K-Pop
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Vernon is the next member of SEVENTEEN who’s gearing up to go solo. On Thursday (Dec. 15), the rapper announced that he will be releasing a debut solo mixtape titled Black Eye, making him the third of the 13-member group to drop a solo project.
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The news was shared to SEVENTEEN’s social media accounts along with the official cover art, which is a faux poster that features the title of the project written in bold red graffiti lettering and a photo of Vernon standing atop a smoking monster truck. Flames and stark lighting also decorate the poster, as well an order to “turn up the radio!” for the project’s release date — Dec. 23.
Vernon’s solo mixtape comes after the release of Hoshi’s Spider mixtape, which arrived in April 2021, and Woozi’s Ruby mixtape, released in January.
Vernon’s most recent release was his February collaboration with Charli XCX for the remix of the pop star’s single “Beg for You” featuring Rina Sawayama.
The remixed version of the song, which included production from producer A.G. Cook, features the K-pop idol thinking hard about a future with his lover. “All the endless conversations about us been going on in our head/ In the night, we dream a future together and I feel bad in your bed/ I beg for you, please stay, I can’t go a day without/ No, I can’t go a day without you,” Vernon sang on his verse.
See the announcement and art for Vernon’s mixtape below.
SM Entertainment label mates Red Velvet and aespa knew exactly what their fans wanted for Christmas — a song collaboration. The K-pop groups delivered on Wednesday (Dec. 14), releasing a glimmering new track titled “Beautiful Christmas” to celebrate the most wonderful time of year.
The festive visual for the song kicks off with the viewer being given an all-access ticket to the 2022 Winter SMTOWN: SMCU Palace, a holiday party where girl groups that exist in the SM Entertainment Culture Universe convene for some Christmas fun. Red Velvet and aespa, naturally, are the stars and first appear in the “Beautiful Christmas” video decorating an all-white Christmas tree with ornaments, exchanging gifts, and relaxing near the fireplace decked out with candles.
As the song nears its upbeat chorus, the girls then take the fun outside, interacting with snow-covered trees, sitting atop a snowman and happily inspecting ornaments before an energetic group dance number.
“Everybody come have yourself a/ Beautiful Christmas/ One year of flat-out sprinting/ It’s the home stretch now, enjoy/ Everybody come have yourself a/ Beautiful Christmas/ This day we get to be together/ The best time of the year,” the girl groups sing in English and Korean during the chorus.
“Beautiful Christmas” marks the first collaboration between Red Velvet and aespa. Though the groups are label mates, they have been up to very different projects as of late. Red Velvet — which consists of members Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy and Yeri — recently released The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday EP on Nov. 28. Aespa — which consists of members Karina, Giselle, Winter and NingNing — dropped its latest EP, Girls – The 2nd Mini Album, in July.
Watch “Beautiful Christmas” in the video above.
YEONCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, began his 18 months of mandatory military service at a front-line South Korean boot camp Tuesday as fans gathered near the base to say goodbye to their star.
Six other younger BTS members are to join the military in coming years one after another, meaning that the world’s biggest boy band must take a hiatus, likely for a few years. Their enlistments have prompted a fierce domestic debate over whether it’s time to revise the country’s conscription system to expand exemptions to include prominent entertainers like BTS, or not to provide such benefits to anyone.
With lawmakers squabbling at Parliament and surveys showing sharply split public opinions over offering exemptions to BTS members, their management agency said in October that all members would perform their compulsory military duties. Big Hit Music said that both the company and the members of BTS “are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment.”
Jin, who turned 30 earlier this month, entered the boot camp at Yeoncheon, a town near the tense border with North Korea, for five weeks of basic military training together with other new conscript soldiers, the Defense Ministry said. After the training involving rifle shooting, grenade throwing and marching practices, he and other conscripts would be assigned to army units across the country.
About 20-30 fans — some holding Jin’s photos — and dozens of journalists gathered near the camp. But a vehicle carrying Jin moved into the camp without him getting out. The BTS official Twitter account later posted photos showing Jin with other members, likely at the camp, with a message saying: “Our bro!! Have a safe service!! Love you.”
One image showed smiling members touching Jin’s shaved head.
