What K-pop acts lose when they don't promote in Canada
Why are so many K-pop acts skipping out on Canada?
(Sorry, Felix. I am sure you know what Canada is…)
Any time a K-pop act announces a world tour, my body jolts with excitement, but is then quickly met with disappointment.
“Going to the same U.S. cities like New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles does not make a world tour!” I text my friends.
But alas, that is another rant for another day. Toronto —and other Canadian cities — are left out once again.
While Toronto and Vancouver remain one of the few Canadian cities most musicians and bands will make a stop at, many K-pop groups still don’t see Canada as a destination to go to. These cities are home to huge Korean and East Asian populations. But also, a growing contingent of K-pop fans from other backgrounds and ethnicities.
When K-pop agencies and promoters send their groups to cities like Chicago, New York or Los Angeles, fans up north will often decide to travel across the border to see their favourite acts instead. Unfortunately, that comes at a huge cost for many fans — especially those who save up months just to get a single concert ticket. It also doesn’t help that many of these acts will announce a tour and then sell tickets WEEKS before they start. That doesn’t allow for much time to plan or save at all.
I never thought I’d be someone who’d travel to see a K-pop concert. But over the last three years, I’ve done it four times. In 2022, it was BTS and Seventeen. This year, it was Suga and Lollapalooza. Granted, my friends and I love using these trips as an excuse to reunite and do fun touristy things. However, not everyone has the luxury. And with so many people travelling from far away, tickets become much harder to attain thanks to scalpers and dynamic pricing.
Considering that most K-pop groups have decided to forgo Canada for U.S. cities, many others have also written and spoken at length about the oversaturation of the K-pop concert market across the border. Tamar Herman from Notes on K-pop wrote a great piece about the surge of concerts happening in the U.S., leading to overlapping shows and lacklustre ticket sales.
(ATEEZ in Hamilton. They are one of the few groups truly doing a world tour.)
That’s why it’s always a joy to see K-pop groups actually paying attention to Canada when there is a tour announcement because it really is still quite rare. In the last two years, only a handful of major groups including Twice, Seventeen, Blackpink and ATEEZ have decided to come to Canada. Each of these shows have been highly successful. And while most will only just stop in Toronto (or nearby Hamilton), I love seeing the community light up with hype and excitement in preparation for a K-pop group’s arrival in town.
I will say that in Toronto, you are more likely to see up-and-coming and rising K-pop acts make their way in the city, leading a wide range of casual fans to take a chance on artists like Dreamcatcher, Kingdom, Just B and P1Harmony just because they love the genre and want to know more. The demand is clearly here. So why don’t companies see that more? Even if they play at a smaller venue, it’s a good way of measuring interest.
(Recent shows by Dreamcatcher and Kingdom)
The cost of travel and shipping of production or visa issues are all possible reasons why shows don’t come to Canada as often. But I also think it’s largely due to how we do promotion and cover K-pop in the media.
No mainstream media outlet in Canada actually truly sees K-pop (or Asian entertainment) as an industry to pay attention to. Therefore, booking talent for interviews becomes much harder, and pitching stories as a journalist remains a very steep, uphill battle. A local interview I watched recently with The Boyz’s Canadian members Kevin and Jacob was a bit frustrating when the reporter literally asked about being in a group with 11 members (“FOUR MORE THAN BTS!”). Overall, the interview itself was fine (albeit short), but we are still approaching K-pop as a phenomenon tied to BTS, when there are so many other fascinating angles to explore.
This is the reason why I pitch often to U.S. outlets, because many have moved past the “What is K-pop?” conversation and are more open to different ideas. But even the market for K-pop/Asian entertainment journalism there is becoming high in demand. As a result, I often get more rejections than successful pitches.
(In July, Toronto saw concerts by P1Harmony and Twice)
On the other side of the spectrum, K-pop agencies care a lot about social following and name recognition of mainstream outlets. Therefore, smaller publications and niche blogs that would cover K-pop get forgotten about. There are barely any Canadian mainstream outlets even trying to thoughtfully cover K-pop right now. And with the recent cancellation of Entertainment Tonight Canada, where ELSE would we do these stories? Arts journalism in this country is becoming non-existent. If there’s absolutely no effort being made here, K-pop groups or agencies won’t even try.
However, I also stand by the fact that agencies managing K-pop acts also need to diversify in the way they pitch and promote artists. And yes, that does include giving smaller publications access to talent. Smaller scale coverage is better than none at all.
I write this as October marks an unusually busy month for K-pop/K-music concerts in Toronto. In the span of one week, Eric Nam, Hyoyeon of Girls Generation and The Rose are making appearances. It’s not often this happens, and I’ll surely embrace it all! These shows deserve to succeed because I want these acts to keep coming back to the city.
But while all three of these acts are popular and have dedicated fanbases, I remain surprised that major groups like Stray Kids, Itzy, aespa or Tomorrow X Together still haven’t made their way to Canada despite touring North America numerous times already.
