Where are all the male pop stars? ASU music fans explain what’s missing

Not too long ago, radio stations were flooded with tunes of One Direction and walls were covered in posters of Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes — all male pop acts who had huge cultural relevance and young female fan bases. 

While boy bands and Bieber fever dominated the 2000s and 2010s, ASU music fans said their mainstream presence has dissipated, leaving them wondering who is left to fill that void. 

Ian Elder, a sophomore studying music learning and teaching, said the mark of a good pop star is stage presence and persona. That’s why female artists like Chappell Roan are such a hit — they’re entertaining both on-stage and off-stage.

“All of the biggest artists have always had this persona,” Elder said. “You look all the way back to Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury, they had these huge personalities, and so much of what made their music stick out to people was the way that they acted and the way that they were.”

However, it’s not that male artists with stage presence and big personalities have been omitted from the scene completely.

Jordan Payne, a junior studying mechanical engineering, said Tyler, The Creator is one male performer with great artistry and vision when it comes to album storytelling. 

“For ‘Igor,’ he had the wig and the sunglasses, and he did that for the tour,” Payne said. “But then for ‘Call Me If You Get Lost,’ he had a totally different persona, different story.” 

Much of Gen Z grew up attached to these untouchable pop stars who spoiled their hearts in music. But now, male acts are not focusing on the people who make stars: Young women.

“There’s obviously space for women in the fan bases of these super big male stars, but there isn’t the same space because those stars don’t actually cater to young women,” Fabiana Espinoza, a senior studying English, said. “They cater to other men, what they think other men think is cool, what other men want to see.”

In today’s music, Western male pop acts lack catering and centering around young women’s appeals, Espinoza said. But outside of the states, others are getting their pop star fix with a different type of celebrity: the male K-pop idol. 

The Korean pop music industry has boomed in the states during the 2010s and the 2020s with its stylized and energetic performances from male and female groups. 

Espinoza herself is a big K-pop fan. She’s a part of the ASU club K-Pop Dance Evolution. The reason she thinks the genre is so popular among young girls is because K-pop groups sell a specific type of fantasy. It’s very similar to the way American teen magazines like J-14 used to print pages giving readers the inside scoop on celebrities’ insecurities and love confessions. 

“The appeal of the male idol is kind of built up to be like you could see him as your boyfriend,” Espinoza said.   “You could form a relationship with a male idol, and that’s through side content, like the way they talk on stage, the way they’re very affectionate with their fans.”

READ MORE: The art of becoming a stan: From One Direction to BTS

Elder said in creating relationships among fans and Idols, K-pop is keeping audiences around for more than just music and performances. 

“That is an industry where the personalities and different traits about all the singers are a really big part in why people enjoy the music as well,” Elder said.

So, is the male pop star a thing of the past? No, but it does look like the key to their popularity is hidden among young women as they decide what’s big and trendy. That’s how K-pop became the worldwide industry it is today. 

It’s also why young girls’ opinions are so prevalent, as we look to the future of male pop and hear whispers of the up and coming artists like Role Model and Sombr, who have struck a chord with, you guessed it, female Gen Z.

Edited by Senna James, George Headley and Sophia Braccio.

Reach the reporter at [email protected]. 

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