Fans are going crazy for Thai television shows and music
Behind the “Boys’ Love” and “Girls’ Love” craze
The Economist
Culture
Feb 6th 2025 | 842 words | ★★
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RECENTLY Siam Paragon, a ritzy shopping mall in Bangkok, transformed into an impromptu concert hall. Beneath palm trees wrapped in twinkling lights, Oat Pramote, a Thai singer-songwriter, performed his hit songs to an audience of hundreds. But the loudest screams erupted when Daou and Offroad—two male heart-throbs—came on stage in matching all-white ensembles. The actors, who became famous as a supposed couple in a “Boys’ Love” (BL) TV series, sang upbeat tunes, their dancing synchronised. One teasingly lifted his tank top, sending the female crowd into elated squeals.
Though South Korea has long dominated Asian pop culture, Thailand’s cultural scene is booming, with songs and shows seducing audiences locally and abroad. It started around 2020, with the surprising success of BL shows, or gay romantic dramas. YouTube helped them find passionate audiences across Asia and beyond. About half of all TV series produced in Thailand are now either BL or “Girls’ Love” (GL), an emerging genre starring gay women. In 2024 there were 61 new shows, up from just five in 2018, according to Poowin Bunyavejchewin, a researcher at Thammasat University in Bangkok.
The success of BL and GL shows has also contributed to a surge of “T-pop” music, which TV actors often sing as a sidehustle. Globally, streams of T-pop doubled in 2023 on Spotify, a music platform. Between 2021 and 2023 Thai music industry revenues rose 55%.
Many fans abroad discovered Thai content serendipitously. In lockdown during the pandemic in America, Beth Ann Hopkins was browsing through K-pop and Asian dramas on YouTube before an algorithm led her to a fan edit of a Thai BL series. “The storylines were not what I expected,” she admits of the homoerotic dramas. But she was hooked. She now co-hosts a podcast called “Let’s Talk BL”.
BL originated in Japan in the 1970s; manga depicting gay couples sold in niche comic-book stores and at fan conventions. But it was Thai production firms that recognised the genre’s screen-worthy potential, combining manga plots with sleek aesthetics. Shows sign up handsome actors who are “shipped”, or paired together as a fictitious couple (though many fans want to believe they are really together). Explanations for BL’s appeal among its largely straight female fan base range from the simple to the profound. Some cite the lack of an attractive heroine to spark female viewers’ jealousy. Others muse on the deep psychology of mapping forbidden sexual desires onto male bodies.
Photograph: Courtesy of One31
Whatever the reason, the genre has become lucrative. SCB EIC, a research outfit, projects revenues of Thai BL and GL to reach 4.9bn baht ($144m) in 2025, nearly five times higher than in 2020. Today BL actor couples dominate Bangkok’s billboards. The lobby of GMMTV, one of Thailand’s biggest production firms, teems with fans eager to catch a glimpse of their favourite acts walking into work.
Unlike its Japanese predecessor, which largely remained in the realm of fantasy, Thai BL shows tackle serious themes. Recent series have grappled with issues such as inequality and disability rights. Many actors attend pride parades and speak in support of gay marriage, which Thailand legalised last year.
Such openness may be part of the appeal. The largest overseas markets are those that do not allow for gay content to be produced legally, including China (where homosexual content is officially banned) and Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country. Thailand’s progressive shows have become “a resource for people living in some more oppressive societies”, observes Thomas Baudinette, an anthropologist at Macquarie University in Australia.
Fan male
Another part of BL’s appeal is the proximity to stars that fans can achieve. Instead of fans worshipping celebrities at a remove, Thai entertainment transforms the relationship into a “two-way communication”, says Sataporn Panichraksapong of GMMTV. Actors-turned-singers perform daily at shopping malls, appear at intimate meet-and-greet events and respond to direct messages and comments on social media. Ayla Dehghanpoor, the other co-host of “Let’s Talk BL”, used to buy tickets for expensive K-pop concerts, but became hooked by the accessibility of Thai pop culture. “You can truly interact on a personal level with these artists that you’re so excited about and love so much,” she says.
Can Thailand become Asia’s next cultural powerhouse? The government is hoping so, recently establishing the Thailand Creative Culture Agency to boost its entertainment sector abroad. But Thai pop culture remains far smaller than its Korean counterpart, which boasts sensations like BTS, a boy band that was the bestselling musical group globally in 2021.
Today Thailand’s biggest celebrity outside the country is Lisa, a Thai member of Blackpink, a K-pop group. Last year she established her own label and filmed a music video, “Rockstar”, in Bangkok with Thai creators. Meanwhile, “Lan Ma” (“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies”), a family drama, became the highest-grossing Thai film in several overseas markets and the first to be shortlisted for an Oscar (though it was not ultimately nominated). “It’s hard to predict, but I feel like we’re on the cusp of something big,” says Mr Baudinette of Macquarie University. “I’m just waiting for Thailand’s BTS moment.”
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