Have I aged out of kpop?
After another year of watching groups come and go, I take a look in the mirror and wonder if maybe, just maybe, I’m too old for this.
This article is part of The G Spot, a weekly segment where criticista Gordistotle gives insight into the pop culture happenings of now through opinions or anecdotes on his life living in Toronto.
Somehow, it’s been almost a decade since I first encountered (and immediately devoted myself to) KPop. Over the past 8 years (which is crazy to say), I’ve watched my fair share of new groups debut and take the stage. As a teenager, each new group was revolutionary to me. I loved the near-constant assault of pretty colours and high-energy, fun concepts. It’s a new single every week with KPop–it’s perfect for those of us with no patience. Of course, I wanted to learn more about these groups, I’m a fan- duh! When I was 15, the only reason I would check an idol's birthday was to find out their star sign.
Now, checking a new group’s KProfiles (Korea’s FamousBirthdays) is a jump scare.
Category is: Red Velvet
Let’s set the scene—Red Velvet, the first girl group that I really loved, debuted in 2014. By the time I discovered them in 2017, all of the members were 18-26 (to high school me that meant they were eons older than me). Red Velvet were (and still are) the shit. I loved them, I went to see them in concert in 2019—I thought they’d be around forever.
Little did I know just how quickly a KPop company will bench older acts to promote their new ones.
KPop entertainment companies typically cycle through 1-2 boy and girl groups each over a 7-year span, which fans have dubbed “generations”. Red Velvet was SM Entertainment’s first girl group since f(x) debuted in 2009, marking the company’s flagship “3rd Generation” girl group. It’s like, kind of ridiculous when you think about it, but K-Pop is still a relatively new industry and was only really coined as its own thing in the ‘90s.
Things move fast in South Korea—maybe it’s the 5G internet—but it was a long 5 years between f(x) and Red Velvet’s debuts. When a company debuts a new group, all its resources start backing them. Despite being wildly successful in South Korea and China, f(x) received increasingly less promotion—eventually fading from relevance entirely and quietly disbanding.
As a fan coming in after the fact, I viewed it as a cautionary tale. SM had managed them poorly and they had another girl group active at the time that was more successful, so it made sense to stop promoting f(x). But that could never happen to Red Velvet, they’re the company’s sole promoting female group!
I had yet to experience my favs being shelved, and I was about to find out what it was like.
The aespa saga
6 years after Red Velvet’s debut, their successor, aespa (stylized as all lowercase), hit the scene on November 17th, 2020. My 19th birthday was right around the corner and some might say this is too old to be a Kpop fan. Prior to this, I would have agreed.
I couldn’t have my cool new university friends knowing this little (not so well hidden) secret of mine. That shame went out the window when lockdown hit though. I was sent packing from Toronto back to my hometown, what else was there to do but fight with other disgruntled KPop stans online? Nothing.
The months leading up to aespa’s debut were a very dark time for me.
I’ve continuously mentioned my age for a reason. aespa debuted with members aged 18-20, which was shockingly old at the time—the industry’s standard has always been to debut idols much younger. I, however, wasn’t taken aback by their ages because, well, they were my age. They could have been my university peers, but instead, they were performing on Inkigayo.
Due to no fault of their own, I could not stand these girls. My thoughts: They’re taking away Red Velvet’s budget, fuck them!
Maybe being inside all day had me going stir-crazy, but I had many things to say about them on Twitter. The writing was on the wall, I knew Red Velvet was doomed to the same fate as f(x). I wasn’t going to let them go down without a fight. I lost sleep and my GPA tanked—my online classes were the least of my priorities that November, I had to end aespa.
Thankfully, my KPop Twitter reruns were short-lived. I moved back to Toronto in February 2021 and decided I couldn’t be like that around my friends, they’d think I was crazy… I made my account private going forward. I still had to keep tabs, but my aespa lashings had a smaller audience now.
RIP Red Velvet
As expected, Red Velvet slowly but surely was sent to the SM basement. Between a member suffering a major injury and another getting into a scandal for berating her stylist, the group went on a long hiatus causing them to significantly dwindle in popularity. Red Velvet’s once-quarterly releases slowed to a yearly “We’re still here guys!” single to keep the fans from sending boycott trucks to the company’s front doors–yes that’s a thing that happens.
