State Champ Radio K-Pop
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There’s been no shortage of excellent K-pop albums in 2022 and Billboard wants to know which full-length has helped define your year.
Though BTS remained on hiatus as the seven members prepare to start their mandatory service in the South Korean military, both RM and J-Hope delivered solo albums to keep ARMY happy. J-Hope’s Jack in the Box came first with its vintage hip-hop sound, colorful cover art by KAWS and concept inspired by Pandora’s Box.
Five months later, RM dropped Indigo, complete with a star-studded guest roster that included Erykah Badu (“Yun”), Anderson .Paak (“Still Life”), Tablo (“All Day”) and more.
BLACKPINK also came raring back with their full-length sophomore effort Born Pink while TOMORROW X TOGETHER dropped Minisode 2: Thursday’s Child and SEVENTEEN repackaged their fourth album, 2022’s Face the Sun, as Sector 17 with new tracks like “Cheers (SVT Leaders)” and “_World.”
As far as solo albums go, Lee Chanhyuk dreamed up Error, a concept album telling the story of someone who’s fallen into a coma and Heize enlisted the likes of Monsta X’s I.M, (G)I-DLE’s Minnie and Giriboy for Undo, her first album in more than three years.
HIGHLIGHT reintroduced themselves with Daydream — their first full-length since changing their name from Beast back in 2017. Lim Young Woong delivered on his potential after winning the 2020 Korean singing competition Mr. Trot with his genre-hopping debut Im Hero. And NewJeans established themselves as one of the genre’s most exciting new girl groups with their self-titled debut.
Vote for your favorite K-pop album of the year below!
While 2022 was undoubtedly the year BTS shocked the world with their announcements of moving onto a “Chapter Two” and planning their individual military enlistments, there’s still a massive amount of records, achievements and moments that demonstrate why BTS are superstars without precedent in the global music industry.
While the K-pop superstars have been breaking chart and attendance records for years, 2022 saw new triumphs from the septet. From never-before-achieved feats with the Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to breaking box-office and concert-gross records (not to mention hanging out in the Oval Office), 2022 was literally one for the history books.
Even as the group announced plans to look forward to a new chapter in their career and embark on solo releases, BTS continued to achieve greatness as a septet and as individuals. RM, Jin, J-Hope, Suga, Jimin, V and Jung Kook all had major moments to celebrate. From four members making their debuts on the Hot 100 to internationally recognized festival and collaboration moments, the guys were thriving on a global scale.
While 2023 will certainly look different in terms of how BTS operates—and dominates—within the music industry, there’s no denying that this past year was huge for the guys. We already know that solo music, collaborations, documentaries, TV specials, commemorative stamps and more are on the way for next year. But before we look forward to all that, let’s reminiscence and celebrate the band’s 22 most significant achievements from 2022 below.
Happy almost new year, ARMY! With just days left to go before 2023’s arrival, BTS‘ V shared the photoshoot sketch video for his concept photo folio, “Me Myself and V, ‘Veautiful Days,’” on Friday (Dec. 30) and revealed the visual’s inspirations.
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The photo folio concept film arrived on Dec. 7, and showcased V donning some of the classy hallmarks of yesteryear in a vintage themed video. His interests in the cinematic short included him gazing through telescopes, riding a bicycle through the countryside and spending time with and riding majestic horses.
“One of my favorite concepts is classic so I wanted to express that,” the singer shared in the new behind-the-scenes video. “I just wanted to do a shoot in this kind of concept so I had everything set up to match the theme.”
V shared that he felt completely safe with the horses while shooting the concept film. The BTS member detailed his experiences with horses and revealed he “learned horseback riding four years ago.” In between scenes of filming with the horses, V added, “I remember enough of [horseback riding] — I learned up until the canter. Was it New Zealand? I rode horses there and it’s the first time since then. My thighs are going to be so sore.”
V’s forthcoming book of photos will be released in the U.S. in the coming months. Global fans were able to purchase the book on Dec. 23, but stateside fans will need to wait for the set — which includes a series of photocards, posters, stickers and the photobook itself — to arrive on Feb. 20.
Watch V go behind the scenes of his photo folio in the video above.
