K-Pop
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RM is rooting himself in nature and taking in all the delights that a museum — specifically, the Dia Beacon in New York — has to offer. On Thursday (Dec. 8), the BTS rapper shared a 12-minute concert special taped at the contemporary art installation space to perform four tracks from his debut studio album, Indigo.
The video kicked off with a performance of the album’s lead single, “Wild Flower (with youjeen).” RM appeared from the Dia Beacon’s maze-like garden space in a gray shirt, pants and chunky shoes to give an impassioned performance of the track solo. The scene then cut to the interior of the museum and featured RM in a space with wooden floors, bright large windows and and contemporary metal sculptures decorating the space.
By the time “Change Pt. 2” rolled around, the scene was vastly different. RM, nothing but a black silhouette, performed the track from a green lit room filled with columns and shelving units. The shadow play continued into “No. 2” as the camera followed RM throughout the museum, ultimately landing in a large open space before descending into a second space with faint shadows dancing on the walls.
After the mini concert went live, RM took to his instagram Story to share that “Live in New York (Dia: Beacon) was the contents that we put the biggest effort into. Enjoy, thx :).”
RM’s performance at the Dia Beacon is the latest of his Indigo performances. The BTS rapper also performed tracks from his solo effort for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series.
Speaking about Indigo on Suchwita, Suga of BTS’ sit-down talk show, RM said, “It’s been 15 years [since we started pursuing music] and yet in a sense, this is my first album. So after 15 long years I finally have a chance to prove to myself in the form of a solo album. That’s what I felt.”
RM also added that he was happy to have the chance to make a statement about who he is as an artist now on Indigo, because “to be honest, in my Mono album, I had doubts and concerns for about half the songs in there, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case for this album.”
Watch RM’s Indigo concert at the Dia Beacon above.
To millions of K-pop fans, hello82 has been a destination to watch their favorite idols take on viral challenges, play celebrity babysitter to kids, attempt karaoke in foreign languages and star in other ready-to-share videos. But in the past year, the company behind the multi-language YouTube channels has expanded its e-commerce offerings to better meet its’ viewers’ wants. The results have led to success for the four-year-old company on the Billboard charts and, as of last week, completing their first “tour.”
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When ATEEZ‘s first U.S. shows since 2019 kicked off in January for The Fellowship: Beginning of the End tour, the band was selling out arenas but had yet to break into the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 like many of their K-pop peers. While a relationship with Korean management label KQ Entertainment led to the channel’s top-watched video (an 11-minute prank of ATEEZ member San disguised as a break-dancing senior has over 32 million views), hello82 saw an opportunity to better connect to the band’s ATINY fans directly in the States.
With offices in Los Angeles, hello82 spent 2021 becoming a trusted hub for international K-pop fans to shop for physical album imports, merch, and virtual experiences like live events and artist-fan calls during the pandemic after COVID-19 concerns forced the company to expand into different offerings. Physical-album distribution in the U.S. has helped Korean artists soar high on the Billboard albums chart (largely thanks to being issued in collectible deluxe packages, each with a standard set of items and randomized elements). hello82 saw how expanding their e-commerce channels could create a new business opportunity and simultaneously deliver the same communitive aspect they looked to develop with their video content.
“We just wanted to go meet where the demand was with the supply,” says Sang H. Cho, co-founder of hello82’s parent company KAI Media and its current COO, from his Beverly Hills office. “We just felt like few K-pop groups are well represented and were getting the sort of recognition or credit they deserve when it comes to things like charts. Obviously, we’re a business that wants to make money, but we also understand the fans, their psychology, and their needs too. Having them getting involved and getting them to feel the sense of accomplishment and community. And we obviously knew the opportunity was there for all of us to achieve that together.”
What began in 2021 as distributing two ATEEZ albums from a virtual storefront—September’s Zero: Fever Part.3, which peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard 200, followed by December’s Zero: Fever Epilogue at No. 72—turned into larger ambitions for ATEEZ’s The World EP.1: Movement album released this past July. Not only was this ATEEZ’s first release after reuniting with their ATINY fans during their early 2022 tour, but also ignited a new musical era for the group.
