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TWICE was “ready to be” on a television screen near you with their performances for TODAY‘s Summer Concert Series on Wednesday (July 5).
The K-Pop girl group graced the show’s concert stage with multiple performances of hits from across its catalog, including selections from recently released project, Ready to Be. Ahead of hitting the stage, TODAY Show co-host Craig Melvin hailed them as “the history-making queens of K-Pop.”
Each of the group’s members — Momo, Minatozaki Sana, Nayeon, Tzuyu, Jihyo, Chaeyoung, Jeongyeon, Mina and Dahyun — got an opportunity to introduce themselves to TODAY viewers before lighting up the stage with a series of electric performances “Alcohol-Free,” “Set Me Free” and more, complete with bubbles, a live band and outfits straight out of their music videos.
TWICE is the first all-woman K-Pop group to sell out a stadium in North America. The global phenoms are set to headline New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium as a part of their Ready to Be World Tour, which boasts nearly 40 dates across Asia, North America, Europe and Australia. The group’s TODAY performance included a rendition of Ready to Be lead single “Set Me Free,” which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100, their highest peak on the ranking. The girl group also performed “Moonlight Sunrise,” their second English-language single and second song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 (No. 84).
Ready to Be, the group’s twelfth EP, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with over 153,000 album-equivalent units. Of that figure, 145,500 units came from pure album sales, good enough for the group’s biggest consumption week in the U.S., as well as their highest-charting title in the U.S. to date.
TWICE has earned four consecutive top ten titles on the Billboard 200 dating back to 2021’s Taste of Love. “The Feels,” their first original English-language single, is their highest-charting Hot 100 hit (No. 83).
Check out some clips of TWICE’s TODAY performances below.
Multiplatinum-selling Grammy-nominated K-pop phenomenon BTS is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and to commemorate the milestone, the Bangtan Boys on Tuesday (June 13) gifted fans a live performance music video for their latest single “Take Two,” which they released last week (June 9) in celebration of their anniversary. Decked out in a fashionable collection of pastel […]
Three HYBE employees could be prosecuted for insider trading in South Korea for allegedly using non-public information about K-pop group BTS’ planned hiatus before the news was given to investors, according to multiple reports out of South Korea. South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the equivalent of the Securities Exchange Commission in the U.S., […]
This story is part of Billboard‘s K-Pop Issue.
Los Angeles-born and -raised choreographer Kyle Hanagami has worked with pop stars like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez and Dove Cameron. But in more recent years, his résumé has started reading like a who’s who of K-pop’s biggest names: TWICE, aespa, Red Velvet, Girls Generation, NCT and NCT Dream, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and, most notably, BLACKPINK. All have enlisted Hanagami to help craft the fierce moves that power their music videos and stage performances, define their brands and now are oft-imitated on TikTok. He has also worked with members of BLACKPINK on their solo efforts — including with Jisoo on the video for her single “Flower,” which has over 118 million YouTube views. Currently choreographing the forthcoming Mean Girls musical movie, Hanagami spoke from its East Coast set about what it took to become K-pop’s most in-demand dance-maker.
Were you a K-pop fan before becoming enmeshed in this world?
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I actually used to listen to K-pop in high school — I had a friend who was really, really into it. But I never in a million years imagined I’d be working in it, especially because I didn’t start dancing or choreographing until after high school. It’s a total fluke.
How did you start working with K-pop acts?
I’d been posting videos on YouTube back when I had maybe 500,000 subscribers [He now has over 4.5 million], and one of the entertainment companies reached out to me. Then more artists and entertainment companies started reaching out. When I first started working in K-pop, there weren’t very many American choreographers. It has been a process figuring out that style and what it looks like and kind of creating it. I think that’s why so many artists I’ve worked with have gone on to become so successful — they have amazing teams who work with them, but it really has been about me developing styles for these people from scratch.
In the United States, it has been a minute since choreo-driven girl groups and boy bands were popular. Does that make working with K-pop acts especially fun?
I used to choreograph for a Latin boy band, CNCO, that was hugely into dance breaks. And then I did *NSYNC’s surprise appearance at Ariana Grande’s Coachella performance, and that was again [a lot of] dance breaks. I’ve always loved that style. It has been cool to figure out how to adapt it to these amazing artists who come out of Korea.
Why is dance so important to the identity of K-pop groups and their members?
