In the documentary about Blackpink, they take a deep dive into how they formed from kids in different parts of the world to international superstardom. Many groups say that they are international because of the tours they go on but Blackpink is certainly deserving of this title because they are from new zealand, korea and thailand. The groups seems formulaic because of the big industry around them in korea, but a big reason they seem to be so different is because of their mass appeal to western audiences and the chemistry they share on stage and in their personal lives; this allows them to market themselves differently from other groups because of their natural personalities are shining through the stage and marketing ads. I definitely feel that the way they market themselves plays a huge role into how they got big, for female audiences they use a marketing strategy that’s older than the kardashians. 

It’s called hyperrealism, the basic concept is that they are portraying a life that seems ideal to their audience to sell something. The kardashians are masters at this, and you don’t have to go far to find beer and car commercials to see this concept at work. But they are able to balance this with their on stage performance and off stage personalities. They do an excellent job at this in the end of the documentary by showing them all meeting at the same restaurant they went to all the time, and they show this particular scene after giving a glimpse into how hard performing is on them. 

I find that they have found  a nice balance of business and sincerity that allows them a lot of room for creative freedom in what songs they produce and not being owned by their label. But when it comes to their male audience a hyperreality wouldn’t work for the most part, a male audience wouldn’t really be too interested in pink fluff and girl power, instead they use a marketing tactic as old as time, but they disguise it in their fashion choices to appeal to the male ego as well as create that hyperreality for their female fans. I’m personally a fan of kpop and started out listening to a band called BTS and there are an amazing amount of parallels amongst the groups, they just use the same formula in a different way to target their audience as precisely as possible. While i do like them i feel they may end up like many “puff rock” bands, i believe they might wear out their group potential early on and end up splintering off from one another. For example the girl lisa seems to have a much bigger following and promising solo career. On top of that she keeps many of her songs secret from her bandmates and this may be a cause of a lot of tension when it comes time for her to release a single which would start the beginning of the end. I’m curious how many people will agree with me on this since we have seen it so many times before.