State Champ Radio K-Pop
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Lately, most Western songwriters want to work with K-pop or J-pop acts. But Beckuh Boom — the American songwriter behind hits for BLACKPINK and Twice — remembers when that wasn’t the case. “When I started taking trips to Seoul back in 2012, everyone I talked to about it kind of laughed at me or just didn’t get it,” she says. “They’d say, ‘Why would you waste your time? They’re not even close to the biggest market.’”
It took the global breakthroughs of Korean acts like BTS and BLACKPINK and Japanese acts like XG a few years later for Western talent to take the songwriting opportunities in Asia’s two largest pop markets as seriously as Boom had. Now, they are among the most lucrative and sought-after gigs in the global publishing business, drawing in top American hitmakers like Ryan Tedder, Victoria Monet and Jacob Kasher “JKash” Hindlin.
But to land a hit in Korea or Japan, Western songwriters have to conform to the local ways of doing business, and both markets have clear distinctions from the American industry. Typically, this involves English-language demos being funneled to a native, local-language songwriter, who then re-writes or translates most, or all, of the original lyrics into Korean or Japanese, earning them a songwriting credit in the process. Some sources estimate that roughly 80% of K-pop songs and 30%-40% of J-pop songs released today have ties to American or other Western sources — usually with totally different lyrics.
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“When demos are sent to Korean labels, they are almost always in English,” says Kevin Woo, a former K-pop idol who now works as a songwriter and has translated English demos into Korean. “That’s how we first hear the songs as artists and idols — in English. Then we pick whichever track we vibe with, and then they get that song translated into Korean.” Japanese music executives say this is similar to how it works in J-pop.
This is a fast-growing part of the job description for Korean or Japanese writers, as more songs are imported from Westerners each year. Naoki Osada, founder/CEO of Avex USA, the Japanese entertainment powerhouse’s American branch, says that since he started in the Japanese music industry 20 years ago, the number of songs written by Americans has more than doubled.
To adapt these English-lyric pitches, Young Chance, a Korean songwriter and producer, says “we usually keep the title of the song from the demo, but then when we translate, we take a different perspective on the same title.” In Japan, where speaking English as a second language is less common and there is less emphasis on capturing a global audience overall, it is even more important to rework the words of a Western demo to fit the needs of the local listener.
Common words and phrases like “let’s go” or “boom,” or slang like “Westside,” which are often derived from American rap music, might still make the cut in a K-pop or J-pop song, but that’s about it. Unless, of course, it’s a song intended to be a Western crossover hit, like BTS’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Dynamite” or BLACKPINK’s “Ice Cream” featuring Selena Gomez — both of which were penned entirely by Americans and kept in English.
Chance says he recently finished a “word-for-word English translation” that is coming out with a “major Korean act” soon, but says this approach to re-writing is far less common, given the difficulties of fitting the same story and meaning into the same meter and rhyme as before. Because Western songwriters now expect their lyrics to be tossed almost entirely, lyric writing is not highly emphasized when writing pitches for K-pop and J-pop.
There are other distinctions between K-pop and Western songwriting. Torsen Ingvaldsen, an independent A&R who is part of the growing class of middlemen that connect Western writers to Korean idols, says translated K-pop songs often also edit out explicit words or inappropriate themes. This, he says, is due to the young age of the average K-pop superfan, as well as cultural differences — though Jung Kook’s recent, sexually-charged single “Seven” may foreshadow changing attitudes towards explicit themes in Korea.
On the business side, Western songwriters know that when they pitch Korean and Japanese labels, they will have to give up a significant amount of publishing to local lyricists that they will likely never meet or work with directly. In Korea, it’s common to give up 12.5% to the person who re-writes the lyrics. “Sometimes they ask for a little more, but this is almost such a hard and fast rule it is often not even negotiated,” says Mary Megan Peer, CEO of peermusic, an indie publisher with offices in Korea and Japan. In Japan, however, 50% is typically expected, due to differences in the publishing industries of Western countries and that of Japan.
