SM makes a SUPER boy group. Is BTS, Blackpink, and TWICE sending mix signals of success?

News just broke around a week ago of SM Entertainment latest KPop industry move that is not money laundering. No it’s not an NCT 127 tour, no it’s not the revival of EXO, no no no. It is a new group, a powerful group here to save the girls and boys koreaboo in the West from the grip of the White Walker King RM and his evil ability to SLAY FAN GIRLS AND RISE THEM FROM THE DEAD TO AUGEMENT HIS ARMY! Meet……… THE AVENGERS!

Starring:

Iron Taemin

Statistics:
80/100 Destroying Girls power
100/100 STRESS

Special Skill: THE SHINE(e)

Lord of Thundering Applause Baekhyun

100/100 Effeminate
100/100 Sunglass Look

Special Skill: Destroyer ( 😉 ) of Queen Taeyeon

Captain Korea-Ass Immortal

100/100 Butt
0/100 Jennie Approval

Special Skill: Sexy Mooning (even Minister Jennie fell for it!)

Red Lucas and Green Ten

Statistics:

100/100 Infighting
0/100 Fame Level

Special Skill:
Lucas: ONE Hulk Policy
Ten: TEN SMASH! ladies swoon

in addition to Hawk-Mark and Ronin Taeyong! Sorry this is the third movie, they are both absent without graphics 😉

Yes that’s right, partnering with Capital Records- a american label company famous for ex-insect Paul McCartney, Eagles, and Beastie Boyz- SM Entertainment have announce the arrival of Super M, a new group that is to debut sometime in October in the United States! Yes that’s right, they will probably become the first KPop group to debut in the United States although technically this is a subgroup. Fun fact, SuperM is my game handle name on Hearthstone, so yes I’m really helping SM Entertainment to play they cards right on this one. Also another fun fact, I think SM is secretly in love with Role Playing and Cosplay for this isn’t the first time he has use his artists in some uhhhh, very RPG concepts.

Of course this move is in direct challenge to BTS and an attempt to ride the KPop wave to its fullest until it (possibly) crashes into the shore in the West. Many fans are actually skeptical about this move and so am I for many reasons….

1) Most Importantly, I don’t think KPop is that big in US

Is KPop that big though? Is it? I am not arguing whether the groups are known, I know there are many people that have heard of the name of “BTS” or “Blackpink” and even rarer “TWICE”. I am arguing about just how many people actually listen to KPop for the way I see it, the audience is still extremely niche. Why do the people think KPop is big, that’s because the media has really skew our perspeception. Man I sound like a republican, but I am not going to lie the media has found out that juicy words like “sold out” really do attract readers and paint KPop as a big phenomenon. They even reported on how BTS and Blackpink was finally playing on the radio and let me tell you as an advent radio listener (for I live in a strict household that restrict computer minutes) I have never heard a Korean song EVER on 99.5 or 107.8 or 94.7 (before they were bought out) except for “Gangman Style” by Psy. Also the media has really been fanning the flames by inserting KPop songs into their shows (Euphoria had “Euphoria” by BTS Jungkook) and reporting on how american record label companies are picking signing groups left and right from NCT 127, to Monsta X, to BTS to Blackpink. Even known comedy late show have buy into the hype: look this group is on James Corden, oh this group is on Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert! All of this coverage really helps the group to get widespread attention (and that’s why BTS and Blackpink is the two known Kpop acts right now) and make it seem like KPop is something huge. If you have a neighbor Jim who’s 100 years old, and a neighbor Bob who’s a coal miner and somehow both of them know BTS and Blackpink, why they must be pretty big! I fell into the same trap actually because my friends who listen strictly to Rock music and prehistoric era music from the 1970s somehow knew of BTS and Blackpink. A look at the numbers though, tell me otherwise….

Remember how much hype Blackpink got early 2019 after the Coachella performance? They were all over the news espcially like websites dedicated to entertainment. Every website that discuss Coachella 2019, discuss how one group made history and that was Black Pink. It was this that really propel them to the public eye and now alot of people know about this girl group, yet not many people does the DDU DDU compare to “Gangman Style” and it’s not hard to see why when looking at statistics. Their prominence in the news have gone down a lot unlike BTS, for they haven’t really done anything to drive in that Coachella gain (not their fault) so we must all agree here that Blackpink was at their peak of noteriety after Coachella.

Right after Coachella hype, they immediately went on a World Tour and had several NA locations. Many websites said they sold out, which is highly misleading. Yes theorectically, they sold out but all they venues were small as shiz. Saying Blackpink sold out is the media way to skew persception with words and to paint the image that Blackpink is some high Western phenomenom. These were their numbers…..

That’s after a lot of media coverage. 10K and 15K is pretty respectful for a rising group, but check out these numbers of a group that wasn’t promoted at all and isn’t as known as Blackpink here in the West.

Wow suprisingly similiar numbers! At the Forum, this umpromoted group got only like 4K lower audience levels. Keep in mind, that Forum concert for Blackpink was like a few days after Coachella. At Prudential Center, the unpromoted group got 15K so around 5K less than Blackpink. Even after all that hype, how can Blackpink barely beat this group that got no press coverage. That tells you something because I am sure you need to have been into KPop/Korean Culture to know what that unpromoted group was to even go to their concerts cause my friend had no idea of that group when I told them I was leaving for the group concert. That leaves probably around 5000 new converts to KPop, which is the disreprancy between Blackpink and that unpromoted group audience numbers. That still a very niche audience set and not some KPop phenomenon that the Western Media seems to be pushing. By the way, that unpromoted group was TWICE.

