Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Speaking of old news going recently viral, KATSEYE were featured on an episode of The Mean Time podcast with musicians Jared Gaines and Patrick Gilchrist back in January of this year, which was unfortunate for them but fortunate for enjoyers of parody. Notably, Gaines made a parody of a KATSEYE song, which he titled “SLOP“. It was popular even at the time and it’s getting a bit of a second wind now, probably because I don’t think even fans can really push back against the slander.
I’m always a fan of this stuff, and honestly I’m surprised there’s not more of it, K-pop is ripe for it.
I’m guessing fandoms being insane is part of the reason, but it’s as good of a reason as any to revisit BgA’s classic “Dong Saya Dae”.
#NeverForget
Honestly, I’m starting to buy into the theory that it’s part of HYBE’s plan to create like a feedback loop of sorts, or at least they’re no afraid to lean into it for a bunch of their girl groups in particular.
Like there’s a built-in fandom that comes with HYBE/K-pop no matter what, so releasing polarizing songs naturally creates conflict and backlash between sides, then the fans become more parasocially defensive and dig in further due to haters being predictably psychotic as well, then you double down with more music like that, and rinse and repeat that formula until desired doneness. The “cost” is really only the idols suffering and being unhappy about direction (KATSEYE in particular have vocalists from what I’ve heard), plus whatever critical acclaim loss, but it undoubtedly seems to work to increase revenue and attention. I realize some have been all-in on this for a while now since HYBE has always felt aware of what kind of fanbase they have and have cultivated, but I do get it more after thinking about how even this parody could be spun as a positive for them in terms of keeping the group in the spotlight and then used as fuel for like “ICONIC BY MISTAKE”.