“In Japan, publishing is completely divided into two halves: one lyric, one melody,” says Osada. “Copyright ownership is 50/50 and it is fixed.” In America, songwriters are often also the producers — crafting lyrics, melody and track — and they work on all three elements with other creatives in the same session. In Japan, songwriters and producers take a much different approach. “There are three roles: one is the producer, who is also called the ‘track maker’ or arranger,” says Osada. “Some topliners do lyrics and melody, but there are people that exist who only write lyrics. Each of the three works alone in their own room by themselves, and then they send the completed demo. It’s not like Western writers where they all work together.”
The Korean publishing business lies somewhere in the middle, given its stronger and longer-term ties to Western music. There is still a clear distinction between the roles of producer and songwriter, like in Japan, and toplining is a major focus of the Korean songwriter’s vocation, but the way lyrics are weighted is not the same.
Western songwriters largely believe these opportunities abroad are well worth it, even though up to half of their publishing is given away. In a time when the popularity of streaming has undercut songwriters’ potential earnings in the United States and other Western nations, pop audiences in Korea and Japan still purchase full albums, physically and digitally, meaning “the publishing money [in Korea and Japan] really is unlike anything else for a writer,” says Ingvaldsen.
But why do Japanese and Korean labels use so many songs from Western songwriters when their local industries are thriving? First, J-pop and K-pop have always found inspiration from American music, especially bubblegum pop and rap, so many believe working with Western — especially American — talent is a natural fit. Taking foreign pitch records also might increase a K-pop or J-pop act’s ability to capture the attention (and dollars) of the music market abroad as well as at home.
Ingvaldsen also personally believes that there’s a “lack of songwriters locally. I’ve found there’s only a few major [Korean] songwriters that participate on everything from every major label.” Osada says that in Japan the cohort of working songwriters is “more condensed for sure.” He adds it’s a more “hidden role” in Japan’s industry as well. “I see big differences in the personality of writers there and in the U.S. In the U.S. there are writers that are almost like artists — very creatively outgoing, outspoken. Japanese writers and producers are introverts.”
A Seoul-based songwriter, who wished to remain anonymous, echoes that sentiment. “There’s not a lot of Korean writers that actually work on the big hit songs — that goes to the Western industry,” he says. “The big labels work with [fewer] Korean songwriters.”
And this trend shows no signs of stopping, as the biggest Japanese and Korean labels continue to strengthen their ties to the West, particularly in the United States. Hajime Harada, an A&R at Avex USA, says that “since I started at Avex USA in 2022, the percentage of U.S. songs that have landed with Japanese artists has easily doubled.” His boss, Osada, believes this is thanks to Avex’s increasing investment in their American outpost in West Hollywood, Calif. Korean music companies have also aligned closer with the Western music business: In late March, HYBE struck a new distribution deal with Universal Music Group, while JYP has a partnership with Republic and Starship Entertainment has a deal with Columbia, to name a few.
Nascent AI technology might also present more opportunities for lyric rewrites in the future. Woo was recently hired by AI voice synthesis start-up Hooky and American pop artist Lauv to translate the singer-songwriter’s new single “Love U Like That” into Korean. Woo then sang his own Korean version of the tune and Lauv’s voice was mapped on top of it using Hooky’s technology as a way to cut down on the difficult process of Lauv learning Korean pronunciation. “I think these kinds of opportunities will grow for [bilingual songwriters] in the future as AI grows,” says Woo.
Osada could see it working for Japanese audiences, too, who have appreciated Japanese translations of K-pop in the past and may be open to AI making those translations more commonplace. “I think there’s some market there,” Osada says. “Japanese people see lyrics as a very important factor in enjoying songs, so I think local-language translation could help.”
As the music market becomes increasingly global, publishing professionals are confident the trend of pitching Western records to Eastern talent will keep expanding, with some even looking to China and India as possible future frontiers. “The money [in exporting pitch records] is just too good to ignore,” says Ingvladsen.
