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2018 is going to be a party (or bloodbath)
NCT is really gearing up for this NCT2018 thing and I'm getting hyped. I still don't like their songs, yet I got pretty excited by the beautiful concepts teasers, persistent promos and the hypes. They got 500M hearts last night on their VLive show which is a fist time for any VLive videos/live shows.
I haven't seen it except for screengrabs here and there. In the screencaps the kids are neatly sitting down in two rows, and Leeteuk was the MC. This reminded me of EXO's early days. Leeteuk was also the MC for EXO's showcase, the kids were super shy and quiet back then. EXO's debut was also not considered a success with MAMA despite coming from SM with the heavy promos, expensive MVs and crazy number of teasers released. They took some time off after that while fans were getting impatient for their comeback. The excitement snowballed making the fandom bigger and bigger even during off season. It was crazy. SM changed their K & M strategy, put EXO together as a 12 members group instead and focused their career in Korea, and they BLEW UP. Not only in Korea but everywhere else, too. Even with the terrible comeback song that was Wolf, they were snatching Music Show wins and the physical sales were no joke for a rookie, especially the repackage with Growl. It was the golden days of OT12 EXO before things started to fall apart with Chinaline leaving the group. EXO was HUGE. They still are, but I felt like Kris + Luhan's impact was big and they were super super huge back then. Maybe because I was in the fandom, but it truly, felt like they were taking over the world. They were wreaking havoc everywhere they go. Stalkers/sasaengs were abundant (and somewhat glorified) that everyone in the fandom at any point knows where the boys are and what they're doing. The fandom was glorious yet horrible and uncontrollable at the same time.
NCT now is facing the same situation, kind of? SM wanted to launch a timeless group concept with different member rotation sub-units and possibly even more sub-units in different countries a la AKB48. Anyway I don't really get it, most people probably didn't get it either which is why they're not as big as they should be. Don't get me wrong, NCT has been doing activities since 2016 and they are doing great, but they aren't in the level of top tier of boy groups yet. Based on Boy Group Brand Reputation ranking only, they managed to be in the Top 10 for 3 months out of 12 during the whole 2017, and they were never in the Top 5. I don't think they even made it to Brand rankings in singers category. The general public is not familiar with them or their songs, and probably because the songs aren't exactly easy to swallow. There are just too many kids, too many new groups all craving for attention. NCT didn't make big enough of a ripple to shake the industry from the start.
But this year, this year they're going BIG. They WILL be big. They are taking over the world. Look at this group, they have different nationalities, 9 Koreans, 5 Chinese, 2 Americans, 1 Thai & 1 Japanese. SM is again getting into that stage where they decide to put all the kids together (there is a power in number, they say). Clearly SM is investing a lot of money into this NCT2018 project. They will pull this as an 18 members group, which is a first in South Korea (I think 13 members is the top for now? Super Junior, Topp Dogg, Seventeen, WSJN - ETA: Whoops I forgot 14U with 14 members, they are active albeit the low popularity). If EXO can succeed snatching top group crown with the horrible song that is Wolf, then NCT may succeed with any songs with the same strategy at this point. The oldest in EXO will have to enlist in the military in the next year or two, SM needs to prep their next main money maker and I will be here for the party.
And then it dawned on me, 2018 is the final year of Wanna One. They will disband in December according to their contract. They've released teasers leading to their next comeback stating that this is going to be their golden age. I can see 3 or even more Wanna One comebacks within this year. They were born into the entertainment industry as a monster rookie and they are now still one of the groups with the biggest impact out there. The success they got is record breaking with the shortest amount of time from debut (also without power of the Big 3).
BTS is only starting their global dominance and EXO is still the reigning kings of K-Pop with no signs that they're going to slow down any time soon. SM is launching NCT2018 and other big three companies JYP and YG both are going to debut new groups.
2018 is going to be awesome for K-Pop, maybe crazier than last year. But probably also going to be a bloodbath for the fans.
I haven't seen it except for screengrabs here and there. In the screencaps the kids are neatly sitting down in two rows, and Leeteuk was the MC. This reminded me of EXO's early days. Leeteuk was also the MC for EXO's showcase, the kids were super shy and quiet back then. EXO's debut was also not considered a success with MAMA despite coming from SM with the heavy promos, expensive MVs and crazy number of teasers released. They took some time off after that while fans were getting impatient for their comeback. The excitement snowballed making the fandom bigger and bigger even during off season. It was crazy. SM changed their K & M strategy, put EXO together as a 12 members group instead and focused their career in Korea, and they BLEW UP. Not only in Korea but everywhere else, too. Even with the terrible comeback song that was Wolf, they were snatching Music Show wins and the physical sales were no joke for a rookie, especially the repackage with Growl. It was the golden days of OT12 EXO before things started to fall apart with Chinaline leaving the group. EXO was HUGE. They still are, but I felt like Kris + Luhan's impact was big and they were super super huge back then. Maybe because I was in the fandom, but it truly, felt like they were taking over the world. They were wreaking havoc everywhere they go. Stalkers/sasaengs were abundant (and somewhat glorified) that everyone in the fandom at any point knows where the boys are and what they're doing. The fandom was glorious yet horrible and uncontrollable at the same time.
NCT now is facing the same situation, kind of? SM wanted to launch a timeless group concept with different member rotation sub-units and possibly even more sub-units in different countries a la AKB48. Anyway I don't really get it, most people probably didn't get it either which is why they're not as big as they should be. Don't get me wrong, NCT has been doing activities since 2016 and they are doing great, but they aren't in the level of top tier of boy groups yet. Based on Boy Group Brand Reputation ranking only, they managed to be in the Top 10 for 3 months out of 12 during the whole 2017, and they were never in the Top 5. I don't think they even made it to Brand rankings in singers category. The general public is not familiar with them or their songs, and probably because the songs aren't exactly easy to swallow. There are just too many kids, too many new groups all craving for attention. NCT didn't make big enough of a ripple to shake the industry from the start.
But this year, this year they're going BIG. They WILL be big. They are taking over the world. Look at this group, they have different nationalities, 9 Koreans, 5 Chinese, 2 Americans, 1 Thai & 1 Japanese. SM is again getting into that stage where they decide to put all the kids together (there is a power in number, they say). Clearly SM is investing a lot of money into this NCT2018 project. They will pull this as an 18 members group, which is a first in South Korea (I think 13 members is the top for now? Super Junior, Topp Dogg, Seventeen, WSJN - ETA: Whoops I forgot 14U with 14 members, they are active albeit the low popularity). If EXO can succeed snatching top group crown with the horrible song that is Wolf, then NCT may succeed with any songs with the same strategy at this point. The oldest in EXO will have to enlist in the military in the next year or two, SM needs to prep their next main money maker and I will be here for the party.
And then it dawned on me, 2018 is the final year of Wanna One. They will disband in December according to their contract. They've released teasers leading to their next comeback stating that this is going to be their golden age. I can see 3 or even more Wanna One comebacks within this year. They were born into the entertainment industry as a monster rookie and they are now still one of the groups with the biggest impact out there. The success they got is record breaking with the shortest amount of time from debut (also without power of the Big 3).
BTS is only starting their global dominance and EXO is still the reigning kings of K-Pop with no signs that they're going to slow down any time soon. SM is launching NCT2018 and other big three companies JYP and YG both are going to debut new groups.
2018 is going to be awesome for K-Pop, maybe crazier than last year. But probably also going to be a bloodbath for the fans.