It’s about really identifying what makes their music different and bringing it to life. I remember the first time I heard BLACKPINK, when I heard “Boombayah” [for which Hanagami choreographed the video]. I remember thinking, “Oh, this is different. I’ve never heard a K-pop group come out like this, especially as their first single. This group needs to look different than everyone else.” I had the opportunity to choreograph and give visuals that hadn’t been done for K-pop before, and I loved making that a signature of BLACKPINK.
How would you describe that signature?
They’re so innovative as a K-pop group, and I was able with the choreography to really lean into their individuality. They should dance the way they sing — and each of their voices are so unique. I really have to bring that out when I give them solo moments in choreography, but at the same time, it has to work together as a whole. I think what has helped make them successful is all four girls are relatable in their own ways, but they feel like a supergroup when they come together.
Are there certain things you would do with an American act that you wouldn’t with a K-pop act?
Obviously, I make sure there is that element of cultural sensitivity. There are definitely American artists who’ll go way overtly sexy in a way a Korean artist might not be comfortable with, and it’s something I keep in mind. I want to make sure if a 9-year-old is watching [a video] at home and they want to follow along, their parents feel comfortable.
But in general, the artists that come out of Korea train so hard to be where they are, [they’re] becoming these superstars before they even hit the stage, whereas in America, it’s often about finding existing talent versus talent development. Any time I get a new [K-pop] artist, it’s starting with what they have — if someone is a great vocalist, or a great rapper, or a great dancer or very charming — and knowing how and when to make them shine. Using the choreography to show what they do best.
This story originally appeared in the April 22, 2023, issue of Billboard.
This story is part of Billboard‘s K-pop Issue.
As one of the few non-English-speaking students at an American international academy in Singapore, the artist born Lee Seung-joo rarely talked to his peers, and he would often skip lunch to avoid eating alone in the cafeteria. Even his stage name is an anagram for “loner,” and his Instagram handle is “lorenisalone” — but as he laughs over Zoom through coughs of smoke while puffing on an orange vape in his Seoul studio at 1 a.m. local time, he says that listeners shouldn’t take those gestures seriously. “Some people DM me like, ‘You’re not alone.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s just my Instagram ID.’ ”
Still, LØREN says being dragged to the academy “kicking and screaming” by his parents — and having to learn English — planted the seed for becoming a global star. “I think being miserable at school is not a necessity,” he explains, “but I feel like if I had been very happy, I wouldn’t have been so eager to make something of myself.”
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Instead of playing basketball and beer pong with his more popular peers, LØREN spent his time learning to play instruments in the band room and listening to Green Day and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Too shy to form a band of his own, after graduation in 2013, he forged a more insular musical path: making beats as an EDM producer. He soon connected with other musicians by DJ’ing on the Seoul nightclub circuit and found mentors within The Black Label, an associate company of YG Entertainment, founded by producer Teddy Park. With his help, LØREN leveraged a career as an in-demand producer-songwriter, scoring major credits with K-pop sensation BLACKPINK on tracks like “Lovesick Girls” and “Pretty Savage.”
Saint Laurent sweater, pants and shoes.
Ssam Kim
But his attention kept drifting back to rock music. “It kind of got tiring for me,” he says of his start in EDM. “Not that I don’t like [that music], but I grew up so heavily on rock, there was dissonance between what I created and what I really liked. I had an epiphany: Being a frontman of a band doing rock music has been my dream all my life.”
In 2021, he launched his solo career with a pair of singles: the bilingual, early-2000s-inspired rock tracks “NEED (ooo-eee)” and “Empty Trash,” followed by the more pop-facing “All My Friends Are Turning Blue.” LØREN self-released the three songs on his independent label, Fire Exit Records, in partnership with The Black Label.
Now, at 28 years old, the artist is committing to his vision. He signed a record deal with 88Rising earlier this year (still in partnership with The Black Label), saying he knew he needed to be on its roster, which is full of Asian artists with global reach like Joji, NIKI, Rich Brian and more. “I like how their artists, you can just tell they’re doing their own thing without being pressured to create something they don’t f–k with,” he says.
But none occupy the punk-rock lane like LØREN. As he points out, the genre isn’t as popular in South Korea as it is in the United States — and, in a previous interview, went as far as to call rock “dead” in his home country. He now admits that might have been a slight overstatement, though he’s eager to lean on 88Rising’s expertise in finding a larger audience to connect with.
