to qualify as both a debut and a comeback single, a fact that the marketing has not hidden but highlighted. On a teaser image released to promote the song’s release, above the two members seated back-to-back on a white table, it reads “YDS 7TH DIGITAL SINGLE ALBUM.”

This discrepancy in qualification is a byproduct of YDS’ unorthodox career trajectory. The duo began their career uploading covers of k-pop songs to their YouTube channel, before pivoting to producing their original songs in 2022. They released six singles and built up a small following before according to their December 2023 Instagram post, signing with HO Entertainment. Then as established above, in February they released their seventh single that doubled as their major label debut. In other words, unlike most k-pop groups who debut after being assembled through the industry’s traditional top-down method, YDS debuted in reverse.

While there are tradeoffs for both YDS and HO Entertainment for bypassing this usual path, I see the appeal. For HO Entertainment, in particular, it is a cost-saving measure. A group with a pre-determined lineup eliminates the need to recruit and train future members of a group, a process so expensive that according to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)’s 2023 Pop Culture & Arts Industry Survey, most agencies do not even maintain a pool of trainees. They also come with a pre-defined image and sound, which although certainly adjustable, HO Entertainment has left unchanged. Indeed “A Fluttering Love”, features their signature sweet acoustic sound and lyrics about a love confession. This is consistent with their previous releases, only this time it comes with a name attached to it and an accompanying promotional rollout, typical of your average group.

March / Heimish Debut: March 15, 2024 Debut Song: “Golden Hour”

So far, this year has gone according to Rainbow E&M’s plan. That plan, laid out across their 2023 year-end Instagram posts, indicated that they aimed to debut one group per month – a feat they have pulled off. Three months into 2024, they debuted at least one group under the Future Idol Asia banner every month: Flora in January, Bluebell in February, and now Heimish and Pearlys in March.

Practically speaking, these are all new groups in the sense that Future Idol Asia has never debuted a group under these names or with these lineups. Of the four groups that debuted, Flora and Heimish’s lineups are partly a patchwork of members from prior Future Idol Asia groups. In the case of Flora, of the group’s six members, four previously debuted under Redplum and Closer, respectively. As for Heimish, their group is comprised of one new member, two members of Blossom, and one member of Winsome. This is a byproduct of the nature of the project. As I have written before Future Idol Asia groups are not intended to be permanent homes for aspiring idols but a temporary waypoint on their journey. Ideally, a member who debuts as part of a Future Idol Asia group would catch the attention of an entertainment agency scout at a showcase who invites them for further auditioning before inviting them to join their agency. In reality, though not every member gets picked. For example, in the case of Closer, two of whose members re-debuted this year as part of Flora, only one of the ten members in the group was chosen for additional auditions with other agencies.

This poses a conundrum for the Future Idol Asia project, as they are left with groups with gaps in their lineup, although groups like Flora and Heimish point to their solution. Since last year they have been repackaging members from their previous groups into these new groups. That allows the project to pad its numbers, giving the illusion that the project has more recruits than it actually does, especially if recruitment does not meet expectations. More importantly, it also gives those not picked the first time another chance. With a new group, concept, song, choreography, and opportunity to perform at the showcase this time might be the charm.

[mjohnso]

The Work of Auditions

S.E.S Bada’s recruitment story is the stuff of SM legend. Personally scouted in 1996 by Lee Soo-man after he saw her perform at her school’s annual festival, she did not then dream of debuting as a pop singer, let alone being in a girl group. By most accounts, she wanted to be a musical theater actor. But she agreed to Lee’s offer because it literally paid the bills. In exchange for joining the company, Lee paid her full university tuition and expenses, where she studied theater.

I begin with Bada’s origin story, not only because it is unique among SM audition stories but because of what it says about SM. Specifically, it demonstrates the company’s recognition early on that acquiring the best performers, regardless of cost, was integral to their survival and success. They would need talent to grow their stable of new acts and replace any new acts that disbanded. Furthermore, maintaining a pool of potential replacement talent was an insurance policy. Their mere existence would apply downward pressure on their already debuted idols, discouraging them from agitating for more (or any) money or better contract terms or material conditions lest they be replaced.

