'HYBE Music Industry Trend Report' evaluates MONSTA X & iKON's 'decline', viral issues surrounding The Boyz & Stray Kids

On November 1 KST, an individual suspected of being a HYBE Labels employee exposed several new pages of the 'HYBE Weekly Music Industry Trend Report'.

Below are sections from the new pages exposed by suspected HYBE employee 'A':

2022-04-13

DKZ

• It's a comeback MV and choreography that just screams 'small company'. The title 'Cupid' itself was already concerning, and the end result only proved that they were so blinded by the desire to 'do something that nobody else did' that they never actually considered why nobody was doing it in the first place.
• It is set in a rural town, and the signs for the store fronts are named after the members. The story is that the members run a detective agency and people come to them with their problems. The song is so old-fashioned that you'd believe it if I told you that it was released in the same month and year as 'Please Summer!' (2002) by Indigo. Other than Jaechan, all of the members, old and new included, are the kind of kids that would get eliminated right off the bat on 'Produce' like leaves falling in the autumn breeze.
• Nonetheless, thanks to the lasting impact of 'Semantic Error', they sold 60,000 copies in pre-orders alone. 25,000 copies in first day sales. Their highest first week sales record before this was 1,400 copies. The drama was apparently quite popular in China as well, so it may be the case that the majority of the sales came from Chinese fans looking to get into online fan calls. While announcing the fan calls, they got some backlash from Chinese fans after writing 'Taiwan'. They deleted the post and apologized right away, but the apology made it seem like they were prostrating themselves before the Chinese fans that it actually did not sit well with domestic fans. There were some rumors that the CEO of their company was actually Taiwanese, which also fueled the negative reactions. Of course, it's understandable for a small company to choose what capital they can gain from overseas when they can, rather than relying on the unstable bubble that is the domestic market right now. 

2022-04-20

BTS in Las Vegas

• This show is being acknowledged as a 'Thanksgiving' event for both the members and the fans. RM did a good job of establishing this collectively with his traditional Korean bow. The overseas fans understood that this gesture was a genuine gesture meant to express respect and gratitude and were moved by RM expressing his emotions using the best possible method. When the foreign back dancers also joined in by doing the traditional Korean bow at the end as a surprise event, that sealed the deal. 
• Jungkook not only prepared his end comments, but many of his comments throughout the show in English. Initially, when Jungkook spoke English, the fans simply showed pride, but now, they are praising him for his ambition and efforts as a global star. During these recent schedules, V and Jin garnered attention during event appearances, V Lives, and through paparazzi cuts, but Jungkook received the most spotlight for his photos from the show. It was an opportunity for not just the team, but for Jungkook himself to showcase his presence as an artist who makes the effort to go on stage in his topmost condition.
• The tour itself went so smoothly that you cannot help but wonder if the whole press controversy went on longer than it should have. Reporter Lim Soo Yeon of 'Cine 21' said that the film industry held much larger press tours even after the passing of the 'Kim Young Ran Law' so there should have been no problems. If there was any illegality to it, someone would have reported it by now, but as of right now it just feels like the press is taking jabs just to see how we react.

2022-04-27

MONSTA X

• It's a strange team that has managed to keep its fandom size even after Shownu's enlistment. It's likely the result of gradually pulling in those older, adult age women who are tired of the trolling and competition that comes with big company idols and who do not consider filling up their PC storage folders the most important criterion for idols. It's not that the team's concept is 'gangster' but more that the members adequately fit the image of actual former gangsters, and they are consistently being consumed by the so-called 'Han-Nyeo's (a derogatory term for describing the 'typical Korean woman') who prefer a 'Young Choi Min Soo' type gangster, the kind that's washed his hands clean and is now a sweet man to his girl. Their selling point as a 'physically built team' has lost much of its appeal by now, and the resolve that they used to have to show true hip-hop vibes or a strong performance has also wound down, but for some reason, they are somehow solidifying their position. This may be the result of the work of their loyal supporters working behind the scenes. Their latest album sold 160,000 copies on the first day. 'Love Killa' wrapped up first-week sales at 160,000, and the album before that wrapped up first-week sales at 280,000, which suggests that it's a team with some enduring grit. 

