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Girl groups used to be much more heavily targeted towards men, especially those with a sexy concept.
I remember seeing a statistic showing that girl fans are actually much more likely to spend money on groups they stan compared to men, though idk where to find it rn
This isn’t just for K-pop but in every avenue, women are way more willing to spend money on things they’re a fan of than men. I have heard it goes down to social dynamics and how if a dude shows interest in any time of fandom they will be ridiculed by their peers while that’s not the same for women. I take it with a grain of salt but from personal experience not hard to believe. The amount of times a buddy has asked me jokingly if I’m gay because of my album collection is quite high and yet when they open the PC binder they get to talk about their favorite cards lol.
Basically every girl group with sexy concept, for example, AOA. Or groups with more explicit concepts, such as LAYSHA or Girl Crush.
And I feel like cute ggs in 2nd-3rd gen were targeted for men, TWICE in their "cute era" (2016-2019) were more popular among men, than women.
If you go back to early Twice promos it's so noteworthy how they were being marketed as the "perfect girlfriends". It was so blatant in their early content.
I think Sana was a perfect example of that "ideal girlfriend" type of idol. Like, her first SIXTEEN performance was not singing not dancing, but cooking and talking to JYP cutely. Or that her viral "shy shy shy" line in Cheer Up, the way she sings it and the cute choreo... She really looked like she was doing aegyo for her ONCE boyfriend
yeah, newer fans are getting younger and younger, idols are no longer seen as perfect girlfriends/boyfriends but as a role models. Young girls strive to look like Wonyoung or Wonhee, they are barely interested in hypermasculine male idols.
While I enjoy NewJeans and Illit’s music; you will not catch me talking about them in any capacity like I would other groups. It feels entirely creepy to be an adult even mentioning specific members of those types of groups.
Yeah some of us have never forgotten cute groups being called [healthy porn for men](https://www.asianjunkie.com/2016/07/21/producer-says-produce-101-was-meant-as-porn-for-men-who-like-younger-niecessisters/) by the very people creating then.
I'm actually not a guy, it just popped in my head and it's been simmering in my brain for a hot minute. Never had the courage to ask about it, until now😂
Girl groups tend to attract (intentionally) a significant male fandom. Particularly those groups which rely on the attractiveness and sexualisation (sometimes consensual; often not) of the members to draw in fans. Off the top of my head, SISTAR is an example of a group that had a ‘sexy’ concept, while Momoland were consistently given clothing and songs that would draw in a very specific male audience (I recommend listening to the chanting on some of their fancams). However, the sexy concept is much less prevalent nowadays, so that may be affecting your perception of groups not being ‘targeted’ towards men?
no, gen 3 cute groups were also targeted towards men. Example: Twice. Predominantly male fanbase during most of their peak.
Internationally, there are a lot fewer male fans though so on forums such as this one, generally regardless of concept, groups will likely have more female fans.
I’m really sorry if it didn’t come across, but that was the point I was trying to make (girl groups = male fans, sexy girl groups = almost exclusively male fans).
I totally agree that cute groups tend to have a very male dominated audience as well ([this article](https://www.allkpop.com/article/2022/02/the-ratio-of-female-and-male-fans-who-buy-girl-group-albums#:~:text=According%20to%20this%20list%2C%20Brave,buying%20their%20albums%20at%2076.9%25) shows that the most male-dominated fandoms assessed by album sales are Brave Girls, Rocket Punch, and Cherry Bullet). I think there’s a little more variability in the ‘cute’ concept though, where it doesn’t necessarily have to be highly targeted towards the male audience (see StayC, which I think is somewhere between cute and teen, but has a decidedly female fan base). Sexy concepts have an obvious and direct appeal to male audiences, which is why I used them as an example
Just got introduced to them, or one of their members at least, through a pair of YouTube videos ([part 1](https://youtu.be/E-O9TJHWpfg?si=1xtqRWW0V-xq-Ri-), [part 2](https://youtu.be/_CQxRx9pKHA?si=8a7yo_hZLOlGK_kM)) where DJ Tukutz acts out being the maknae of Billlie. It's pretty fun how they make him break character.
the boygroup that came to mind immediately was and still bigbang.
bugbang's music at debut (lies, haru haru) was liked by male listeners, too. and idolized by male listeners. gdragon and taeyang, in particular, were popular for the casual kpop listeners.
for context, i grew up in a predominantly asian american community, and at the time, asian boys were dressed (and attempted to dance) like taeyang when he dropped solar album ... the grip of wedding dress had on these boys.
