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Are BTS and other K-pop groups ignoring Korean fans by focusing on international tours?

MONSTA X, a K-pop boy band, performed at iHeartRadio Music Festival last month. Many K-pop groups are being criticised for ignoring local fans. Photo: Starship Entertainment/Korea Times
MONSTA X, a K-pop boy band, performed at iHeartRadio Music Festival last month. Many K-pop groups are being criticised for ignoring local fans. Photo: Starship Entertainment/Korea Times

Korean boy bands are starting to upset their local fans by booking more international tours and rarely playing concerts at home

The way global superband BTS rose to stardom is unique: word of BTS reached Koreans after the seven-member boy band had already found success in the US mainstream market.

Before BTS gained notoriety, there was a single, fixed formula for K-pop bands to become successful: they had to do well domestically first, and if word spread abroad, overseas agents would then to invite them to perform.

BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, broke the domestic success-driven model after Park Jae-sang, known as PSY, also showed the possibility of achieving success in music scene abroad.

Inspired by BTS, several other Korean bands, including include MONSTA X, NU’EST and NCT, are trying to emulate the “outward-looking” K-pop model to follow in the group’s footsteps.

Boy bands MONSTA X, NU’EST and NCT have toured the world, especially in the United States, to promote their international profile. They have appeared on US television shows such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Good Morning America (GMA) in the hopes of appealing to American fans and going on world tours to increase their popularity.

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World tours are important for groups to gain international fans. Like BTS, who went straight abroad two years after its debut in 2013, MONSTA X and Seventeen, both of whom debuted in 2015, also went on world tours two years later.

 

“Since the debut, Seventeen has been pursuing and focusing on live performances,” a staff member from PLEDIS Entertainment, Seventeen's agency, said. “After seeing the possibility through Asian concerts, we have seen a drastic growth in fandom and the concert hall size has also grown six times from the first time in Taipei.”

 

MONSTA X has appeared at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas, taking part in a collaborative performance with well-known DJ Steve Aoki. The group also performed on GMA, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the The Ellen DeGeneres Show show, raising fans’ expectations that the group may be the next BTS.

Another boy band, NCT, has set up a subunit called NCT 127 to build its global fan base. The group has performed in the US, Canada, Mexico and Asian countries. Similar to MONSTA X, NCT 127 also performed at this year’s Jingle Ball Kickoff organised by iHeartRadio.

 

These popular groups have built their global fan base, but their appeal domestically is weaker. For MONSTA X, its sixth album topped domestic music charts for the first time last November. But it missed all the Rookie of the Year awards because of its tight overseas schedule. The band members are not even seen much on reality shows because they spend so much time on the road.