Music critic Jung Minjae recently mentioned that boy groups that sell millions of albums are actually not popular with the public. This caused him to receive a lot of criticism from the audience for the absurdity of what he said.

Former editor-in-chief of music critic magazine IZM, Korean Music Awards selection committee member, and pop culture critic Jung Minjae are among the top young critics in Korea. Recently, Jung Minjae participated in an interview with Korea JoongAng Daily to share more about what popularity means in the current K-pop scene.

This is also where the controversy surrounding this critic's argument begins. According to the article, K-pop artists are topping international music charts, selling millions of albums and garnering millions of views on YouTube, but the Korean public confesses that they have never really listen to their songs or even really know who they are.

Jung Minjae explained why those quantitative results tell a different story from the real world. Firstly, Jung Minjae stated, "To the general public, BTS doesn’t have that much popular appeal either. People know who they are from the news that they topped the Billboard charts and whatnot. But the majority of Koreans have only heard of 'Butter' from the news and haven't really listened to the song. In that sense, BTS isn't that different from other boy groups."

Jung Minjae answered Korea JoongAng Daily's questions. Minjae stated that nobody really buys CDs to actually listen to them: "I don't think they reflect the general public's reaction in terms of whether the release was popular and widely listened to among the masses. How many people do you know that buy CDs actually to listen to them? Considering that, it makes no sense that these boy groups sell two or three million copies. A significant contribution to this is due to fans buying in bulk.

That being said, do those indexes not reflect reality at all? It’s becoming increasingly murky because what is that reality people talk about? Let’s say ten fans each buy 100 copies of an album. It doesn’t mean 1,000 people purchased that album, but are those ten loyal fans not part of the general public? It’s still meaningful that the singer has a sturdy fan base, and that’s an essential reality in today’s K-pop."

He also gave the example when received the question: "Then what would be more accurate indicators today?"

He answered: "Nowadays, a song is a hit if the general public is talking about it, especially if elements from the song are used widely as a meme to go viral. A great recent example was “Next Level”  by aespa, which was a megahit in the sense that the public talked about it like "Have you heard the strange lyrics and song structure?" It eventually turned into a viral meme on social media and was even used on the ballot, counting TV broadcast animations during the presidential election back in March. When something becomes a meme, it means that a large part of the public recognizes it."

Moreover, in the interview he also gave his opinion about the popularity level of BTS that: "Before 'Dynamite,' BTS's songs like 'DNA,' 'Boy With Luv,' and 'On' did enter the Billboard charts, but most of their ranks dropped after a couple of weeks. That suggests that rather than being organic hits, those songs were boosted on the charts thanks to the power of their fandom.

I think BTS was at a crossroads before releasing 'Dynamite' whether to maintain their musical identity or aim for No. 1 on Billboard. I'd say they chose the latter. 'Dynamite' was not self-produced, and the lyrics were in English to come across as more familiar to American listeners.

Commercially, it was a smart choice, but I hope this phase of BTS doesn't last long in terms of their musical style. I once talked about this and got so much backlash. But the lines of 'Dynamite,' 'Butter,' and 'Permission to Dance' didn’t have BTS's own color.

BTS initially rose to success for their unique music and self-written lyrics that were honest, relatable, and contained social critiques. I’d like to see that BTS again."

He even gave the reason why the numbers did not reflect reality fully because: "Koreans who remember the days of Koreans all singing along to nationwide hits, like Wonder Girls' 'Tell Me,' lament that K-pop has lost its 'general public popular appeal.' They call all these sales numbers and fandoms 'leagues of their own.'

Before K-pop idol music as we know it today emerged in the '90s, young generations, and their parents all listened to the same singers. Nowadays, I hear boy group NCT is really popular among teens, but most people in their 20s and above don’t know a single member or song from NCT. Does that mean those K-pop idols are unpopular? No, it means the content is more individualized today."

He added: "The estrangement between public appeal and fandom power is especially noticeable among boy groups. Girl groups still tend to make music more palatable to the general public. We’re no longer seeing songs like that from boy groups anymore. But until the early 2010s, boy groups like SHINee, Bigbang, and Infinite also produced widely-known hits.

Things started changing in the mid-2010s when boy groups like EXO and BTS became bolder in incorporating hip-hop elements into their music, ending up with songs that are too convoluted to appeal to the masses. Instead, boy groups started going for new concepts and visually overwhelming performances like 'kalgunmu' (dancing in perfect sync), which set them apart from Western pop."

After the article was published, this reviewer was met with many other criticisms that this was just a one-sided view on his part when in fact many people listen to music sincerely. Many also think that this critic is rejecting the entire influence and dedication of idols to the development of Korea's reputation.