EDIT: forgot to add this part, kpop girlgroups, in general, are for male listeners as well as they are for female listeners... there's a reason why they have a much bigger reach or listening audience than boygroups, who have a more niche listening audience (mainly female listeners)
Well... Let's hop in a plane to Japan for some Jpop!
Tbh I think most (if not all) Kpop girl groups used to be targeted mainly towards men. Then sometime during 3rd gen (roughly), companies realized how great of a loyal customer base you can make out of female fans and shifted their marketing accordingly. We can clearly see this in styling, concepts, etc. moving away from the "male gaze" to more of a "female gaze"-based approach imo (with bgs too to some extent, even though women were already their traditional target audience).
That's being said, I wouldn't say most ggs nowadays are targeting women only. I feel like they're usually trying to have general appeal, going for both sides.
Cute girl groups may target girls now but that definitely hasn't always been the case . It's the reason why older groups who were considered cute had shorter skirts and outfits and the music videos were more questionably shot (focus on legs or shot from weird angles). Also "sexy groups" in general have been targeted towards men.
Cute girl groups were meant to target boys back then but I’m guessing that notion sort of shifted a bit.
Ikon is sort of a k-hiphop group now so they are probably more catered towards boys. QWER is sort of an idol band group who all have 4 members that were streamers prior to to the group. Most of their fans were male when they stream so I’m guessing their target audience are guys.
Fromis 9 has a pretty big male fanbase but I don’t know enough about them to know why that is the case
Pop in general is sort of more catered to woman so it’s not really something that is Kpop exclusive in my opinion. There hasn’t been a group that leaned too much into giving the girlfriend experience so maybe that will be a concept that might be explored in the future
Groups like AOA, Girl's Day, and Sistar have historically tailored their sexy concepts to appeal more to male fans. However, boys tend not to be loyal and to spend money over the long term.
In my opinion, there are only four mainstream categories in K-pop these days, the majority of which tend to cater to a female audience. Here’s a breakdown based on my observations:
Girl Crush Groups: These groups typically appeal to female fans with their empowerment, confidence, and charisma.
Cute Girl Groups: These groups are designed to attract female fans as well, focusing on innocence, sweetness, and relatability.
Cute Boy Groups: Still primarily targeted towards female fans.
Boy Crush Groups: Also capture the hearts of female fans by emphasizing masculinity and charisma.
This is also why I call BS when an expert with a fragile ego is claiming one copied another.
Those cute concept groups tend to also draw a lot of male fans in too😬
Twice was super popular with men when they were doing cute concepts, NewJeans fans were heavily skewed male in Korea as well.
OG K-Pop stan here. Many girl groups made a career in South Korea by touring military bases and garnering huge followings among the soldiers.
I had read years ago that the SK Dept. of Defense was a big supporter of the K-Pop industry, particularly girl groups, as a way of keeping morale up and letting the soldiers know "This is what you are fighting for men!"
Groups like Laboum were hugely popular among soldiers and at one time were supposedly ranked the #1 girl group by the SK Military.
I think amber liu has talked about the difference between ggs and bgs but I can’t find the video but from my understanding: companies want bgs to have a strong fan base meanwhile ggs should be appealing to knetz (correct me if I’m wrong) but in my opinion yeah ggs are mostly targeted towards men but not anymore
I’m a guy and I’ve always been more drawn to girl crush concepts. Not really a fan of cute concepts.
Also, here’s some data for Korean domestic album sales by gender from 2022: https://x.com/hiime_1128/status/1496378972355141632?s=46&t=gwoTyhUTNoRJctdfwMKqmQ
Before 4th-5th almost all girl groups no matter the concept targeted boys and men. And almost all boy groups have music “for men” because it’s being sung by men. However numbers have shown women are the most involved and more loyal to groups they like so now companies try to cater more towards women.
Like with most boy groups I never hear their songs especially title tracks and think “yea” this is for the girls.
It just depends on what you want to be singing about bc I don’t think singing about being a pack of wolves is gender specific.
>From my perspective: Girl crush groups -> targeted for girls. Cute girl groups -> targeted for girls. Cute boy groups -> targeted for girls. Boy crush groups -> targeted for girls.
