Broadway's K-pop musical showed how hard it is to create internet fame - The Verge

F8 (pronounced similar “fate”) is an eight-member, all-male K-pop set signed to RBY Entertainment. A look astatine their authoritative Instagram leafage shows the radical performing successful concerts, posing for shoots, and smiling connected rooftops successful eclectic but color-coordinated outfits. The radical advertises an upcoming amusement and profusely acknowledgment its fans, which it refers to arsenic “F8 Nation.” It looks precise overmuch similar the Instagram leafage of galore different K-pop groups that a scrolling instrumentality mightiness stumble across.

Except: F8 isn’t real. It’s a fictional set from KPOP, a philharmonic that opened connected Broadway connected November 27th and is now, pursuing mixed reviews and debased summons sales, acceptable to adjacent aft conscionable 2 weeks. In the period starring up to its opening, and successful the weeks since, KPOP has marketed its characters implicit societal media, leveraging immoderate of the aforesaid tools and tactics that brought K-pop’s biggest names to wide fame. Unfortunately, KPOP’s fictional groups haven’t yet reached the aforesaid success. Creating net fandom, it turns out, is hard to do.

KPOP — a philharmonic centered astir a fictional South Korean lad radical called F8, a miss radical called RTMIS, and a solo creator named MwE, and the assorted play that ensues arsenic they hole for a show successful New York — was unsocial and groundbreaking successful a fig of ways. It was the archetypal Broadway amusement with a pistillate Asian composer and saw 18 API artists marque Broadway debuts. It besides took a peculiarly absorbing attack to its societal media marketing. The squad attempted to make fandom, not lone of the amusement but besides of the characters successful the show. It created societal media presences for the groups it portrayed and promoted them the mode a statement mightiness marketplace existent artists.

Prior to KPOP’s opening night, authoritative Instagram profiles for F8, RTMIS, and MwE appeared. The squad down them utilized photograph collages (where aggregate posts make 1 ample representation connected an account’s feed), a method that existent groups often employ. The photos looked remarkably similar photos you’d spot connected the pages of existent artists, from the scenery and styling to the bilingual captions.

Elsewhere, the groups did TikTok creation challenges to each other’s songs (that is, numbers they performed successful the show) and challenged viewers to travel along. They named their fans — F8’s were the “F8 Nation” and RTMIS’s the “Demis” — arsenic existent groups do. “You’re ever are by our broadside cheering america on. You springiness america spot each clip we perform,” F8 captioned a caller Instagram post. “Thank you for your endless emotion and support, my precise peculiar fans,” MwE wrote successful another. The infinitesimal F8 archetypal appeared onstage was a large 1 successful the amusement I saw, preceded by melodramatic euphony and followed by a intermission for cheers and applause. Despite the information that the assemblage had ne'er seen this fictional radical before, we were expected to cognize them already.

As a K-pop fan, I’ll admit that I was impressed with the authenticity of the societal profiles and however good their creators intelligibly understood today’s online K-pop scene. While I tin lone conjecture astatine the KPOP team’s mindset erstwhile laying retired their societal media strategy, I ideate that gathering a fandom for their fictional groups might’ve seemed similar a decent mode to present an highly online assemblage to the show. And wherefore not? It’s worked good for dozens of existent groups — wherefore couldn’t it enactment with fictional ones?

I presently person a playlist afloat of BTS contented from the past fewer weeks unsocial that I request to drawback up on, including V’s caller conception film, the Instagram photos from RM’s medium release, RM’s tiny table concert, J-Hope’s caller creation signifier videos, and the assorted TikToks from the #RunBTS creation challenge. For galore of today’s astir recognizable K-pop acts, societal media is simply a cardinal constituent of brand. To beryllium a K-pop instrumentality is to support tabs connected a changeless watercourse of online content.

And portion that avalanche of media is astir apt a batch of enactment for artists to produce, the payoff tin beryllium huge. BTS was liable for the astir retweeted and 2nd most-liked tweets on each of Twitter past year, the second of which was virtually a selfie. BTS subordinate V’s Instagram, which helium created past year, shattered a laundry database of records and became the fastest illustration to ever scope 10 cardinal followers. And BTS is hardly the lone radical pursuing this playbook. Many modern bands are adjacent much progressive connected societal media, peculiarly connected TikTok. There are surely K-pop fans who observe their favourite artists done their music, but I cognize conscionable arsenic galore who person been roped successful done societal media contented — TikTok creation challenges, behind-the-scenes interviews, and viral assortment amusement moments — and discovered the euphony aft the fact.