“We saw the potential to make it much, much bigger,” Cho says with his team looking to both traditional, big-box retailers alongside local, fan-driven pop-up stores to activate beyond the virtual.
Chain department stores have been increasingly carrying more K-pop content, but almost exclusively by those with label deals or representation in the U.S. While RCA Records under Sony Music signed ATEEZ in 2019, the group had yet to have its music available in retail stores stateside. (RCA declined to comment by time of publication on its relationship with ATEEZ) With Cho’s background in retail finance, plus other internal relationships, hello82 quickly made inroads.
“There are a couple of retailers that understand and know the K-pop market pretty well: Target is one, Barnes & Nobles is another, and we’ve worked with those two pretty extensively,” Cho says. “Those guys don’t necessarily buy from new suppliers very easily—especially when it comes to physical media, but we were lucky enough to know some people that could get us in front of these buyers fairly quickly in an official manner and make sure we check all the boxes to make sure we’re qualified for them.”
The move instantly connected hello82 and, finally, an ATEEZ album into some of the world’s biggest retail giants. The World EP.1: Movement was available online and in Barnes & Noble stores, plus in online stores for Target, Walmart and FYE. “The margins are thin at these big-box retailers,” Cho says. “But they also give you a lot of coverage and you get a lot more fans who aren’t close to places like big cities so we’re happy about that.” There are hopes for upcoming ATEEZ projects to be in actual Target stores.
Yet perhaps the most meaningful part of their chart goals was creating more than a dozen pop-up stores across the country directly alongside fans. With a hello82 rep at each store, local ATINY volunteered (some reaching out on social media before the company could even make the call for help) after being vetted by the team to help work at their local locations that were decorated with photo walls, giveaways and customized merch.
“We knew that we could probably do a few pop-up stores on our own, but we really wanted to activate the fans and make them one of the stakeholders in the entire campaign,” Cho says of the 19 pop-up stores they held in hotspots like Chicago and Atlanta, but also in smaller cities like Yuma, Ariz. and Southfield, Mich. Utilizing cafes and existing stores (some very familiar to K-pop fans like NYC and LA’s LINE Friends stores that sell BTS‘ BT21 and TREASURE‘s TRUZ products), fans could pick up their copy of The World EP.1, an exclusive box version prepared by hello82, and connect with other ATINY in person.
“Doing pop-ups has its own merits; it can be flexible in terms of locations, timing and all of that,” Cho reflects. “I just feel like K-pop fans in certain areas now deserve a place that they can go to to hang out, not just access to all the products and albums. These fans like to just get together. And it’s not just K-pop fandom, I feel like it’s all most fandoms: I’m a big Philadelphia Eagles football fan and I would go to a sports bar just to hang out with other goofy MFers from Philly.”
The strategy broke ATEEZ through with The World EP.1: Movement opening at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (behind Beyoncé and Bad Bunny) with 50,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 4, with album sales comprising 47,000 of that total, according to Luminate. The set has earned 86,000 U.S. equivalent album units through Dec. 1.
The first week marked a massive jump from the opening sales of Fever Epilogue (which earned 16,000 units in the first week) and Fever Part.3 (13,000). Along with KAI Media co-founder and current CEO Jae Yoon Choi, Cho emphasizes ongoing dialogue with Billboard and Luminate to ensure “we’re doing everything by the book.”
“It’s the first time for us doing it this scale so obviously there were some hiccups but release week was actually pretty calm,” he recalls. “We kind of knew where we were gonna go, but you never know…when we were at the top of the charts, I mean, we were obviously ecstatic. Not just us, but with the fans that we got a lot of ‘thank-yous’ and ‘great jobs.’ Our community manager who talks to a lot of those guys directly also shared an almost tears-of-joy moment on release day, and then, ultimately, when the charts officially came out. So, it was exciting.”
The company kept that energy alive with pop-up stores throughout the 11 dates in the North American leg of ATEEZ’s The Fellowship: Break the Wall tour, the group’s second tour in 2022 and most expansive run yet. Each of seven cities on the trek, along with two that weren’t on the tour route, set up shop for at least two days each as the official pop-up for tour merchandise.
