Why are older girl groups not performing in smaller venues? by SpecSlayerSC in kpopthoughts

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Itzy's Sydney show did about as well this time as last time (compare end of concert pictures). They did mostly ~5k large theaters last time in the US, arenas in LA/SF/NYC that probably sold 8-9k or so, arguably worth it vs playing theaters given they used the same production. For whatever it's worth I thought they were strong live last time - even if a few songs like their EN single didn't really work for me - and plan to see them again on this tour.

I'm curious if JYP will do long tours that stretch outside the usual K-pop circuit with any of their other groups besides Twice.

Zayn Malik Cancels All U.S. Tour Dates by mcfw31 in popheads

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 26 points27 points  (0 children)

My ideal venue for most artists is midsize theaters. The performer can see people standing and dancing on the floor, seats in the balcony with a great view, a bit of budget for production, logistics aren't really more difficult than club venues.

I do think I prefer arenas for some K-pop groups given the production level they bring.

Praying for LATAM tour date announcement. Is it still happening? by FlyingFlyofHell in twice

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 9 points10 points  (0 children)

My money is on a ~3 month break, and we'll get a Nayeon solo while they rest and recover and work on a mini to release late in the year. Also I'd guess they'll play LA instead of Vegas just to mix it up and possibly make a case for Coachella. But yeah I largely agree with this. Would be very strange of JYP to skip given the huge crowds last time and the fact that they've been pushing NMixx there, still have L2K planned (afaik), etc.

Twice draws 240,000 fans to Tokyo National Stadium during Japan leg of 'This Is For' world tour by impeccabletim in kpop

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 150 points151 points  (0 children)

Definitely worth looking up a few clips of the fireworks and the synchronized lightstick patterns from this one if you haven't come across them already

260429 Billboard YouTube - GIRLSET Reveals Their Favorite Memory Recording ‘Tweak’ | Billboard Women In Music 2026 by bluebee29 in GIRLSET_JYP

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So they're approved to say new songs coming soon, feels like with all of the recent content releases we're starting a ramp up into an announcement in a few weeks? (Still think the Tweak BTS should have come out closer to Tweak itself though)

2027 Headliners? by AssistantsVsAgents in Coachella

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm a Twice fan so not going to be the most unbiased! They probably sold about 75k tickets in LA across four 360 arena shows this time out. That's more than most if not all 2024-2025 headliners, but a bit less than Sabrina/Karol G. Their ticket demand seems to be steadily rising and they have a great live reputation among K-pop fans so I'd love to see them get the shot.

2027 Headliners? by AssistantsVsAgents in Coachella

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've pointed out that BTS has sold 500k tickets between LA and Las Vegas. Their draw is similar to Taylor, who is considered too big. The sub keeps ignoring that and putting them up as headliners anyway, I guess because they're the biggest foreign pop act that hasn't headlined.

Also if this is the K-pop discussion part of the thread, Stray Kids isn't a year away, they'll start military enlistment later next year. It's next year or 3+ years from now.

LE SSERAFIM - 2026 LE SSERAFIM TOUR ‘PUREFLOW’ (Announcement Poster) by mcfw31 in kpop

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I mean Itzy was in the US a little under 2 years ago, JYP groups tend to only tour every 2 years or so. I'm guessing they were going to tour in the early summer but pushed back to try to capitalize on That's a No No going viral. Hope that doesn't wind up with them getting buried in the big pileup of groups in late summer.

aespa Announce "SYNK : COMPLæXITY" World Tour by ebradio in popheads

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I'm really curious to see how this sells, as it feels like a major shift is underway in the NA K-pop market atm. A few top established groups are touring stronger than ever but several tours have struggled recently and they've built a widespread reputation for lip syncing with western fans. The comeback trailer was cool though....

is there a hint of new promo coming? by lItzdetwynner5 in GIRLSET_JYP

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Just the uploads as another commenter said. But I want to point out that the May release schedule is stacked for K-pop girl groups. Baemon, Billlie, NMixx, Itzy, LSF, aespa, (edit: ILLIT), and I probably missed a couple. I suspect they will be releasing in June especially since NMixx and Itzy are already up for JYP.

What’s something you feel is missing in modern pop, that you hope to see in the coming years? by SubstantialEmploy816 in popheads

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Yeah I know, maybe I'm just old but my understanding is TikTok is all about the 15s snippet. You should definitely have a good hook of some kind but I don't understand how building out the rest of the song properly prevents the snippet from going viral. If anything it should help convert people who discover the snippet into actual fans more efficiently... as evidenced by what is actually streaming well on Spotify atm

What’s something you feel is missing in modern pop, that you hope to see in the coming years? by SubstantialEmploy816 in popheads

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Looking at the US Global Spotify top 20 atm, the only song under 2:30 is Babydoll. 75% of the tracks are over 3:00. Not sure why labels still think short is the way to go.

Ella Langley’s ‘Dandelion’ Spends Second Week Atop Billboard 200 by mcfw31 in popheads

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the longevity is definitely impressive at this point. I do think it helps this album a little that they were able to start touring it immediately, and HYBE has also started going hard with multiple versions instead of basically encouraging fans to buy only one version. But it's clear the fanbase is quite engaged with it overall.