But first, SM had to find trainees, which they did so using a multi-pronged strategy. Street-casting, like the kind that found Bada, was part of their approach, as was their affiliation with the for-profit training academy Starlight Academy beginning in 2003. There was also their more formalized Audition process, which they started advertising on their official website in 2000. In the early aughts, versions of this Audition section of their website listed three language options (“Korean” “English” and “Chinese”), with different options for each. In particular, the Korean version listed six options:

Mail: An applicant could send via snail mail a letter or postcard listing their name, school grade, and contact information, along with two photos, to the attention of the Entertainment Audition Manager at a Gangnam PO Box.

Email: An applicant could send an email to the casting director with all the information they would include in a letter to the casting director if they were mailing their application and two scanned photos.

Franchise Store: Instead of mailing or emailing their information and photos, an applicant could drop off a letter with their information and two photos at one of the various music or record stores around Korea that SM listed on their site. If an applicant who utilized this method was selected for an in-person audition but lived outside of Seoul, SM would pay 100% of their transportation costs.

Recommend a friend: A person could send all of the same information of a friend or family member they believe is talented in a letter or email. If that friend or family member signed a contract with SM, the person who referred them would receive a scholarship of 1 million won.

Live Auditions: Every Saturday at 3pm, SM Entertainment held in-person auditions at their headquarters.

Live Auditions: Applicants could apply for an audition via directions obtained by calling a phone number. If an applicant passed the first round of screening, they would be invited to attend the in-person auditions held on Sunday at 3pm.

Today, SM has not radically changed these options other than revamping them to reflect technological changes and expanding their in-person auditions. They eliminated the snail mail and franchise store options in favor of digital options, including applying via the SM website or direct message. In-person auditions are still held weekly at the SM Entertainment building but are supplemented by audition tours. Earlier this year, they announced their 2024 Global Audition, which consists of stops in Daegu, Busan, Daejeon, Wonju, Gwangju, and Jeju, as well as Thailand, Japan, the United States, and Canada.

Much as their audition methods have not drastically changed, only expanded, the same could be said for the motivation behind their auditions. The need for new trainees, especially as the industry has become increasingly competitive, and the necessity of maintaining that power dynamic that I discussed above all still applies, but I would also add a third reason. That is much as trainees function as a way to apply pressure to acts on an agency’s roster, so does the audition, with all its spectacle, do for trainees. Between the multiple dates and increasing amount of locations, often announced with much fanfare, there is a dual impression. The auditions are extremely competitive, with participants going up against not only those at that audition but also highly desirable and affirming, as evidenced by the turnout.

Yet even though a trainee may have made it through the gauntlet of auditions and been selected as a member of an elite club, they cannot rest. On the contrary, as a trainee, they will have to work harder than other trainees whom they are competing with to maintain their spot and for one of the scant opportunities to debut. Moreover, they cannot complain about their training or the conditions of it or even negotiate for better contract terms, lest they get replaced by any one of those other people auditioning and vying for their spot.

It is no wonder SM Entertainment has not developed a more efficient way to audition potential new trainees. The current system is the perfect tool, conveniently downplaying their role outside the selection process. If a group of trainees encourages existing acts to stay silent even in the face of poor working conditions, that is not because SM has explicitly pushed them to but as a consequence of the system. Similarly, if trainees who acutely feel the precariousness of their situation overwork themselves, that is their decision. No matter that these are the results of a system created by SM's choices, and thus are not immutable. As far as the industry cares it works, so why would they fix it?

[mjohnso]

Quarterly Debut Review: Q4 2023

Quarterly Debut Reviews are a supplementary series to my biannual Periodic Rookie Group Reports, which are published quarterly. Each installment covers three rookie groups that debuted over the past three months. For this third installment, I covered NiziU (October), Peony (November), and Golden Girls (December).

As always, a full list of rookie groups that have debuted thus far in 2023 is available here: 2023 Rookie Groups Debuts

October / NiziU Debut: October 30, 2023 Debut Song: “HEARTRIS”

NiziU made history when their Korean debut song, “HEARTRIS” won the Champion Song title on the November 8, 2023, episode of MBC M’s Show Champion. With their win, the group not only became the first foreign group to do so but also tied their labelmate ITZY’s record, becoming the fourth fastest girl group to win first place on a music show following their debut.

