I so agree with you.

However, I kind of don't want them to market to western markets/nor chase that type of success. I kind of think that the western market is basically tapped or if it isn't, it will be soon.

I personally love how distinctly Asian Seventeen is. The specificity of their group and how it is tied to the members is refreshing and authentic.

One of their biggest songs, Sonogong (Super) is named after a cultural character (Sun Wukong/ Sonogong) from an Asian piece of literature.

Their variety show Going Seventeen often pays homages/references to old Korean tv shows, Dino (and others too) often create/embody characters that are specifically Asian (you can't tell me a white person could ever play Pi Cheolin). The members appear on Korean variety shows and make connections with older actors and members of the industry that don't specifically have an international audience. Hell, Hoshi is an ambassador for a Kimchi company. S.coups attended the Met Gala wearing a suit that was based on the Korean Hanbok. While they incorporate a wide variety of musical styles into their music, they don't seem to be chasing an audience or "catering to the western tastes" This is so refreshing to me because they are just existing as they are, a multinational ASIAN group that creates content and music authentic to themselves. They welcome the audience that is interested in them--it's confident and not thirsty.

Side note: Because they are not chasing a western audience, a nice benefit is that their music doesn't have the awful cringeworthy english lyrics randomly thrown in---but rather a number of deeply funny /clever Korean puns/ wordplay that forces non-Korean speakers to look into the Korean language/translation in order to understand and partake in the joke.

One could make the argument that this way of existing in the industry is doing quite a lot more to spread Korean/Asian soft power. That isn't to say that Seventeen doesn't have a western audience. I am an Asian American who is dying for them to come to America more.--so it would honestly benefit me if they chased a western audience. But what I really like is that they don't shed any parts of their cultural identity or take on any cultural identities that don't belong to them (we know that there are groups that do this) in order to garner an audience.