The K-pop industry is heavily focused on one single per release. Whether it’s an EP, LP, deluxe version, greatest hits or anything in between, K-pop artists tend to define releases by one central song. But thanks to how listeners now curate their own playlists and soundtrack stellar social-media moments with music, the single is not necessarily the only song on a release to get attention.
In addition to K-pop having more worldwide eyes than ever, today’s listening habits demand more material from artists and more quality material on par with the singles already getting expensive investments and heavy promotional pushes.
Luckily, these 25 artists below not only delivered on their title tracks and singles but created bodies of work that deserve further exploration beyond the glossy music videos. From TVXQ!‘s Max Changmin, BTS‘ J-Hope, and Red Velvet‘s Seulgi letting listeners into new parts of their minds with their solo efforts, to AKMU’s Lee Chahyuk adopting a whole new character with his concept album Error, plus RM creating a musical museum to honor his twenties on Indigo, there was a lot to dig into this year. Meanwhile, unexpected viral sensations came from B-sides by (G)I-DLE, TREASURE and ENHYPEN, proving that these artists packed their records with songs and messages to connect even further with fans.
From satisfyingly short EPs to the more in-depth full-length albums, each of these releases stood out thanks to the artists reaching for something beyond a quick hit single. Read on for Billboard‘s staff picks for the best K-pop albums of the year.
BLACKPINK is continuing to to share memorable moments from the year, and with just a couple of days left in 2022, the group released its fifth installment of “Born Pink Memories” on Friday (Dec. 30).
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The new episode sees members Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé kicking off a series of promotional events to support the release of Born Pink in the United States. In the visual, the quartet touches down in Los Angeles for Spotify and BLACKPINK present Born Pink: The Pop-Up Experience. The two-day event took place Sept. 16-18 and saw the K-pop idols posing for photos in the event space, interacting with the special merch items and celebrating the album’s release with glasses of champagne.
After the pop-up, the girls then head to a radio show for some promo — something they admit hasn’t happened for quite some time. “We’re in L.A., but we’re here for a radio recording,” Lisa tells BLINKs. Rosé adds, “It’s been a while since we’ve been on a U.S. radio show.”
But the promotional activities don’t stop there. BLACKPINK then goes for something a bit more casual with a stop at Target to share the contents of the Born Pink CD box set, before the video cuts to footage of the group’s performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Backstage, Lisa hilariously tells the camera, “I heard BLINKs are also coming today … I’m very happy to perform together with our L.A. BLINKs. Perform together? I’m very happy to perform in front of BLINKs today.”
The video closes out with tour rehearsal and promo video shoots. With the girls’ hectic Los Angeles schedule concluding, the four performers unanimously agree about their excitement to head back to Korea.
Watch the full episode of Born Pink Memories above.
BT21 celebrated its five year anniversary on Thursday (Dec. 29), and J-Hope crashed the virtual festival to share a special video message for the occasion.
“Congratulations on your fifth anniversary, BT21,” the K-pop idol said while squeezing an adorable MANG plushie. “We BTS have already been together for 10 years — I hope the same goes for you guys and that five years won’t be your end. I hope you guys stay strong together for [the] next 10, 15, 20 years and so on.
“I will root for you guys! And good luck on the various promotions, projects and businesses coming up. Hope you make bank,” he continued before breaking out into laughter and adding, “I’m just kidding. We will be here supporting you guys throughout your journey.”
J-Hope then went on to encourage BT21 to “spread positive energy and brightness” to the people who love and support them — including the members of BTS. “I wish you guys the very best and fighting!” he said to conclude his video message.
Designed by BTS, the eight BT21 characters were launched in 2017 and include blue koala KOYA, alpaca RJ, cookie SHOOKY, playful puppy CHIMMY, heart-headed TATA, pom-pom-wielding bunny COOKY and gray alien VAN, along with J-Hope’s aforementioned dancing pony.
On the very same day as the 2022 BT21 Festival, Suga dropped a 10-minute video on the official BANGTANTV YouTube channel of himself attending an introductory hip-hop class. Just before the holidays, V also covered “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” for ARMY.
Watch J-Hope’s message to BT21 above.
Aside from singing, BTS is also known for its larger-than-life dance moves and crisp choreography. And despite going on 10 years of being in the septet, a good dance practice every now and then helps keeps its members in peak performance shape.
