Female listeners are more powerful as girl groups continue to strengthen their unprecedented march of hit songs this year.
The proportion of female fans in a fandom of idols is increasing, breaking away from the existing structure that is divided into two parts, “boy group = female fans” and “girl group = male fans”.
According to data compiled by the online music platform Genie Music on October 9th in three months (from July 1st to August 29th), 55% of the streaming accounts for IVE’s “Love Dive”, one of the best hits of 2022, were female listeners, surpassing the 45% of men. “Love Dive” is a dark modern pop song that has an addictive chorus and thrilling sounds.
The song, which delivers the message “If you have the courage to love, just jump into it with confidence”, swept #1 on all music charts and weekly music programs. Its MV has also exceeded 100 million views on Youtube, proving the girl group’s global popularity.
The proportions of “Love Dive” listeners by gender can be seen more evident when being sorted by age. The result of female accounts that streamed this song showed 64% in the 10s, 62% in the 20s, 52% in the 30s, 48% in the 40s, and 52% in the 50s. The proportions of female listeners in the 10s and 20s age groups, the main consumers of K-pop, all exceeded 60%.
NewJeans, the rookie that just debuted this summer, also gained strength from female fans. The ratio of listeners for their debut song “Attention” was 65% for women vs 35% for men. As can be clearly seen, female fans nearly doubled men. By age group, 77% of female listeners of this song are teens, and those in their 20s accounted for 70%.
In particular, the fact that ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin broke the prejudice and established herself as a rare “female star producer” in the music industry is also considered a factor that attracts the attention of women.
(G)I-DLE’s “TOMBOY”, which competes with “Love Dive” for the title “Best hit of the year”, was streamed by 51% of men and 49% of women. The fact that the proportion of male listeners was only 2% apart compared to that of female listeners is also notable.
According to Interpark Ticket, the proportion of women among reservations for (G)I-DLE’s world tour shows in Seoul held at Olympic Hall in Olympic Park on June 17th ~ 19th this year was 67%, which accounted for 2/3 overall.
Amid this phenomenon, people in the music industry believe that the high-teen and independent image of girl groups fit well with the trends of Gen Z (those who were born in the late 1990s and early 2000s) and make them want to follow the viral choreographies or styles.
A K-pop official said, “In the past, girl groups were more appealed to men because of their sexy or cute concepts, but now they show the image of ‘wannabe idols’ targeting a wider range of consumers”, adding “Many girl groups had been strategically planned to target female listeners since they were formed”.
Based on the lyrics of girl groups’ hit songs within this year, it is clear that they emphasize independence in love, for example, “Dare to jump in if you want to” (IVE’s “Love Dive”), “I need you. I’m going to make it me for sure” (NewJeans’s “Attention”), “Now that when the night comes, I’ll take away your soul, the flower with poison” (BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom”), etc.
They are completely different from the lyrics of popular songs released more than a decade ago, such as “I love you so so much” (“Oh!” by Girls Generation), “I love you a lot. What should I do now?” (IU’s “Good Day”), “Will you secretly come and kiss me back?” (Apink’s “Mr. Chu”), etc.
However, not all music genres have more female listeners. Songs produced on Mnet’s “Show Me the Money,” which occupy music charts in the second half of every year, contrast with the music of idol groups and showed more male fans because of the hip-hop genre.
Source: Daum