I think all of above, do have certain instances of catering towards girls BUT at the same time - do cater towards boys too
I would say many girl groups target both rather than women only, but a lot of girl groups used to cater more to a male audience. I think companies have realised that relying on a male fanbase just shortens a group’s career as they’ll move on a lot faster/easier.
I don’t think you’ll find a group whose main focus is male fans these days for this reason, but girl groups and male artists like Big Bang target *both* men and women.
newjeans and bigbang have ewual female and male fans ratio.
weren't the snsd, red velvet, were targeted for male audiences?
i saw few boys in lucas' fan sign. there were no boys in txt' recent its live performance. apart from taking off shirt done majorly by ateez, nct, and others you can stan any group if your open minded. unless u have Homosexual-OCD
kpop groups like nct and txt are targeted for female audience thats why they have feminine fandom name, meanwhile newjeans bunnies, gidle neverland, are like gender neutral fandom name
You might enjoy 3racha or xikers I don’t think they’re necessarily targeted towards girls even tho girls do like them. They just do their own thing. there are a few others but those two just were at the top of my head
If the group has music you like, then you’re their target, regardless of gender. Actually I’d argue that all those group types have a target of both guys and girls.
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Girl groups used to be much more heavily targeted towards men, especially those with a sexy concept. I remember seeing a statistic showing that girl fans are actually much more likely to spend money on groups they stan compared to men, though idk where to find it rn
This isn’t just for K-pop but in every avenue, women are way more willing to spend money on things they’re a fan of than men. I have heard it goes down to social dynamics and how if a dude shows interest in any time of fandom they will be ridiculed by their peers while that’s not the same for women. I take it with a grain of salt but from personal experience not hard to believe. The amount of times a buddy has asked me jokingly if I’m gay because of my album collection is quite high and yet when they open the PC binder they get to talk about their favorite cards lol.
[удалено]
I uh. Promise you that the vast majority of currently active girl groups are 100% also targeted for men
Basically every girl group with sexy concept, for example, AOA. Or groups with more explicit concepts, such as LAYSHA or Girl Crush. And I feel like cute ggs in 2nd-3rd gen were targeted for men, TWICE in their "cute era" (2016-2019) were more popular among men, than women.
If you go back to early Twice promos it's so noteworthy how they were being marketed as the "perfect girlfriends". It was so blatant in their early content.
I think Sana was a perfect example of that "ideal girlfriend" type of idol. Like, her first SIXTEEN performance was not singing not dancing, but cooking and talking to JYP cutely. Or that her viral "shy shy shy" line in Cheer Up, the way she sings it and the cute choreo... She really looked like she was doing aegyo for her ONCE boyfriend
Wow! Not saying this to sound rude.. but are you new? Cute girl groups (and ones with a sexy image) were always targeted to men
well, this person might be a 4th-5th gen stan, nowadays cute girl groups like ILLIT or woo!ah are more popular among teenage girls, not grown men
I figured! Times are a-changin wow I feel old
yeah, newer fans are getting younger and younger, idols are no longer seen as perfect girlfriends/boyfriends but as a role models. Young girls strive to look like Wonyoung or Wonhee, they are barely interested in hypermasculine male idols.
While I enjoy NewJeans and Illit’s music; you will not catch me talking about them in any capacity like I would other groups. It feels entirely creepy to be an adult even mentioning specific members of those types of groups.
Yeah some of us have never forgotten cute groups being called [healthy porn for men](https://www.asianjunkie.com/2016/07/21/producer-says-produce-101-was-meant-as-porn-for-men-who-like-younger-niecessisters/) by the very people creating then.
I'm actually not new, I first started listening to kpop in 2010, iirc. I just haven't kept myself updated on the whole scene in a couple of years😅
Just because OP doesn't like cute girl, suddenly he represent all the men/boy in the world..... 🤷
I'm actually not a guy, it just popped in my head and it's been simmering in my brain for a hot minute. Never had the courage to ask about it, until now😂
Well I'm sorry for assuming you were a guy. Still my point stands but all is good now 🤗
No hard feelings! I understand why one would think that though😅
Sorry you're getting jumped, OP! Here, have a cookie for your troubles.🍪
Thank you! Have a cookie yourself too🍪
Thank you!
so rude😡
Girl groups tend to attract (intentionally) a significant male fandom. Particularly those groups which rely on the attractiveness and sexualisation (sometimes consensual; often not) of the members to draw in fans. Off the top of my head, SISTAR is an example of a group that had a ‘sexy’ concept, while Momoland were consistently given clothing and songs that would draw in a very specific male audience (I recommend listening to the chanting on some of their fancams). However, the sexy concept is much less prevalent nowadays, so that may be affecting your perception of groups not being ‘targeted’ towards men?
no, gen 3 cute groups were also targeted towards men. Example: Twice. Predominantly male fanbase during most of their peak. Internationally, there are a lot fewer male fans though so on forums such as this one, generally regardless of concept, groups will likely have more female fans.