“After the successful album distribution, we are now distributing merch in association with their upcoming North American tour,” Cho explains. “We have always looked at ourselves as a bridge for management companies between South Korea and the U.S. market, where we can help them connect directly with their fans here and create a lasting fandom.”
Stores in LA and Oakland opened ahead of ATEEZ’s Nov. 7 and 8 shows at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Fans could grab new items like jackets and T-shirts while participating in activities like writing sticky note messages for ATEEZ.
By the tour’s final stop in Toronto on Dec. 2, hello82 showcased what may be their most visible project yet when they played their “Project Star 117 – From ATINY to ATEEZ” video played during the show with on-camera messages from fans and the sticky notes written by pop-up attendees. The band themselves watched with a heartfelt gaze and led to leader Hongjoong crouching down in tears. The official upload video has more than 50,000 views in under five days.
hello82 isn’t a dedicated music-service company, but they watch industry trends and consumer behaviors to consider new business.
“The music industry is now sort of maturing into this real combination of on-demand, ubiquitous consumption of music, but also this very active and passionate sorts of fandom activities as well that drives a lot of commerce,” he adds. “I think all of these things have always been part of music business, but it’s coming back with the vengeance now and we’d like to partake in all of that. The K-pop audience, K-pop fans, they’re sort of at the forefront of all of these activities so, we see a bright financial future and our investors do as well.”
Cho notes that the ATEEZ strategies have caught the interest of other artists and labels looking to impact America. However, the company is interested in partners who will engage heavily with fans and “be a little bit experimental.” There are also hopes for the company to take the business beyond North America and “hopefully, eventually expand out to other underserved markets around the world.”
While Cho and colleagues are directly discussing high-level plans with Team ATEEZ (“Credit goes to KQ for having the foresight and ATEEZ for being a great band—they were kind enough to give us the opportunity, and they were willing to risk a lot”), they are also putting in work at hello82’s retail stores themselves.
“We make sure that everybody does a rotation,” Cho says. “The look and joy you see on fans’ faces—especially when you’re pulling the right photo card for them—that’s what makes our day.”
BTS‘ V has been a superstar in the 2010s and 2020s, but what if he traveled back in time to the ’40s or ’50s?
In the K-pop idol’s photo folio concept film, which arrived on Wednesday (Dec. 7), fans see him donning some of the classy hallmarks of yesteryear in a stunning video. To fit the vintage theme, the video — titled “Me Myself and V, ‘Veautiful Days’” — starts off in a sepia tone before cutting to black-and-white footage of him reading an elaborately bound book in the grass while wearing an all-white suit and a hat with a wide brim.
Some of vintage V’s interests include gazing through telescopes, riding a bicycle through the countryside and spending time with majestic horses.
Fans were impressed by the beauty of the concept film. One Twitter user wrote, “V is breathtakingly beautiful and his old soul comes right through with his concept. Thank you #V…If Tae ever decides to do a period drama/movie (actually I’d watch no matter what) I will be first in line to watch.” Another user added, “Taehyung’s soul is genuine and romantic. It’s elegant, royal and veautiful like I’m lost for words right now.”
The release date for V’s forthcoming book of photos has yet to be announced, but the photo folio gives fans something to look forward to while they wait for his solo album. The K-pop singer hopped on Korean media platform Weverse in March and answered a couple of questions regarding the anticipated release of his solo music. He told an inquiring fan that he will “release it within the year,” according to a translation by Koreaboo.
Watch V’s photo folio in the video above.
The road to the 2022 MAMA Awards was not paved overnight. J-Hope dominated the stage at the award show Nov. 30 when he performed a medley of tracks from his solo album Jack in the Box, and is now giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at his performance coming together by sharing the dance practice video for “MORE” on Wednesday (Dec. 7).
Hobi — along with a small army of backup dancers clad in all black — appears in a sparse room with black walls and gray concrete floors, skipping in between the dancers and performing well-timed choreography as he rapped along to the fierce track. The dancers, for the most part, kept to the confines of marked-off squares on the floor. (The night of the MAMAs, the squares turned into a large checkered box.)
During the show, the BTS rapper also performed two other songs from Jack in the Box: “Arson,” which delivered a fiery stage set, and “Future,” which saw the BTS rapper cooling things off for something a bit more intimate feeling.
