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 Where next for the pop group? |
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 5th December 2021, 10:55 PM
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#1
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 They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
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Obviously with Little Mix now not set to be a going concern for a while to come after their tour next year, for the first time, certainly that I can remember in a long while, there won't be any active pop groups on the scene, be it girl groups or boybands. This is something I've given a lot of thought to recently, particularly in light of this Tweet that I saw a few weeks back: I speak as someone who grew up in two decades (the 90s and 00s) where you couldn't move for girl groups and boybands, there seemed to be one launched every week at one point. Truly I look back at that time and I miss it, even when there was the middling lesser performing acts to the big league ones. Ultimately though, both are youth driven concepts in essence, always have been by their very origin. I can't profess in my early 30s to know or have much of an interest in what is popular these days, but the charts without a solid performing girl group or boyband delivering the bops and bangers and fun and big arena tours seems well, bleak? Furthermore, how do you even go about breaking a new pop group these days, when everything is so geared towards Spotify and Hot Hits UK and New Music Friday and what gains TikTok popularity? It's almost nigh on impossible. It could well be that someone somewhere at a record label or even as we speak is putting together or even getting ready to launch such an act in the next year or two years. I know with Little Mix that their "The Search" show on the BBC last year was meant to achieve that, and were it not for COVID cocking things up, I dare say the groups they formed on there would have had more of a chance. |
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5th December 2021, 11:25 PM
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#2
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 1 January 2021
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It's going to be sad as Little Mix were basically the last big charting girl group and there doesn't look like there'll be anyone to fill that gap anytime soon
 I find it hard to imagine that there'll be another Little Mix/Spice Girls/Sugababes/Girls Aloud. |
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5th December 2021, 11:28 PM
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 Here to play, here to stay
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It depends what you put into this category I guess, but on two ends of the spectrum... you have Steps, who are an older group but still appeal to fans young and old with their pop music, and then you have on the other end of the spectrum international artists like BTS who seem to be set to continue to have success in the UK charts for the foreseeable future.
However, I would certainly agree it would be good to have new pop groups emerging, especially from the UK. |
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6th December 2021, 12:00 AM
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#4
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 is my brain across your walls?
Joined: 14 February 2009
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QUOTE(ThePensmith @ Dec 5 2021, 10:55 PM)  Furthermore, how do you even go about breaking a new pop group these days, when everything is so geared towards Spotify and Hot Hits UK and New Music Friday and what gains TikTok popularity? It's almost nigh on impossible. Why would a pop group not be able to benefit from these things? I have seen people claiming that "streaming" has killed off pop groups with no further elaboration multiple times and I do not understand what the link is, they're entirely unrelated concepts. |
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 6th December 2021, 06:53 AM
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#5
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
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QUOTE(Michael Bubré @ Dec 6 2021, 12:00 AM) Why would a pop group not be able to benefit from these things? I have seen people claiming that "streaming" has killed off pop groups with no further elaboration multiple times and I do not understand what the link is, they're entirely unrelated concepts. There is a direct link between the two though. If you take a glance at Hot Hits UK as it stands right now, Little Mix are the only girl group on there. Now OK, their career started off on the last truly decent year for The X Factor, and when downloads were still at their peak. Both those things are now either redundant or not as important as they were, but both got them to an incredibly wide audience. A lot of what came after was hard work and having consistently good songs and videos, true, hence why they've been able to grow and have lasted as long as they have. Now you look at the rest of HHUK and even this week's top 40. And what is it? It's Ed Sheeran, it's Adele, it's Justin Bieber, it's Drake, and after that it's a lot of solo stars (Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Sam Fender) and then a load of faceless DJs feat/X/Vs so and so who I personally wouldn't be able to identify from a lineup. Pop groups are driven on having personalities and big characters. The object of a record label is still, by and large, to sign artists that will be successful and make money. Usually if they look at something like HHUK or what gets Radio 1 or Capital airplay, if a certain genre's not as popular or there's less of a certain act, they're not gonna make the investment to begin with if they don't think it's worth bothering with. So that's part of the battle. The only two I can think of that record labels have tried to launch in recent years are Rak-Su and Four of Diamonds, both of whom were on X Factor in its autumn years, and neither of whom have had anything resembling a big hit ("Dimelo" aside in Rak-Su's case) or wider appeal. Andrew has made the very good point above that there is BTS but I would almost argue that what appeal they have (their Coldplay collaboration aside) is usually confined to first week of release only. Likewise, Steps are still active and producing great albums and singles, but they are viewed by the wider public and industry as (much as I hate the term) a "heritage" act. Still, historically if you look back, usually the girl groups or boybands that have made the biggest splash - Take That, Spice Girls - have broken through and got big precisely at the moment when there wasn't anyone else around like them. Now OK, again, very different era. But what I'm trying to say is the 2020s equivalent needs to have someone willing to take the gamble and make it work to begin with and make them matter. But if they're guided by what is safe and fits neatly into a playlist algorithm then it's not really gonna work. This post has been edited by ThePensmith: 6th December 2021, 06:54 AM |
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6th December 2021, 07:19 AM
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#6
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With Kristina in heart
Joined: 28 March 2017
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There are "million" cloned Asian pop girlbands and boybands from Japan and South Korea.
Also you always can start to be a fan of legendary Lithuanian girl group Mango. |
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6th December 2021, 08:43 AM
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#7
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 13 November 2015
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I'd say when HH adds a song, they don't care if it's a solo girl or a band or a solo guy, why would they
also if the label sends a big check, HH does what is being told a few years ago they didn't have a problem putting that Irish boyband Picture This at #1 on HH even though there was zero buzz about the band or the song and was a total flop, a check is a check |
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6th December 2021, 09:04 AM
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#8
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I feel it COMING!
