K-pop girl band TWICE rose to stardom thanks to hit tracks including "Cheer Up" and "TT." Courtesy of JYP Entertainment



By Dong Sun-hwa



The pan-Asian K-pop girl band TWICE has been making great strides on the music scene, releasing several hit songs and winning dozens of awards since its debut in 2015.



But the future of the nine-piece team will not be dazzling if it fails to come up with more durable musical content, according to critic Jung Min-jae, who writes for online music magazine "IZM."





Music critic Jung Min-jae has some strong views on K-pop's future.

"I am quite skeptical about the future of TWICE ― the band makes its comeback three to four times a year with cookie-cutter songs and concepts," Jung said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. "This is 'consumptive' for the artists and wearisome for the listeners."



TWICE is not the only group at risk. In fact, most K-pop teams are in jeopardy. They have fallen prey to extreme commercialism promoted by agencies that mostly pursue short-term benefits, Jung said.



"The music market has been vitalized in an abnormal way, with the agencies making several different versions of an album, holding fan singing events and encouraging duplicate purchases among fans," he said. "Most of them seem to prioritize profits over music content."



When a team's heyday ends, the agency introduces another band comprised of younger and talented trainees to repeat this "malicious cycle" that leaves music behind, Jung said. This is the same for almost all agencies in Korea, regardless of their size and reputation.



"Then, how many K-pop tracks would people remember after 10 years?" he said. "If the K-pop industry does not make breakthroughs, the listeners will continue to grow tiresome of trite songs and the K-pop boom might fade into history in the long run after losing its historical significance."



So how can the music be durable and sustainable?





K-pop boy group BTS has attempted to let people know about the pleasure of listening to its music. Courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment