Is America Ready For More Girl Groups?

Over the past decade or so, America has yet to see another girl group emerge authentically into the mainstream. It’s no surprise that the Western world, which worships independence and self-fulfillment, opens its arms to solo artists while shying away from collective groups in the music industry. 

Not only does this tell a lot about American culture and the way we view the world of entertainment, but it also leaves gaps in the mainstream music industry for potential rising groups and stars after a decade-long drought. 

Where there is an opportunity to make money, there are entertainment companies ready to make profits. Particularly popular K-pop companies such as JYP Entertainment (home of TWICE, ITZY, Stray Kids, etc.) and HYBE Labels (home of BTS, NewJeans, LE SSERAFIM, etc.) are beginning to create international groups to address a wider audience range.

In my eight years as a K-pop fan, there has always been a need to appeal to audiences on a global scale. It’s the reason things like English singles and albums by K-pop groups existed long before K-pop actually became an international phenomenon around the mid-2010s. It’s also a reason that K-pop group members usually include one to three English speakers as this line-up will attract more international audiences. 

But over the past year or two, K-pop companies are striving to further their international influence. It’s suddenly not enough to release music in English. They are now releasing groups full of English-speaking members and creating songs solely in English. These members are typically trained through the classic K-pop trainee system, a grueling combination of vocal, dance, and media training that goes on for years. It has become a strange genre of its own in between the stratosphere of Pop music and K-pop. 

While this may seem like a good move on the part of Korean entertainment companies to start international-based groups, there are a few glaring errors I’ve seen these companies make that will reduce their appeal, at least to an American and more Western audience. 

K-pop has always debuted minors as a part of groups, but it has become a glaring issue in the past couple of years as these members become younger and younger, with some only twelve to thirteen years old. 

It’s not to say younger people cannot be talented and worthy of a debut in the music industry, and it is also not to say that the Western world does not have its fair share of faults in this area as well, but it becomes a problem when these young members debut in international groups. Western audiences are accustomed to adults taking the stage. It’s always a shock when talent emerges from young individuals, and it is usually not until they are much older and more experienced that they reach another level of stardom. Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber are good examples of this. 

The truth lies in the fact that Western audiences see children for what they are—kids who have much to learn and improve. Opposingly, K-pop companies debut children with perfect dancing and singing and expect them to attract a wide audience through talent alone. It’s not a bad idea, but it also lends itself to other kinds of problems with adult fans. 

The most prevalent example is VCHA, JYP Entertainment’s first international girl group. The oldest member was born in 2005 while the youngest was born in 2009. While this is a normal age range for K-pop nowadays, I would say this is one of the youngest international groups to exist on the scene. I think this group will have a difficult time appealing to Western audiences due to their young ages. 

The Western world is built on independence during adulthood. The very existence of groups and group dynamics is threatening to this fundamental ideal, and so is the idea of debuting minors in groups that are meant to be for a more international audience.