Suga wanted to go back to the basics and shared a 10-minute video on Thursday (Dec. 29) to BTS’ official YouTube page of him taking a Hip-Hop Dance 101 class with the help of a private instructor.
Before the lesson kicked off, Suga sat down at the camera and told viewers, “Hello everyone. At age 30, I’ve come to take dance lessons. Basic hip-hop moves. It’s been about 12 years since I last did this in high school. I’ll give it a try.”
After dancing to tracks by Snoop Dogg, 2Pac and more, Suga exclaimed, “I feel like a trainee!” referencing his days in K-pop training camp prior to joining BTS. He elaborated, “I’m a mess. This is so hard. It’s so hard to do this [basic moves] after a long time. I feel kind of dumb doing this. When I first joined as a trainee I’d never danced before.”
Suga concluded the first day of dance lessons with a message to his fans about what he has been up to lately. “I’ve learned some basic hip-hop moves. I’ve suddenly got an interest in learning at the age of 30,” he shared.” I’m taking all kinds of lessons now. I’ve started playing the keyboard again. I’m also taking guitar and dance and Japanese and English.”
The video featured two more classes with Suga honing his skills, and finished with a note from the instructor to always practice his moves, but in alternating positions in the body.
Watch Suga’s dance-lesson video above.
K-pop dominated the music world in 2022, with beloved girl groups, boy bands and solo acts delivering some of their biggest songs yet.
We at Billboard compiled our 25 top tracks of the genre in our year-end list, which features established queens like Girls’ Generation and KARA, rising rookies IVE, NewJeans, and LE SSERAFIM, cuts from Stray Kids, (G)I-DLE, BLACKPINK, BIGBANG, Zico, BTS, plus Ha Sung Woon, Jimin and more.
Which K-pop track defined 2022 for you? Check out our list here, and let us know by voting below.
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It’s the season of giving, and BTS‘ V is gifting ARMY with his cover of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”
His take on the seasonal classic arrived on Friday (Dec. 23). In the accompanying video shared on YouTube, the singer croons deeply into a microphone while casually dressed in an oversized hoodie.
Midway through the song, he pulls up the hood to cover his head and enthusiastically sings, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” emphasizing his words with small pumps of his fists. “Soon the bells will start/ And the thing that’ll make ’em ring is the carol that you sing/ Right within your heart.” When he finishes that verse, he picks up his adorable pup and snuggles him close before the pooch gives V a few sweet licks on his nose.
“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” has been covered by numerous artists. The 1951 version by Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayers and His Orchestra became a hit, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020. Another beloved take is Bing Crosby’s take from the same year is another popular cover.
Last Christmas, V also offered up a holiday tune — solo single “Christmas Tree.” The cover earned him his first solo No. 1 on a Billboard chart, landing him atop the Emerging Artists chart dated Jan. 8. The song also debuted at No. 79 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it his first solo entry on the all-genre tally. As for the Holiday 100 chart, it launched at No. 55.
Watch V’s cover of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” above.
With just days left until Christmas, TWICE‘s Tzuyu is spreading cheer to ONCEs everywhere by gifting them a cover of a holiday track on Wednesday (Dec. 21). The K-pop star went with a modern Christmas song and put a sweet spin on Ava Max‘s 2020 song “Christmas Without You.”
The TWICE vocalist filmed a video to accompany her take from the studio, and is in a cozy white sweater, red scarf and a festive reindeer headband complete with small antlers.
Kicking off the first verse, Tzuyu went with a serene delivery of the track and its chorus. “Lights on the trees under fallen snow/ You get a bit closer when the winter’s cold/ Now I can’t wait ’til you’re by my side/ All of the best gifts, you just can’t buy,” she sang.
“Wherever you go, you light up the room/ I hope that you’ll make it back home soon/ ‘Cause it won’t feel like Christmas without you,” Tzuyu continued on the upbeat track.
She isn’t the only member of TWICE prepared to celebrate the holidays. She and the rest of the group’s members — Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun and Chaeyoung — had some fun holiday shenanigans in a new video for their 2017 holiday track “Merry & Happy.” The new version sees all the girls decorating a Christmas tree and dancing.
Watch Tzuyu’s cover of “Christmas Without You” above.