After discovering LØREN’s string of singles, 88Rising executive vp John Yang knew the multi-instrumentalist would fill a sonic gap on the label’s lineup. He says he wasn’t even aware of LØREN’s work with BLACKPINK until after the deal was done. “When we sign artists, we always vibe out with them. What really matters is the person, their personality,” says Yang. “We’re not in this business just to become big or make money out of it. We’re here because we love music, and we want other people to enjoy music, too. LØREN’s character, his storytelling and his passion really got us into him.”
Saint Laurent top, pants and shoes.
Ssam Kim
LØREN’s first 88Rising release, the raucous five-track EP Put Up a Fight, was finished by the time he signed his contract. After polishing touches and strategy talks, the project arrived March 24 — and he’s already looking ahead. He has “five or six” tracks completed for his upcoming full-length and is in the throes of practicing something entirely new: playing with other people, for other people.
One of 88Rising’s first orders of business for LØREN was to book a series of U.S. shows, including sets at Coachella and Head in the Clouds, a two-day label-curated festival in New York. He has been hard at work translating his songs for the stage with a band of close friends, which he reveals can be difficult at times, given he records every guitar and drum line on his songs without writing anything down. “Sometimes [my guitarist] asks me, ‘How did you come up with this sound? What pedal did you use?’ I’m just like, ‘I don’t know, dude,’ ” he says with a grin.
But even as everything around him — from his team to his band to his fan base — grows, the inward focus that shaped LØREN early on keeps him grounded. He holds out his hands, nails chipped with black polish, seemingly visualizing the vastness of his future: “I’m a musician at the end of the day,” he continues. “I just want to put out as much music as I can in my lifetime, literally until I die.”
Ssam Kim
This story originally appeared in the April 22, 2023 issue of Billboard.
This story is part of Billboard‘s K-Pop Issue.
When J.Y. Park and Monte Lipman announced their forthcoming competition series A2K — standing for America to Korea — in July 2022, the respective founders of JYP Entertainment and Republic Records vowed to jointly produce “the first American artist made out of the K-pop system.” It was something of a full-circle moment for Park, who has eyed South Korean-to-American crossover success since JYP’s Wonder Girls became the first K-pop act to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009. American artists are now clamoring for Park and other top Korean labels to notice them — and help them achieve their big break — in what has become a global race to launch a first-of-its-kind K-pop act.
While K-pop is short for “Korean pop,” genre fusion has always been one of its pillars and a big part of what has helped it reach new audiences — as has cultivating groups with members from countries outside of South Korea. Today, it’s common for trainees to come not only from China, Japan and Thailand but also countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and, now, the United States.
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“The whole strategy often started with having a member able to speak the language for the targeted market,” says John Yang, a U.S.-based entertainment executive who has spent 15 years in the Korean music business. “The K-pop industry realized the power of having members of that nation propelling more of the engagement among the fans and a much quicker local expansion.”
Now, with the genre’s growing popularity in major markets, K-pop stars are defined not by nationality, but by industry standards: years of rigorous training, contracts signed under a Korean agency, visual hallmarks (glossy videos, coordinated choreography) and release strategies involving multiple album drops each year.
“K-pop means ‘Korean popular music,’ ” Yang says. “I see this less as where it’s made, but more of who made it and how it’s produced. I may compare this with the restaurant business: It’s not the location defining it as ‘American,’ ‘Italian’ or ‘Korean,’ and also not about the ethnicity or race of its CEO, managers or even customers that defines cuisine, but more of cuisine consisting of the ingredients, recipes and techniques developed across that respective country.”
Despite the growing number of countries represented in K-pop, nearly all the artists are from Asia or of Asian descent. But the expanding definition of who can be a K-pop star is now seeing Korea’s industry leaders incorporating America’s diverse young talent into their system, regardless of race or ethnicity.
Initially, HYBE was the front-runner in this global gamble. A month before Big Hit Entertainment rebranded as HYBE in March 2021, chairman and then-CEO Bang Si-hyuk, alongside Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge, revealed a strategic partnership that included assembling a “global” K-pop boy group in the United States under a new joint-venture label between Big Hit and Geffen Records. The plans to air worldwide auditions in 2022 with a “major U.S. media partner” changed a bit: HYBE and Geffen subsequently announced five American cities holding auditions for a “global girl group” in March and April 2022 before expanding the auditions to Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and South Korea for December 2022-January 2023.
