Simon Cowell Criticized After Ignorant & Tone Deaf Announcement

[RAMROD 106,091]

Simon Cowell is an English television personality, entrepreneur, and record executive known for his part in creating some of the biggest musical acts. Of these, the most famous is undoubtedly One Direction.

In an interview with Rolling Stone published on June 4, Simon Cowell stated that he was looking for the next One Direction, saying no boyband has reached the same level of success.

Many K-Pop fans took offense to this, calling out Cowell’s “western-centric” perspective purposely leaving out the success of K-Pop groups. Some even recalled Cowell’s own reaction to BTS’s success, when he mentioned wanting to create a “UK-Pop group” to rival them
 

These call outs are for good reason — BTS have broken several records set by One Direction, including the most followers on Instagram and X, and the global event cinema record.

The group has also outperformed One Direction musically, including breaking their record for the most views on a YouTube video in 24 hours and having more number 1s on Billboard‘s “Hot 100” chart, in addition to others.

While the group’s active times have not continued to overlap, it is apparent that Cowell’s statement did disregard BTS (and several other popular K-Pop groups).

https://www.koreaboo.com/news/simon-cowell-recent-announcement-slammed-kpop-fans-bts-one-direction/

[Night Vision 3,052]

You can't really put everything down to things like YouTube stats though, especially when metrics like that vary widely based on region and demographic. Social media has also grown exponentially since One Direction broke up, so of course BTS will have more followers. While it's true that BTS have a huge fanbase, it's also true that they aren't on the same level of cultural impact and ubiquity that One Direction had, at least in the western world, as One Direction's music was inescapable at the time and they had a much longer string of hits. BTS's success is more fanbase driven, which is not a bad thing, but a lot of their stats are also boosted by mass streaming and bulk buying from fans.

[FFXIV WhiteMage 5,609]

I agree that BTS is highly successful but I don’t want to hear these “racism” remarks from KPOP/Kpop stans   
the very same industry here in Asia that discriminates their neighbors especially us from South East Asia 

[palma 7,738]

I hate that man but I think it more has to do with him trying to relive the glory of his biggest achievement rather than being anti-K-Pop with this specific statement 

 

[Bling 31,284]

I mean... How many people do you know that can name 3 BTS songs?

And how many people do you know that could name 3 One Direction songs?

Exactly 

[TheSine 6,137]

2 minutes ago, BlingNotTheMusic said:

I mean... How many people do you know that can name 3 BTS songs?

And how many people do you know that could name 3 One Direction songs?

Exactly 

I just remember smooth like butta...like criminal undercover.  

[Anduin 1,019]

Well... sorry but I think he's right though 

[HotLikeMexico 4,714]

He looks like a melted candle now anyways. 

[Bling 31,284]

24 minutes ago, TheSine said:

I just remember smooth like butta...like criminal undercover.  

I dont know the name of that song. 

But know several 1D songs. 

Success is measured in different ways. Numbers are one thing but how far reaching is their music? It's like TTPD getting huge numbers but no one outside her fanbase can name one song lmao. 

[nATAH 44,775]

put on a 1D song in a GP crowded club followed by a BTS song and you'll see the hype levels drop faster than JLo on the charts

[27monster27 11,997]

BTS may not have the same reach outside of more obsessive stanbases, but after all the bad things Simon has done it doesn't feel bad to see stuff like this being said about him.

[ProfessionalClown 10,645]

1 hour ago, BlingNotTheMusic said:

I mean... How many people do you know that can name 3 BTS songs?

And how many people do you know that could name 3 One Direction songs?

Exactly 

i only know dynamite and butter and i could recite every single track list to every 1D album by memory frfr

[ProfessionalClown 10,645]

1 hour ago, NATAH said:

put on a 1D song in a GP crowded club followed by a BTS song and you'll see the hype levels drop faster than JLo on the charts

PLSS. I’ve seen people jumping and screaming to What Makes You Beautiful and it’s so much fun 

[PopMusicForever 557]

1 hour ago, BlingNotTheMusic said:

I mean... How many people do you know that can name 3 BTS songs?

And how many people do you know that could name 3 One Direction songs?

Exactly 

Exactly. BTS are famous in Asia. No one’s fault they just don’t click in the west as much. Just like One Direction was famous in the west. This is normal and ok! Lmao.

[StrawberryBlond 14,331]

Simon is naturally holding onto his greatest ever success and egotistically wants to believe no one could ever top it. He does come out with statements like this which aren't always very well thought-out (I distinctly remember when he said that The Winner Takes It All was 50 years old when it was only about 36 years old) so I wouldn't treat it overly seriously. But he is kinda right. The only places that BTS did well in outside of Asia was USA and a few select European countries. Any success they had was purely powered by their fans and the rest of the GP weren't interested in their songs or albums. 1D by comparison were able to tour every continent with sell-out stadiums everywhere and even people who weren't their fans liked an occasional song from them as a guilty pleasure. You'll be lucky if you find someone who can name a BTS song other than Dynamite (at most) whereas that is not the case for 1D. The comparison isn't comparable.

But the real question is, who, in 2024, would want to join a group formed by Simon Cowell? The boyband he formed (PrettyMuch) flopped hard and The X Factor got slammed by ex contestants over the last few years for how fake it was and the mistreatment they had. The 1D boys distanced themselves from him as soon as they could because they were too controlled. We've got past the point of manufactured groups, the concept is so antiquated, we're too savvy to fall for that now.