The powerful debut of the 3rd girl group LESSERAFIM once again ignited discussions about DM Entertainment in K-pop.
DM Entertainment's actions once again proved that this era still belongs to DM.
Even though DM Entertainment personally ended the era of second-generation girl groups, now in the period of third-generation girl groups, they are still the leaders of this new era.
Just one week after their debut, the Golden Disc Awards invited LESSERAFIM to participate in the 2022 Golden Disc Awards.
To be nominated for Best New Artist Group just one week after debut is quite outrageous.
But when you see the various records LESSERAFIM set in their first week, it feels quite reasonable.
As the end of the year approached, all major ceremonies began to invite people to their events, and various awards ceremonies also started to scout for nominees.
Compared to the absolute dominance of IZONE in previous years, where they swept both Bonsang and Daesang awards, IZONE's disbandment has instead brought new suspense to these ceremonies.
This year's candidates are numerous: Red Velvet, who topped trending searches in 41 countries with “Psycho”; aespa, who swept their contemporaries with “As If It's Your Last” and are constantly evolving into a sound source powerhouse; and Kim Tae-yeon, whose song “Spark” spread throughout the K-pop world, sounding a battle anthem.
These three powerful candidates have filled this year's Golden Melody Awards Daesang with suspense, forming a stark contrast to previous years when the outcome was known even before the ceremony began.
In other categories, there were also many shadows of DM Entertainment artists and groups.
All the groups nominated for the Best Female Group award were from DM Entertainment; the organizing committee couldn't even find a few non-DM Entertainment groups to fill the quota.
There was no other way; DM Entertainment had to continue its monopoly.
What else could be done?
If they forcibly brought in a few artist groups, it would be fine if the gap wasn't too big, but in the current situation, the gap is too large, and fans aren't fools. If you forcibly insert one, not only will the forcibly inserted group be scolded, but the organizing committee won't escape either.
It's better not to do it.
Furthermore, Kim Tae-yeon, as a solo artist, received a Daesang nomination in this golden age of girl groups, while the other three did not receive Daesang nominations. From this, many people inferred that Kim Tae-yeon might already be the top among the Four Greats female solo artists.
Such remarks naturally drew dissatisfaction from the other three parties.
Lee Sun-mi's and Kim Hyun-a's fans had something to say: “We only lost to IU, who are you, Kim Tae-yeon? Why are you first?”
Lee Ji-eun's fans also had something to say: “We beat Lee Sun-mi and Kim Hyun-a. This year we only had one comeback, while you had three comebacks this year. What's wrong with getting a Daesang nomination? It's like you can actually win the Daesang.”
Kim Tae-yeon's fans were not to be trifled with, and they rebutted such remarks one by one.
“Kim Tae-yeon indeed hasn't beaten Lee Sun-mi and Kim Hyun-a, but that's when they haven't clashed. If they really clashed, it's hard to say. Moreover, Kim Tae-yeon's album results are better than both of yours, and her sound source results are the best among the four.”
“What's wrong with being nominated? We might not necessarily win the Daesang with a nomination, but it's better than you not even getting nominated, right?”
“Final Four, Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, it's always better than staying home doing nothing.”
The three parties devolved into a chaotic argument.
The reason there were three parties was that Kim Hyun-a's and Lee Sun-mi's fans strangely banded together to “jointly resist the enemy.”
This was just a microcosm of what happens before every awards ceremony; once the nomination list is announced, fans from each camp start arguing, and it's impossible to stop them.
In the current golden age of girl groups, the living space for solo artists has actually been compressed quite a bit.
Although boy groups didn't fully capitalize on the era's dividends, they are in a different lane than girl groups, so while they didn't get as much benefit as girl groups, it wasn't a huge deal.
But solo artists are different. Korean solo artists are essentially still in the idol + singer model. Looking at the popular solo artists recently, none of them have low visuals.
Take the Four Greats female solo artists as an example; any one of them has visuals good enough to debut in a girl group.
To put it bluntly, the culture of Korean Entertainment is based on visuals. If you're not good-looking, only the acting industry has a slightly higher acceptance; other fields are very difficult.
In such a broad environment, idol groups that emphasize visuals are naturally the darlings of the era.
Kim Tae-yeon, a solo artist, was able to receive a Daesang nomination despite being surrounded by multiple girl groups, and she even competed against the top girl groups like aespa and Red Velvet.
Among those who supported Kim Tae-yeon, not all were her fans; besides her fans, there were also many fans who only followed solo artists.
Driven by an unknown force, this year's Golden Melody Awards Daesang gradually shifted from a competition between artists and entertainment companies to a clash between solo artists and girl groups.
For this reason, the Golden Disc Awards, originally scheduled for January 2023, was moved up to December 10th, a full month earlier.
Holding it before the ceremonies of the Three Greats television stations even began clearly showed their intention: “We, the Golden Melody Awards, want to seize the first wave of year-end buzz!”
Soon, the date arrived at December 10th, the day of the 2022 Golden Disc Awards ceremony.
At Jiang Shu's home.
Knock knock knock.
A knock on the door sounded.
“Open the door.”
“Yes.” The chef's assistant put down his work and went to open the door.
Dr. Choi Min-soo, along with the woman and young boy who came with him, raised their eyebrows at the man in a chef's uniform.
“Where is Chairman Jiang?”
“Please come in, sir and madam. Chairman Jiang is in the living room.”
Dr. Choi Min-soo and his family of three walked in.
“Chairman Jiang!” The three of them bowed to Jiang Shu.
“You're here.” Jiang Shu smiled at Dr. Choi Min-soo's family.
Dr. Choi Min-soo's family sat down and noticed that the Golden Melody Awards ceremony was playing on the TV.
“Chairman Jiang, you've been nominated for Best Producer again. Did you choose not to go to the ceremony?” Dr. Choi Min-soo asked proactively after sitting down.
“They can just send it to me later,” Jiang Shu said indifferently.
Anyway, since he wasn't going, the award would still be his.
“That's true,” Dr. Choi Min-soo nodded.
Jiang Shu's gaze fell on the young boy, who looked to be six or seven years old, in front of him.
“Your son is very quiet. How old is he?”
“Choi Tae-hwan,” Dr. Choi Min-soo called out.
Choi Tae-hwan immediately stood up from the sofa and respectfully bowed to Jiang Shu.
“Hello, Chairman Jiang. My name is Choi Tae-hwan, I'm seven years old this year, and I'm in first grade at Seoul Foreign Language Elementary School!”
His childish voice and deliberately serious demeanor amused Jiang Shu.
“The little guy is quite well-behaved,” Jiang Shu teased.
“When facing President nim, good manners are essential,” Dr. Choi Min-soo said with a smile.
Jiang Shu had suddenly invited his family to visit, and before coming, Dr. Choi Min-soo had repeatedly told his wife to make sure to control their son.
Although children's words are innocent, based on his observations of Jiang Shu's profile, Jiang Shu was not someone who particularly liked children, or rather, he really disliked bratty kids.
Therefore, they had to be especially careful with their son.
They couldn't let their son cause trouble for his father.