There is so clearly a market here that is possible if we (fans, promoters and media outlets) start paying more attention and taking a chance on this genre. It’s only going to keep growing. So why not get ahead of it?
Granted, promoting K-pop in Canada has had its fair share of failures, and it’s important to note that companies should try and target major cities like Toronto and Vancouver first before going to other provinces to gauge interest. Earlier this year, an event called Kimchi Festival Canada was set to bring in K-pop acts like Billlie, Xdinary Heroes, Oneus, VIVIZ and Sunye to Saskatoon. The show struggled to sell tickets, eventually offering half price discounts. And eventually, it was cancelled, with organizers saying “natural disasters” as the main reason. That ultimately did not sit well for many people, especially those who bought tickets at full price and made travel arrangements. It makes me wonder if that failure alone would discourage K-pop companies from coming back to Canada.
I surely hope not. And I’d love to see an event like that happen in the near future.
Blackpink’s Lisa performs cabaret at Crazy Horse
I, like many fans, remain on watch regarding Blackpink’s contract renewal. But over the weekend, Blinks were offered a bit of a distraction as Lisa performed five exclusive performances at Crazy Horse, a Parisian cabaret and burlesque show over the weekend.
According to Crazy Horse, Lisa has been a longtime fan of the show’s “unique style.” For her performances itself, she appeared in group numbers and solo acts.
Those who have been following Lisa’s dancing over the years will know that she is a fan of cabaret and burlesque, even incorporating elements of the genre into her own choreography. During Blackpink’s latest tour, she pole danced during her solo performance. And on her YouTube channel Lilifilm, she’s also explored sexier and more sensual concepts in her dance videos.
I know this move by Lisa will certainly raise a lot of eyebrows as cabaret is known for being quite revealing, and also features nudity. But personally, I love how Lisa is pushing the boundaries of what an idol can do. This is an era of maturity and I am glad to see her having fun!
To me, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing if she ultimately decides to step away from YG Entertainment. Regardless, she’s gonna keep doing her own thing and people will continue to love her for it.
SHINee’s Key, Taemin and production team apologize for insensitive remarks
SHINee’s Key and Taemin recently came under fire for making colourist remarks in a YouTube video uploaded to the group’s channels.
The comments came during the band’s variety series called SHINee-ing, in which Taemin made a remark about Minho’s skin tone.
“Ever since you started playing golf, when I see you, all I can see are only the whites of your eyes and teeth.”
“Why did you get so sun-kissed/tanned? If Minho closes his eyes and mouth at night, you’ll go, ‘Minho?'” Key added, while pretending to search with his hands for Minho.
Shortly after the video was posted, fans criticized group members for their remarks. SHINee issued an apology days later.
“Once we became aware of the issue, we immediately removed the clip. We take the feedback from the fans very seriously, and we now understand how disrespectful these comments are. Both Key and Taemin are deeply regretting their behavior and reflecting in order to do better in the future.”
What I’m listening to: Jung Kook’s ‘3D’ (Alternate version) + new album news!!!
BTS member Jung Kook continues to be on his way to global popstar world domination, with the upcoming release of his new album GOLDEN on Nov. 3.
According to a release from BIGHIT MUSIC, the project will feature 11 tracks, including his previous released singles “Seven (feat. Latto) and his latest offering, ‘3D (feat. Jack Harlow). This will be Jung Kook first studio album as a solo artist.
On the topic of JK’s newest single ‘3D’, the song itself is sexy and a throwback to the collaborations Justin Timberlake and The Neptunes would produce back in the 2000s. In fact, I actually went back and relistened to Justified and FutureSex/LoveSounds after hearing ‘3D’. Ah, takes me back to middle school!
While I love Jung Kook’s new song for the most part, I can’t say that I jived with Jack Harlow’s rapping. And apparently, so has a lot of the internet! His line about ABGs (what does he know about Asian Baby Girls?!) gave me the ick because it gave off Asian fetishizer vibes. Let’s not do that in 2023, please! We’ve made so much progress in trying to undo stereotypes like that in pop culture. The last thing we need is more degrading lyrics.
We all know Jung Kook has what it takes to be a mega pop star on his own, but I do believe the collabs he’s been releasing lately is a method to get major radio play. Like it or not, the western music industry hasn’t quite reached the level of giving a Korean singer (whose first language isn’t English) the same type of treatment of other American stars. Though with more time and the release of his upcoming album, I’d love to see Jung Kook break new ground in the pop music world.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Accountability is important to me, so please address corrections and concerns by sending me an email at bunnipopnewsletter@gmail.com. Continue the conversation by following Bunni Pop on Instagram and Twitter.
Obsessed with the Felix pic
Perhaps Justin Trudeau should intervene—it worked with Taylor Swift, haha.