In that time, A2K launched its own American Idol-style auditions, bringing Park to Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Dallas and Los Angeles to select contestants to attend an L.A. “boot camp” reminiscent of The X Factor’s, with semifinalists then flying to JYP Entertainment’s Seoul headquarters for what A2K described as “intensive training” with music, dance and business executives. Winners will be part of a supergroup under JYP and Republic Records for all music releases — just like TWICE, Stray Kids and ITZY, which have earned seven top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, including two No. 1s by Stray Kids, since the companies partnered in 2020. TWICE, Stray Kids and JYP’s Japan-based girl group NiziU were all created on similar competition shows and officially debuted three to six months after their respective finales.
While JYP and HYBE worked directly with label partners, SM Entertainment connected directly with MGM Worldwide Television Group for its global venture. SM announced a partnership in May 2021 with MGM and its then-chairman, Mark Burnett, for a competition series forming NCT-Hollywood, a U.S. offshoot of SM’s boy band collective NCT, which has splinter groups across Korea, China and Japan. At the time, an insider told Billboard the show had been in development even before the pandemic — but Burnett’s late-2022 exit from MGM, Lee Soo-man’s controversial ousting from SM earlier this year and an announcement from SM’s new CEOs that the NCT system would halt expansion after a Tokyo-based team launches in 2023 raise questions about the project. (SM declined to comment for this story, as did Republic Records and Geffen Records — a reluctance likely born out of the high degree of competition and similar timelines to launch that they’re operating on.)
While no major U.S. label has made an earnest attempt, American and British “K-pop” groups have been launched before. Dubbed “the world’s most controversial ‘Korean’ band” by the BBC, EXP EDITION began in 2014 as Columbia University student Bora Kim’s master’s thesis that explored the meaning of K-pop music. Kim held auditions to form a band of six non-Korean men who would undergo a truncated version of the years of rigorous training K-pop hopefuls commit to in Seoul with voice coaching, dance rehearsals, language lessons and media training. Supporters donated $30,000 through Kickstarter and, with the help of a private investor, Kim and four of the six EXP EDITION members moved to Korea.
EXP EDITION booked prime K-entertainment TV slots like Mnet’s M Countdown and KBS2’s Immortal Songs, but experts criticized its inability to achieve captivating, onstage perfection — and the group’s 2018 debut EP, First Edition, was its sole release.
KAACHI, created by Frontrow Records and branded as the first London-based K-pop group, faced similar criticism. Unlike EXP EDITION, KAACHI did have one Korean member. Its 2021 music video “Get Up” was sponsored by a Seoul theme park, and the group performed publicly alongside top K-pop stars at the time. Still, the group disbanded in less than two years.
But crucially, today’s ventures to create global K-pop groups have the backing of some of the most powerful companies — Korean and American — in the music business. Whether or not the artists these initiatives yield break through on the Billboard charts, Yang sees future group launches as the ultimate indicator of a healthy, locally grown K-pop presence in America — much in the same way SM, JYP, HYBE and their counterparts have done for decades now in Asia.
“The most obvious indicators of the success of these projects would be Billboard charting, which will only result with the support of their fans without doubt,” he says. “However, the longevity of these partnerships and the birthing of more groups consistently will be the significant historical marker.”
This story originally appeared in the April 22, 2023, issue of Billboard.
This story is part of Billboard‘s K-Pop Issue.
For the multitude of K-pop acts amplifying South Korean culture on the global stage, it’s fair to say BTS and BLACKPINK have set the bar, with BTS in particular achieving many records. Now as both bands open new chapters with their members’ solo careers, they’re establishing more precedents.
Ten years ago, solo debuts from within such groups might have signaled trouble: perhaps an imminent disbanding, or one member being considered more successful than the others. But for BTS and BLACKPINK, solo projects are additive, supplementing the groups’ journeys while highlighting new artistic dimensions. For BTS, solo ventures have given the members room to experiment sonically, visually and lyrically (including expletives largely avoided in group releases). And in 2018, BLACKPINK’s Jennie upended the norm for when a band’s first solo act might break out when she released her debut single, “Solo” — two years before BLACKPINK dropped its first studio album.