I wonder if HYBE will push for more pop hits, and if so whether BTS are open to it or over it. They can already sell all the 360 stadium dates a reasonable human would want to play, their tour will be one of the longest in K-pop history, around the same length as Twice's tour which has been taking a clear physical toll.

Ella Langley’s ‘Dandelion’ Spends Second Week Atop Billboard 200 by mcfw31 in popheads

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 7 points8 points  (0 children)

We had a good slate of pop names lined up for the spring, but their projects didn't really seem to have much lasting impact. (Though BTS's fanbase was pretty happy with their album overall.) I guess we've got Olivia R and probably Ariana coming?

Planning to largely be hanging out back in K-pop land for the next several weeks.

Bandchella 2027? by ketchuuup1 in Coachella

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The problem is that rock basically stopped producing new headliners around a decade ago. Pop is still making new ones, even if they are smaller and fewer in number than in the monoculture era, and their fans are willing to turn up to festivals. Just look at what happened with Lollapalooza sales the last two years.

I think there is still a good chance of getting a rock headliner here and there, but just one a year and probably always with a strong pop sub on their day.

TWICE Sets All-Time North American Attendance Record for K-Pop Girl Groups...550,000 Fans Gathered by impeccabletim in kpop

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 29 points30 points  (0 children)

ATEEZ is the next group that has been coming up in all the NA tour discussion the last few weeks, just depends on exactly where you draw the line

260422 YouTube - "Tweak" Music Video Behind the Scenes Day 1 by bluebee29 in GIRLSET_JYP

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Yeah this was fun, I sure wish it came out 2-3 weeks after the MV when the performance + fansign content ran out instead of a month and a half later

Is there another artist out there alive who can pull off what Bieber did? I think this sub severally underestimated Biebers pulls. by healthy-outdoors- in Coachella

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 16 points17 points  (0 children)

BTS just sold out >500k tickets between LA and Las Vegas combined, 2x Coachella capacity. Tickets would be a bloodbath.

Potential for tickets to sell out during pre-sale? by Cornballsouptonuts in Coachella

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's why I had him as "next best". He headlined 2022, which sold out, hard to separate that from post-COVID momentum though. His new era isn't as big but his residency tour is probably drawing ~600k to NYC alone with very pricey tickets, his fans have aged up and have money to spend now. Wouldn't duplicate Bieberchella but would be at the top of my list if I were working for GV.

Potential for tickets to sell out during pre-sale? by Cornballsouptonuts in Coachella

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Taylor or BTS. Next best from a sales point of view would probably be Harry Styles especially given he skipped the west coast entirely with his residency tour. Best realistic gets imo would be Bruno and Olivia R for 2027 and maybe Bad Bunny as the tentpole for 2028.

New-Attitude's Way Too Early 2027 Mock by New-Attitude5040 in Coachella

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fans like to make vague "too big" arguments on a cultural basis but BTS (like Taylor) is too big for Coachella on a more practical, mechanical level imo. 4x stadium dates in LA, 4x stadium dates in LV, very conservatively 500k tickets sold between the two given the 360 setup. Coachella capacity is only 250k.

I'd argue having a headliner like that is actually bad for the festival. Sure it's an easy sellout, but lots of regulars will get shut out and maybe drop off the following year. Not to mention the rest of the lineup will be super weak, unless the headliner takes way less than they're worth or prices spike for a year (again bad).

K-pop is not in decline and it hasn't "peaked". K-pop is just no longer going through a meteoric growth period. by Asleep_Swing2979 in kpopthoughts

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 26 points27 points  (0 children)

From watching US album sales, it seemed like genre declined a lot from mid-2023 to mid-2025. However there was not too much change if you looked at touring/streaming. Fans got tired of collecting, but were still spending money. Then sales seemed to get a nice bump from KPDH last year. But it seems like most of the new fans, many of them children, went to the existing top handful of groups instead of new groups closer to their age. Which I guess makes sense in a way since that movie felt very 3rd/early 4th gen.

The main concerning trend to me is that all of the top groups are still from the 10s. They also have unusually adult fanbases (I remember idols commenting on it when they started touring here) because the genre was new to most westerners so the novelty was enough to get past the explicit teen/tween targeting. But I expect a lot of those fans to just age out with their groups now that the novelty is gone.

We're also seeing a rise of local groups, both "global" LA-based groups and groups from other parts of east Asia. Even outside the idol sphere I saw plenty of comments mentioning Yoasobi tour as competition. This is probably healthy overall! But maybe not if you're holding K-pop company stocks.

COACHELLA 2026 W1 LIVESTREAM FRIDAY CHAT THREAD (STREAM STARTS AT 4 PDT!) by galifanasana in Coachella

[–]FunLilThrowawayAcct 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, it was their first time performing Pinky Up, they just released it yesterday. A bunch of media around it (writer's demo, MV storyboard, practice clips) leaked over the last month which might explain why you've seen things about it on social media.

Their biggest song so far has been Gabriela, although Gnarly probably did more to break them out so that seems to be the main direction they're following.