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💭 Thoughts and Questions 💭
Content: My thoughts on the backlash to the JITB physical release. This is rather long.
It feels necessary to preface this with I LOVE Jung Hoseok. I’m a fan. His solo release may damn well be my favorite of Ch. 2 so far. None of my thoughts are a criticism of him, moreso criticisms of the backlash to the physical release…
So, I’m trying to keep up with the drama surrounding the JITB physical release but maybe I’m just too out of the loop to understand?
I don’t buy physical copies (of almost anything). It’s just not a part of my fandom experience for any fandom I belong to. Hasn’t been for years, since most of the world and my household went digital. So maybe that’s why I didn’t get the uproar originally when everyone wanted a physical album, but I mostly ignored it. Now I see a lot of people chastising those who wanted a physical album (and apparently caused enough of a ruckus to get one) and I’m not getting things again.
Perhaps it’s because I work for a B2C (business to consumer) corporation and I’ve been in marketing for a decade, but to me this seems like a normal occurrence? That is: 1) customers want/like something/ a feature they’ve come to expect. 2) business doesn’t quite realize or foresee how much their customers like said feature. 3) business releases a version of their product without said feature, to switch things up or for budgetary reasons or whatever. 4) customers go “hey what the hell, where’s that feature we like?!” and business is forced to 5) step back, reevaluate, and decide whether to stick with their original rollout or make a change to meet the demands and re-release the product with the feature that was missing.
Does that make sense? Idk… I guess I’m probably over-simplifying it, since one of the differences between the products released by a musician/idol and those released by a business is that there’s a lot of personal creativity and agency in the idol’s release. So criticism of it can come off like disrespect/distrust/hate for the artist themself. However, I would like to note that a great deal of creativity and passion goes into many, many products, and just because a large business produces them doesn’t mean that a lot of individual artists and creators and businesspeople weren’t behind the scenes, busting their asses only to be disappointed when they see the consumer reactions, which are oftentimes not as open to innovation and change as the artists were hoping. They experience that pain too, they’re just not precious, beloved idols so nobody really takes it upon themselves to defend them, and they pretty much only have their partners and work friends to mope to about it over drinks at happy hour.
And that brings up another interesting point; people seem to be defending Hobi on the basis that any ARMY who demanded a physical album are questioning his creativity/validity as an artist and making him feel bad and in general being shitty, entitled, ungrateful fans. In other words, they’re defending him as a creative person, not as a business person. Cause it could be argued that not releasing a physical album was, in hindsight, just not a great business decision. And he realized that later on, and, like his letter said, had to decide whether he wanted to stay the course or make a “better late than never” change.
[sidenote: I read the translation in its entirety, and I’m not seeing the agonizing heartbreak that others seem to be seeing? I’m seeing the honest explanation of a creative who made a bold move and is realizing — with some disappointment — that his audience wasn’t as appreciative as he hoped they’d be, and he’s making a course correction…? But maybe I’m too steeped in the corporate world to see this as the soul-wrenching sob story it apparently is??]
The reason I think it’s interesting that people are defending him primarily as a creative person and not a business person is that a few weeks back my timeline was FULL of ARMY’s mocking and side-eyeing you know who — Doja Cat.
She made waves (again…) for essentially saying she didn’t “love” her fans cause she doesn’t know them. And my TL was flooded with people smugly saying “it’s just a bad business decision to alienate your fans like that” while simultaneously sharing clips of BTS and their very demonstrative love for ARMY while gloating “can’t relate 😇”. Which begs the question — are BTS’s expressions of love for ARMY personal, or are they just good business?
I’m not saying that to be cynical, I’m saying it because Doja Cat (and I’m not an apologist for her by any means, but it’s a timely reference) was apparently a foolish businesswoman for making statements that made her fans mad. And Hobi is apparently a poor, wounded creative soul for making a decision that made his fans mad…?
Now, making inflammatory statements like “I don’t know those ppl” when referring to your loyal fans and not releasing a physical version of an album are two WILDLY different things and I understand that. I am not trying to conflate the two, more just noticing when and how we, as a fandom, choose to refer to famous musicians as “businesspeople” and when we don’t. When Doja spurns her fans, it’s a dumb business move. When BTS says they love their fans, it’s because they’re super duper sweethearts who love us forever. When Hobi makes a call for his album that a lot of fans disagree with, voicing that disagreement is suddenly hate and harassment for the artist you’re supposed to love, rather than consumer backlash.
I say this not having seen the harassment myself, but I also didn’t look for it. I saw people expressing disappointment, frustration, even that classic paranoia that all ARMY seem to have these days (“he’s being mistreated!”). So if there were genuine threats, hate, and vile behavior that crossed the line (and sadly, in this fandom, there probably was) then I think calling that out and saying “WTF is wrong with you people?!?!” is more than justified.
But when I see people scold, lecture, and attack others for clamoring for a physical album and being overjoyed when their cries were answered, I just think…. You must not work in the consumer goods industry. Cause this shit isn’t that unusual. 🤷♀️
Tell me how I’m wrong? I’m totally open to respectfully chatting. Just kinda had to get it out of my head.
What the actual fuck
They say it's because Beyonce's new music is coming out and there's no way he will chart No. 1
Why did they feel the need to say this?
Because they want to downplay BTS success and we all know that.