Two decades in any industry is worth celebrating, but Dynamicduo has not only persisted through the early, nascent days of Korea’s hip-hop scene but has also hit new creative and mainstream peaks ahead of reaching the 20-year milestone.
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Since childhood friends Choiza and Gaeko officially paired up in 2004 with debut album Taxi Driver, the pair have trailblazed their legacy after setting records for hip-hop sales in Korea, taking top honors at mainstream awards shows in music and videos, establishing their Amoeba Culture label, and collaborating with a range of stars through the decades like DJ Premier, J.Y. Park, Tiger JK, BoA, Rain, Wonder Girls and members of K-pop groups like BTS, EXO and Monsta X.
Dyanmicduo’s three-part album, 2 Kids on the Block, officially wrapped its 10-month rollout with the release of Part.3 on March 28, with the new tracks documenting two decades of inner dialogues and growth to ultimately decide to set their sights even higher by the LP’s conclusion. Parallel to the record’s past-meets-present concept, Dynamicduo experienced balancing an old and new track, both taking over on social media for a minute in 2023. Their 2014 single “AEAO” featuring DJ Premier” went unexpectedly viral on TikTok (landing itself as one of TikTok’s Top 10 Song of Summer from South Korea), while their collaboration cut “Smoke” with rising rapper Lee Young Ji for a popular TV dance competition also took off via dance challenges, earning the guys their first-ever entry on the Billboard Global 200 chart. Helping fuel DD’s 2023 hits were infectious dance and lip-sync covers from K-pop heavyweights like V and Jung Kook of BTS, Minho, EXO, SEVENTEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ITZY, ATEEZ and IVE, as well as stars across the J-pop and Korean hip-hop scenes.
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A day after the release of 2 Kids on the Block — Dynamicduo’s milestone 10th album together — was the unveiling of J-Hope from BTS’ latest solo project, Hope on the Street Vol. 1, featuring Gaeko on the lead single “NEURON.” Alongside this J-Hope collaboration, the slew of rising and established names in Korean pop, R&B, rap and even acting on 2 Kids all point to Dynamicduo’s continued influence and expert ability to navigate different musical realms for decades.
Speaking exclusively with Billboard, Dynamicduo reflect on their journey thus far, share their ambitious vision for the next decade, discuss differences between their BTS collaborations and more.
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Congratulations on the release of 2 Kids on the Block – Part.3. How does it feel now that the series is complete? With five full tracks, Part.3 is the longest chapter in the 2 Kids on the Block series. Was there a reason for breaking out the parts like you did?
Gaeko: We feel so happy to be able to release the album on our 20th anniversary. The timing was perfect.
Choiza: Our CEO, who had been with us since the establishment of our company, suddenly passed away as her condition worsened, and while she was here, she really liked the songs that we were working on from the tenth album. So we wanted to gift the release to her while she was still here with us. And the current state of the music market makes it impossible for people to listen to all the songs in an album. Even if we released all the songs at once, only one to two songs would have stood out, so we thought dividing it into parts would have people listen through all the songs. Lastly, this album expresses stories and the history of Dynamicduo, so we released it in several parts to sequentially tell different stages of our lives from past to present.
You also released a remix package for “AEAO” with DJ Premier and “Smoke” for Street Woman Fighter 2, both viral hits, in between parts. Was there a balance you had to find with these singles and returning to the album?
Gaeko: Apart from the hits of the two singles, we tried to refocus on maintaining the album’s concept and improving its level of completion. We took a short break, about two weeks, at the beginning of the year to refresh our minds and then got back to the grind.
Choiza: Actually, 2 Kids On The Block – Part.3 was originally going to be released as three songs last year, but “Smoke” became such a huge hit, so we couldn’t complete the album at that time. But, thanks to that, we were able to prepare five songs instead of three with the extra time we were given, and we are satisfied with how it turned out. The additional two songs that we added fit right in with the concept of the album.
Your new single, “PITAPA” featuring pH-1 and Junny, is really impressive. What inspired the theme of “pizza, tacos and pasta” and what do you hope listeners will take away?
