The discussion of when the 5th generation of Kpop starts is still ongoing in Korea with various mixed opinions.
On July 12th, a topic titled “SM is also badly media playing with the term 5th generation” was published on the Korean forum Pann Nate. The topic has since gained massive attention with over 110,000 views.
In particular, the author of the topic attached a screenshot of an article titled, “SM Entertainment’s new boy group to debut in September… Birth of the strongest 5th generation ‘Monster Rookie”.
They then wrote with a mocking tone, saying, “What kind of 5th generation… I’m going to laugh to death. These days, everyone is calling their new artists 5th generation. No matter what they are saying, we have yet to enter the 5th generation!”
Previously, the term “Kpop 5th generation” started with Mnet using it for ZB1 (ZeroBaseOne), the project boy group from “Boys Planet”. The same term has since been used for every group debuting in the same year, such as BOYNEXTDOOR, BABYMONSTER, and SM’s upcoming boy group.
However, many Korean netizens believe that Kpop is still in the 4th generation, and the use of “5th generation” is only for media-playing purposes.
Original post: Pann Nate
Below are some comments from netizens:
- [+146, -2] It’s so funny that fans of 4th generation male idols are getting annoyed. Afterall, didn’t they use “4th generation” to mediaplay since they couldn’t beat 3rd generation idols back in the day? Ironic that they are now complaining because ZB1 and SM are already talking about the 5th generation
- [+137, -2] Didn’t male idols use the 4th generation to mediaplay too? Even groups that debuted in 2017 like The Boyz insist on calling themselves “4th generation”, so It’s not surprising to see group debuting in 2023 claiming to be the “5th generation”
- [+114, -4] The 4th generation also started as mediaplay, so is there anything different now?
- [+104, -3] 4th generation male idols are weak (don’t bury me). But the reality is… the 4th generation hasn’t even reached their peak yet, and 4th generation female idols are only starting their heyday. So why is it 4th generation already?
- [+88, -6] It is revealed in a general meeting that NCT is the best-earning artist under SM at the moment, so you people say that it’s better to push (this group) over NCT, are you stupid? Why are you always busy getting both the new boy group and NCT hated?
- [+23, -29] I think this is much better than (SM) continuing to push NCT