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The path to solo stardom hasn’t necessarily replicated the levels of success the bands have achieved. No member of BLACKPINK has cracked the Billboard Hot 100 above No. 70. And when BTS’ Jimin recently debuted at No. 1 on the chart with “Like Crazy,” it was a first for a solo member of the group. But as these artists explore their individual identities, single releases are far from the only metric defining them. Here, a look at both bands and their recent solo endeavors.
It cemented its stake in the K-pop zeitgeist with viral hits like “DDU-DU DDU-DU” and “BOOMBAYAH,” but BLACKPINK didn’t release its first studio album until 2020, four years after debuting. Album track “Ice Cream” (with Selena Gomez) became the group’s highest-charting U.S. single, peaking at No. 13 on the Hot 100. After making history in 2019 as the first K-pop group to perform at Coachella, BLACKPINK just became the first such act to headline the festival.
Jisoo
Although she was BLACKPINK’s first member to try acting (with a role on JTBC series Snowdrop in 2021), Jisoo was the last to make her official solo debut, following Jennie (2018), Rosé and Lisa (both in 2021). Released in March, ME is a two-track set featuring “(FLOWER),” blending pop and trap with traditional Korean melodies, and the upbeat “All Eyes on Me.” “(FLOWER)” debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts.
Jennie
Jennie’s solo journey broke the traditional K-pop model: Her debut single, “Solo,” was released in November 2018 — before BLACKPINK’s own debut studio set, The Album, arrived. “Solo” topped Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart for one week, and less than a year later, Jennie became the first Korean solo artist to perform at Coachella. Her follow-up, “You & Me,” was first heard in October 2022, when she performed it during BLACKPINK’s Born Pink World Tour; it has yet to be officially released. Next, she’ll make a foray into acting on HBO’s The Idol.
Lisa
The charismatic rapper-singer released her debut two-track project, LALISA, in September 2021. The eponymous lead single entered the Billboard Global 200 at No. 2 and the Hot 100 at No. 84; B-side “Money” received some radio airplay but peaked at No. 90 on the Hot 100. In 2022, Lisa became the first solo K-pop winner at the MTV Video Music Awards and the first female soloist to win the best K-pop artist category.
Rosé
The second member of BLACKPINK to release solo material, Rosé put out the two-track R in March 2021. “On the Ground” debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, staying there for one week. (It peaked at No. 70 on the Hot 100.) “Gone” reached No. 17 on Global Excl. U.S. and No. 29 on Global 200.
BTS
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During the last decade, BTS released nine albums and over 230 songs (many of which it co-wrote or produced), making history along the way as the first Korean group to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 (“Dynamite”) and the act with the most No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 this decade. Proof, BTS’ most recent album, was its sixth to debut atop the Billboard 200.
Jin
When late 2021’s “SUPER TUNA,” an unofficial gag gift for fans, went viral, Jin was so embarrassed that he asked listeners to stop dancing to it. Days after BigHit Music announced BTS would fulfill its military service — starting with Jin — the song (along with “Tonight” and “Abyss”) was officially released. The week his single “The Astronaut” debuted, Jin topped Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart for the first time, the sixth BTS member to do so; co-written by Jin and Coldplay, the song peaked at No. 51 on the Hot 100 and debuted at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart.
V
V has yet to announce an album and released one single, “Christmas Tree,” for K-drama Our Beloved Summer’s original soundtrack; it peaked at No. 79 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on Digital Song Sales in January 2022. Recently, he joined famed Korean actors Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik, Lee Seo-jin and Jung Yu-mi to film tvN reality show Jinny’s Kitchen, in which they open a pop-up Korean restaurant in a small Mexico town.
SUGA
The only member to go solo under an alternate name, Agust D — a portmanteau of “D-Town” (his hometown of Daegu) and “Agus” (SUGA backward, and an abbreviation of “shooting guard,” his favored basketball position). The prolific producer-songwriter has penned tracks for popular Korean artists like IU and PSY. His mixtape, D-2, was a runaway hit with fans, though it was only released digitally. His full-length debut, D-DAY, just came out with an accompanying documentary, SUGA: Road to D-DAY. SUGA is the first BTS member to embark on a solo tour; his nine-city trek across the United States and Asia begins April 26 in New York.
Jung Kook
He hasn’t released a solo album yet, but Jung Kook has been busy. His “Stay Alive,” produced by SUGA, was released as the theme for Korean webtoon series 7Fates: Chakho. (It peaked at No. 95 on the Hot 100.) In summer 2022, he featured on Charlie Puth’s “Left and Right,” which reached No. 22 on the Hot 100. At the 2022 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, he sang “Dreamers,” part of the tournament’s official soundtrack, and since then has been highly visible on billboards worldwide as a global brand ambassador for Calvin Klein Jeans and Calvin Klein Underwear.