Once a year may seem like a lot, but when the song sucks, it’s like, why bother? Meanwhile, aespa only got bigger, releasing massive hit singles in Red Velvet’s absence.
5 years later, I can admit that my resentment for aespa has dissipated, it’s not their fault, of course. I’ll be honest, they’re one of my favourite groups now, but not in the same way, Red Velvet was my favourite as a teenager.
Long gone are the days of knowing their birthdays, MBTIs, and nicknames. I’m 23, I really couldn’t care less. I just want to see pretty girls singing fun songs.
KPop’s New Girl Group
Just as I had warmed up to aespa, murmurs of SM announcing a new girl group at the beginning of 2025 started circulating online.
It’s almost unfathomable to think that aespa, who just had the biggest year in KPop—maybe ever—is about to be sent to the SM dungeon. I’ve learned my lesson with Red Velvet, it doesn’t matter how popular you are, it’s the name of the game.
“Hearts2Hearts”, SM’s 5th Gen girl group, was introduced (via promotional video) at SM’s yearly anniversary concert “SMTown”.
Like, ok, I’m curious. They have a little NewJeans vibe going on, what’s tea? SM gave no information about any of the members which always drives the blogs crazy. Out of nowhere, like some sort of sleuths, fans already have speculated names, ages, and nationalities. KPop has a lot of stalker fans, it’s scary—but that’s none of my business.
As previously mentioned, gone are the days of loving a group for its members, there’s no song, what is there for me to like? However, this is SM we're talking about, of course, I’m going to check it out.
Members of Hearts2Hearts (하츠투하츠), also shortened as H2H: Carmen, Jiwoo, Haram, Dahyun, Jooeun, Yuna, Leean and Nayeon.
“Oh my god, these girls are my little brother’s age.”
My little brother is turning 16 this year. Since its inception, KPop’s been debuting teenagers—16 is nowhere near as young as it gets—but it’s safe to say it’s the average age. As a 15-year-old, this didn’t phase me, I became a fan right during the middle of the 3rd Gen, and there had yet to be any popular groups with members close to my age. As the years came and went, that quickly began to change.
The Future of KPop
Kpop companies post audition advertisements each year in search of new potential trainees, these adverts have age requirements. If you take a look at SM’s latest 2025 poster, they’re calling for anyone born between 2005…… and 2015.
I’m too old to keep tuning in I gotta move on, I’ll cling to f(x), Red Velvet, aespa, and all those that came before them. I’ll see myself out.
That being said—I went to a KPop concert this weekend. While I thought I would love it… I may have set my expectations too high. Yves, whose song “Loop” made my Top Songs of 2024 list, performed at the Danforth Music Hall last weekend. Oh my god, was it a bust! I may have been the target audience in 2017 but those days are long gone.
I felt ridiculous, this is children’s entertainment. I might as well have been at a Wiggles concert. The most egregious part was when what should’ve been an opener began performing 5 songs in the middle of her set!? I have never been to a concert where something like that happened. My friends and I were speechless—I was googling how to get a refund mid-show. We also had no idea when his set would end, so instead of a smoke break, we sat through it. I should’ve known better than to see someone in concert with essentially two singles out… It was my mistake. It won’t happen again, that’s for sure. Seeing “Loop” live was pretty great though. It was an awesome opener, I just should’ve left after.
While it may have upset me, I couldn’t help but notice how everyone around me seemed to be loving it. What do you mean, you guys don’t realize this is terrible? They don’t care, they’re seeing their favourite idol on stage. It’s not for me anymore, and while I was once easily impressed, this time, I wasn’t.
It’s unfortunate to say, but, just like f(x), Red Velvet, and now aespa, I’ve aged out of this whole fandom thing. I just can’t in good faith be a 15 year old’s fan. Has this entire article just been me grappling with aging? Maybe. One second you’re the hag then suddenly the hag is me I guess.
He may have aged out, but he’ll always protect his girls <3