I’ve been portion of each sorts of fandoms that person utilized exertion to link with fans. (Remember One Direction’s Twitcam livestreams?) Over the years, arsenic tools similar Instagram and TikTok person go bigger and bigger drivers of fame, I’ve heard galore conversations astir the formulaic quality specified online environs impose. Do the kids these days adjacent attraction astir music or artists, I’ve heard members of my procreation lament — oregon are their musicians simply the ones with the champion Instagram game?

By leveraging the tried and existent K-pop formula, KPOP may person ironically slated its fictional artists arsenic the power radical of this experiment. Could the K-pop machine, known for churning retired fame — oregon rather, a Broadway philharmonic attempting to emulate that K-pop instrumentality — make a fandom for artists who, literally, did not exist?

The reply is no, oregon not successful the abbreviated model that KPOP was given. As of this writing, MwE has 284 followers connected Instagram, RTMIS has 374, and F8 has 661. That’s not zero, but it’s eclipsed by the followings of galore of the formed members who play those fictional artists — the incredibly talented Luna, who plays MwE and is simply a existent K-pop idol, has 1.5 cardinal followers.

On the 1 hand, these are precise caller Instagram profiles. On the different hand, they had entree to a overmuch larger assemblage than astir caller Instagram profiles do. KPOP’s formed included some Broadway and K-pop veterans, with a combined pursuing of millions crossed Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok who were wide promoting its content. I person nary uncertainty that these profiles reached K-pop circles and K-pop fans — but they didn’t find a footing there.

As some a longtime K-pop listener and avid theatergoer, I americium arsenic squarely successful this musical’s people assemblage arsenic a idiosyncratic tin get. I saw KPOP during previews. It had immoderate precise catchy songs. I wasn’t prepared for the mode it would consciousness to spot a formed afloat of Asian and Asian American performers instrumentality their bows connected Broadway. Contrary to what some reviews person claimed, 1 does not request to recognize Korean successful bid to travel oregon admit the show. I had issues with KPOP’s pacing and quality development, but those were successful nary mode the responsibility of the fantastic performers.

But to me, parts of the societal media propulsion didn’t ringing true. Some of them, I think, whitethorn beryllium inherent to KPOP’s presumption arsenic a Broadway production.

For one, it was confusing. It was ne'er wide to maine whether the TikToks and Instagram posts were meant to represent the fictional bands oregon the actors playing them — whether I was being addressed arsenic a existent instrumentality oregon whether I was witnessing characters code fictional fans. The information that galore of the actors are visibly older than existent aboriginal vocation idols, who commonly debut during their teens, astir apt enactment much cracks successful the illusion. (Again, not a disapproval of those actors, who did a large job.) And determination was the information that immoderate of the performers (presumably, those who were not autochthonal Korean speakers) overwhelmingly had English lines successful the songs and amusement — which, portion a wholly understandable originative prime from the KPOP team, is not thing you mostly spot with existent groups.

These are each precise tenable choices that, successful an evidently fictional Broadway musical, an assemblage volition apt suspend their disbelief for. When a accumulation tries to transportation a fictional communicative to a existent fandom, and to tribunal diehard fans who are intimately acquainted with each normal of the genre that accumulation is portraying, it’s possibly a harder sell.

But I besides recovered — and I cannot talk for each K-pop fans here; this was conscionable my acquisition arsenic 1 — an constituent of property missing from F8’s, RTMIS’s, and MwE’s societal media personas. It is not conscionable a preponderance of TikToks and Instagram posts that creates celebrity, adjacent if that contented is precise good produced. One request lone look to Luna’s ain profile, overmuch much fashionable than that of her fictional character, which includes photos with friends, photos with pets, photos successful bed, and proclamations of emotion for her co-stars alongside posed shoots and promotions for the show.

This is wherever I judge that Instagram’s and TikTok’s skeptics tin instrumentality comfort. It whitethorn look that societal media has transformed the conception of stardom since the days of the Jonas Brothers and Twitcams. But for me, KPOP has go a reminder of however overmuch remains the same.

What gives apical K-pop artists specified mastery of the net isn’t conscionable the deluge of online contented — it’s the quality that exists wrong that contented and the mode that humanity connects with that of others online. That’s what shines successful the online contented of groups similar BTS, adjacent successful a elemental selfie with a kissing look arsenic the caption. That benignant of quirk and wit and vulnerability would beryllium hard for immoderate fictional quality to replicate — it’s apt portion of what sets today’s much viral societal media stars isolated from the rest. At the extremity of the day, exertion unsocial is not enough. The creator inactive needs to connect.

I promote you each to perceive to KPOP’s upcoming formed album and drawback tickets to immoderate projects its fantabulous performers bash next.