After the rapper’s appearance at the MAMAs, the official BTS Twitter account shared its congrats with the idol and thanked ARMY for making his appearance possible. “J-Hope who set 2022 MAMA AWARDS’ stage on fire! Including a valuable award that J-Hope and BTS received because of ARMY’s cheers/support! Thank you ARMY!” the account wrote at the time.
J-Hope won the award for most popular male artist at the 2022 MAMAs, in addition to the Bibigo culture and style award.
Watch J-Hope’s “MORE” dance practice video above.
KPOP, which broke ground on Broadway for its casting and representation of Korean culture, is closing just a few weeks after opening at the Circle in the Square.
The musical, which originally premiered off-Broadway in 2017, will end its run on Dec. 11, the producers announced Tuesday (Dec. 6). Written by Jason Kim and directed by Teddy Bergman with music and lyrics by Helen Park and Max Vernon and choreography by Jennifer Weber, KPOP‘s closure follows 44 previews and 17 regular performances.
The final performance will feature a panel discussion celebrating and reflecting on AAPI representation on Broadway. Those panelists include David Henry Hwang, the first Asian American playwright to win a Tony; KPOP‘s Park the first Asian female composer in Broadway history; Korean playwright Hansol Jung; and actor Pun Bandhu. In support of that final performance, 200 complimentary tickets are being offered to AAPI community members and youth.
The show, which announced last week that a Broadway cast recording would release on Feb. 24, stars Luna, Julia Abueva, BoHyung, Major Curda, Jinwoo Jung, Jiho Kang, Amy Keum, James Kho, Marina Kondo, Eddy Lee, Joshua Lee, Jully Lee, Lina Rose Lee, Timothy H. Lee, Abraham Lim, Min, Kate Mina Lin, Aubie Merrylees, Patrick Park, Zachary Noah Piser, Kevin Woo and John Yi.
The story presents a behind-the-scenes look at various K-pop groups and a massive solo star who have come together to film for a special one-night-only concert. In the process, they find themselves unpacking both cultural and personal issues that threaten to dismantle one of the industry’s hottest labels and their sense of self as artists.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in early November, producer Joey Parnes acknowledged that the show had struggled to attract early audiences, saying that it has been challenging for producers to attract theatergoers to new or unknown work when some may still be nervous to return. “It’s not surprising that if they’re having to be discerning, they’re going to choose something that is more certain,” Parnes said.
Since it began previews in October, the new musical has often made less than $200,000 a week, ranking among the lowest-grossing in weekly industry tallies. Capacity has remained fairly healthy but alongside a low average weekly ticket price. The quick closing means KPOP will not be able to benefit from the traditional boost in ticket sales that comes around the holidays and for which many shows hold out for.
Beyond its box office, the musical’s presence on Broadway was historically significant, marking firsts in terms of its subject, its cast and creative team. As the first musical ever about Korean culture on Broadway, KPOP featured Korean representation in the creative team and onstage, including 18 Broadway debuts and only one non-Asian actor in the principal cast. It also featured lyrics for the songs and lines in Korean, with Park not only making history as a first for Asian women but joining just a handful of Asian composers to work on any Broadway show.
Earlier this week, producers Parnes and fellow producer Tim Forbes addressed these milestones while responding to a New York Times review of the show which both called an “insensitive and frankly offensive” take on the musical. In a lengthy Instagram statement addressing the critic Jesse Greene, along with the paper’s theater editor Nicole Herrington and chairman Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, the duo addressed a “cultural insensitivity, underlying ignorance of and distaste for K-pop” present in the review, which they cited with a number of examples as statements that come “across as casual racism.”
They wrote that from the headline to the review itself, specific word choices about the script, choreography, costuming, lighting design and score — coupled with the review’s decision to leave out both audience reaction to the show’s Korean language elements and a lack of discussion about the performers themselves — denied the production’s K-pop performance elements “very legitimacy as part of a Broadway musical” and offered an “implicit assertion of traditional white cultural supremacy.”
“The job of theater critics is to dissect, analyze and ultimately judge work,” the producers’ statement concluded. “We also contend that they have a responsibility to meet a show on its own terms and to be informed enough to know what that even means. Above all, in these troubled times, they have an obligation to do so with cultural sensitivity and absolutely without the casual racist tropes Mr. Green wittingly or not perpetuates.”
