Are you surprised by the headline? I’m not. Of course they have formulated pop songs and coordinated dance routines down to a science, but The K-Pop boy band has an army that helps them conquer charts.
The BTS army is like a paramilitary group with advanced equipment. They have the ability to mobilize large number of fans from making banners and buying ad space in Times Square to coordinating streaming parties to spike numbers on Spotify and YouTube. This leads to media headlines like “BTS gets the most views in 24 hours”
Surprisingly, the army also targets radio and award shows. When it comes to indicators and boosting rankings, they’re on it. Heck, BTS is mentioned an average of 600,000 times on Twitter per day, reports Brand Watch. They won best social media artist, but how could they not?
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how fans could pull this advanced weaponry off and turn this k-pop boy band in a cultural phenomenon. For a second I’m thinking does the South Korean government have a play in this?
I mean, BTS is worth more than US$3.6 billion to the South Korean economy every year — on par with the contribution of 26 mid-sized companies.
But no. The government is not. In fact the BTS Army launched an appeal to have the members spared for serving in the army, but the PM isn’t having any of it. Despite an appeal by the BTS army, the PM ordered the members of BTS to serve in the army which is a requirement for all citizens. In fact, the oldest member of the group Jin who is 27 would be the first to go off and join the army. All members will have to serve in the near feature which means BTS has peaked and the clock is ticking. But don’t worry, a new group is on the way. Let’s see if they come with a well organized army like BTS.
He’s a true phenomenon, Harry Styles that is. Broke off from a boy band, made a psychedelic rock album, and became the hottest artist of the summer. Who would’ve ever thought? Not me. Why? Because former members of boys bands generally have it rough. Although they achieve mainstream success and all the accolades that go with it, still, history doesn’t look favorably upon boy/girl bands. They are faced with a stigma of being manufactured – songs written by a committee of songwriters, image created by fashion consultants, and to top if off, the association with Simon Cowell’s The X Factor.
But Harry Styles pulled it off. His voice is superb, the songs are excellent, and he’s a born performer. Harry made a rock record and it’s huge, he’s played on every radio format, except for rock radio of course, speaking about backwards. Can someone give those guys Darwin Awards?
You are living in a cave if you haven’t heard The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights“. The song is breaking all kinds records having spent weeks at No 1 on radio. The Weeknd isn’t just for the weekend warrior, he’s for everybody. He makes music that has universal appeal that transcends all genres. Only a few artists can do that and he’s one of them.
Why did Blinding Lights take off? I don’t know, but it’s uptempo, has a great melody and it has an 80’s feel, similar to a-ha’s 1985 track ‘Take on Me.’ When a track is successful execs search for all kinds of answers like maybe people are feeling nostalgic or radio is taking less chances. Nobody knows, but one thing I do know is that great tracks rise to the top and buck the odds, and let’s not forget The Weeknd is a great performer and visualizer.
Miley Cyrus is back with a new single Midnight Sky. Following the current trend that The Weeknd and Dua Lipa set in motion, it’s a 80’s inspired track. That’s what Miley does, follow the trends. If opera came into fashion, she’d sample Mozart. But that’s ok, because Miley is pop and is the best karaoke singer in the room. She can sing anything and make it work. She’s also makes you believe the song is her’s. She does that with Midnight Sky. She channels Stevie Nicks and the cover queen sings it well. But it sounds awfully like Stevie’s “Edge of Seventeen” and I’m sure there was prior discussion of the similarities.
But with all this. Why bring back the 80’s now? It was such a fun time for music and artists and right now isn’t fun. Girls just wanna have fun but they can’t have fun now. You can’t even dance and shake your hips in the club unless it’s in your own isolated room wearing a mask and goggles – per doctor’s orders. Wait! Goggles? Yes, Fauci recommends eye wear as a protective measure against the pesky germ.
We should have brought back the sad 90’s which is more fitting, and after a decade when things return to normal, then the 80’s. It’s all backwards. Everything is backwards.
Lewis Capaldi said he won’t release any new music this year because people suffered enough. That’s pretty funny, but Capaldi is a really good artist and I can think of other artists that may want to spare people from new music (I shall not mention names).
Capaldi says:
“Hopefully I will release a new song and a new album next year,” he told the newspaper (via Radio X). “I won’t release another album this year or anything.
“I think people have suffered enough in 2020 – they don’t need another song from me.”
“So far we’ve written like 50 songs for it and like three or four of them are good, which is a good ratio I think,” he explained. “I am surprised at how productive I have been during lockdown as I thought I’d just sit in my pants all day and that would be it.”
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