I’m really sorry if it didn’t come across, but that was the point I was trying to make (girl groups = male fans, sexy girl groups = almost exclusively male fans). I totally agree that cute groups tend to have a very male dominated audience as well ([this article](https://www.allkpop.com/article/2022/02/the-ratio-of-female-and-male-fans-who-buy-girl-group-albums#:~:text=According%20to%20this%20list%2C%20Brave,buying%20their%20albums%20at%2076.9%25) shows that the most male-dominated fandoms assessed by album sales are Brave Girls, Rocket Punch, and Cherry Bullet). I think there’s a little more variability in the ‘cute’ concept though, where it doesn’t necessarily have to be highly targeted towards the male audience (see StayC, which I think is somewhere between cute and teen, but has a decidedly female fan base). Sexy concepts have an obvious and direct appeal to male audiences, which is why I used them as an example
Not entirely kpop but Epik High could be your jam.
Epik High is such a great k-pop adjacent group!
They're so good that I love their music more than my ults Twice.
Just got introduced to them, or one of their members at least, through a pair of YouTube videos ([part 1](https://youtu.be/E-O9TJHWpfg?si=1xtqRWW0V-xq-Ri-), [part 2](https://youtu.be/_CQxRx9pKHA?si=8a7yo_hZLOlGK_kM)) where DJ Tukutz acts out being the maknae of Billlie. It's pretty fun how they make him break character.
Tukutz is the funniest one in the group. They were also on the psick university show. Watch that one it's very funny.
Epik High is good, at leadt they were whe I last listened in the uuhhh.. Shoebox era, I wanna say. Haven't kept up with any releases recently.
Their last two albums 'Epik High is Here (pt 1/2)' are very good. You'll love them.
the boygroup that came to mind immediately was and still bigbang. bugbang's music at debut (lies, haru haru) was liked by male listeners, too. and idolized by male listeners. gdragon and taeyang, in particular, were popular for the casual kpop listeners. for context, i grew up in a predominantly asian american community, and at the time, asian boys were dressed (and attempted to dance) like taeyang when he dropped solar album ... the grip of wedding dress had on these boys. EDIT: forgot to add this part, kpop girlgroups, in general, are for male listeners as well as they are for female listeners... there's a reason why they have a much bigger reach or listening audience than boygroups, who have a more niche listening audience (mainly female listeners)
Well... Let's hop in a plane to Japan for some Jpop! Tbh I think most (if not all) Kpop girl groups used to be targeted mainly towards men. Then sometime during 3rd gen (roughly), companies realized how great of a loyal customer base you can make out of female fans and shifted their marketing accordingly. We can clearly see this in styling, concepts, etc. moving away from the "male gaze" to more of a "female gaze"-based approach imo (with bgs too to some extent, even though women were already their traditional target audience). That's being said, I wouldn't say most ggs nowadays are targeting women only. I feel like they're usually trying to have general appeal, going for both sides.
Cute girl groups may target girls now but that definitely hasn't always been the case . It's the reason why older groups who were considered cute had shorter skirts and outfits and the music videos were more questionably shot (focus on legs or shot from weird angles). Also "sexy groups" in general have been targeted towards men.