They may or may not have also been the first j-pop group to accomplish this feat. Whether or not they qualify will vary from person to person, depending on their classification of NiziU as there is no consensus. This is not due to any lack of spirited debate on the issue, as both the j-pop and k-pop camps have made their cases. The former points to their focus on the Japanese market, their debut in Korea notwithstanding, their songs sung only in Japanese, and the fact that they have, again until recently, never widely promoted within the k-pop system. As for the latter, they highlight the group’s connections to JYP Entertainment, including their hand in the group’s origin through the survival show Nizi Project, and that the group’s lineup features several former trainees from the label. Then there is the fact that the group, like many produced through survival shows with ties to Korean agencies, sometimes pulls both visually and sonically from k-pop.

Treating this issue as a matter of either/or maybe the wrong answer to the question of what NiziU "is". Instead, a better approach may be to treat the group as fitting into both. That is like the k-pop girl groups that over a decade ago promoted in both Korea and Japan they fall into what San Jung and Yukie Hiarata in their 2011 paper “Conflicting Desires: K-pop Girl Group Flows in Japan in the Era of Web 2.0” described as “an ambivalent third space between the domestic and the foreign.” Writing about SNSD and KARA who like NiziU muddled categories whose borders once seemed so firm, they wrote: 

Another aspect of the new way of embracing K-pop in Japan is demonstrated through how K-pop is now placed in an ambivalent third space between the domestic and the foreign within the Japanese pop music scene. At the 2011 Japan Gold Disc Awards, SNSD was awarded the New Artist of the Year Award in the Japanese music division (hougaku bumon), while KARA was awarded the New Artist of the Year in the foreign music division (yougaku bumon).1 It was a significant result considering the fact that both of the groups are from Korea: in Japan, yougaku usually refers to ‘Western’ music. BoA and TVXQ, who are overwhelmingly popular in Japan, are perceived as K-pop idols as they are from Korea, yet at the same time are treated as J-pop idols within the paradigm of Western vs. Japanese. The article “Is K-pop Japanese music (hougaku)? Or foreign music (yougaku)?” in Asahi Shinbun suggests that K-pop girl groups such as KARA and SNSD cannot be categorised as either Western or Japanese pop because they are extremely successful even when they sing in Korean (Miyamoto 2011).

NiziU's place in this third space is evident in the mouthful of words that are used to introduce the group. Never referred to as a k-pop or j-pop group, they are often called JYP Entertainment's Japanese girl group. The 'JYP' part emphasizes their link and history to the Korean market hailing from one of the Big 4 agencies, while describing them as Japanese highlights their difference from other JYP groups and their connection to the j-pop industry. Neither side cancels out the other but exists together, each side a part of the group's identity.

November / Peony Debut: November 23, 2023 Debut Song: “Checkmate”

I did not expect to be writing about the Future Idol Asia project again this year but then they debuted their ninth girl group of the year, Peony. In retrospect though, I should have known better. Three years into the project and with a total of 40 groups under their belt, Rainbow E&M is an old hand at this thanks to their system (See: 2023 Q1 and 2023 Q2). Under it they scaled their project from three groups in 2021 to 19 new groups in 2022, which accounted for 25% of all groups that debuted that year. Now, this year has seen the debut of 12 new groups, accounting for 13% of the new groups that debuted. No other agency debuting new groups today has yet to match their number for this year or last year.

Rainbow E&M appears to have every intention of matching this same pace, or at least trying to in 2024. In June and July, they began posting on their official Instagram audition advertisements to recruit new participants, between the ages of 12 and 18 for their group that would debut in January 2024. By August, they were recruiting for their groups that are to debut in February and March, while their September and October posts mention a May group. Their posts from November and December are for those interested in joining their June group. If they manage to pull off this schedule, they will have debuted a group in at least five of the six months in the first half of the year.

According to the timetable deduced from these posts, Rainbow E&M will start looking for groups to fill out their roster for the second half of the year between January and February 2024, even as they are debuting their first group. Trainees, after all, are the lifeblood of this project. Their system only runs if there are trainees to feed through it to create groups to market to agencies at their showcases, which need new groups. The more trainees they can fit into their showcase, the better the chances that one will be asked to audition for other agencies. Then, to connect it to a point I made in my 2023 Q3 post regarding their showcase, they can use their trainees' association with these agencies to market their program and its success to recruit even more participants to their project, allowing them to produce even more groups, and continue the cycle.

December / Golden Girls Debut: December 1, 2023 Debut Song: “One Last Time”

Most entertainment agencies know not to debut new groups in December. Between the end of the year, award shows and festivals, holiday performances, and winter releases, audience's attention is anywhere but new groups. It is better to wait until the first quarter of the new year when a group’s debut has a better chance of finding fans.

