I am a big K-pop stan. To list a few reasons why: soft but powerful choreography, eye-opening stages, and last but not least, catchy hooks generating thousands of trendy TikToks in no time. A few days ago, I was on a subway heading back home. It was Mantra by BLACKPINK's Jennie that was playing through my AirPods. Then it was APT. by Rosé, followed by Lisa's Money. The private concert exclusively for me was a bliss at the end of an exhausting day. I couldn't help but let the sound waves travel through my ears.
Once they turned into the electrical signal in the auditory nerve, alongside the cathartic harmony of rhythms in This is BLACKPINK playlist Spotify recommended, it suddenly hit me to realize that Jennie took 6 years to drop another official solo. As a Blink, holding breath for even a tiny spoiler of BLACKPINK's comeback, the feels-like gap between their releases is much longer than 6 years. Ready to wait another eternity, I was shaking. Both physically by the moves of the train, and mentally by the eagerness to give myself a reason for their rare comebacks.
Maybe the reason could be straightforward; BLACKPINK is not as desperate to show themselves in public. In an industrialized world, artists have hard times severing their performances completely from the earnings. The more they come to the light, the more attention they would gain, likely leading to what capitalism calls success. To boost its odds, their top priority is not to be forgotten. I mean, for most cases. BLACKPINK, however, with unparalleled influence over the globe, would prefer the way to pursue the quality of their music over being obsessed with a quantifiable number of media appearances. Sure thing they are confident not to be easily washed away in memory with such impressive talents.
As of now, measuring BLACKPINK's popularity is meaningless. I took off to a sidetrack here: are the popular ones popular because they appear often? Or do they appear often because they are popular? The relationship between frequency of exposure to the public and popularity is a two-way street. Why would filmmakers, show hosts, and program directors want celebrities? They know how exposure gains power through pre-established fame. Simple. Then, how did that fame begin in the first place? There must have been times when they placed their works out in the open over and over, until they finally started to gain attention from those who have similar taste. The chain reaction of exposure and popularity interacting has only added up the complexity. Okay, enough of this chicken-or-the-egg debate (K-pop ver.).
The train has arrived at the next station.
A new brainstorm suggests that they need sufficient time to fully prepare before confronting the public at higher expectation levels. Consecutive hits have made their music career the one-and-only in history, but it is plausible that it would have simultaneously burdened the artists and producers. Imperfect human beings rely on the time they spend to perfect the details, not the irresponsible belief in god's fortune.
Wait, on second thought, considering the fact that there are only two studio albums while Red Velvet has four, TWICE has eight, and BTS has nine so far, BLACKPINK has been comparatively too inactive to use perfectionism as an excuse. Even NMIXX, whose debut is much later than that of BLACKPINK, has released more albums. This data objectively indicates how prolonged their breaks are.
A lot more people are coming into the train. It seems like this is the transfer station.
Let's go back to the first hypothesis, but this time you pivot; if not BLACKPINK willingly refraining from contact with the audience, it might be their agency strategically controlling their exposure to the public. This was where one of my few expertise in Economics kicked in—yes, I took Introduction to Microeconomics last Summer. The law of diminishing marginal utility refers to the gradual decrease in satisfaction for each new unit of purchase; only the first few utilizations would thus provide the highest rewarding effect. The agency's choice of strategy is well-explained with this behavioral principle. Preventing excessive consumption of their image, BLACKPINK's lingering comebacks amplify fans' expectations and maximize fulfillment when the song is released. This is how they maintain global reputation in the long run.
Like any celebrities, singers, and actors in the hyper-connected environment of the 21st century, they tolerate the conflict between the formation and transition of their fixed image seen across media platforms. While doctors, project managers, and engineers sell and market services, skills, and products, performers in the entertainment industry define their personal selves as sales items. Building one's identity or forming a new one is already an energy-consuming task for all of us. When it becomes an actual job, it may get much more intimidating and problematic as we are not programmed robots automatically cloning new selves and naming them differently. Satisfying oneself as well as numerous opinionated and inconsiderate strangers is cruelty. Since the strategy extends the expiry date of BLACKPINK's current image in the media, it is not just an effective profit-bearing tactic but closer to an efficient insurance that protects the artists from the fatigue of forcing oneself to come up with endless wow factors.
The train starts to make steel-cracking noises. The noise that proves the railroad switch is working, the brake is working, and the wheels are working. That the train is on the right track.
All chunks of this whole contemplation respectively and distinctively resolve my initial curiosity. What encompasses this stream of consciousness is the concept of finity. The term scarcity seems appropriate to continue with the coherent tone of a business journalist. The root of wanting something more originates in the limited nature of resources. Excess leads to carelessness. Rareness creates value. Yes, we tend to value what is not easily obtained. Just like how gold became a prime reservoir of wealth. But it is crucial not to let the fantasy of rareness eat you up; there are plenty of joys to search for in reality too—that's why we live in the present. If I could talk to myself one hour ago, with the benefit of hindsight, I would advise him to focus on appreciating the songs for now, rather than wasting time waiting for all the problems to be magically solved overnight. Nothing lasts forever. If there is, therefore, an inevitable termination of all I am currently aware of, they deserve recognition before they cease to exist. It is a pleasure to witness the beauty of the contradictory reality I am living in, where new meets old, and thrill greets nostalgia.
When the fierceness of inner debate had calmed down, the train I was on arrived at the final stop. The subway stations were also scarce. Now there are only several songs left in This is BLACKPINK playlist. But it doesn't really matter anyway. Because they will always be there as long as I don't let them go. They have always been there no matter how scarce or rare they seemed. Right inside of me. Under the shimmering light of a blue moon. They will always be there. From this moment on, under the light of the moon I see every night.