Choiza: “PITAPA” is a song that resembles the aspiration of wanting our music to be appealing to people all over the world and to be known in such a way as pizza, taco, and pasta are as global foods familiar to everyone around the world. pH-1 and JUNNY are well-received in both Korea and overseas, so having them on the track added extra flavor and we think overseas listeners who like Korean hip-hop will have fun listening to it.
Gaeko: We felt that the words “pizza, taco, pasta” connected well and the line just stuck to our mouth. We felt the groove and loved the sound of it, so we were able to make the hook right away. “PITAPA” was the last song we worked on on the album, and it was completed quickly with the inspiration we got from our U.S. performance that we had just gotten back from.
Personally, I hear some DJ Premier influence on the production of “PITAPA.” Did his work inspire you or parts of this album after the resurgence of “AEAO”?
Choiza: “AEAO” is a song that gave us the courage to pursue overseas activities. We worked with an amazing artist, DJ Premier, and when the song resurged on TikTok, it helped bring in a wider audience, giving them exposure to who we are and our songs. The resurgence encouraged us to think that we have the potential to do something overseas and that the idea of rapping and singing in Korean would still appeal to the foreign market. “AEAO” gave us tremendous inspiration.
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BewhY gives props to Dynamicduo as inspiration for his career on the album track “Love Myself.” This LP has many rising rap and R&B stars. Do you have humbling moments like this where you realize your influence?
Choiza: We are very grateful that young artists are inspired by us and how long we’ve been doing this. We think one of the reasons we’ve been able to make music for so long is that we get a lot of help and learn a lot from working with new artists. We want to continue working hard and creating good music together.
Actor Jung Man Sik does the intro on “Dramatic,” which was very clever. How did he end up on the album?
Gaeko: When we got Man Sik’s part added to the song, it felt like we found the missing piece to the puzzle. We contacted him last minute, like two days before our scheduled mix session. We had nobody else in mind other than Man Sik and, luckily, it was his day off that day, and he understood exactly what we wanted and acted so quickly on it. He completed our puzzle and we want to thank him again.
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Gaeko, you collaborated with J-Hope of BTS on “NEURON” from Hope on the Street Vol. 1 album. Since J-Hope is enlisted and cannot share much about the song, can you tell us about how the track came together?
Gaeko: J-Hope came to my studio last year and we not only talked about music, but also talked about many different things in life — it was such a fun time and I felt his deep passion for music and dance. I think his energy transferred over to me because I was able to write the lyrics quickly. We recorded our verses separately, and I went over to HYBE and we recorded the hook together. It was a fun project.
All three verses on “NEURON” express a strong sense of positivity and gratitude. Can you share how you approached your verse? Did you hear J-Hope and Yoon Mirae’s verses, or was it all a surprise when the album came out?
Gaeko: It wasn’t until after 20 years of making music that I began to understand that good things come out only when you relax and empty yourself. I wanted to capture those emotions in the verse, and I also tried to make the overall structure of the verse simple and plain. J-Hope’s verse was already completed before I did my part, and I listened to Tasha (yoonmirae)’s verse after it was mixed. Their parts were so good so I had second thoughts on recording my part again, but I decided not to. If I did it again, I wouldn’t have been able to capture the same emotions from the initial recording, so I left it as is.
RM featured on Gaeko’s single, “Gajah” from 2017. How do the collaboration experiences and recording processes differ between RM and J-Hope?
Gaeko: I felt that the musical direction they were both pursuing was similar yet different. I felt that RM had a deep affection, understanding, and love not only for hip-hop but also for music itself. And J-Hope had a massive passion for hip-hop and dance and wanted to pour all his energy into them before enlisting into the army. I also received a lot of energy from those two.
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As Dynamicduo celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024, how do you look back on the 20 yeras? Do you have anything special planned to celebrate this year?
Gaeko: Looking back now, we think that we were meant to do music. There were times when we experienced challenges, joy, and frustration, but the fact that the two of us were together in all those moments is probably the biggest accomplishment of our career.
