What’s behind South Korea’s K-pop crisis?
The biggest names in K-pop have sought out new markets overseas. But they’ve left a hole in their home market that no other acts have been able to fill yet. The domestic slump coincides with those same performers — BlackPink, BTS, and the irascible Psy, who unleashed “Gangnam Style” on an unsuspecting world back in 2012 — growing in popularity on the international music scene.(Unsplash) South Korea’s hugely popular K-pop and the broader “hallyu” or “Korean Wave” genre of popular culture are experiencing something of a crisis, with domestic sales declining, new bands failing to whip up the same frenzy as their predecessors, and shares in the top K-pop agencies plummeting, suggesting that investors are jittery that the bubble may be about to burst. Hindustan Times – your fastest source for breaking news! Read now. The domestic slump coincides with those same performers — BlackPink, BTS, and the irascible Psy, who unleashed “Gangnam Style” on an unsuspecting world back in 2012 — growing in popularity on the international music scene. The suggestion is that by …