Has K POP Surpassed American Pop Music?

Has K-pop officially surpassed American pop music? I don't know. You might have to ask Usher. Andrew, this is going viral because Usher, he has joined the Blinks. But after he joined the Blinks, I heard he might join BTS ARMY. Yeah, so this is going viral right now because Usher in a GQ interview gave huge props to Blackpink after his sons took him to the Atlanta concert. And he was like, yo, man, I feel goofy. Like their technicality, their light show, it was so mind blowing. I got to go tweak my Vegas show. Yeah, man. So that's it. Usher was inspired by Blackpink. Guys, we're going to go through all the reactions and we'll give you our takeaways on what American artists can learn from K-pop artists right now. So please hit that like button. Check out other episodes of the Hot Pop Boys. Let's go. Yeah, the first major comment online was like, man, I am so glad that Western and U.S. artists are finally showing love to K-pop artists because for the longest time, it was the other way around. The K-pop artists were always showing love to the U.S. artists. And then sometimes people would even accuse K-pop of being a copy of American R&B, hip hop and pop music. But like, it's just great to see that the influence is coming back around. Yeah, I do think that years ago, it was definitely more accurate to say that Koreans were copying American pop music. But I do think it's become its own thing in the past several years. And with these new bands, like, I think they're just dominating that type, that genre. Koreans got it. And we are many generations deep into K-pop now. I think we're at generation three or generation four. I think that, you know, the West has always been aesthetically inspired by the East, maybe specifically Japan with the whole Harajuku neon like super future thing with Nigo and Bape and Teriyaki Boys. But it never was individual bands. So it's dope to see, Andrew. It's sort of like how the car went from Germany to America. And then, you know, Japan and Korea are doing cars like Toyota and Hyundai. And now Ford, which originally did the original commercial car, is copying Toyota and Hyundai. So it's all coming back around. The next comment was, Oh, my gosh, if he was impressed by Blackpink, wait till he sees BTS. Then his head will explode. And other people were like, Yo, man, how come the BTS army is never happy for anybody? And they're always trying to downplay other people's successes. And some people said, I don't even care about Usher. Who cares about Western validation? K-pop all the way. And, you know, there was just a range of opinions of, you know, basically, I guess what the tribalism within the K-pop fandom world. Yeah, I guess I didn't know that the BTS army and the Blinks, which is the Blackpink fans, like had some type of tension. I'm not saying it's like real beef, but, you know, that they would get at each other on the Internet. So I think that's fun. I mean, I guess in a way, K-pop's reaching that point where now not everybody is a fan of everybody. You're saying it has to fracture and splinter into like... It has to segmentation, man. It has to balkanize. Yeah. Somebody was like, yeah, I am glad that they are not inspired by Usher because then their music would be trash and most uneducated garbage. I don't know. You're saying that about Usher, one of the top three, at least five R&B artists of all time? I think the toxicity of the K-pop fan bases online is a whole other debate. You guys got to clue me into that because it's not my world. Moving on, Andrew. Somebody said, what about an Usher Blackpink track, dude? That would be huge. And maybe that would be like the biggest collab of all time. So I had to look through the previous K-pop American collabs, Andrew. We've got Halsey, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj, John Legend, Wale, Missy Elliott, French Montana. That one came out of left field. Snoop Dogg, Charlie Puth. Where would a Usher Blackpink collab rank on this hierarchy of K-pop American collabs? Dang, I guess it would be pretty big even though Usher is past his peak. He's a little old now, but... Damn, swear. That's messed up, man. These are my confessions. I'm not in my hottest like I was 20 years ago. Andrew, what do you think about people saying, man, this is obvious because K-pop and other Asian pop artists, but specifically South Korea, they take pop music the most serious. So of course they would inspire everybody else because of all the genres, obviously not saying necessarily that Asia or South Korea rap is better than American rap. But as far as pop goes, this genre is dominant globally. I don't know, man. K-pop might be like the MMA of music. Where it's just like mixed sounds and mixed influences all thrown together, all spun together and woven together seamlessly. You're saying it is logical that Usher would be influenced by essentially the best pop system in the world? Yeah, listen. I think the best pop groups in the world are just Korean right now. Because I mean, think about it. What are the other pop groups? After One Direction, which was a great group. I can't think of another one. I'm sure there's ones bubbling, trying to rise up, but I can't think of them. They're not big enough for me to know. Also, I do think the Western world is kind of like maybe done with producing pop groups. It seems like they've shifted their focus away from it. Yeah, I don't know what they think about it. I don't know. I guess in the West, maybe it's just seen as kind of campy or maybe they don't have faith that they can control all the characters without a bunch of controversy coming out. Scandals. And only the Asians are the ones that can buy in enough together and then create this whole spectacle. Well, you're saying treat pop like it's Harvard. Somebody also said, you know, this is on the Western side, but Usher doesn't need all that stuff that the K-pop shows have with all the lights. He's just a true rare talent. He just needs a spotlight and a microphone, and he can do all the dancing and the singing himself because, you know, he's not like systemized and factoryized. Yeah, I do think that falls in line with some aspect of like American individualism, where we would want to put the spotlight on this one grassroots artist that's truly talented, writes, produces, performs all their own music and dresses cool and has style and made it out of their mom's basement or their parents' garage or whatever it is. Like they love that story in America. It's like rags to riches. It's that rebellious culture. Yeah, I mean, it is true that culture is like incredibly different. Yeah, and I would say this. I mean, I guess the fact that the world is latched onto the kind of factoryized K-pop world so much goes to show you something that people don't mind because ultimately the performances are good and the music is good and it's a clean image. Generally, lyrically, they are generally cleaner than a lot of the