“I want to wait (for) Jin and see him go into the military and wish him all the best,” Mandy Lee from Hong Kong said before Jin’s entrance to the camp.
“Actually it’s complicated. I wanna be sad. I wanna be happy for him,” said Angelina from Indonesia. “Mixed feelings. He has to serve (for) his country.” Angelina, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.
A couple dozen fans could be seen as a small turnout given Jin’s huge popularity. But Jin and his management agency had earlier asked fans not to visit the site and notified them there wouldn’t be any special event involving the singer, in order to prevent any issue caused by crowding.
Authorities still mobilized 300 police officers, soldiers, emergency workers and others to maintain order and guard against any accidents. Strict safety steps were expected as South Korea is still reeling from the devastating Halloween crush in October in Seoul that killed 158 people.
Jin — whose real name is Kim Seok-jin — wrote on the online fan platform Weverse earlier Tuesday that “It’s time for a curtain call.” He posted a photo of himself Sunday with a military buzz cut and a message saying, “Ha ha ha. It’s cuter than I had expected.”
By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must serve in the military for 18-21 months under a conscription system established to deal with threats from North Korea. But the law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have won top prizes in certain competitions and enhance national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t given such benefits even if they gain worldwide fame and win big international awards.
Jin had faced an impending enlistment because the law disallows most men from further delaying their military service after they turn 30.
“Those in the pop culture sector experience little bit of disadvantages and unfairness, compared with those in the pure art sector or athletes,” Jung Duk-hyun, a pop culture commentator, said. “This will likely continue to be an issue of controversy so I wonder if it must be discussed continuously.”
Exemptions or dodging of duties are a highly sensitive issue in South Korea, where the draft forces young men to suspend their studies or professional careers. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup previously said it would be “desirable” for BTS members to fulfill their military duties to ensure fairness in the country’s military service.
Chun In-bum, a retired lieutenant general who commanded South Korea’s special forces, said the government must move to repeal any exemptions as the military’s shrinking recruitment pool is “a very serious” problem amid the country’s declining fertility rate.
BTS was created in 2013 and has a legion of global supporters who call themselves the “Army.” Its other members are RM, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, who is the youngest at 25. The group expanded its popularity in the West with its 2020 megahit “Dynamite,” the band’s first all-English song that made BTS the first K-pop act to top Billboard’s Hot 100. The band has performed in sold-out arenas around the world and was even invited to speak at United Nations meetings.
Hybe Corp., the parent company of Big Hit Music, said in October that each member of the band for the time being would focus on individual activities scheduled around their military service plans. In October, Jin released “The Astronaut,” a single co-written by Coldplay.
Jung, the commentator, said solo projects could give BTS members much-needed time to develop themselves after working together as a group for many years. But Cha Woo-jin, a K-pop commentator, said it’s unclear if BTS would enjoy the same popularity as a group when they get together again after finishing their military duties in a few years.
In August, Lee, the defense minister, said BTS members who are serving would likely be allowed to continue practicing and to join other non-serving BTS members in overseas group tours.
Cha said K-pop’s global influence wouldn’t be hurt much because of BTS members’ enlistments as they “appear to represent K-pop but aren’t everything of K-pop.” Jung agreed, saying that other K-pop groups like BLACKPINK, Stray Kids and aespa could rise further.
Jin shared a private moment with fans ahead of his mandatory military enlistment on Tuesday.
The superstar uploaded a selfie to BTS’ fan-community WeVerse site showing his new buzzed haircut. Gone are his long signature locks that were on full display in his recent “Astronaut” music video and instead, the 30-year-old is rocking a super-short style, commonly known as the “induction cut,” as the hairstyle used by many country’s armed forces including the United States. Jin captioned the photo laughing, saying that he found the new cut “cuter than I thought.”
Unlike a buzzcut from the barber, the military haircut doesn’t keep regard for length or facial features but is cut equally all around one’s head. All recruits in South Korea must have their hair cut short before weeks of basic-training programs at the start of their service. Per national law, all able-bodied South Korean men must serve in the armed forces for at least 18 months with varying lengths of service time. While the draft begins once they turn 18, men may postpone it until age 28. In December 2020, the Korean National Assembly passed a motion (nicknamed the “BTS law”) to allow top K-pop stars to postpone service until age 30 with a recommendation from the culture minister.
