From 2016 to 2022, K-pop was at its peak. Korean entertainment companies were generating millions and millions of revenue solely from one group; Now, companies are constantly debuting group after group in hopes of creating a hit: except it’s not working. It is safe to say that the industry is going exponentially downhill. Here are some reasons why: 

1. The idols are too young
   • K-pop is now entering its 5th generation. Companies are advertising their global auditions, but there is a catch: the age limit to audition is quickly shifting. Now, the age limit to simply audition ranges anywhere from the birth years 2014-2009 in order to audition. With companies debuting literal infants, the older audience, the ones who have been there since the beginning, don’t really have much to connect with because it’d be strange for them to stan actual children. That being said, there are many people who leave fan bases because they also do not support this kind of industry: overworking children and putting them out into a world with no mercy when they are too young. 
2. Terrible management/promotion 
   • Awful management of groups is probably the main reason why K-Pop is going downhill. Let’s take JYP, one of the big three companies in Korea and how they managed to mismanage not one, but three groups. Let’s start with NMIXX. Every single member of that group had trained for 6+ years; they spent their entire teenage years just training. After their debut, they had two consecutive hits then just left the face of the Earth…with horrible music. They were not promoted well at all; they had terrible concepts, outfits, and childish songs. Honestly, I feel awful for them because if I used up my teenage years to train and they put me out with ear-deafening songs I would be traumatized. Let’s move on to the epitome of mismanagement: VCHA. VCHA is, or was, we don’t even know if they’rea group anymore, K-Pop’s first global girl group. Obviously this concept is clearly eye-catching since a strictly Asian industry is shifting to a more reached-out industry. Their debut was a hit, and everyone seemed to love them. One day, they just stopped posting content and also disappeared off the face of the Earth, and are nowhere to be found. 
3. No money in the gamble 
   • K-Pop is NOT a lucrative industry whatsoever. The chances to get into an audition to a prominent company is about 3%, then from there, to actually debut, may be about 2%, then from there, to actually be successful is maybe about .5%. The entire Ivy Leagueis calling and they want their admissions rate back. Obviously, parents of these children would not want their child to gamble away their entire childhood and teenage years for nothing, which is why less and less people are auditioning. That being said, even if a group does make it out to be successful, their first step is to pay back their company, so you really do not start getting paid once you are out of their “debt.” 
4. Bad music 

• • I’m going to rip the band-aid off here, there is not a single good K-Pop song that came out recently, maybe with the exception of NewJeans and some Illit songs. Once these companies find a style that hits, they take it, run with it, and milk it out. Look at Magnetic by ILLIT. Their chorus is empty, but constantly repeating the words in the chorus clearly worked; it was a huge hit and could possibly win as SOTY. Hybe took that and pasted it onto Enhypen’s XO, then to Katseye’s Touch. There is no variation of music anywhere, boy group music sounds the same, and quite frankly is sound music, they sample everything and anything given in their stock sample file, and there is just too much going on, or nothing going on. K-Pop needs to bring out the doers again…