RM
On his solo endeavors (including features with Balming Tiger and So!YoON!), RM has made a concerted effort to showcase the diversity of Korea’s non-mainstream artists. His debut, Indigo, featuring collaborators ranging from Erykah Badu to Epik High’s Tablo, arrived on digital and streaming on Dec. 2, 2022, two weeks before a physical version was released. Fans worried its chart prospects would suffer, but Indigo still peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — setting a record for the highest album charting position for a K-pop artist at the time — and at No. 1 on the World Albums chart.
Jimin
In April, Jimin became the first Korean soloist to top the Hot 100 with “Like Crazy,” the lead single from his March debut album, FACE, which explores loneliness and finding freedom. He co-wrote all five tracks on FACE, which entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2, making it the highest-charting album by a K-pop solo artist. (Previously, RM held the record.)
j-hope
The first Korean artist to headline Lollapalooza, j-hope dropped his debut album, Jack in the Box, in July 2022 as a digital-only release. Fans claimed the lack of a physical version put him at a charting disadvantage; nonetheless, the album peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on Top Rap Albums. Tracks “Arson” and “= (Equal Sign)” peaked at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on World Digital Song Sales. He recently released “on the street” (with J. Cole), a role model of his, and has confirmed he will be BTS’ next member to enlist for military service.
This story originally appeared in the April 22, 2023, issue of Billboard.
This story is part of Billboard‘s K-Pop Issue.
In March, HYBE founder/chairman Bang Si-hyuk issued a dire warning: “K-pop,” he concluded, “is in crisis.” HYBE is the music company behind BTS, the group that spearheaded K-pop’s dramatic international growth in recent years, but Bang sounded alarmed about the genre’s health. K-pop’s momentum was faltering, he said, claiming fewer tracks from the genre charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022 than in 2021. The following month, BTS’ Jimin released his solo debut album, and the single “Like Crazy” arrived at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Still, his comments dovetailed with general industry anxiety about the dearth of new acts breaking into the mainstream and the challenge of maintaining growth in a ferociously competitive landscape, where around 100,000 new songs hit streaming services daily.
Within K-pop, some executives are concerned about the extent to which the genre can continue to produce massive international hits without BTS’ firepower while the group is on hiatus. “Although I wouldn’t go so far as calling it a ‘crisis,’ I do share [Bang’s] underlying sense of urgency that the Korean music industry is very much at an important crossroads,” says Bernie Cho, president of DFSB Kollective, a Seoul-based artist and label services agency.
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K-pop’s ascent to global prominence was, Cho says, “inextricably linked [with] and heavily reliant on the singular artistic visions” of executives at a few key companies — notably SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment. “It has become an open source of debate these days, from boardrooms to chat rooms, that steadfastly sticking to this single-lane approach may no longer be the right direction” if the industry hopes to “futureproof” K-pop.
Executives who work in and around the genre are quick to pinpoint one big reason for the recent lack of K-pop in the upper reaches of the Hot 100: In June 2022, BTS — which has topped the chart four times on its own and twice more as a collaborator with Western artists — announced its potentially yearslong hiatus. “Their vacancy is definitely going to put a bit of a hole in the market,” says Eddie Nam, CEO of EN Management (Eric Nam, Epik High).
But there’s disagreement on whether hit singles in the United States are the best gauge of the genre’s health in the first place. On the Billboard 200, K-pop albums continue to hit No. 1 thanks to robust physical sales of CD variants; last year, K-pop groups topped the chart four times — Stray Kids twice and BTS and BLACKPINK once each — setting a new high-water mark for K-pop. “Most K-pop groups are built on a strong fan base, and their loyalty and support for their artists is much more organized than in the past,” says YG Entertainment USA’s former president Joojong Joe. “These fandoms know that Billboard chart positioning is important to their artists, and they organize album purchases and promotion within their fandom in the first week of an album’s release in order to get it to the top of the charts.”