Of course, not all agencies heed this advice. Most years, a few groups risk their future on an end-of-the-year debut, albeit with varying results. For some, their December release will mark both the beginning and end of a career, while for others, it will have no discernible effect. For example, the band Xdinary Heroes suffered little for the timing of their year-end debut in 2021, likely due to their association with JYP Entertainment. Similarly, JYP Entertainment’s super girl group Golden Girls, created from the KBS show with the same name and composed of bona fide legends Insooni, Park Mi-kyung, Shin Hyo-beom, and Lee Eun-mi, has proven immune to any of the downsides of a December 1st debut. The group won the Rookie Award in the ‘Show and Variety’ category at the 2023 KBS Entertainment Awards and recently announced their intention to tour in 2024.

Yet despite the show's association with a top entertainment agency, airing on one of Korea's three major networks, and the individual members' storied careers, it was not treated as a guarantee that Golden Girls would not meet the fate of so many other December debuts. Or at least that was the narrative surrounding the show early on. A promotional trailer released in October showed JYP meeting with each of the future members who initially dismissed the idea, with Hyo Bum calling it crazy and Insooni dubbing his then-dream group a “grandma group." Although all four singers eventually agreed to participate, that was not the end of the trouble surrounding production. As JYP explained on a November episode of MBC FM4U’s Kim Shin Young’s Noon Song of Hope, while KBS had approved the show, they required additional outside investment. And much like with the members, JYP found most companies were skeptical that his idea would work, although—as evidenced by the show's existence past episode two—some came around.

Perhaps they heard an early version of the group's debut song "One Last Time," which opens with the members singing about stagnation and their fear of the unknown. Then it builds to a chorus that provides a blueprint for breaking out of that rut, instructing listeners to, “Pour it all out Shout/Scream together/Go crazy like this is the time/Wake up and fight.” Take a chance on the unknown since as Eunmi sings, "Any challenge you haven't tried is a failure/Any chance you hesitate is a waste." So back that reality show with the eyebrow-raising, but not entirely new, idea to create a group of older women promoting a youth-centric industry. Debut a rookie group in December. Don’t, as Insooni sings, let any regrets remain.

[mjohnso]

Periodic Rookie Groups Report No. 22

Periodic Rookie Group Reports are a series of biannual reports that seek to put a number to how many rookie groups debut and make comebacks in a given year. For Report No. 22, I cover the activity of '22 rookie groups between July and December 2023 and the total number of rookie groups that debuted in 2023.

2022 Rookies In the previous Rookie Report, I covered five groups that had debuted in 2022, only to disband less than a year after their debut. I have two additional groups to add to that list. They are as follows: 

WSG Wannabe: A project girl group (July ‘22) created for MBC’s Hangout With Yoo, the group concluded their activities following the show’s August 6th, 2022 episode.

X4: The project co-ed group (July ‘22) was formed to promote Busan’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo. Following voting on November 28, 2023, Busan ultimately lost its bid to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Consequently, it is safe to assume that the group disbanded.

This brings the number of disbanded groups to seven—two boy groups, four girl groups, and one co-ed group. Factoring these seven groups brings the number of groups that debuted in 2022 and were still active in 2023 to 69 groups—20 boy groups, 37 girl groups, and two co-ed groups. Of these 69 groups, 52% or 36 groups released new music at least once in 2023. 34% or 24 groups did so between January and June, while 17% or 12 groups did so between July and December. 30% or 21 groups released new music in the first and second half of 2023.

Korean Releases from ‘22 Rookie Groups: July - December 2023

Note: Releases marked with an asterisk (*) indicate an additional release from a group following their initial release

July 06 FIFTY FIFTY - “Barbie Dreams feat. Kaliii” (Single)* 06 Kep1er - “RESCUE TAYO” (Single)* 06 LE SSERAFIM - “Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife (English Ver.)” (Single)* 06 Queenz Eye – “UN-NORMAL” (Single) 10 ARTBEAT v – “DUBI DUBI” (Single)* 11 NMIXX – A Midsummer NMIXX’s Dream (Mini Album)* 14 LE SSERAFIM - “Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife feat. UPSAHL” (Single)* 21 NewJeans - Get Up (Mini Album)* 21 Pattern - “Miro” (Single) 25 ILY:1 - New Chapter (Mini Album)* 26 Liberty - “One Summer” (Single) 28 LE SSERAFIM - “Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife feat. Rina Sawayama” (Single)*

