HYBE talks about BLACKPINK in document: ‘famous-for-being-famous’

Last week, during the audit of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly, carried out on October 24, a “music industry report” created by the HYBE conglomerate and consisting of 18 thousand pages was revealed, where it is possible to find a series of malicious comments related to big artists from other k-pop companies, including the famous Big3, made up of YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment.

After the audit, around 20 pages of the report were leaked on social media, enraging fans of countless artists. Among the countless groups mentioned, we can find names such as SEVENTEEN, aespa, IVE, BTS, RIIZE, BABYMONSTER, NewJeans and BLACKPINK, whose popularity was questioned by the conglomerate’s employees.

As reported by Koreaboo, in part of the document, HYBE states that BLACKPINK’s box office power is only relevant in Asia and Europe, and is not strong enough in markets such as Japan and North America, in addition to saying that the girl group only gained notoriety after her performance at Coachella.

“It appears that their box office power is not as strong in Japan and North America, but they are still pulling in good numbers in Asia and Europe. After their concert in Kaohsiung, their songs began to chart again in Taiwan. Although Taiwan and Hong Kong are smaller markets and may not seem very impactful, fans posting concert footage from a venue with a packed audience benefits the group’s image,” the company writes in the document.

It is worth remembering that, in 2023, BLACKPINK’s “BORN PINK WORLD TOUR”, which featured 66 performances in 22 countries, including the United States, between October 2022 and September 2023, was elected the most watched tour of a K-pop female group, with the presence of 1.8 million fans.

Furthermore, the report also points out observations related to the individual popularity of Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisaand the impact of their solo fancams at shows, where the reporter criticizes the group stating that their current popularity is due to pre-existing fame.

“They’ve been touring a lot lately, with a noticeable increase in close-up fan cams of individual members. BLACKPINK is pretty much a textbook case of a ‘famous-for-being-famous’ group, so gathering proof of their A-list star lifestyle across Asia is a valuable asset to them.”

Also read: HYBE issues statement on document with malicious comments about K-Pop artists