During the second and third generations of Kpop, music videos often featured elaborate sets, detailed costumes, and cinematic stories. Productions like BTS’s Blood Sweat & Tears and Spring Day, VIXX LR’s Beautiful Liar, and Seventeen’s Don’t Wanna Cry captivated audiences with their scale and emotional depth. These works blurred the line between performance and visual storytelling, turning music into an immersive experience.
That sense of grandeur began to fade in the late 2010s, especially as Kpop became part of the global mainstream. Industry analysts believe that BTS’s rapid rise attracted unprecedented attention to the genre. Labels, keen to boost profits, started reducing elaborate productions in favor of simpler content that fit shorter formats. Expensive location shoots and complex costumes gave way to simpler studio sets, often referred to as “white box” videos, which were quicker and cheaper to produce.
The music itself reflects this change. Earlier generations often featured expansive instrumentals, dramatic bridges, and strong vocal layering. Many current title tracks focus on minimal choruses designed for TikTok dance challenges, often omitting bridges entirely to shorten runtimes. This approach works well for social media but sacrifices the complexity and emotional depth that once characterized Kpop’s most memorable songs.
Fans lament this trend not only in music videos but also in stage fashion and performance styles. Once-iconic uniforms and coordinated costumes have largely vanished, replaced by designer outfits that showcase individual members but lessen the overall visual impact. Theatrical elements, like the circus-like staging in Xia Junsu’s Flower or the gothic surrealism of i-dle’s Oh My God, are rare in new releases, leading many to feel that the sense of fantasy has faded.
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Industry observers suggest this shift reflects broader changes in global pop culture. Short-form video platforms favor immediacy and repetition, pushing music toward brevity and simplicity. Rising production costs also make high-concept projects risky investments unless supported by the industry’s major players. While groups like Stray Kids and aespa continue to explore larger-scale concepts, these efforts are still exceptions rather than the rule.
Still, trends in Kpop often come back around. Just as the “noise music” wave gave way to the minimalist sound popularized by acts like NJZ (popularly known as New Jeans), there may be a renewed interest in cinematic and grand productions. For now, however, fans who once turned to Kpop for its scale and spectacle increasingly describe the genre as smaller, more predictable, and focused on virality instead of artistry.
Kpop remains a powerful force on charts and global stages, but the loss of its grand aesthetic leaves many wondering what made the genre special in the first place.
