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Is A2K Going to Succeed? Poll (Patreon)

Published:
2023-07-17 19:05:56
Imported:
2023-07

Content

For those of you who may not be aware:

A2K, which stands for America 2 Korea,  will chronicle the creation of the very first American girl group  trained through the K-pop system. JYP Entertainment and Republic Records  hosted in-person auditions for American and Canadian hopefuls ages 12  through 16 in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas.

I'm leaning towards no.

Reason?

Even though the training system can be replicated, I don't think the results can. The culture and expectations are too far apart.

1) "Sex, drugs, and rock and roll". It's how the US views pop stars. Those three things go together. I unfortunately think it will only be so long before that clean idol image is broken by someone. 

2) Hyper sexualization. Yes, female Kpop idols are sexualized. And yet, I don't think there is much argument that the US has a real issue with using very explicitly sexual imagery to sell just about anything. I'm concerned how the western media is going to portray these 12-16 year olds.

3) Fan base. Feel free to educate me; it's my understanding that girl groups in Korea have a fairly broad appeal amongst both men and women and among a variety of ages. I don't see a group of 12-16 year olds appealing to a fan base much beyond those their own age in the US.

There are some other things in there like lack of respect for the term "boy group" or "girl group" in the US. Lack of the kind of widely-watched variety shows and weekly music shows. 

Overall, I think it'll be an interesting survival/variety show, but I doubt the group itself will make much of a splash in the US and Canada. Or worldwide, for that matter.

I'd be very interested to hear your views, since I know there are Patrons from around the world here.


Comments

Nikita

I don’t think it Will do as well as I’ve barley heard of any groups from America let alone girl groups It’s always just soloists in my opinion so they may or not do well and I hope they do but I just think soloists do alot better popularity wise from America (I’m saying this as someone from the uk so that maybe why I’ve never heard of groups and just soloists from America idk)

Nikita
>>113126407

Not Really girl groups and boy groups are practically made for pop in Asia in my opinion as it’s more popular to have a group formed like that in Korea or maybe Japan and Thailand and china etc it’s more soloists in the uk and America

Jessica

I honestly don’t think it would last. I however intrigued to see this whole process and to see how far the group will go. Like someone already said here in the states it’s mainly soloists here. The last big group that I knew of was one direction and even they didn’t stay together. Sure they get a lot of success but just for a time being. Groups here in the states don’t get that same love and respect. For me as an American it would be quite weird but we will see what jyp has in store for it. We won’t know til it happens.

Ei

I'm leaning towards no as well. I also think the culture is just so different that widespread appeal is not possible. Even though the trainee program is literally no different from any music reality (Idols, the Voice) or even western record label training, the pop culture around it is different, and I don't think there's necessary a need to replicate it in the west, where authenticity/rags to riches stories are what audiences are drawn to. I think this group could find popularity and even a devoted fanbase among young people, and I hope that if they do, they can focus on that. But overall I think the record with groups trying to debut in the west shows that it's not going to happen, especially if they simply try to bring something without assimilitating it first. But I really hope the best for the participants and wish they can somehow emphasize the sense of community and artistic talent rather than competition in the show.

K-pop Auntie
>>113132041

Yeah, we don't know what's in store for this group. It's going to be an interesting process.

Ei
>>113132552

also completely off topic lol, but are you by any chance going to follow the women's fifa championship? don't know if you still follow soccer, but it just popped to mind since I realized it's starting this week

K-pop Auntie
>>113132552

I might just low-key watch the show in the background while I work on computer stuff. It'll be interesting to see how it unfolds. Agreed that the story the audience is drawn to is different. And if I'm not wrong, JYP girl groups tend towards the cutesy, so I wouldn't be surprised if they found some measure of popularity with the younger crowd.

K-pop Auntie
>>113132552

Absolutely, I'm going to follow the World Cup. I'll be in Florida for the first US game vs Vietnam, but I'm sure I'll have no problem finding a bar with a huge big screen broadcasting the game.

Ei
>>113132552

great to hear! our Finnish team didn't sadly qualify (yet, one day for sure!) but I know I'll be following how the US and our other nordic friends do closely.

your name here

I'm not sure - probably no, but I am curious and hope these young artists have a good experience regardless of the outcome. The US market has a long history of girl groups that were trios or quartets, but often those groups would fizzle out as one member would become the "star" soloist and continue their career. The only large scale (by number of members) US girl group I can think of in the last 20 years was The Pussycat Dolls, but they were already a successful burlesque troupe before they had a music contract. And even then, it quickly became less of a group and more a vehicle for Nicole Scherzinger to lead. Most of the girl groups that I grew up with were trios focusing on rap/hip-hop/r&b music. I'm not sure what the longevity of this project will be. It's also interesting that JYPE is pushing this show with NMIXX not that far out of debut, but they had the boys project (LOUD) in the wings for several years which seems to be going nowhere, and they are about to launch their new Japanese boy group project (Nizi Project).

K-pop Auntie
>>113147077

I agree that the groups I do know of in the US were generally smaller. TLC, for instance. The Spice Girls had their moment in the sun. Sounds like JYPE has a lot of things going on right now.

Paige

I have a feeling JYP may be banking on current US kpop fans to prop the group up and help build popularity. I'm not sure that will work. So, we'll see. The US did just surpass China to be the 2nd highest foreign country in the consumption of kpop. Hybe on the other hand is supposed to be doing something similar. I think they'll have the upper hand because of their partnership with Disney. Disney a great vehicle for presenting a new group to a young person market.

Brenna K

Lots of very true points! I do plan on generally following it purely because i'm interested in what JYP's plans are. Regardless of others personal opinions on JYP (the person, not the company) I've always had a respect and appreciation for him. Mostly following the show because of that haha. Overall I fully agree, I don't think it's really gonna be a very successful project. Largely for all the reasons you said. If it gains any large amount of traction in the US I'm guessing it'll be through controversy. Which, to be fair, is how a lot of WESTERN artists gain traction as well 😅 Obviously the phenomenon of K-pop has made some pretty big waves in western entertainment over the last 5-8 years especially. But I just don't think that's enough. K-pop has broken out of being a niche genre and into the mainstream, but I think there's still too many people in the West who view it overwhelmingly negatively. And I don't see how the K-pop system can meld with American culture smoothly, like you said. My hope is that all these girls getting into this show fully understand what they're signing up for. Both the Korean and American music industries have massive cons in their own ways (of course pros too). I hope that none of these girls are entering any contracts with only an understanding of the American music industry, and a naive or idealized idea of the K-pop scene. Obviously part of the point will be for them to be new and different from K-pop, but I'd imagine that K-pop culture will still greatly impact their careers. Not to mention training methods. If JYPE's goal is to use the K-pop group system as a template then....Well I just hope that they know what that could look like for them. Thankfully they're walking into this with it being JYPE in 2023, rather than it being a stricter company in the year 2013 or so. So at least we know they aren't signing a "slave contract" as they've been not so lovingly dubbed.

K-pop Auntie
>>113156814

Agree that controversy tends to be the vehicle that propels a lot of people these days. I don't like the trend one bit; it seems to be taking advantage of the draw to sensationalism coupled with short attention span. Likewise, I'm interested to see in what ways JYPE will change things up to accommodate the group to a western audience. And if they'll wind up feeling much like a Kpop group at all after that.