Indonesia’s everlasting obsession with boy and girl groups
Read in Indonesian
For some, it is a rite of passage, just like braces and teenage acne; everybody goes through this phase no matter who you are. For some, it is an obsession that lasts well into adulthood, with new faces for every generation, as though the universe tries to ensure that this infatuation sustains. We are talking about our everlasting obsession with boy and girl groups.
There is no definitive timeline that points to the exact period this concept was born. For some, The Beatles were the first boy band, at least in their early years. Initially, the four Liverpudlian lads came out with a fabricated image as mop-topped dreamboats with a funny accent, and they introduced the blueprint for a successful boy band: they had the ‘rebel’ (John Lennon), the cute one (Paul McCartney), the quiet one (George Harrison) and the funny one (Ringo Starr). With few substitutions, this has been a winning formula that survived generations and decades.
A boy band (or girl band) can be defined as a pop music group made up of young men (or women) who sing and dance This concept transcends eras, nationalities, races, and even genres. After The Beatles with their British invasion in the 1960s, there were New Edition, New Kids On The Block, Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Westlife, F4, Super Junior, One Direction, BTS and many others. There is a boy band for every season, it seems. For girl bands, who could forget Spice Girls when they reigned the 1990s, or Destiny’s Child not long after? And of course we still have Little Mix carrying the torch.
Trends come and go; sometimes American acts are favoured, other times like today, everybody looks to K-POP as reference. In between, we had Britpop and J-Pop phases, and Indonesia is certainly not immune to this. The country even gives birth to some notable groups of its own. Trio Libels in the 1980s rose to the occasion, Coboy, AB Three, JKT48 and Coboy Junior in recent years have scored hits and captured the hearts of many fans. Indonesia even brings its own flavours, such as the dangdut girl group Trio Macan and nasyid or Islamic boy band Adam.
Fay Ismail, a music producer and sound engineer who has worked with local groups such as the girl band Mollucas, believes that Indonesia will always be a main target market for current and future girl and boy bands, “Because people here love this type of music, and the market is eating all these music up. Indonesian fans are also quite loyal once they become fans of a group. Some of them may even become die-hard fanatics,” he said.
According to Fay, the following are the factors that determine the success of a boy or girl band: looks, songs, behind the scene drama, choreography, costume/style and fan interaction. Touching on the aforementioned behind the scene drama, Fay said that, “Indonesians love drama and they always want to know what is going on in their idols’ lives. The more drama and rumours that are spreading around, the better it usually is for a group’s popularity.”
Popular as they may be, such groups are saddled with some unrelenting stigma. One being the notion that the members are manufactured, unremarkable talents. Maria Sherman, author of the book ‘Larger Than Life: A History Of Boy Bands From NKOTB To BTS’ (2020), argues that boy bands do not get the same respect as other music acts largely due to internalised perception of what is ‘good’. “And that's the rock songwriter — and that's not what boy bands are," she added.
“To think about boy bands critically, you can't really adhere to the same value systems where authenticity by songwriting is the best or the most interesting thing an artist can be. You have to place that value of authenticity elsewhere, and that would be the connection that listeners have with the music itself,” Sherman explained.
The Finery Report had the opportunity to interview Un1ty, an Indonesian boy band that recently launched their new song and MV titled ‘Baby’. Members of the band are clearly aware of the stigma that is attached to groups such as theirs, “there are a lot of people out there who assume that all we do is sing and dance, but in reality, we do a lot more than that. We have an English class, a Muay Thai class, we learn public speaking, we learn how to act, we learn about manners and how to carry ourselves in public. There are so many things we have to learn. We are expected to be multi-talented.”
Image: Un1ty band
The band also highlighted an interesting point that helps explain the allure of boy and girl bands, “we believe that the concept of boy and girl band is sustainable in Indonesia because this group concept automatically provides a lot of options to fans. With solo acts, we have one focal point, with more or less the same genre of songs. Meanwhile, in a group, we have different members with different potentials to explore. That is what we do in Un1ty, there is a ‘centre’ in each of our singles, and the songs adjust to the ‘centres’, thus we have ballads, upbeat songs, and even hip hop.”
It is not also the concept that is sustainable. For some boy and girl band alumni, their appeal seems sustainable too. From Beyonce (formerly of Destiny’s Child) to Iqbaal Ramadhan (formerly of Coboy Junior), we have seen that there is life after boy/girl band. But one must fight for it, and to do it sometimes one must disassociate him or herself completely from anything that has to do with boy or girl band.
Zayn Malik, formerly of One Direction topped numerous charts worldwide with his debut solo album. Yet, in doing so, the singer imposed considerable changes to his image and style as he transitioned to a solo career, as can be seen from his now provocative lyrical themes, shock effects and surreal aesthetics meant to showcase himself as dangerous and seductive.
Ultimately, it is all about making and keeping fans happy. Un1ty is still taking fan service seriously even within the limitations imposed by the pandemic, by holding virtual events that include virtual signing. Fay confirms this, too, “for idol groups, usually there is feedback from fans that is taken into consideration. They will attempt to make what fans want happen. And always update social media to ensure that the idols’ attachment with their fans is secure.”
BTS seems to be on top of the boy band food chain these days, and perhaps will be for a while. But there will be new players coming in, with their own flavours and offerings. Not to mention, people are more open to new concepts these days (plus-sized boy band, anyone?). The tried and true formula still prevails, indeed.