The only group where I can say really push the bounds and that really makes it seem like KPop is truly big as fuck here is BTS. With concerts getting around 50K and even 30K in London, truly BTS is big at least in Western Hemisphere. I would say Asia too, but that’s nothing special because if you look at the numbers TWICE almost always match BTS audience numbers in Asia.

BTS albums sales achieve 200K-300K units consistently in the US (at least that’s what Wings, Persona, Tear, Answer), which is around what big names in pop right now in the US gets (Ariana Grande for example). BTS has reached that level where they have created many voices screaming their name and posting online on how BTS songs are so deep (which they aren’t. For shizzle they are as deep as TWICE songs. Name me a BTS songs, I can name an equally deep TWICE song). Heck I actually came across a video about how Map of the Soul: Persona (BTS latest album) was a commentary on Carl Jung work, which honestly what the fuck? Just because the name eludes to a big concept doesn’t make “Boy with Luv” a deep song. You want some deep shiz? See Kendrick Lamar.

That brings me to the conclusion that it is not KPop that is big in the Western World or United States, it’s that BTS is big in the western world or United States and they happen to be a KPop act. Then people mistakenly and albeit understandably extrapolate that too mean that KPop is huge but ehhh not really… yet?

2) If successful, it might spell doom for NCT 127 and WayV

NCT 127 and WayV, ahhhhhh SM newest groups that have been promoting extra hard in the US right. SM is really trying to create a group that is as successful as BTS, under a false impression that KPop is huge here which again it isn’t just yet. Just check out these concert numbers from NCT 127….

Ah yes, 5K people! That’s how much Billie Ellish got pre-“Bad Guy”! You can’t really say Billie Ellish was big or at least that well known pre-“Bad Guy” unlike now how her songs are play on the radio every single fucking time!

Even though it’s low concert numbers, I search up NCT 127 concerts review and I got “ooooh they are so successful they SOLD OUT” espcially on this article. Uhhhh…. here I thought reading that “wow geez NCT 127 must got at least double digit thousandths” to find out they barely got even half!!!

So this time around, SM is bringing big hitters, at least big names in Asia. Taemin is an established solo artist. Baekhyun, and Kai was part of EXO, which was/is BTS-TWICE level big in Asia and apparently our glorious President daughter likes EXO. But that’s in Asia……. and as we seen with mega groups like TWICE, success in Asia doesn’t mean success in uh….. United States of America and the Western World unless your name is BTS. Their name is not BTS, and so even though some of these members in this new Super M group are huge in Asia, they will be as known as me, coolguy1234, here. Which is why, I don’t think Super M will be successful in their intended market which seem like United States. Sure, not going to lie they can be big in Asia, but I think they will flop here.

In the event that Super M don’t flop though, this group might just spell doom for NCT 127 and WayV. SM Entertainment is a business, and business like money espcially SM who is willing to money launder if necessary to line his pockets. If SM finds a successful venture in Super M (USD >>>> Korean Wons), he will ditch NCT 127 and WayV no question because honestly they aren’t big enough to be save. When JYP debuted TWICE and they became mega, they kicked Miss A to the curb because Miss A wasn’t big enough. JYP haven’t kick TWICE to the curb even though they debuted ITZY (what the fuck 6 show wins already???) because TWICE is currently could be rivaling the success of Girl’s Generation.

Even if somehow in the event that Super M gets big and SM is willing to let the members walk back to their respective career, uhhhhhh one member shining success has been proven to kill a group before. It’s not even the popular member fault, it’s that he/she/they don’t have time for group album releases because they are filming commercials or dramas which pay way more than the idol life. This happen with Miss A (Suzy) and 4Minute (Hyuna). AOA is a special case, Seoulhyun popularity is way bigger than any member of her group yet AOA looks like it is still lasting, but not without scars of discontent (like AOA Mina wiping her instagram of AOA memories or ChoA and Youkyung leaving).

3) If it isn’t successful, it might spell doom for NCT 127 and WayV

If the Super M is not successful (likely scenario) and SM continue to push, NCT 127 and WayV will definitely die or something. It’s never good to remove any member from any group for extended period of time, espcially when those members are currently the “known person” in their group. Lucas and Ten are the known members of WayV, and Taeyong + Mark is probably the most well known member of NCT 127. Although SM has stated that this Super M won’t be impeding any of the members progress whether it be solo career or in group career, but if you want to trust rich man who was wanted by Interpool in London then by all means, he is the “President of Culture” after all.

This was actually one of the reason why there were haters on the new Produce 101 latest season for that 5 year contract. Removing a member from a newbie group for an extended period of time and putting that group on hiatus (so that the fans don’t go OT # of members in that group-that fucker).

4) At the end of it all, these so call “KPop avengers” will probably end up like…….

EXTRA EXTRA: Iron Taemin stuck in Foreign Space

EXTRA EXTRA: Thunder Lord retires to UN Village

But hello, these KPop avengers might just pull an unlikely win in the Endgame.