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I think this has more to do with our culture making everything about the individual. You can’t name bands anymore, because explosive popularity is the realm of the individual artist. Even massive individual artists, disappear into relative obscurity when they move into a band format (John Mayer). Kanye, Taylor, Nicki, Lizzo, Justin, Drake, Ariana, Billie, Miley... Even hip-hop, which seems like a distinctly individual genre, used to be ruled by groups. NWA, Wu-Tang, Roots, etc. Our current culture over-values individuals and loves the myth of the one wo/man show. Teams are boring. Give us someone to follow. You see this with founders too. Even if the company was created by a team, there must be one figurehead. I guess this is because so much of marketing is aspirational. Most people try to purchase the identity they want. It’s easier to sell an identity with an actual person. |
People repeat it often, but it's not true, it can't explain Blankpink, BTS, Twice, Red Velvet, etc. It's probably just americanism to emphasize individuals, but big music is produced by teams (and not small teams) regardless whether it appears to look like an individual.