Choiza: [The] 20th anniversary isn’t any special to us because we want to work just as hard as we’ve been and treat it like all our previous years. However, we will be holding a concert at the end of the year for our 20th anniversary and we want to make it big — we will be working hard and preparing a show for all to enjoy.
Collaboration has been a significant aspect of your career and we see it in 2 Kids. Whether it’s with fellow artists or producers, how do you approach collaborations to make them successful? Is there anyone still on your bucket list?
Choiza: We enjoy working together, but there are also a lot of new things that we discover when working with other artists. It’s fun to work with famous artists, but we also want to collaborate with rising, up-and-coming artists because we have a lot to learn from each other as well.
We think it would also be fun to mix various languages into one song. We are currently working with Thai rapper F.HERO, and we hope to work with artists from the U.S., Japan, Southeast Asia, and other parts of the world.
While K-pop impacts globally, Korean hip-hop and R&B are also rising. Do you have any thoughts—or hopes—of what it will take for these genres and artists to be more noticed internationally looking forward?
Gaeko: It’s important to make an effort to create the best work in whichever area we work in and to respect each other. We try not to set any high expectations for the results and just do our best in our field.
Choiza: Our goal is to be good at making music and to do it for a long time, so we’ll do our best to keep this going. We ask for your continued interest, and I believe that our overseas listeners will find songs that suit their tastes when they listen to all our songs that have been released so far. Please check out our 10th album as well as all our previous ones. We feel so grateful and honored to take part in this interview. Thank you for having us!
As a leader in a new generation of K-pop acts, IVE‘s Show What I Have world tour boasted a wholly appropriate name for which the girl group delivered an electric, emotional finale to its U.S. leg in Newark.
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For the sold-out crowd at the massive Prudential Center arena, IVE brought their hit singles — which includes eight entries on the Billboard Global 200 to date — b-side tracks and cover performances to life via heavily conceptual staging for each of the 24 setlist songs interwoven with frequent commentary from the group and video interludes.
Highlights of the night included the theatrical umbrella routine recalling “Singing in the Rain” for “Mine” and the haunting visuals accompanying horror-themed stages for “Hypnosis” and “My Satisfaction.” While IVE’s signature flowy choreography spotlighted in deep cuts like “Blue Blood” and “Heroine,” the crowd’s fervent chanting during hits “Love Dive” and “Kitsch” underscored the fervor and dedication of IVE’s fans — affectionately known as DIVE — even when making their New Jersey debut.
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As a special treat for fans, the IVE members split into duos and solo performances to pay homage to diverse artists, with covers ranging from Ariana Grande to Indonesian singer-songwriter NIKI and English crooner Richard Sanderson. While the inclusion of covers by Spice Girls (Rei and Gaeul performed “Wannabe”) and IVE’s new Columbia Records label mate Little Mix (where Yujin and Leeseo duetted on “Woman Like Me”) were astute in aligning themselves as the next global girl group, the performances acted more of a reminder that IVE has already carved out a distinct identity and color as the prom queens of K-pop and isn’t so easily able to adopt other personas in the pop sphere.
But beyond the polished performances and elaborate stage production, the IVE members’ raw emotions might have left the strongest impression during Show What I Have.
Early into the show, IVE leader An Yujin became visibly emotional and cried while singing their fan-dedicated power ballad, “Shine With Me.” After the crowd cheered her through the performance and the group checked in with her, the 20-year-old assured everyone she was fine and laughed while pointing the blame to the track’s lyrics written by Jang Wonyoung — followed by an adorable apology from Wonyoung.
The heartfelt sincerity returned at the show’s end when the sextet gave their final messages to the crowd.
“Even though our languages are different, just seeing how you guys are so focused on our songs, connecting and enjoying with us, is really cool,” Gaeul pointed out. “I couldn’t imagine all these seats filled up like this. I’m really touched.” Liz added that IVE is now “more than just family; we are not able to separate from each other.”
In a moment rarely seen among top K-pop performers, Yujin sincerely opened up about regaining her self-esteem thanks to the tour and her group.