In a statement shared with Playbill on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Times noted that after the open letter, the publication “quickly convened a discussion among editors and members of our standards department.” It found that the publication was “in agreement that Jesse’s review was fair” and disagreed “with the argument that Jesse’s criticism is somehow racist.”
This story originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
Marking The Boyz‘s official debut onto the K-pop scene, Dec. 6 is always a special day for the K-pop band. Still, their milestone fifth anniversary is particularly worth celebrating this year.
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The 11-member boy group released the new single “All About You” today, Dec. 6, to mark five years since entering the K-pop scene with their debut EP, The First, in 2017. Releasing a single to commemorate their anniversary in December has become a tradition for the group with seasonal releases like “White,” “Christmassy!” and “Candles,” but the newly released acoustic-pop cut has the universal message of full-fledged, no-hold-bars love.
The accompanying music video is celebratory as we see the 11 Boyz studying in school, writing music, practicing basketball and hanging solo or in pairs before coming together to toast to five years.
Notably, “All About You” also marks the return of youngest member Eric, who had been on hiatus from the group since March due to health reasons.
After a period of rest at his home in the United States, where he was unable to participate in the group’s latest Korean and Japanese albums from this year, nor performances like KCON Los Angeles or their special “Last Man Standing” video shoot, Eric’s back. With his return, the 21-year-old co-wrote “All About You” alongside his members Juyeon, Q and Sunwoo. In late August, Sunwoo had also taken a hiatus for rest but was announced, along with Eric, to be soon re-joining the group by mid-September.
Celebrate with The Boyz below:
BamBam is heading to the Philippines to lead a lineup of international acts for the forthcoming Wavy Baby Music Festival next month.
Billboard can exclusively reveal that the Thai-born singer-rapper joins fellow K-pop star Sunmi, as well as R&B singer Pink Sweat$, as the final headliner for Careless Music’s Wavy Baby Music Festival taking place at the North Reclamation Area of Mandaue City of the Philippines’ province of Cebu.
BamBam joining as a headliner makes the musician trio somewhat of a family affair as BamBam and Sunmi are both signed under Korean management label Abyss Company, while Sweat$ produced and co-wrote Bam’s latest single “Slo Mo.”
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Careless Music’s Wavy Baby Festival is the brainchild of James Reid, the Filipino singer-songwriter who launched his Careless record label in 2017 that’s signed artists like California singer-songwriter Destiny Rodgers and singer-actress Nadine Lustre. Way Baby’s lineup also includes Rogers as well as Korea’s rock-pop band The Rose, Australian electronic music duo Bag Raiders, L.A.-born producer DJ Yultron, and some of the Philippines’ breakout bands like Ben&Ben.
Wavy Baby Festival takes place from Jan. 13-14, 2023, to coincide with the religious Sinulog-Santo Niño Festival celebrations that typically take place in Cebu every year in January. COVID-19 concerns canceled Sinulog festivities for the past three years, but 2023 will mark its long-awaited return alongside the debut of Wavy Baby.
Early bird tickets are still currently on sale for the next three days. The full artist lineup is below.
James ReidBamBamSunmiPink Sweat$IssaMassiahLeshaJoliannaThe RoseBen & BenDestiny RogersDJ YultronBag RaidersDecember AvenueFrancoA-TeamSOSAugust WahhThe SundownMandaue NightsSepiatimesThree Legged MenWonggoys
BLACKPINK was named TIME‘s Entertainer of the Year on Monday (Dec. 5), and sat down for an accompanying interview to reflect on their major year.
“We put in a lot of work so we could look like superwomen,” Jennie said of the K-pop girl group, who spent 2022 making their U.S. awards show debut by performing at the MTV Video Music Awards, releasing their sophomore album Born Pink, embarking on a world tour and reaching new heights on the Billboard charts. “We’re very normal girls, at the end of the day.”
When it comes to why the foursome particularly resonate with BLINKs all over the world, Rosé pointed to their natural multiculturalism hailing from Australia, Thailand, South Korea and New Zealand (by way of Seoul.) “We’re all from different cultures,” she said, adding that the group’s differences are “only a plus” when they’re creating music together.
