One of the great things about K-Pop is the never ending amount of styles and concepts that artists go through. From the dark and sexy concepts to the bubbly and cute, there are no styles that K-pop artists have not done. With a new album comes a different concept that amps up the anticipation of a group's comeback. As the summer approaches and more groups are making their comebacks in the forthcoming months, which concept do you like to see more often?
Even within the world, people say that first impressions are everything, and this goes especially when groups make their debut. Oftentimes, when a girl group is preparing for their debut, they'll take on the innocent, cute image. Just look at groups such as Girls' Generation, Lovelyz, and A Pink, who perfectly encompassed the school girl image with preppy school uniform stage outfits. But here and there are groups such as ITZY and 2NE1, and BLACKPINK, rather than taking on the innocent and cute concept, resorted to a darker and edgier image.
While the bubbly, innocent schoolgirl concept is great and sweet, it feels as though it's been overly used. Even when G-Friend made their debut stage, they were heavily criticized for having a similar image to Girls Generation. So while the bubbly concept is a safe go-to, getting to see girl groups carry out a darker and edgier concept brings more versatility, not just in vocal ranges, but in outfits, hair, choreography, and performances. Take, for example, Red Velvet. Their debut was great, but as their career went on with smash hits like "Psycho" and "Bad Boy," which took on darker concepts, these two eras became unforgettable and even made a lasting impression on those who did not really have an interest in K-Pop. Even for Girl's Day and SISTAR, some of their greatest hits, such as "Alone," "Give It to Me," "Expectation," "Something," all came with portraying the femme fatale.
In comparison, when it comes to male groups, while they also do take on the schoolboy concept, most of the time they'll debut under the guise of dark and sexy, such as Stray Kids with "District 9," and ATEEZ with "Pirate King." However, interestingly enough, in contrast to their counterparts, there always tends to be an era where male singers throw off their dark and sexy image for a fun, cute, and bright concepts, like BTS with "Boy With Luv," which was a stark contrast to "Blood Sweat and Tears" and "Fire" or GOT7 with "Just Right." It is usually these eras where fans do not see intense choreography but more smiles, and laughter on stage, making their performances even more enjoyable to watch.
Whatever the concept, we can see that these artists truly put in their all for each and every single performance and comeback, whether it be dark and sexy or bubbly and cute. But when it comes down to it, which one do you think fans enjoy more: dark and sexy or bubbly and cute?
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I don't think there's one better than the next. There's a time and place for all types. Sometimes you want to watch or listen to something dark and edgy. Sometimes you want something bright and bubbly. There's also personal taste. Some people like the darker heavy hitting music and style, some like the light super poppy style. That's what's great about Kpop, there's something for everyone.
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One thing I've noticed, most particularly in the girl group side is the preference of girl group concepts has changed over time. In the early 2010s -around 2014 Sexy mature girl groups was the go to concept. Thats when groups like Sistar, Girls Day, AOA, After School, etc were at the top. Then around 2014, the preference seemed to have shifted towards the youthful bright "cute" concept, and we saw groups like Gfriend, Lovelyz, Twice, Oh My Girl, etc do well. But also around this time is when Kpop itself started to pick up traction so more and more companies started to emerge and more an more groups debuted. Obviously a lot of groups debuted with the popular concept at the time, which was the Brighter innocent school girl look. So I think that's why people tend to assume this type of concept as "typical" when in reality, its just what's popular at the time. Then around 2017, with Kpop starting to pick up more in the west, where the darker, edgier sound/look seems to be preferred, the preference shifted towards Girl Crush. And for the past few years, we saw an increase of girl groups debuting with the Girl crush, or the slighting younger sub-genre, Teen Crush. I think we are currently at a point where Girl Crush is starting to feel overdone and we're currently in the midst of another concept preference switch (idk to what though). Anyways, even when there was specific preferences over the years, there were always groups carried a different look or switched it up from time to time. So again, no concept is better than the next. There isn't one concept that's more deserving to be successful than the next. There's a time and place for everything.