Things from South Korea are increasingly getting popular. For instance, movies or television series like Train to Busan or Squid Game were the talks of the town when they came out. And until now, people would not shut up about them.
What’s even a bigger phenomenon than these is Korean popular music (K-pop). K-pop is considered the driver of the Hallyu – the South Korean wave. It allowed South Korean culture to penetrate other countries. Therefore, K-pop helped put K-dramas, Korean beauty products, Korean food, and such into worldwide prominence.
That said, k-pop idols played an important role in keeping this wave alive. To ensure that, they utilize social media platforms to connect with their fans. More so now during the global pandemic.
BTS – arguably the most popular male K-pop idol group – broke records after records on YouTube. It set the record for the most views a video got within 24 hours after its release. And BTS broke its own record with their single, “Butter.” This once again forced many in South Korea to wonder if the superstar’s label buys YouTube views on the controversial celebrity.
BTS is not the only popular all-male K-pop idol group, though. NCT is another one of the most known groups. And fans of NCT have something new to celebrate. Taeyong, one of NCT’s members, has launched his own YouTube Channel, and it’s certainly raising eyebrows.
NCT
Neo Culture Technology, NCT for short, is an all-male South Korean idol group formed by SM Entertainment. The group debuted in January 2016. Its members range from late teens to mid-twenties.
As of this writing, NCT has 23 members. They are divided into four subunits NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and WayV.
These subunits promote separately. But, they have come together three times to release full-length albums. These are “Empathy” (2018), “Resonance” (2020), and “Universe” (2021).
“Empathy” peaked at #2 on Gaon Charts and has sold over 300,000 copies. Considering they are not as popular in South Korea as SM Entertainment wants them to be, that is impressive. “Resonance” performed even better. It sold over 2.6 million copies across its two parts within two months of its release. That solidified it as the highest-selling physical album released by an act from SM Entertainment at the time. Furthermore, it earned NCT their first Grand Daesang Award at the 2020 Asia Artist Awards.
Yes, you read it right. NCT is less popular in South Korea than in other countries. That’s because it is not an all-Korean group; it has Chinese, Japanese, Canadian, American, and Thai members. This diversity makes the group more popular internationally than locally. Nevertheless, NCT is still one of the most-known groups. It has over 5 million subscribers on its main YouTube channel and over 4 million subscribers on each subunit’s channel.
Taeyong
Lee Tae Yong, known as Taeyong, is a rapper, dancer, singer-songwriter, choreographer, and music producer of South Korean descent. SM Entertainment cast him in 2012, and he became part of the pre-debut group “SMRookies.”
Taeyong then became a member and leader of the male K-pop group, NCT. He debuted in the group’s first sub-unit, NCT U, in 2016. Later in the same year, he became the leader of its second sub-unit, NCT 127. And in 2019, Taeyong debuted as a member of the South Korean supergroup SuperM – formed by SM Entertainment and Capitol Records.
Throughout Taeyong’s songwriting career, he helped write over 40 songs in four languages. The majority of this is for NCT’s various units and himself as a soloist.
When Taeyong was just starting, SM teachers described his dancing as hopeless. But he proved them wrong. Now, he is one of NCT’s main dancers and Center.
Aside from his talent, Taeyong’s charisma allows him to capture the hearts of his fans. He is considered one of the NCT members with the strongest stage presence. And NCT members themselves voted him as the cutest when drunk. Furthermore, TC Candler ranked him 22nd in the “The 100 Most Handsome Faces of 2018.”
Other fun facts about Taeyong make him even more appealing. For example, he likes shopping and sweet food, making him relatable, especially to women. And an all-male group’s fanbase is composed mainly of females.
And so, Taeyong is one of, if not the most popular members of NCT.
Taeyong Announces “TY Track”
On March 14, Taeyong announced that he was launching his personal YouTube channel. He used NCT’s official Twitter account to inform his fans about it.
He wrote in the tweet that “We can’t see each other often these days,” addressing the difficulties the pandemic has caused. So, he decided to launch his personal YouTube channel as a gift to his fans. The South Korean star wrote this in English and Korean.
Shortly after making the announcement, Taeyong posted a Shorts video on his channel. In English, Taeyong said he’ll talk about his daily life, music, dance, and performance on the channel.
He also explained why he named the YouTube channel “TY Track.” It was because of the name that had been with him for a long time. Taeyong adds that it is a meaningful word to him, and many of his fans know about it.
The NCT star says that it is his first time starting his own YouTube channel. Thus, he is super excited and a little nervous. “This is all for my fans. So, see you next time!” Taeyong said before ending the video.
The next day, the K-pop idol unveiled the performance video for the brand-new solo song “Lonely” on TY Track. The song featured vocals from K-indie singer Suran and was lyrics by Taeyong. Taeyong also co-composed the track with Royal Dive. As of this writing, the song has over 1.7 million views.
On April 7, Taeyong released a behind-the-scenes video for “Lonely” on his YouTube channel. It already has almost 98,000 views 15 hours after its release.
As of this writing, the YouTube channel has over half a million subscribers. Keep in mind that the channel is relatively new, with only 2 videos and 2 Shorts videos. And yet, it already has this many subscribers. Give it more time, and it will surely hit over a million.
Did Someone buy Taeyong YouTube Views?
The success of the South Korean superstar isn’t surprising to anyone, but the volume of YouTube views he’s recently gotten is suspicious to say the least. One of many lead singers of a band should statistically not be able to instantly garner more success and digital impact than the entire group he is apart of. Perhaps the group, and even himself, are completely unaware of the drama unfolding across the internet – and they may even ignore it due to the confidence of innocence.
Another major theory, due to the commonality of the occurrence, is the label representing him might be buying YouTube views simply because it will multiply their return on his investment as an artist and singer. This is a common tactic many businesses use across the world, and not even necessarily on the internet. New restaurants in New York City that are backed by seasoned experts quietly agree that the best way to ensure success is to quietly hire crowds of young people to pretend to wait in line and hang out at the new restaurant because they understand one thing about people. We’re magnetic. Humans are attracted to the attention other humans, and the fear of missing out on the newest hottest item is powerful, regardless if it’s music or a restaurant. Being the person to make a recommendation to something good is a core component of the modern trend-setting class of modern people. It’s the equivalent to those who solved problems and created new adaptations out of jungle materials when we were mere cavemen.
Did Taeyong Buy YouTube Views on his Personal YouTube Channel?
The answer is interesting on a metaphysical level. Anyone can buy anyone else millions of real YouTube Views, using hundreds of available websites, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop them. That’s right, this industry has been here for decades, and while it mostly operates out of eastern Asia, the difficulty of stopping YouTube View selling websites has proven to be impossible. In fact, many studies have shown YouTube allows this, and even profits from it, by capturing additional YouTube Ad rolls and revenue. Yes, people deliberately bought views on videos with Ads on it and studies the metrics of both the creator and the advertiser.
Does it matter? No. Why? Advertisers already have whatever percentage of YouTube Views captured by generation to be included in their valuation for marketing dollars. The entire Google ad system is a free market, and advertisers choose to spend money on ads because they receive a positive ROI at the end of the day. If these views consume 5% or 50% of ads running, it doesn’t matter. Even perfectly removing them will simply double the cost per click for marketers, as the calculation done across time by competing marketers will drive the price back up to fill the void left by these views.
That’s right. It doesn’t matter. It never did. YouTube knows this. If they banned YouTube channels from “buying” YouTube views, it would weaponize them! Competitors would buy views on each others competing channels specifically trying to get them banned! YouTube has the smartest people on the planet, and they have clearly figured it out and present us with the final answer: just ignore it.