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Why Don't We is probably the only new band group that is quite mainstream nowadays. Girl groups aside from duos and K-pop ones are on a demise sadly for reasons I can't explain.
This post has been edited by uhsting: 6th December 2021, 09:05 AM |
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6th December 2021, 09:11 AM
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#9
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 13 November 2015
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Im surprises labels are not putting out there new boy/girlbands cos there's clearly a gap in the market
and has been there since 1D split |
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6th December 2021, 09:26 AM
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#10
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 22 December 2009
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TWICE just had a #3 album in the US, there are lots of them coming from Korea. City Girls and Chloe & Halle are duos but doing pretty well on their own in the US.
I'd think there would be new ones in the UK too if stars align, but I'd say the group has to be formed organically - the days of "forced" girl/boy groups are behind in the UK and US. |
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6th December 2021, 09:45 AM
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#11
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Char1s
Joined: 19 March 2006
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We have westlife and a nice pop album at the moment
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6th December 2021, 09:48 AM
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 BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 20 August 2021
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The only way it's going to happen is if a couple of these young lads/lasses that are constantly being promoted but don't break through realise banding together as a group or pushed together by a label (your HRVY's of the world). I imagine that'll be where the next pop group comes from.
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6th December 2021, 09:49 AM
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#13
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
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QUOTE(Charis @ Dec 6 2021, 09:45 AM) We have westlife and a nice pop album at the moment Has anything made the singles chart? |
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6th December 2021, 10:03 AM
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#14
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Char1s
Joined: 19 March 2006
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QUOTE(ChristmasFridays @ Dec 6 2021, 11:49 AM) Has anything made the singles chart? starlight top 75. in their last album they had 2 top 40. |
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6th December 2021, 10:03 AM
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#15
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 20 April 2009
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It certainly feels like solo artists collaborating in different combinations has become more and more the done thing when it comes to chart music, perhaps lessening the need for groups. I’m not sure what’s driven that but I guess it’s easier and easier for artists to work together without even meeting.
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6th December 2021, 10:09 AM
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#16
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❤️❤️➕🟦
Joined: 3 June 2012
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I think the problem is that pop groups are more disproportionately buoyed by fans which can easily be translated to sales but it is a lot harder to push through in the streaming era because it limits fans impact. BTS are the biggest and possibly only pop group now getting hit singles and a large part is down to their massive fan base.
And yes, you can say there’s nothing stopping fans from still buying in the same amounts as before which should have a big impact but the new generation haven’t been brought up on sales. I’ve seen so many stans on Twitter acting like they’re saving someone’s career because they bought a CD or purchased the single 
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6th December 2021, 11:04 AM
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#17
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 WINTER IS COMING
Joined: 7 March 2006
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I think as a lot of people, these things tend to work in cycle. Before JLS, the Wanted and One Direction came about there wasn't a boyband on the scene for years either. Now I know only One Direction had massive international success, but even they were kind of aided a bit by Bieber Fever once their marketing team worked out the strategy.
Just like at the moment we are getting loads of female pop singers, who all sing about a similar type of theme rather than bubblegum/pure pop music for example after the success of Olivia Rodrigo. |
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7th December 2021, 06:17 PM
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#18
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
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There's a couple of articles I've come across. Now OK, one is from 2018 and the other from 2019, but they are recent enough that they touch on a lot of what we've been discussing:
This from The Fader titled "Serious question: where are all the girl groups?" https://www.thefader.com/2018/06/26/where-a...hild-little-mix And this, an interview with Peter Loraine in The Guardian (the man responsible for bringing us many Buzzjack favourites) about key facets for a good girl group (but which could also apply to boybands just as equally): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/...ake-a-girl-band Both make some very valid points that I want to draw focus to. This first from The Fader article: QUOTE In 2018, listeners seem to flock more readily to women who are like goddesses, who sell millions of albums all on their own, than to groups of women banding together in solidarity. The image of the lone, superhuman woman is a popular one, if you look at the Billboard charts and Wonder Woman's opening weekend ... The sound of female camaraderie remains a powerful one for certain audiences, yet it remains a challenge for groups of women to attain mainstream sway. If girl groups are to see a resurgence, they’ll have to prove to the market what we already know to be true: female friendship is worth looking at. And this that Peter says in The Guardian is also a valid point:QUOTE "There’s so much music out there now, but there are fewer TV shows, fewer pop mags, it’s harder to get radio’s attention. The volume of what is out there is colossal so it’s about making an impact with the song and then it’s: ‘Hey, they look great’; and, ‘Hey, I read a bit about them and they’re really interesting.’ It’s not about selling 10,000 singles in the shops and getting in the charts and then getting on the telly. If we were to release a new song with the Saturdays now it would be weird because everything’s changed. There’s no six-week lead-in times. Now, you start putting a song up on streaming and then you take it from there." I agree Rooney that everything is cyclical. I think with Olivia Rodrigo's success, we'll probably now get a glut of acts signed and launched trying to emulate her success which will reach saturation point, as these things always do. It could well be that people are looking at Little Mix right now, and (I hope) seeing past all the upheaval they've undergone in the last two years and are seeing the genuine sisterhood between the remaining three ladies even with this break announcement and are thinking "I want to be part of something like that". |
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8th December 2021, 01:11 AM
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#19
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 20 August 2021
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With BTS having to announce and 'extended break' to take an amount of time off that most artist wouldn't even announce 'December to March' may most musicians just don't want the relentless scheduling that comes from being in these types of groups?
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8th December 2021, 01:19 AM
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#20
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A dead mouse (from my cat)
Joined: 2 March 2018
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I think that’s just more a thing with the Kpop industry than pop groups generally.
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