“Recently, I kind of lost my confidence,” the star, with six years in the industry, shared through voice cracks and tears with Leeseo holding her hand. “I thought, ‘Maybe I cannot do it?’ before I came here. But the first day in L.A., I got so much energy and love from DIVEs there that I’m getting more confident. I promised a lot to myself before I came here. I can’t say exactly what I promised but I think I did it all — I did everything I promised to myself… it was really precious time.” Capped off by Yujin’s heartfelt thanks and promise to return, Liz quickly led the girls into a group hug on stage, encapsulating IVE’s essence of the night in gratitude towards fans and one another.
As the concert closed with the massive finale track of their debut English single, “All Night,” IVE left the crowd with an indelibly upbeat mark by unexpectedly singing the song’s refrain an additional seven times — begging the sound team to “please” play it one more after six — before officially exiting. With today’s announcement of their new EP, IVE SWITCH, out at the end of April, the promise of future performances and shared moments confirms that this is hardly a farewell but a preview of more for them to show ahead.
Read on for exclusive photos from IVE’s Show What I Have concert at Newark’s Prudential Center, as well as reflections from the tour at its conclusion for Billboard readers.
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Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment
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Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment
JANG WONYOUNG: “Despite not having officially debuted in the U.S before our world tour, I came with half excitement and half worry whether big venues like The Forum, where famous overseas artists have performed, would be filled. But starting from L.A., seeing the venue packed with DIVE enjoying our songs and dances gave me such great energy. It felt like we were able to finish the U.S tour well with strength all the way to our last stop.”
GAEUL: “It was so much fun to be able to perform in front of our DIVE here in the U.S., their energy was great. They were so loud — it gave us so much inspiration. We are so thankful for all the love and support from our fans.”
LIZ: “I was so happy to visit cities I’ve never been to before. One of my favorite moments besides seeing all our DIVE in America was meeting Anne Hathaway at the Atlanta Hawks game. It was our first basketball game and we loved it!”
LEESEO: “It feels wonderful to perform on stage in front of our U.S. DIVE, to try many delicious foods in the U.S, and to create precious memories with my sisters!”
REI: “The members and I made so many amazing memories on the U.S. leg of our tour. It is truly something we will never forget.”
AN YUJIN: “I’m so happy that I got to meet so many DIVEs through our world tour. I can’t wait to come back to the U.S. for Lollapalooza. It’s an honor to be able to perform there as our first U.S. festival – we will come back with a stage that could surprise you!”
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Aysia Marotta/Photos provided by Starship Entertainment
Days after dropping their minisode 3: TOMORROW EP, TOMORROW X TOGETHER performed the project’s lead single “Deja Vu” on The Kelly Clarkson Show. The K-pop boy band — made up of Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun and HueningKai — brought a cinematic performance to the daytime show on Wednesday (April 3), marking the first U.S. TV […]
KAI Media, a company that focuses on physical K-pop music and fan events in brick-and-mortar locations, raised $3 million from existing investor CRIT Ventures to fund expansion beyond its Los Angeles base. The company, which operates under the name hello82, had previously raised $5 million from CRIT Ventures, Kakao Entertainment, Snow Corp. and other investors. […]
YG Entertainment, home to K-pop groups BLACKPINK and BABYMONSTER, has named Yang Min-seok, the young brother of former CEO and company founder Yang Hyun-sun, as sole CEO. The company announced the appointment following its annual shareholder meeting on Friday (March 29). Yang had previously shared co-CEO duties with Hwang Bo-kyung, who was named CEO in […]
J-Hope‘s Hope on the Street Vol. 1 tops this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (March 29) on Billboard, choosing the BTS member’s solo mini-album as their favorite new music release of the past week. Fans showed major support for J-Hope’s latest project, which won the poll by a landslide, bringing […]
J-Hope keeps on spreading the hope. The BTS superstar unveiled his long awaited album, Hope on the Street Vol. 1, on Friday (March 29). The six-track mini-album was described in a press release as spanning a “diverse array of sounds and moods that showcase j-hope’s musical prowess and depth.” It also features a number of […]
SM Entertainment, home to such K-pop stars as aespa and RIIZE, promoted Tak Young-jun to co-CEO alongside existing CEO Jang Cheol-hyuk, the company announced Wednesday (March 27). Tak was also named executive director of the company’s board. Tak, who joined SM Entertainment in 2005, has served as COO since May 2023. Prior to that, he […]
The heartbeat of Korean pop music will pulsate through the halls of the Grammy Museum as it embarks on a multi-year celebration of the global phenomenon by spotlighting two trailblazing acts.
