Videos

IU is named Billboard Korea’s No. 1 artist of the year for Billboard’s Global No. 1s series. IU shares the pros and cons of being a solo artist, her openness to collaborating with international artists and more!

Billboard is launching its inaugural Global No. 1s series, an initiative to spotlight top-charting artists from around the world. Billboard has partnered with its 10-plus global editions to showcase distinct voices topping their local charts around the world in exclusive interviews. Stay tuned throughout the week to discover who’s No. 1 in the U.K., Brazil, Korea and more!

IU:
Global. Billboard. No. 1. There’s a lot of glorious words attached to this selection, so I’m just grateful that they’re giving me another chance and it’s a little bit awkward and I’m honored, but I think it’s a very good feeling. 

If I had to say one thing, I don’t have any members to share the synergy on stage. In a group, each member has a role and I think the synergy that they have is amazing. It’s a little bit difficult to create any synergy because I have to do it by myself. And to talk about the advantages, on the contrary, I enjoy all the good things, whether it’s interest or love, by myself I think that’s the advantage of solo artists. 

In fact, there were many good and grateful suggestions, but I think I wrote it because I felt a little vague about collaborating with artists with different languages, so I used to refuse many times, but now I don’t. I am more open to collaborating with global artists than before, please feel free to reach out to me. Especially in South Korea, those groups are very popular on Billboard and loved by many fans, and I think as a listener who loves K-pop, even if I’m just standing there, there is a worldview in K-pop culture.

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Ana Castela brightens up Brazil as she partakes in Billboard’s ‘Global No. 1s’ series. The Sertanejo singer goes into detail about “Nosso Quadro” stealing the hearts of Brazil, possibly experimenting with other genres and more!

Billboard is launching its inaugural ‘Global No. 1s’ series, an initiative to spotlight top-charting artists from around the world. Billboard has partnered with its 10-plus global editions to showcase distinct voices topping their local charts around the world in exclusive interviews. Stay tuned throughout the week to discover who’s No. 1 in the UK, Brazil, Korea and more!

Ana Castela:

I’m really amazed to see that people enjoy my music, they are enjoying my work. And to see how far I’m getting, how far Ana Castela is getting. The positions that my songs are reaching. So, seeing my face on Billboard Brasil every day is really fulfilling for me to keep going on this path. I’m heading into the right way. “Nosso Quadro” is a song that my manager and his friend wrote for me. We recorded it for a project called ‘Agroplay Verão.’ It was raining a lot, very close to Balneário, and it was pouring. We didn’t even know if we’d be able to shoot the video. And it worked out. It was Ana Castela’s most successful song. And I think it’s the most beautiful song of all, the coolest song. So that we’re even writing another song in the same style as “Nosso Quadro” because I love it so much and I want to make another hit like it. It’s a really nice song to listen to, very heartfelt. Me, myself, I really like to be in all music genres because I listen to all genres of music. And the cool thing about Sertanejo is that we can dive into other styles.

KUN claims China with “Afterglow” for the ‘Global No. 1s’ series. He duo shares how “Afterglow” came to life, shares his view on performances, and more!

Billboard is launching its inaugural ‘Global No. 1s’ series, an initiative to spotlight top-charting artists from around the world. Billboard has partnered with its ten-plus global editions to showcase distinct voices topping their local charts around the world in exclusive interviews. Stay tuned throughout the week to discover who’s No. 1 in the UK, Brazil, Korea, and more!

KUN:

Hi everyone, I’m KUN. First of all, I want to thank everyone who loves this song. For me, it’s more of an encouragement. It makes me want to work harder to create a better next piece. To produce better work to give back to everyone. Actually, at the beginning, I wanted to connect time and space and relate it to art and fashion. So I thought for a long time about what kind of word could represent this kind of imagery, this kind of artistic conception. In the end, the word “Afterglow” appeared in my mind. Also because during different flights, in the process of traveling, including during drives, we often see such scenery. It also represents a momentary feeling. So in the end, I used this theme, and it combined it with imaged in my mind of models walking the runway, with lights flashing continuously, time changing, people changing. This general feeling of my own imagined sensation, so I created this song. The process was actually quite fun and quite fast. We first decided on this theme. Then we played around freestyle, and the concept came together quickly. Actually, with “Afterglow,” I have started incorporating some soul elements and rock elements. For the production, we used a blend of modern and classic elements. So basically, this song marks the beginning of a creative approach I really resonate with.

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