But recently, K-pop acts haven’t scaled the same heights on the Hot 100. The biggest recent non-BTS K-pop hit was BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom” last year, which peaked at No. 22. In the United States, the genre’s singles often perform phenomenally on the downloads chart — mirroring their dominance in physical sales — but less well on the streaming and radio rankings. “Like Crazy,” for example, sold 254,000 downloads, easily topping Digital Song Sales, but clocked in at No. 35 on the Streaming Songs chart. BTS’ previous No. 1, the Coldplay collaboration “My Universe,” also topped Digital Song Sales in its first week but landed at No. 21 on Streaming Songs.
Getting airplay in the United States remains K-pop’s biggest challenge: BTS has spent 17 cumulative weeks atop the Hot 100 but hasn’t made it past No. 5 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, and BLACKPINK hasn’t even cracked the top 20 on Pop Airplay. The airplay audience for “Like Crazy” is the lowest for a Hot 100 No. 1 this decade. “I don’t think we’ve seen Korean music take over U.S. radio in any way,” Nam says. This remains true even as most of the biggest K-pop acts now work with American major labels, which have long-standing radio promo teams.
As Joe points out, K-pop artists aren’t necessarily so different from others outside the United States when it comes to that airplay disadvantage. “You’re in the country for promotion for only a short amount of time,” he explains. “You have to prioritize — you have a late-night show on TV; you have a concert; you have a photo shoot. It takes a lot of time to build relationships at radio, and it has not been easy for Korean artists to do that in the short amount of time they have here.”
In addition, many K-pop singles are only partially in English, which may make them a tougher sell at radio — a medium not known for taking risks. (Bad Bunny is one of the biggest artists in the world, but he has never made it past No. 19 at pop radio as a lead artist.) Three of BTS’ biggest hits were entirely in English; two others were collaborations with prominent Western acts singing in English.
Others, like Michael Martin, senior vp of programming for Audacy, the second-largest radio company in the United States, dismiss the idea that language might be limiting K-pop’s airplay. Representatives for two other prominent radio conglomerates, iHeartRadio and Cumulus, declined to comment on K-pop airplay, though iHeart has been supporting rising acts like NewJeans, especially in cities on the West Coast, and had some of the few stations that played “Like Crazy” during its debut week.
However, there’s also an argument that in an increasingly global music marketplace, hits are no longer the most important indicator of a genre’s health — and that K-pop’s difficulty getting U.S. radio play ultimately doesn’t matter to its momentum. “I don’t think K-pop groups must have hit singles in the U.S. to succeed globally,” says Inkyu Kang, an associate professor at Penn State and the author of K-Pop: The International Rise of the Korean Music Industry. “K-pop had already been enjoyed by people around the world with diverse backgrounds before it reached the U.S.”
Those listeners continue to seek out music from the genre: K-pop groups accounted for four of the top 10 albums in the world last year, according to the most recent report from IFPI, up from two in 2020. Looking just at sales rather than overall consumption, K-pop acts have a whopping eight out of the top 10, up from four in 2020. “Last year, the K-pop industry had the highest album sales overseas in history,” though growth in album sales slowed significantly, says Stephanie Choi of SUNY Buffalo’s Asia Research Institute, who is working on a book on K-pop. Japan, China and the United States were the three biggest importers of K-pop albums.
“You have to look at the whole pie,” says Lucas Keller, who manages Jenna Andrews, co-writer of BTS’ runaway hit “Butter.” “K-pop has one of the most committed fan bases in the history of music. You have to look at the touring, the merchandise and the audience, not just the charts.”
“When I speak to folks in the industry,” Keller adds, “we all believe that Korean pop acts have a real seat at the table now — including a shot at Western success in a way that was more difficult in past years.”
This story originally appeared in the April 22, 2023, issue of Billboard.
CARATs are worldwide, and SEVENTEEN‘s recent sit down with Billboard News is proof. The K-pop group stopped by to play a quick game with Billboard News host Tetris Kelly, in which they revealed some of the strangest and most interesting places where they have met their dedicated fans.
According to Joshua, the weirdest place he’s ever met a fan was at “Disneyland. I went with my parents too,” he told Kelly, adding that he’s had a spontaneous fan meet at an Apple Store as well. “I met a CARAT on the Ferris wheel in Seattle,” Hoshi said, with Mingyu stating that he “actually run[s] into them quite often.”
When asked who the members of the group are fans of, Hoshi proudly shared that he’s a Justin Bieber fan, while Jun loves KARA and Mingyu is a fan of Billie Eilish. The group also stated that live performances from Bieber — as well as John Mayer, Taemin (of SHINee) and their producer Bumzu — are some of the best they’ve ever attended.