August 01 XEED – Blue (Mini Album) 02 The Wind - “We Go” (Single) 03 ABLUE – “MAD” (Single) 03 Nine.i – NEW MIND (Mini Album) 04 LE SSERAFIM - “Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife feat. Demi Lovato” (Single) 11 TAN - TAN MADE [ I ] (Mini Album)* 30 H1-KEY - Seoul Dreaming (Mini Album)*

September 06 Trendz - “My Way” (Single)* 14 mimiirose - “Flirting” (Single) 20 Tempest – “Vroom Vroom” (Single)* 25 Kep1er - Magic Hour (Mini Album)* 27 XG - NEW DNA (Mini Album)*

October 02 Girls World - “Fly High (Thumbelina)” (Single) 04 NewJeans – “GODS” (Single)* 10 The Fix – “CITY” (Single) 10 The Fix – “Time” (Single)* 15 Queenz Eye – “THIS IS LOVE” (Single)* 17 YOUNITE - 빛 : Bit Part.2 (Mini Album)* 18 Superkind - Profiles of the Future (Λ): 70% (Mini Album)* 20 weNU – “My Everything” (Single) 24 ILY:1 - “To My Boyfriend” (Single)* 24 UNI – “Blue Night” (Single) 27 LE SSERAFIM - “Perfect Night” (Single)* 30 LE SSERAFIM - “Perfect Night (Sped. Up Ver.)” (Single)*

November 02 Nine.i – “Neverland” (Single)* 02 VIVIZ – VERSUS (Mini Album)* 23 LE SSERAFIM – “Perfect Night (Holiday Remix)” (Single)* 26 CSR - “HBD To You (Midnight Ver.)” (Single)* 27 ATBO – “Must Have Love” (Single)*

December 04 NMIXX – “Soñar (Breaker)” (Single)* 08 XG – “WINTER WITHOUT YOU” (Single)* 17 CSR - “HBD To You” (Single)* 19 NewJeans – NJWMX (Mini Album)* 20 CLASS:y – “Winter Bloom” (Single)* 21 ABLUE – “Snowman” (Single)* 21 NINE.I – “Back to Christmas” (Single)*

2023 Rookies In 2023, 95 groups—44 boy groups, 46 girl groups, four co-ed groups, and one queer group—debuted. Compared to last year this marks a 25% increase in the number of new groups debuting. Similarly, boy groups, whose numbers had been declining since 2020, made an about-face, with a 100% increase in the number of new debuts versus last year. Meanwhile, girl groups, who posted a record-setting number last year, saw a small decline slipping 10%. For their part, co-ed groups saw a modest increase from three groups last year to four groups this year, a 33% change.

Yet even with girl group numbers taking a dip, these are some of the best year-end numbers for rookie groups the industry has seen in years. Certainly, the numbers have not been this good since the beginning of the pandemic. So, what changed?

As always with rookie group numbers, context matters. Technically, rookie group numbers did rebound because agencies began to debut more groups, but what is meant by groups has expanded. That is, while once the dominant image of an idol group was a group assembled by an agency created from trainees who had been under and remained with a company for years striving for stardom, that has now changed. As I have written about at length, Rainbow E&M intends for their Future Idol Asia groups to be temporary stops for members rather than their permanent groups. Meanwhile, university k-pop departments, like Howon University in Gunsan, have been debuting their groups. Similarly, television shows have also served as an unconventional conduit for minting new, often temporary, groups. And this is all to say nothing about the recent influx of virtual and "AI" groups that have become part of the industry.

To give this a number, around 40% of the groups that debuted in 2023 qualify as idol groups under this broader definition. Looking to the next year, I expect to see a similar number or more, given that survival shows, Future Idol Asia project and virtual idols are not going anywhere in 2024. Beyond that only time will tell if this is the product of convergence of multiple trends or a fundamental shift in the industry.

Miscellaneous stats:

January saw the most amount of debuts with the debut of 13 new groups: five boy groups and eight girl groups.

Once again, December saw the least amount of debuts with the debut of only three new groups.

For the fourth consecutive year, more girl groups debuted than boy groups.

Methodology: https://blog.mjohnso.com/methodology