The theme for this year’s 30th Dream Concert, set to take place on October 19 at Goyang Stadium, is “Dream Rookie”. To keep to the theme, the concert’s line-up will consist of several rookie K-Pop groups.
However, the method of choosing which rookie groups will perform has sparked a conversation about just how many rookies there are in K-Pop right now. A poll has been created for fans to vote for which artists they’d like to see at the event, with 28 groups to choose from.
One might expect more well-known fifth generation groups such as ZEROBASEONE, RIIZE, TWS, KISS OF LIFE, BABYMONSTER, and others to be included on the list, but it seems to be made up mostly of artists from smaller labels. In fact, fans have been commenting on how few groups they recognize on the poll.
Currently in first place is POW with 13.28% of the votes, followed by XODIAC with 11.56% and BEWAVE with 7.64%. Among the other top-voted groups are SEVENUS, HORI7ON, ONE PACT, and PRIMROSE.
Korean netizens are sharing their bewilderment over how many groups are listed that they’ve never heard of before, or perhaps they’ve heard the name but not any of the group’s music. It makes one wonder if the K-Pop industry has become oversaturated in recent years as more companies are trying to get in on the popularity of the music genre but end up failing to make much of an impact.
- “There are indeed a lot.”
- “I only know tripleS.”
- “No one knows…”
- “I was thinking of NCT Wish and TWS when I came here, but they aren’t here.”
- “Wow, that’s a lot. I thought I was a K-Pop addict, but I think I’ve only heard of two groups.”
- “I only know tripleS and that ONE PACT group because they’re made out of Boys Planet contestants.”
- “I think I’ve heard about 15 groups. But I’ve only heard the name, I don’t know anything about the members.”
- “I only know tripleS…”
- “Wow, I was confident that I knew K-Pop well, but I only know four groups.”
How many of these groups do you recognize? And do you think there are too many rookie artists in K-Pop now?
Source: Instiz