I keep seeing this take: « If Kpop doesn’t become big internationally, especially in the US it must be racism ». Honestly, I don’t agree with this at all. I agree that there is ethnocentrism in the music industry and its or the point that explain Why kpop isnt « that much » popular in Occident ect but i dont think its outrageous that it exist and keep existing. 6 Point peoples need to take in count if they think this take is true. Sorry if im a bit offending it wasnt my pain goal but this kind of take miss me off so much. If u dont Believe in this take u dont need to be offended by my point i think. English is not my first language so I used chat to put it in form after writting and I Even modified it after that so its a bit Messy and I will tries to organise it later but please bare with it for now. TLDR : Expecting every culture to embrace foreign music at the same level as their own is unrealistic. Music is tied to language, identity, and cultural habits. Honestly, calling this racism feels like main character syndrome. People can love one or two K-pop hits without being obligated to love all 100 of them. Stop making some exception the rules for the music industry. Lets start : K-pop and any artist from a country can succeed internationally Some artists in kpop already proved it’s possible and in different ways : BTS by adopting English lyrics in their songs. BLACKPINK and TWICE with massive global hits (mostly korean lyrics and a little bit of english). Fifty Fifty with Cupid, which went viral thx to TikTok (joke aside 50-50 korean and english lyrics) Take Aya Nakamura’s Djadja as an example. It’s French pop/urban music that reached international success (1 billion in YTB) thanks to timing, luck, and the song’s appeal. Not every artist achieves that, and the song isnt necessarily meaningfull and i dont like this song honestly but That’s just how the music industry works : a mix of skill, timing, appeal, and LUCK. And she isnt even the best or most popular singer in all of french music history just so you know. They are all exceptions that can occur from time to time because of trend/advertizing or idk LUCK. So clearly, Korean music is not blocked from success. But expecting every group or every song to blow up worldwide is just unrealistic. Why do you only focus on the U.S.? Why is it suddenly racism if Kpop doesn’t dominate the Billboard charts? Nobody complains that K-pop isn’t #1 in France, Spain, or Italy. By that logic, Europeans are Even more racist than them. And with this mindset Koreans too are racist because Barbara Pravi or Rosalia (or any european pop singers) don’t chart in top of Korea or just even in korea at least. They are obvioulsy not racist. Success abroad depends on culture, taste, luck and exposure not just discrimination like some kpop fans think it is. US/English market is kinda the most connectée market in people mind with bilboard grammies etc but its not even the biggest (indian, Chinese and LATAM market are even bigger in terms of how many people can listen to your music). The U.S. isn’t the main objectives of your kpop groups (even if you think it is) Yes, the Grammys are huge, but France, Spain, Korea, Japan, etc. also have their own major music awards. If fans only drool over US. validation, they’re the ones putting the US. at the center of the world of their group who dont care about it as much as you do. It’s important to remember that most KOREAN POP groups prioritize winning domestic awards and maintaining popularity in Korea over trying to adapt their music to every international market. They aren’t going to sing all their songs in Spanish just to top charts in South America and win a Latin Grammy, only to return and sing in spanish for their home audience thinking that its okay we won a grammy by singing in spanish so koreans will love it too. Their primary market is Korea, and focusing on it makes sense it’s just smart strategy that everyone in the industry follow. And this point apply to every artist. BUT STILL I wonder Why AMERICAN artists for some reasons try to top in US market. 🙃 And same for french in France. Italian in Italy. U see the logic here. The only exceptions is when your country has many languages like belgium or many country speak your language like in south america with spanish. But technicaly its kinda the same evrywhere u top mostly where people speak the language u sing. Language and accessibility matter In the U.S., the two most dominant languages are English and Spanish. Naturally, songs in those languages dominate the charts. That’s not racism that’s just history, demographics, and accessibility. If you want to know why those languages spread so widely, the answer is literally in history books. Korean didnt spread like that and wont spread Like that except if they want to rewind time and do remake of 1492. Timing, structure, marketing and Luck matter too// KDH case //Marketing for kpop groups in Korea is bad Take K-pop Demon Hunters as an example. It succeeded because it dropped at the right time, with no competing films in the same category, on the world’s most popular streaming platform, Netflix, produced by one of the top studios, Sony, and featured songs like Golden designed to appeal to American audiences. The production was handled by professionals who know their job. If more K-pop groups featured in movie, anime, or K-drama OSTs, they could reach a much wider audience. I discovered Stray Kids (i dont stanthrough their Tower of God openings and endings. Even in Korea, idols aren’t very present in K-drama OSTs, which are actually the second most popular Korean export after K-pop. Imagine if a kpop group contributed to THE GLORY (this drama is overrated as f and dont deserve his fame thats a 6,5/10 at best but thats another topic) or SQUID GAME OSTs. Internationally, people would likely enjoy it, especially with slight adjustments to please an international public a little bit more. Of course, the quality of the work matters, but luck plays a huge role. Even well marketed songs don’t always achieve the success they aim for. That doesn’t diminish the skill or effort behind the production it’s just how the music world works. Ethnocentrism in music is normal, not shocking In music, the preference for songs from your own culture or language is completely normal. People connect more deeply with songs they understand, or with styles they grew up around. That doesn’t mean they hate other cultures. In many Western countries, English is so dominant that English songs are often consumed. But still most songs topping the charts are in the country’s main language. For example, english music rarely charts in France, even though the countries are culturally close. This isn’t racism people naturally gravitate toward music in their own language or what they’re most exposed to. French audiences mostly listen to French artists, Koreans to Korean music, and Latin audiences to Spanish-language hits. That’s just how music consumption works everywhere. Conclusion: I’ve never seen any other music fandom take this approach. Maybe other fandoms do and I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure K-pop fans are the ones who complain about this the most, every chance they get. So yes, cultural bias exists, but reducing every lack of success to racism oversimplifies reality. Global hits depend on exposure, language, timing, taste, and marketing. Claiming it’s always racism just because your favorites don’t chart in the U.S. makes some K-pop fans seem a bit out of touch. submitted by /u/Abject-Affect-7421 [link] [comments]
