‘Seventeen’ - Stevie nicks?

[incident]

3 minutes ago, Madyaker said:

The whole K Pop thing scares the crap out of me to be honest. The fans seem way to invested on a personal level in the bands and it all just feels, a bit too much and potentially unhealthy.

Whilst simultaneously being fully aware that it's carefully/cynically produced, marketed, managed, etc and seemingly being just fine with that.

[Madyaker]

6 minutes ago, incident said:

Whilst simultaneously being fully aware that it's carefully/cynically produced, marketed, managed, etc and seemingly being just fine with that.

I mean it's not really about the "art" of music. I looked up this band, they were formed by some cooperate music business in SK who wanted 17 members but could only get 13 so they just went with that. All the songs are written by Swedish people apparently? Who also write songs for a lot of other Kpop groups. The whole thing is bizarre

Edited March 15 by Madyaker

[Gnomicide]

Some do seem to take the fandom thing to whole new levels.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68487232

"Is the love given to you by your fans not enough?"

Edited March 15 by Gnomicide

[Mardy]

Was a well known thing in the 60s-80s in the UK music scene that even if married, pop stars specifically appealing to teenage girls were told by managers not to wear a wedding ring etc to maintain the illusion.

[Gnomicide]

32 minutes ago, Mardy said:

Was a well known thing in the 60s-80s in the UK music scene that even if married, pop stars specifically appealing to teenage girls were told by managers not to wear a wedding ring etc to maintain the illusion.

Fair point. You'd like to think things have moved on but seemingly not.

[Madyaker]

1 hour ago, Gnomicide said:

Some do seem to take the fandom thing to whole new levels.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68487232

"Is the love given to you by your fans not enough?"

From that article: 

Quote

Just a decade ago, it was common practice for K-pop agencies to ban new stars from dating or even having a personal mobile phone, and even now admissions of romantic relationships were often considered scandalous to fans.

 

 

I'm sorry but that rings all sorts of alarm bells for me. Who are these "fans"??

[incident]

2 hours ago, Madyaker said:

I mean it's not really about the "art" of music. I looked up this band, they were formed by some cooperate music business in SK who wanted 17 members but could only get 13 so they just went with that. All the songs are written by Swedish people apparently? Who also write songs for a lot of other Kpop groups. The whole thing is bizarre

I don't even mean that from an artistic perspective - I mean that it seems weird to get so wrapped up in the minutiae of someones life, and love them for it, while knowing that most of that is something that's been laid down for them and they have little to no control over. Just seems like a massive contradiction.

[clarkete]

I feel a bit weird about folks looking at other music scenes thinking ours hasn't had either a controlling or dark underbelly in the past. 

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/bay-city-rollers-gordon-clark-9059841

[giantkatestacks]

Yes - that's why I wrote that I was troubled by some of the aspects. TBF my daughter has written presentations and essays on the darkness in this particular scene and the lens through which western fans view and consume K and J pop. They consume it knowing about the contradictions and the challenges. They both obsess about their 'stans' but also can often critique the whole thing with far more fluidity than I can. Its interesting. 

[giantkatestacks]

24 minutes ago, incident said:

I don't even mean that from an artistic perspective - I mean that it seems weird to get so wrapped up in the minutiae of someones life, and love them for it, while knowing that most of that is something that's been laid down for them and they have little to no control over. Just seems like a massive contradiction.

This was the whole story of the Golden Age of Hollywood an the star system though wasn't it - very familiar to our parents/grandparents. 

[Mardy]

yeah, spot on, and this kind of thing has been happening in wave after wave of culture. The bobbysoxers, beatlemania, phone helplines for fans when boybands broke up in the 90s - there's nothing new here, really.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Hopefully K-Pop won't turn into a whole Beatlemania thing.

 

Edit: f**k. New page made the point ages ago.

Edited March 15 by CaledonianGonzo

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, Mardy said:

yeah, spot on, and this kind of thing has been happening in wave after wave of culture. The bobbysoxers, beatlemania, phone helplines for fans when boybands broke up in the 90s - there's nothing new here, really.

I was thinking of the top floor of the museum of Liverpool, which I was lucky to visit recently.  They have 4 Beatles suits and it tells the story of how Epstein persuaded them to ditch their rebellious leather jackets and jeans so they would look less threatening. 

[Muppetmark]

6 hours ago, Madyaker said:

The whole K Pop thing scares the crap out of me to be honest. The fans seem way to invested on a personal level in the bands and it all just feels, a bit too much and potentially unhealthy.

Have you seen Taylor swift fans ?

[Muppetmark]

On 3/14/2024 at 7:39 PM, WhoOdyssey said:

Looking at their UK stats, I'm not convinced that Seventeen are bigger than Stray Kids.

Stray Kids: Four charting albums, highest peaking at #40. Three charting singles, highest peaking at #44.

Seventeen: No charting albums or singles.

Even with worldwide monthly Spotify listeners, Seventeen have 6.7m - hardly a massive deal really. They clearly have a fanbase, but not one big enough to sell the 2000 albums it takes to make the UK charts. 

This is their first ever European show so it's a reasonable deal. They'll hope it helps them break into a new market and glasto gets a niche global act thats new and interesting for the fest for cheap. They've done some decent arena tours in the states so they've had some western penetration. Spotify is more a western tool so it shows they've got fans but not too crazy outside of their home markets. I know they sold out stadiums in Bangkok very quickly at £217 for standing. I think it's a really good interesting booking for where they're slotting (probably 5th/6th down on pyramid) 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Seventeen are a much, much better booking than Paloma Faith or Keane

 

 

 

[FloopFiller]

Never even heard of these before Thursday but along with Balming Tiger this has the potential to be the most fun set of the weekend. Obviously not an act I would ever see in any other instance so already up there as a must see for me. 

[CaledonianGonzo]

In 2024 we have to take the fun where we can find it.

Edited March 16 by CaledonianGonzo