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BTS’ management label BIGHIT MUSIC recently shared a notice to fans that there will be no “official event” to mark the star’s enlistment.
“Jin will fulfill his required time with the military by enlisting in the army,” read a note from BIGHIT on BTS’ Weverse. “Please note that we will not be holding any kind of official event on the day of his recruitment. 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.”
Jin is the first of the seven BTS members to fulfill his mandatory obligations.
Click here to see Jin’s new photo.
Calling Carat and all Little Monsters! Over the weekend, SEVENTEEN hit the LA3C Festival, and three of its members conquered the Wednesday dance challenge in the process.
Stopping to chat with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly, Joshua, Dino and Mingyu positively nailed the viral TikTok choreography set to Lady Gaga‘s “Bloody Mary,” re-enacting the moves of Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams as Mother Monster’s sped-up vocals sang, “I’ll dance, dance, dance/ With my hands, hands, hands/ Above my head, head, head/ Like Jesus said.”
Ortega revealed in a November interview that she was actually ill with COVID-19 while shooting the now-famous dance sequence — which is actually set to The Cramps’ 1981 single “Goo Goo Muck” — but didn’t receive a positive test result until after she’d finished filming the scene.
And while the Born This Way deep cut doesn’t actually appear anywhere in the Netflix series, the TiKTok trend reached a fever pitch when Gaga slipped into her best goth schoolgirl apparel to rock out to the choreography herself.
Meanwhile, all 13 members of SEVENTEEN also hit day one of LA3C to light up the stage with a fiery hourlong set featuring “HOT,” “Left & Right” and “Very Nice” — the latter of which they repeated an incredible six times due to demand from the ecstatic audience.
In September, the K-pop idols unfurled Sector 17, a repackaging of their 2022 studio set Face the Sun with lead single “_World” as well as added tracks “Circles,” “Fallin’ Flower” and “Cheers.”
Watch Joshua, Dino and Mingyu dance it out to “Bloody Mary” below.
LA3C is Penske Media Corporation’s new music, art and food festival celebrating Los Angeles’ culture and diversity. PMC is also the parent company of Billboard.
As a significant part of HYBE’s grand plans for 2022 and 2023, the Korean entertainment corporation’s first Japan-based act officially arrived on the music scene with its debut EP this week.
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&TEAM is the nine-member boy band aiming to be a “global” group with representation from their Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and German backgrounds. Consisting of members K, Fuma, Nicholas, EJ, Yuma, Jo, Harua, Taki and Maki, the nine were selected from the singing competition show &AUDITION – The Howling that wrapped in September. The program featured HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk leading and advising the group, while Scooter Braun and Zico appeared as special producers for the show. BTS, SEVENTEEN, Tomorrow X Together and ENHYPEN cheered on the contestants.
The boy band started their journey with their rock-pop lead single “Under the Skin,” released in late November, to preview their forthcoming EP, First Howling : ME. Produced by Slow Rabbit (who’s produced multiple singles for BTS and Tomorrow X Together), “Under the Skin” showed early indication that trusted HYBE collaborators would also work with the new act with contributions from Melanie Fontana (who’s written on multiple BTS, TXT, and ENHYPEN singles) and Kyler Niko (ENHYPEN, LE SSERAFIM).
For the release of First Howling : ME and the Southern hip-hop/pop track “Scent of You,” &TEAM once again had production handled by Slow Rabbit as well as Supreme Boi (the HYBE rapper and producer who’s appeared on BTS and J-Hope albums) with a music video that spotlighted the precise choreography K-pop acts are famous for shot by a 360-degree camera. Bang also helmed the group’s new song “Buzz Love.”
While &TEAM is not the first Japan-based group to debut from a Korean label, the group does stand out by already incorporating into multiple parts of the K-pop conversation. &TEAM’s music videos are uploaded on the HYBE Labels YouTube channel (with more than 69 million subscribers) and have released a performance of “Under the Skin” with popular K-pop dance company STUDIO CHOOM (where performances from the likes of Stray Kids, (G)I-DLE and Kep1er have racked up tens of millions of views). &TEAM also has had global distribution on streaming services when many Japanese labels still do not share their music worldwide.