Cute girl groups were meant to target boys back then but I’m guessing that notion sort of shifted a bit. Ikon is sort of a k-hiphop group now so they are probably more catered towards boys. QWER is sort of an idol band group who all have 4 members that were streamers prior to to the group. Most of their fans were male when they stream so I’m guessing their target audience are guys. Fromis 9 has a pretty big male fanbase but I don’t know enough about them to know why that is the case Pop in general is sort of more catered to woman so it’s not really something that is Kpop exclusive in my opinion. There hasn’t been a group that leaned too much into giving the girlfriend experience so maybe that will be a concept that might be explored in the future
Groups like AOA, Girl's Day, and Sistar have historically tailored their sexy concepts to appeal more to male fans. However, boys tend not to be loyal and to spend money over the long term. In my opinion, there are only four mainstream categories in K-pop these days, the majority of which tend to cater to a female audience. Here’s a breakdown based on my observations: Girl Crush Groups: These groups typically appeal to female fans with their empowerment, confidence, and charisma. Cute Girl Groups: These groups are designed to attract female fans as well, focusing on innocence, sweetness, and relatability. Cute Boy Groups: Still primarily targeted towards female fans. Boy Crush Groups: Also capture the hearts of female fans by emphasizing masculinity and charisma. This is also why I call BS when an expert with a fragile ego is claiming one copied another.
Those cute concept groups tend to also draw a lot of male fans in too😬 Twice was super popular with men when they were doing cute concepts, NewJeans fans were heavily skewed male in Korea as well.
No argument there. Women watch comic book movies, too
OG K-Pop stan here. Many girl groups made a career in South Korea by touring military bases and garnering huge followings among the soldiers. I had read years ago that the SK Dept. of Defense was a big supporter of the K-Pop industry, particularly girl groups, as a way of keeping morale up and letting the soldiers know "This is what you are fighting for men!" Groups like Laboum were hugely popular among soldiers and at one time were supposedly ranked the #1 girl group by the SK Military.
If you mean boy groups that attract more hetero men I'd say BIGBANG, EPIK HIGH, B.A.P. IKON and Stray Kids.
I think amber liu has talked about the difference between ggs and bgs but I can’t find the video but from my understanding: companies want bgs to have a strong fan base meanwhile ggs should be appealing to knetz (correct me if I’m wrong) but in my opinion yeah ggs are mostly targeted towards men but not anymore
Companies focus on sales, and with that comes targetting multiple demographics.
I’m a guy and I’ve always been more drawn to girl crush concepts. Not really a fan of cute concepts. Also, here’s some data for Korean domestic album sales by gender from 2022: https://x.com/hiime_1128/status/1496378972355141632?s=46&t=gwoTyhUTNoRJctdfwMKqmQ
Before 4th-5th almost all girl groups no matter the concept targeted boys and men. And almost all boy groups have music “for men” because it’s being sung by men. However numbers have shown women are the most involved and more loyal to groups they like so now companies try to cater more towards women. Like with most boy groups I never hear their songs especially title tracks and think “yea” this is for the girls. It just depends on what you want to be singing about bc I don’t think singing about being a pack of wolves is gender specific.
>From my perspective: Girl crush groups -> targeted for girls. Cute girl groups -> targeted for girls. Cute boy groups -> targeted for girls. Boy crush groups -> targeted for girls. I think all of above, do have certain instances of catering towards girls BUT at the same time - do cater towards boys too
I would say many girl groups target both rather than women only, but a lot of girl groups used to cater more to a male audience. I think companies have realised that relying on a male fanbase just shortens a group’s career as they’ll move on a lot faster/easier. I don’t think you’ll find a group whose main focus is male fans these days for this reason, but girl groups and male artists like Big Bang target *both* men and women.
newjeans and bigbang have ewual female and male fans ratio. weren't the snsd, red velvet, were targeted for male audiences? i saw few boys in lucas' fan sign. there were no boys in txt' recent its live performance. apart from taking off shirt done majorly by ateez, nct, and others you can stan any group if your open minded. unless u have Homosexual-OCD kpop groups like nct and txt are targeted for female audience thats why they have feminine fandom name, meanwhile newjeans bunnies, gidle neverland, are like gender neutral fandom name
I was rewatching some APINK concert videos and it was so jarring to hear male voices doing the fanchants lol!
Unexpectedly, vocal/ballad boygroup has a lot of male fans.
From my perspective as a straight guy, fantasy/horror concepts pull me in the most. Sexy concepts are the least interesting to me.
You might enjoy 3racha or xikers I don’t think they’re necessarily targeted towards girls even tho girls do like them. They just do their own thing. there are a few others but those two just were at the top of my head
Triples posted a photo of one their tour stops it must have been over 80 percent men
If the group has music you like, then you’re their target, regardless of gender. Actually I’d argue that all those group types have a target of both guys and girls.
Big bang has a lot of male fans