To kick off the new initiative, Billboard can exclusively reveal that the Grammy Museum will present KQ ENT. (ATEEZ & xikers): A Grammy Museum Pop-Up for a limited time beginning next month.
Inside the museum’s third-floor red carpet gallery, the pop-up exhibit will feature boy bands ATEEZ and xikers, which are under the home of quickly rising K-pop agency and management label KQ Entertainment.
The exhibit promises an immersive experience for fans featuring outfits and props throughout both groups’ careers. One exhibition highlight includes props and the main outfits worn in ATEEZ’s “Crazy Form” music video, the lead single from their 2023 album THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in December and has earned 278,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. to date, according to Luminate.
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Also, xikers will feature the attire from the music for “We Don’t Stop,” the single from their latest EP, HOUSE OF TRICKY: Trial and Error which marked another chart triumphant for KQ Ent. when it debuted at No. 73 on the Billboard 200 earlier this month with 13,000 equivalent album units in its first week. Fans can also look forward to other props, outfits and mementos from different KQ projects including the look xikers member JUNGHOON wore for the band’s performance video of “TRICKY HOUSE” off their 2023 debut HOUSE OF TRICKY : Doorbell Ringing.
To date, ATEEZ has earned 1.49 million total equivalent album units in the U.S. to date since their October 2018 debut. Meanwhile, xikers has earned 70,000 total equivalent album units in the U.S. so far as they approach their one-year anniversary on March 30.
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“It’s an honor to have pieces from our latest music release displayed at the Grammy Museum where so many wonderful artists have left a piece of their musical history,” ATEEZ says in a statement. “There are so many elements involved in the process of our music creation and we’re excited to be able to share some of it through our music video outfits and props.”
xikers adds, “We’re so grateful for the opportunity to have our pieces displayed alongside our labelmate and seniors ATEEZ, as well as so many amazing artists that we’ve grown up listening to. Though it’s only been a little over a year since our debut, we’re so happy to take part in this opportunity at the Grammy Museum and hope that everyone has fun looking at all the interesting outfits and props that have helped create the xikers world in the music video of our latest release.”
Kyu Wook Kim, CEO of KQ Entertainment, also made a rare public statement as part of the milestone.
“The global spread of K-pop is truly remarkable and it is a great honor to see ATEEZ and xikers represent K-pop music at the Grammy Museum,” the CEO and longtime K-pop executive shares. “Witnessing our artists’ hard work and dedication being recognized on such a large scale by the Grammy Museum is truly a privilege and fills us with so much pride. We aim to continue to do our best to work with our artists to break boundaries in music on the global stage with K-pop.”
The Grammy Museum also shared more insight into curating its two-year K-pop commitment.
“Korean pop music is one of the greatest phenomena in the history of recorded music and culture,” says Michael Sticka, President/CEO of the Grammy Museum. “The Grammy Museum plans to celebrate the world of K-pop, its much-deserved success, and worldwide chart-breaking artists by curating dedicated exhibits and programming over the next two years. We look forward to launching this series with exclusive outfits and props from xikers and ATEEZ.”
KQ ENT. (ATEEZ & xikers): A Grammy Museum Pop-Up is scheduled to open on April 10 and run until June 10, launching just ahead of ATEEZ’s debut at Coachella 2024 as the first K-pop boy band to perform at the Indio festival.
More information about ticket reservations and the event can be found at the Grammy Museum website.
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