Now that BLACKPINK has wrapped the U.S. leg of their ongoing Born Pink World Tour, they’ll spend the rest of the year making stops in Europe before heading to Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 2023. “Being able to come back with the team to tour and meet the fans worldwide has been a highlight,” Lisa told the magazine, while Jennie added that her primary focus was “not to look ahead, and enjoy every day, because it gets too overwhelming once we start planning a year ahead, two years ahead.”
Last week, Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo and Rosé dropped the first episode of their new online series “Born Pink Memories” by giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the concept photoshoot for “Pink Venom” music as well as other fun facts from the set of the video.
Check out BLACKPINK’s TIME Entertainer of the Year photoshoot below.
Fans wondering when a second video from RM‘s Indigo would be released did not have to wait long. On Tuesday (Dec. 6), the BTS rapper dropped a visual to accompany “Still Life (with Anderson .Paak),” which quite literally sees the K-pop idol suspended in time.
RM starts off the video sitting in a train, reading from a journal. But as soon as the song’s lyrics kicks in, the setting around him starts to freeze — first the outside landscape and people on the train, then an empty coffee cup, and then figures of himself as he moves through the train and raps the poppy track. The series of events appear to be a dream as a train attendant asks him if he requires assistance; the still landscape and people on the train begin moving again.
The Indigo album cycle has been a whirlwind so far for the BTS star. The video for the album’s lead single “Wild Flower” arrived with the 10-song set, and hours later, he appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series to perform tracks from the album.
Speaking about Indigo on Suchwita, Suga of BTS’ sit-down talk show, RM said, “It’s been 15 years [since we started pursuing music] and yet in a sense, this is my first album. So after 15 long years I finally have a chance to prove to myself in the form of a solo album. That’s what I felt.”
RM also added that he was happy to have the chance to make a statement about who he is as an artist now on Indigo, because “to be honest, in my Mono album, I had doubts and concerns for about half the songs in there, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case for this album.”
Watch the video for “Still Life” above.
BTS‘ management company BigHit posted a friendly note to ARMY on Monday (Dec. 5) thanking the band’s hardcore fans for supporting the group while offering them an update on member Jin’s pending mandatory military service. The 30-year-old singer is slated to begin his stint on Dec. 13 as the first member of the seven-man group to enlist, and BigHit warned ARMY that there will be no “official event” to mark the day.
“Jin will fulfill his required time with the military by enlisting in the army. Please note that we will not be holding any kind of official event on the day of his recruitment,” read a note from BigHit posted on the fan community Weverse site about the upcoming big day for the group’s eldest member. “The entrance ceremony is a time to be observed by military personnel and their families only. In order to prevent any issues that might occur from crowding, we ask fans to please refrain from visiting the site. Instead, we ask you to keep your heartwarming words of support and farewell in your hearts.”
In addition, BigHit advised fans to not get “adversely affected” by buying unauthorized tour or product packages that illegally use BTS’ intellectual property in an attempt to capitalize on Jin’s military hitch. “Our company will take necessary action against any attempts at commercial activity making unauthorized use of such IP,” read the note, which ended with a kind thank you for ARMY’s unwavering devotion.
“We ask for your continued love and support for Jin until he finishes his military service and comes back,” it read. “Our company will also strive to provide every support he needs during this time.”
“Jin will initiate the process as soon as his schedule for his solo release is concluded at the end of October,” read a previous statement from BigHit that month, which noted the group will reconvene around 2025 after all their respective military enlistments are concluded. “He will then follow the enlistment procedure of the Korean government. Other members of the group plan to carry out their military service based on their own individual plans.”
All able-bodied male South Korean citizens must serve in the armed forces for at least 18 months, though the length of service may vary. Draft begins in the year they turn 18, but men may postpone it until age 28. In December 2020, the South Korean National Assembly passed the so-called “BTS law” to allow K-pop entertainers to postpone the service until the age of 30, with a recommendation from the culture minister.
In the midst of BTS’ hiatus, Jin scored his first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 in November when his single “The Astronaut” debuted at No. 51 in its first tracking week.