rest of us. Right, you're saying the backstory of coming through the farm system doesn't turn people off. I guess not. And why would it? Honestly, it just depends on what culture you come from. And what are your three major takeaways about why K-pop has surpassed American pop, specifically in the pop music genre? Yeah, so one analogy is like, I feel like K-pop to a lot of Westerners is seen how Asians are seen to a lot of Westerners. You know, so a lot of people know that Asians together, when they train enough, can achieve something and do something very cool. Whether it's K-pop performances, whether it's the 2008 Beijing Olympics, whether it's all those school kids, those Chinese girls dribbling at the same time in sync, it looks incredible. But then you also say, oh, well, individually, maybe they're not that good. It's just because all of them are training together for 12 hours a day for like two years. Right, I agree with you that that would be a very hypercritical Western eye looking at K-pop or just things in Asia in general. Obviously in Asia, more collectivist, more Confucian. We would just not see it that, read it that way. America likes to like highlight the natural talent that someone has while versus like in Asia, it's almost like these people got together, worked together, bought in and created this amazing product. It's almost like comparable a little bit to like Ronaldo. Ronaldo is considered like a hyper talented, a little bit selfish soccer player versus Japan doesn't necessarily have like the same level of Ronaldo, but like as a team, very collectivist, right? Very strong as a team. Somebody also said, yo, man, I feel like K-pop in the West is a little bit like animes where people can name BTS, Blackpink, and maybe now Stray Kids, 50-50, depending on how deep they are into the K-pop game. And almost like for animes, they know Pokemon, they know Dragon Ball Z, they know Sailor Moon, but they don't know the top 50 groups and they don't know the top 50 animes. Right, well, it runs deep. And especially in Asia, more people are going to be fans of all the smaller groups. But even in America- Because you're saying in Asia, they're fan of K-pop as a genre, but in America, they might be only a fan of like the top 1% groups. Yeah, I mean, even as a casual anime fan, I could probably name like five, several animes, but like I can't name 10 or 15 or 20 even that, you know, off the top of my head. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. Even in Europe, guys, if you guys don't know, hip-hop is not as big as it is in America. So they will name you like 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Dr. Dre, you know, the old school guys, but they're not necessarily going to be listening to Vince Staples in Bulgaria. Moving on, Andrew. Somebody just said, yo, K-pop is 10 out of 10, super polished from the beats to the hooks, to the dances that go along with the hooks, to the music, visuals, and they're blending all the genres. You might have five different breakdowns representing five different songs in one track. You got an acoustic part, a hip-hop part, an R&B part, a pop part, and an EDM part all in one song mixed together. You can't find that in Western music. Man, I don't even know if they would put that much work into like a single song, maybe. I don't know. I mean, but yeah, it is pretty amazing. And I just know that Koreans, the Korean pop industry has essentially mastered that style of music. Yeah, no, it is very, very cool. And it's very, very... Let me tell you this. If something's been out long enough, an Asian's going to learn how to do it better. Yeah. Somebody also said the fans are hyper participatory in a way that they never were participatory in people's careers in the West. Yeah, I think you have to understand that another thing that people like about K-pop is because the stars, despite them coming from like these academies, they feel very personal, right? And they're really good at interacting with fans, interacting with them on the internet, going on game shows, showing their personality. Travel shows, food shows. Yeah, I mean, it's something that maybe in the West, they would find also kind of cheesy in a different way. So because like an artist would not want to put themselves on a game show all the time just for exposure, because I don't know, like maybe it just seems like overexposed or something like that. You know, there's this... It's very different. Culturally, everything is different. I always thought it was interesting. I remember the K-pop fans got Andrew Wiggins to be a starter in the NBA All-Star Game. And that's when I was like, whoa, because I didn't even know K-pop. They probably weren't even that into the NBA, but they were able to shift it through the galvanization unified internet efforts. Obviously, they were messing with Trump a lot as well. Some people say that also the K-pop stars are so much better than the American stars. I mean, naturally, I guess maybe because they're Asian or maybe because for whatever reason of staying out of trouble. Not saying that there haven't been anybody certainly from 2PM and ended up going to jail. But for the most part, it's like 5% or 3% of the criminal charges that you sometimes see against Western artists. Yeah, no, but in the West, we like our bad asses. We like our artists, our performers to mess up, make a mistake, and have a redemption story. But in Asia, it's a little bit more like, hey, so like we give you the opportunity to be like rise up and be this star. So you gotta be clean, man. Let's say for example- You can't make no mistake, man. If you make a mistake, go to prison forever. Let's just say this. In Asia, if you get caught with certain substances, even if you're a pop star, you will go to jail for so long, your life will be altered forever, ever. And in America, you may just get a tiny slap on the wrist. But you know, there's pros and cons. I don't think K-pop fans necessarily are dying to see their biggest stars make a mistake and come back. Yeah, I don't think Seungri's coming back and releasing a solo album about like, I was locked up in prison- But in America, we're like, yeah, do something wrong, be human. Yeah, it's a very up and down country over there. I think they value more like stability and kind of like a slow rise and a slow grind. I mean, man, it's just very different. Anyway, guys, let us know in the comment section below, what do you think? Why do you think that K-pop, or do you think that K-pop has surpassed US pop as a genre? And why do you think that is, if you agree with that statement? What do you think about Usher giving, you know, Blackpink all the props? Are you a Blinks? Are you a BTS Army? Shout out to everybody. Like we said, this was not really our core competency field. You know, I didn't know 10 out of 10 or even close to that in this world. But let us know what you thought of our takeaways. Until next time, we the Hot Pop Boys, we out. Peace.