Pop

In October 2021, when Primary Wave first acquired a stake in Bing Crosby’s estate, the members of the new guard sat down together and came up with two objectives.
“One is: we want to make Bing the king of Christmas and holidays, every season, every year,” senior marketing manager Jack LeVine recalls to Billboard of the late pop icon, who delivered the definitive 20th century renditions of “White Christmas” and other seasonal staples. “And two is: just exciting, educating and engaging global and young audiences around Bing and his catalog.”

Nearly 7,000 miles away, the person who would turn out to be key to both goals was in the midst of an era-defining career explosion as part of South Korean boy band BTS, which brought renewed global attention to K-pop in 2021 with a breathtaking run of sunny dance singles – most prominently the 10-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Butter” — dazzling audiences with sleek visuals and snappy group choreography and enjoying the support of an ever-expanding, relentlessly passionate fanbase dubbed ARMY. But while the performer known as V was, to the world, one of seven young men at the helm of the year’s most polished, cutting-edge wave of contemporary pop dominance, the artist who grew up Kim Tae-hyung was, in his personal life, a reverent fan of a much different genre: jazz.

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And his favorite performer? Bing Crosby.

You could call it kismet, then, that three years later, V can now consider his hero a duet partner, their voices coming together over generations and lifetimes on a revamped version of “White Christmas” — fashioned out of an extremely rare recording found in Crosby’s extensive personal archives, voice-isolating technology and redone instrumentals — that dropped Friday (Dec. 6). But the project is actually the result of years of Primary Wave brainstorming, coordinating and consulting with Crosby’s daughter Mary and son Harry on how to not just preserve the iconic star’s legacy, but push it forward in a way that changes with the times.

There are many, scattered moments in the story of how the new “White Christmas” came together that could be considered the starting point, from V’s numerous posts about loving Bing over the years to Primary Wave’s discovery of the recording, a necessarily intimate 1950s radio performance that had only been released on limited physical products in the past — and could be perfect for recreating the magic of Crosby and David Bowie’s 1977 era-bridging “Little Drummer Boy” duet, with the help of a new modern star. But it’s the moment that those two worlds came together that proved to be the most fateful: when Primary Wave’s Sarah Nekich, digital and audience engagement, was scrolling X in her free time and came across a vlog posted by V in July 2022 in which he sang Crosby’s “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” in his car. At that point, months had gone by since the estate had considered the duet idea, stalled without a clear choice as to who was fit to join the late legend on the track. But now?

“It was just too perfect,” Nekich remembers of seeing V’s video. “He just had a beautiful jazz-like voice that sounds very similar to a young Bing Crosby. It was a no-brainer: These two are meant to be on a song together.”

The rest of the team – including Harry and Mary Crosby – were similarly impressed, and Primary Wave quickly reached out to V’s camp at HYBE x Geffen, who “were really receptive,” says Levine. The estate went to work on fleshing out a proper sketch of what the duet would actually sound like with V in the mix, tapping experienced jazz and classic pop producer Gregg Field to oversee the music, while Nekich — having already reposted V’s cover of “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” on Bing’s channels, and getting rocked by a tidal wave of ARMY engagement in response – continued interacting with BTS fans on social media to maintain momentum.

“The fact that V was such a huge fan was so heartening to us,” recalls Mary Crosby. “Until he came along, there wasn’t the right person. Because of V, Dad is going to be reaching an entirely different audience.”

The pieces were coming together, but making them connect would take more time than anticipated — especially as other projects repeatedly pushed the duet lower and lower on the to-do list. “The challenge with Christmas is no one is thinking about it in January or February,” Levine explains, laughing.

In late 2022, however, something lit a fire under the enterprise. “The BTS solo members announced that they were enlisting [in the South Korean military],” the executive continues. “There was a new sense of urgency. We were racing against a deadline that we had no visibility into.”

If Field had been able to take his time constructing the song before, he definitely couldn’t anymore. The producer – who’s previously worked with John Williams and Herbie Hancock – assembled the track using all-new instrumental arrangements by Rob Mounsey, recording rhythm section backings in Los Angeles and the orchestra and choir parts in Europe. Doing everything fresh was essential to making the finished product palatable to “2024 ears,” Field says, as was the process of separating Crosby’s vocal from the radio recording through iZotope’s Music Rebalance technology, revitalizing it to sound “like it was recorded yesterday” — sort of the musical equivalent to restoring aged paintings or worn-down buildings.

“That’s a perfect analogy,” Field tells Billboard of the process. “It’s getting all of the years of crud away from it and exposing what’s there.”

The last piece of the puzzle was V’s contribution, which he recorded remotely just before shipping off in December 2023 for 18 months to complete his mandatory service. His raw talent blew Field away. Says the producer, “The musical decisions [V] made – he understood who he was singing with.”

When the mix was finally complete early this year, all Primary Wave had to do was keep the collaboration a secret until finally announcing it in November, to the absolute delight of V’s biggest champions. Nekich reports that Crosby’s accounts have been absolutely flooded with heartfelt messages from ARMY ever since, with the late crooner’s following on X doubling “almost overnight” and his engagements skyrocketing by 300,000% within two weeks of the reveal.

Many of their comments, Nekich says, express genuine pride and happiness for V, who shared in a statement at the time of the announcement, “I feel incredibly fortunate and honored to have sung along … with the voice of someone I consider an idol.”

For Mary, the project represents everything that was important to her father in his lifetime. “If you look at what Dad did in terms of technology, bringing voice on tape … he was always ahead of the game and always incredibly interested in musical experiments,” she reflects. “This collaboration with V is kind of a continuation of that. Many people [from Bing’s era] would’ve not been able to wrap their head around this, but I think Dad would have.”

As for whether her father, who died in 1977, would’ve chosen to do the duet with V if he were alive today, Mary says, “Dad would’ve jumped at the chance.”

“He tried everything and sang with everybody,” the actress adds. “That sparked him. There are so many popular singers that list Bing Crosby as an influence, but Dad was always 100% ready to be musically influenced by someone else.”

With the track finally out in the world after three years of build-up, Primary Wave has officially made good on the goals they set at the beginning of their relationship with Crosby’s estate. But, galvanized by the breathtaking support of ARMY and the realization that, through technology, more doors are open to them than previously imagined, the team is ready to think even bigger. Nekich hopes the duet becomes a “new Christmas classic” — one that’ll serve as the jumping-off point, not the end of, Crosby’s relationship with V. And, she’d “love to see it go to the top of the Billboard charts this Christmas — we’re shooting for the stars.”

On that note, Levine is also adding an unofficial third objective to the bulletin board. “Respect to the queen,” he tells Billboard, “But I hope we outperform Mariah [Carey] this year.”

Listen to Bing Crosby’s brand-new version of “White Christmas” featuring V of BTS above.