After &TEAM confirmed its lineup in September, the members shared their international ambitions. K, born in Japan and once competed for a spot in ENHYPEN, said via a press release that “our ultimate goal is to reach a global audience and be charted on Billboard like BTS.”
The group didn’t have to wait long as “Under the Skin” already bowed at No. 80 on the Japan Hot 100 chart dated Dec. 3. Where the group will go next—and what charts they may enter—will be exciting to watch as &TEAM and HYBE look to expand their global reach.
AEG Presents, a global leader in concert promotion and artist development, on Thursday (Dec. 8) announced an official strategic partnership with K-pop touring and marketing company Powerhouse.
The two live music companies, which have worked together on many successful K-pop artists over the past 13 years, will collaborate on all aspects of the live K-pop business including touring, production, marketing and media across every level.
“In the course of last two decades, K-pop has grown to be one of the most popular genres in the global music industry.,” says C.S. Hah, Powerhouse chief executive and president. “The K-pop market has proven its depth and width to be more matured than ever, and I hope our launch of this formal partnership with AEG Presents can help K-pop grow to reach new horizons across the regions.”
AEG Presents and Powerhouse started their successful relationship in 2010, producing the SM Town concert at Staples Center, regarded as the first blast of K-pop in the U.S. and selling out 12,500 tickets in a matter of minutes. Since then, the two companies have collaborated on historic K-pop tours including two for BTS — the 2017 Wings arena tour in North America and the group’s Love Yourself arena world tour the following year — as well as MONSTA X’s massive 2018 The Connect world tour.
“C.S. Hah and Powerhouse have a track record that speaks for itself,” commented Gary Gersh, AEG Presents president of global touring and talent. “Powerhouse has tapped into what’s becoming an ever-expanding international market for K-Pop, and we are thrilled to build upon an already strong foundation between the two companies.”
Added Adam Wilkes, president and CEO, AEG Asia Pacific: “Powerhouse and AEG Presents have a great history together, and our collaboration has only become more extensive as the barriers continue to evaporate between global music markets. This feels like a logical progression in our ongoing partnership.”
Over the last five months, Powerhouse and AEG Presents have produced and promoted four massive tours for some of the most popular K-pop groups: BLACKPINK, Tomorrow X Together, ENHYPEN and ATEEZ. This year, BLACKPINK sold out 14 North American arenas, plus an additional 10 in the U.K. and Europe. Tomorrow X Together performed eight sold-out shows in two months. ENHYPEN sold out seven arenas in October 2022, and ATEEZ sold out 11 arenas on their North American tour which ended earlier this month. All four of those artists expect to tour the rest of the world in 2023.
When RM officially introduced himself to the music industry through BTS‘ debut in 2013, the then-18-year-old Kim Namjoon was known through the stage name Rap Monster after being praised by hip-hop veterans for his spitting abilities, but he later shared a love-hate relationship with the moniker. In 2017, the star made the formal move to professionally go by RM after realizing it didn’t fully represent who he was or his love for all music. Instead, “RM” now opened his name up to represent a range of meanings, one of them thought to be the “Real Me.”
Even if rap is where RM started, his first proper solo album, Indigo, shows that it’s only one facet of the musician. With assistance from longtime musical legends in different genres, plus rising up-and-comers, the LP is a collection of songs that the star describes as an “archive” of his 20s.
Not only are RM’s artistic inspirations wide, but the 28-year-old plays with how he presents them to the world. On one track, he’s feeling feisty and confident to take on the world, and later, he’s reflective and alone in his hotel room. RM is not trying to bring what’s topping the charts today to this record, but it’s meant to showcase the ever-evolving people we are and become. Captures and snapshots of the “real” Kim Namjoon live throughout the album, but Indigo emphasizes that he is not a static piece of art.
While it’s tough to rank these songs from “worst” to “best,” Billboard is taking these flickers of RM and looking at how the global star is opening himself up in new musical form.
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.”