Anyway tl:dr - I think it's definitely a popularity thing and not a what is technically more complex and/or on a higher level thing.

It's a fun movie that feels very genuine, but at the same time I feel it's an excuse for a lot of people to enjoy this type of music while feeling they avoid the cringe or childishness they usually associate with kpop. (Ironically, with this being a kid's movie...)

I couldn't even bring myself to play any of the patches so far 🙈 So rationally I should just let it go for now. It's not like housing is what would bring me back potentially. I think.

It's super catchy, which helps of course, but I have to admit I had a bit of a hipster moment when it got big going "yeah, it's decent kpop, but there are tons of actual kpop acts that are way better, but a lot of the same people loving KPDH usually shit on bc it's not in English..."

I enjoy the music, but tbh it's coasting a little on the nostalgia for the kpop sounds from around 2008. I think the reason people are so into it is more the connection to the story, like how the songs hit in a specific narrative moment.

Dante being the patron saint of the self insert shippers

I mean, I looked at their promotion material and it's bad I didn't check sooner but they don't really hide it. The AI chatbots for NPCs and the photo avatar generation are a feature they advertise with.
They are clearly not ashamed of it, so putting a tag on the page could be so easy for steam.