#broadly there's 4 categories of kpop fan: teenage girl; ahjussi/redditor creepy man; kpop music connoisseur; hag who cant let go of 2nd gen

[mobiused]

korean pop music is very uninspired. is it horny reasons that attracts the western geek to kpop or is it like hm what is it

I feel like this question has two be answered in two parts, early kpop vs present day kpop.

In my opinion it's entirely untrue to say kpop was uninspired - one of the biggest draws for older kpop stans is that Korean music didn't sound like anybody else's music. Usually, especially from SM, it consistently brought outstandingly well produced songs with innovative experimental concepts and ideas to the table. Novelty is exciting, and you don't get much more exciting than the music producer's playground. You may have noticed a lot of "serious" producers have credits on Kpop songs (Dem Joinz for example produced 'Don't U Wait No More' by RV as well as multiple songs on Kanye's DONDA, just as an example) - this is because the bar for what's allowed for release is a lot more flexible, so producers enjoy unloading their creativity. There are many seriously good songs created as a result, so it's not strange that people enjoy them.

But this only counts for actually good k-pop (which good releases seems to be dwindling in number year by year.) People who stan groups who make bad music are obviously just attracted to the members. This is why Kpop group members are called idols and not singers/performers; they have a responsibility to show an attractive persona to their audiences as much as they have a responsibility to sing and dance. I don't think it needs to be characterised as horny, sometimes lonely people just like having a person or group to spend time with. If they're constantly on TV or even better interactive mediums like VLIVE, IG live or Fab Bubble, you can feel even closer to them. Being a fan is a good way to fill the time if you're lonely, I think.

There's inevitably an element of Asian fetishism involved though. Japan and Jpop might be too "weird" for a westerner, but because of Korea's long history with America and active attempts to use soft power/hallyu to become more digestible for westerners, they seem more "normal" by comparison - we're just like any American boy band / girl group except we just speak and look Korean! If you hate American girls because they're all skanks, or you hate American guys because they're all jackasses, then look no further to Korea, where they're all polite, charming and of course attractive, without being too culturally different. (Of course, this is a racist and fetishistic attitude, and Korea has so much culture that its Hallyu wave tries to 'dilute' to be seen as more digestible for the West - this is one of many side effects of American occupation and imperialism which persists to this day).

Moving to present day, in the world of globalism and having twitter accounts aged 12, I think the "appeal" of Kpop is far more social. America has failed to meet demand for homegrown popstars for teenyboppers (Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez are all out of fashion now - is Olivia Rodrigo meant to singlehandedly replace them all?), so people are looking to Korea.

Imagine it like this, you're a tweenage girl and your friend just invited you and another friend to a sleepover. You both go up to her bedroom and your other friend goes SQUEEEE IS THAT THE LIMITED EDITION STRAY KIDZ ALBUM??? WHOS YOUR BIAS??? and the girl who invited you round also screams and they start talking about Stray Kidz for 20 minutes before even acknowledging your presence. You obviously feel left out right? Wanting to be included and fit in is motive enough for people to become kpop stans. You don't even have to like the music, you just pick a person you think is attractive and boom suddenly you fit in. Now you can collect photocards, know all the inside jokes and lingo, go to concerts together, tag your friends in memes, you're included now. Fandom is a social thing, and if the hot topic is kpop groups, then to fit in, you should also stan kpop groups. Sometimes it's really as simple as that.

Of course this isn't just a teenage girl thing and can apply to 30 year old redditors with their circle of friends just as much, though I'd imagine with significantly less pure intentions since they're probably on r/kpopf--*GUNSHOTS*

Bottom line is that there are a lot of reasons, probably including some I didn't cover, but I don't think it's any one thing. And kpop music isn't uninspired, at least certainly not worse than american pop.