SEVENTEEN is currently in album promotion mode — the group is gearing up to release its 10th mini album, FML, on April 24. The set, which contains a total of six tracks, comes nine months after the release of the group’s repackage album, Sector 17 (which charted at No. 4 on the all genre Billboard 200). The mini album features two tracks, “F*ck My Life” and “손오공 (Super),” which will hit streaming after the album’s formal arrival.
Following the release of FML, the SEVENTEEN 2023 JAPAN FANMEETING ‘LOVE’ will hit Japan in May, taking over Kyocera Dome Osaka and Tokyo Dome across four dates.
SEOUL — South Korea’s SM Entertainment appointed Jang Cheol-hyuk as the company’s new CEO on Friday (March 31), as the K-pop giant vowed to turn over a new leaf by bringing on a fresh leader and board of directors. Jang succeeds outgoing CEO Lee Sung-soo.
“I feel a great responsibility to assume the position as a CEO when SM is about to take a big leap forward,” said Jang in a statement. “We will establish a sound [and] transparent governance structure and faithfully implement the SM 3.0 strategy so that SM can become a fan-and shareholder-centered global entertainment leader.”
The landmark corporate shakeup is part of SM’s bid to improve corporate governance as well as its production system, which in recent years lagged behind rivals and invited investor scrutiny. Friday’s appointments also put an end to the weeks-long drama that gripped the K-pop world, pitting industry giants HYBE, home to boyband BTS, and South Korean tech giant Kakao against each other.
A certified accountant and professional manager, Jang joined SM in early 2022 as CFO and has been involved in creating the blueprint for SM’s future. Dubbed SM 3.0, the plan is to diversify the company’s artist portfolio and delegate more creative control away from the single-pipeline structure helmed by SM founder Lee Soo-man.
For years, Lee hasn’t had an official role at SM — which developed K-pop groups EXO, NCT and Girls’ Generation — but he had nearly unchecked powers as its largest shareholder. He was being paid millions of dollars a year in production fees, a setup that ended late last year following a shareholder revolt.
At Friday’s meeting, Kim Kyung Wook, a former SM CEO and now shareholder, pressed the agency to recoup the production fees, but outgoing CEO Lee Sung-soo — who is Lee Soo-man’s nephew — said the company was not ready to consider that step.
Cracks began to show at SM in February after management, without Lee Soo-man’s approval, signed a partnership deal with Kakao. The founder retaliated by selling most of his shares to HYBE and laying the groundwork for a possible merger between the two largest K-pop agencies.
Friday’s shareholder meeting had been hyped as a spirited battle between HYBE and Kakao before HYBE abruptly threw in the towel last week and ceded some of its SM shares to its rival.
Together with subsidiary Kakao Entertainment, Kakao has now secured nearly 40% of shares in SM, becoming the company’s largest stakeholder. Jang Yoon-Joong, executive vp/global strategy officer at Kakao Entertainment, as well as Align Partners CEO Lee Changhwan — who led the shareholder revolt — have now joined the board as non-executive directors.
Three SM executives, including incoming CEO Jang, were also appointed to the board, while five outside directors were also approved: Kim Kyu-Shik, chairman of the Korean Corporate Governance Forum; Kim Tae-him, attorney at Pyeong San Law Firm; Moon Jungbien, professor at Korea University Business School; Lee Seung-min, partner at Peter & Kim; and Sung M. Cho, CEO of music analytics company Chartmetric.
Before BTS conquered the world, Lee Soo-man was the most famous face of K-pop in Korea for reasons both good and bad. He has been lauded as a visionary but criticized for his harsh treatment of trainees and artists. While he treated stalwart artists like family, keeping them on the roster even after their career peaks, he also was accused of excessive control over the acts’ professional and personal lives. He has also been convicted of embezzlement, though he later received a presidential pardon for his contribution to K-pop.
Lee Soo-man still holds over 3% of SM’s shares but hasn’t disclosed his future plans regarding the company. A representative sent to Friday’s meeting on his behalf stayed silent at the gathering.
“Today marks an end of an era at SM, a company I founded in my name,” said Lee, in a statement emailed to reporters shortly before the shareholder meeting. While not commenting directly on the proceedings, he said he was staying outside the country and is “deeply immersed in the world of global music.”