2022-06-08

iKON

• Itching at a festering wound. With the popularity of YG-style production soon meeting its demise, those artists who essentially lacked their own character can no longer rely on the lingering effects of the company's former glory and have entered a path of decline, but it seems that some are mistakenly directing the blame elsewhere, saying that 'the team can't go on major programs because of the B.I issue'. The members also called some of their schedules something like 'schedules that only the fans watch', and that must have been quite insulting to the fans who protected the core fandom throughout all kinds of hardships. 
• What's more is that Bobby consistently acted like he didn't want to be in the team, and made it seem like he only found his happiness through marriage and his child, and that interview once again pissed off fans by portraying them as 'baby formula' deliverers. He did clarify himself through a long post on Wevere later, but the fact that the company was not able to properly prevent such issues in the first place is just unacceptable to the point that you can't help but wonder if they want to suffer for the sake of it.
• They appeared on 'Killing Verse' in light of the comeback, but for a team with a major hit song, it is receiving very little attention. It just so happened that it got released the same week as Seventeen's 'Killing Voice', and it got less than 1/5 of the views that Seventeen's video got. Also, it was apparently posted with the title 'ICON's Killing Balls' at first and gave the overseas fans a huge scare. It's come to a point where trying is hurting them, and they seriously need some internal restructuring.

2022-06-22

TO1 Re-debut

• You have to start wondering how many times they're going to kill this team and revive them. This time, they tossed out 3 members and recruited some new ones. The ones they tossed out were Minsu, Jerome, and Woonggi, Woonggi being the sole member of this entire team who has ever had any sort of viral reaction on any online communities for his charms. How brainless can they get? The new members are two Japanese trainees who ranked 13th and 16th on 'Produce 101 Japan' and another Korean trainee. The only likely plan for this team seems to be to keep using them as the opening act for 'KCON' for a time before just relegating them to the status of 'underground J-Pop idol'. 

2022-06-29

The Boyz

• Currently carrying out their Europe showcase tour, with plans to return in early July for the 'UNIVERSE Concert' before more stops on their Asia tour. An encore concert is scheduled in early August at the KSPO Dome followed by KCON LA, so even if they rush the comeback, it should still be pushed back until the second half. There's some concern over whether or not this team can sell out a 3-day show at the KSPO Dome, and if it's the case that the fandom needs to squeeze out the numbers to fill up the seats, than this could also directly impact their first-week sales so rushing the comeback would be quite a gamble. 
• Last week, they performed in London during Pride Week, and there were some members of the audience requesting them to hold up pride flags. During the encore, it seems that someone tried to throw a pride flag onto the stage, and one member acknowledged it but made an apologetic gesture for not being able to pick it up.
• The fans are calling this 'Euphemistic Support' on Twitter. During their Europe tour in 2019, apparently the members agreed to hold up rainbow flags. They were probably acting without much thought or direction at the time, and since then, it seems that the company has decided to control the group's actions in a more conservative direction. But when considering the target market for K-Pop in Europe, this is a matter that requires some revision. Especially for a team like The Boyz, who is made up of not just one but several flirty characters. 

2022-08-10

The Boyz's New

• A member known for going out shopping to 'Chanel' stores during their tours. Last week, the fans talked about a song they wanted to hear, and New called it 'his least favorite song', resulting in a bunch of Egg Accounts (Malicious Twitter Accounts) going after him. When the fans mention their old songs during V Lives, the other members fulfill their requests and sing them, but New is known to express his disdain toward them. He must harbor quite antagonistic feelings toward the group's debut days, and 'Road To Kingdom' is considered to be the point where he changed, so the oldbies have been waiting for the right moment to come for him. For the group's debut fans, they were already somewhat against The Boyz shedding the youthful image for the types of songs with strong gimmicks that came out after 'Kingdom', and this further fueled their discontentment toward New. 
• All the while, a photo of New wearing the 'Miu Miu' low-rise look while on his knees with his stomach showing received quite the backlash on online communities. People were getting fed up with that 'Miu Miu' look in the first place, and community users weren't too open to the idea of low-rise fashion in the first place. So when New posted that photo screaming 'gayness', it triggered the outpour of 'queer-hate'. There were some reactions trying to diffuse the situation by calling it 'the same tactic used to aggravate hate attacks against female idols', but overall, the 'queer image' that the fans wanted to see was not this 'teasing flirt' but more of the cute and little BL-story character. To be honest, he's a member that is prone to hate in the first place, so the fans never actually set out to defend him from the hate.

2022-08-17

Stray Kids

• There were some reactions after Felix participated in Zico's challenge, so it looks like this team is hopping on the challenges trend as well. Recently exchanged challenges with NiziU. Their promotions did not overlap, so it must have been a little awkward to make it happen, but honestly, it doesn't seem like a crossover with NiziU is going to do them much good. If they filmed challenges with TWICE, they'd just look like a bunch of jobless youths with no appeal, but if they filmed challenges with ITZY, the ITZY members might outdance them, so the safe choice was NiziU. 
• The comparison with ITZY shouldn't be interpreted as an exaggerated evaluation either. Once, Hyunjin danced to other idol songs during a live broadcast and got a request for 'Hype Boy' by NewJeans, but he did it so badly that it caused a bit of an issue. Hyunjin never did manage to establish himself as the main dancer of this team, and it turns out, that was simply because he's just not a good dancer.

*Translations of additional pages will soon be updated.