“I don’t know who’s the center, Jisoo or Jennie.”
It’s not just Blackpink. All of the major girl groups that are considered as representatives of the fourth-generation girl groups such as (G)I-DLE and ITZY all don’t have the position of center.
The center is like the ‘face’ of a girl group. Previous girl groups have captivated the public with solid centers such as Yoon-ah (Girl’s Generation), Suzy (Miss A), and Seolhyun (AOA).
It is the ‘trickle-down effect’ in economics.
In particular, as the 9-member Girl’s Generation achieved great success, multi-member girl groups who copied it came out pouring out.
Popular culture critic Kim Jung-hyun said, “A large agency like SM Entertainment still had the capacity to send out members to various fields such as dramas and radio DJs, but small and medium-sized agencies that did not have such opportunities had no choice but to invest ‘all-in’ to one center,” he said.
In fact, in the case of some girl groups, some members left or the team broke down as conflicts arose without overcoming these problems.
rnThen, from the mid-2010s, strategies that do not emphasize the center position have been introduced. The representative girl group is TWICE. TWICE strictly restricts members’ individual activities in CF and entertainment programs. It is a strategy of ‘fountain water effect’, which is opposite to the so-called ‘trickle-down effect’.
Gaon Chart Chief Commissioner Kim Jin-woo said, “It can be interpreted that there is no center, but it can also be interpreted as a multi-centers,” he said.
“If you set up a center, the group image is bound to be fixed, but no-center or multi-center has the advantage of enriching the musical colors that the team can digest. In other words, you can develop a variety of musical marketing strategies.”
Source: news.joins.com
