Korean Idols

Stray Kids: How K-Pop took over the global charts in 2023 Banzai Japan Aoi Hoshi MV Inevitably enough, Taylor Swift was the biggest-selling artist in the world last year – but new figures from the recording industry suggest that Western artists have lost their grip on the charts. Four of 2023’s top 10 best-selling acts came from South Korea, with bands such as Stray Kids and Seventeen outselling stars like Drake and The Weeknd. The international sales figures were compiled by the IFPI, which represents the global music industry. Bad Bunny and Lana Del Rey also made the top 10. Although none of the South Korean bands in the list have broken the UK Top 40, they are responsible for millions of streams around the world, as K-Pop continues its phenomenal growth. In the 12 years since Psy’s Gangnam Style, the genre has continually expanded its reach – even making a notable impact on America’s typically impenetrable music industry. The charge was led by boyband phenomenon BTS, whose high-concept anthems (with references to Carl Jung and Herman Hesse) found them topping the charts worldwide, even before their swerve into English-language pop on hits like Butter and Dynamite. In 2019, they became the first K-Pop band to headline Wembley Stadium. Within two years, they were performing at the Grammys and collaborating with Coldplay. BTS go into the army – what now for K-pop’s kings? Blackpink renew contract ensuring group’s future ‘I trained as a K-pop idol – here’s why I quit’ Their female counterparts, Blackpink, have achieved similar levels of success – last year headlining both the Coachella festival in California, and London’s BST Hyde Park. Their success can be chalked up bleeding-edge pop hits like Whistle, Ddu-du Ddu-du and Shut Down, the latter of which samples Paganini’s second violin concerto. But neither band featured in the IFPI’s best-seller list: BTS are on hiatus while its members complete compulsory military service; while Blackpink spent the latter half of 2023 renegotiating their contracts with YG Entertainment – the media conglomerate that put the band together in 2016. ADVERT Hotel Hilton London Excel Book Hilton Hotel ADVERT Entertainment companies like YG and Big Hit, which represents BTS, are the main engine of K-Pop’s success, putting their acts through gruelling auditions and years of training before they’re revealed to the public. “If you were on an Olympic team you would have to be trained and we see no difference,” Chris Lee, head of SM Entertainment told The Guardian in 2022. “If they want to be the best in the world, it takes a lot of work. They get media training. They study languages so that they can communicate with many different audiences. We teach them how to have good personalities.” Last year, Blackpink singer Rosé told James Corden how arduous the K-Pop regime could be. “We wake up at like 9 to get ready, then we go at 11am and we practice all through 2am – we all come home at 2am, even on weekends,” the 26-year-old said of the band’s six-traineeship, during which the then-teenage members were separated from their families. “We weren’t really looking back to our homes or anything. We were just like, let’s survive this.” But the success of K-Pop is down to more than military-grade bootcamps. Stylistic detours Stray Kids, in particular, have won an ardent fanbase for their dark and experimental albums, which fuse elements of hip-hop, dubstep, heavy metal, electro-clash and jittery dance pop. The eight piece – Felix, Changbin, Lee Know, Han, Seungmin, I.N, Bang Chan and Hyunjin – are unusual in that they write most of their own material. And they take pride in the fact that their songs often take major stylistic and temporal detours. “The goal is to continuously pioneer new [musical] subjects and to have our music be recognized as a ‘Stray Kids’ genre,” Changbin told Time Magazine., as it named the band one of its “Next Generation Leaders” last year. The group scored two US number one albums in 2023, and ended the year as the third biggest-selling act on the planet, according to the IFPI, which represents the global music industry. One place above them (and one below Swift) came the boyband Seventeen – which boasts a whopping 13 members, all of whom are also involved in the writing and production process. When the group released their 11th EP, Seventeenth Heaven, last year it attracted 5.2 million pre-orders, making it the most pre-ordered K-pop album in history. Other big sellers last year included Tomorrow X Together, a boyband put together by the team behind BTS; and NewJeans, a group of teenage girls, who fuse the old-skool R&B sounds of TLC with playful, hooky melodies. Unusually in the streaming era, these bands all generate huge CD sales – partly because they bundle discs with exclusive and collectible posters, stickers and lyric cards. Many albums also come in multiple formats, with a different cover (and sometimes exclusive bonus tracks) dedicated to each specific member. Diehard fans try to collect them all. That’s not to suggest their success is purely down to marketing: NewJeans’ breakout single SuperShy made multiple “best of the year” lists at the end of 2023, including those compiled by Rolling Stone, NME and Billboard Magazine. And with BTS and Blackpink both expected to return with new music in 2024, K-Pop’s global domination can only grow from here. The full list of 2023’s best-selling artists was: Taylor Swift (US) Seventeen (South Korea) Stray Kids (South Korea) Drake (Canada) The Weeknd (Canada) Morgan Wallen (US) Tomorrow X Together (South Korea) NewJeans (South Korea) Bad Bunny (US / Puerto Rico) Lana Del Rey (US) Ed Sheeran (UK) IVE (South Korea) SZA (US) Eminem (US) NCT Dream (South Korea) Zach Bryan (US) Travis Scott (US) Kanye West (US) Post Malone (US) King & Prince (Japan) Hotel Novotel London Excel Book Novotel Hotel Surely this is the world? Solo Performance -Butterfly Effect- Saturday, July 1, 2023 @GRIT at shibuya Home Page ADVERT

King Charles deploys K-pop at South Korea state banquet Banzai Japan Aoi Hoshi MV King Charles used the grandeur of a Buckingham Palace state banquet to throw in some unexpected references to Korean popular culture. K-pop stars Blackpink and BTS were name-checked by the King as he welcomed South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on the first day of his state visit. The King’s banquet speech praised South Korean culture’s “remarkable ability to captivate imaginations”. Although he admitted he hadn’t much of “what might be called Gangnam Style”. But there was no repeat of President Yoon’s karaoke-style skills when he visited US President Joe Biden, when the South Korean leader had sung “American Pie”. Royal red carpet for South Korea state visit King Charles finds his Seoul food in the suburbs South Korean president sings American Pie Instead the president said that in his youth he and his friends “were all fans of the Beatles, Queen and Elton John”. With the assumption that this was a reference to the pop group rather than the monarchy. State visits are a “soft power” mix of pageantry and practical politics and the red-carpet welcome rolled out for South Korea was a sign of respect to an increasingly important ally and trade partner, in a region with growing tensions with China. There was a full turn-out at the state banquet in the Buckingham Palace ballroom, with the South Korean guests greeted by the King, Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. South Korea’s most famous son, Son Heung-min, the Spurs footballer, wasn’t there, but K-pop girl band Blackpink were among the guests. Lord Cameron, returning to front-line politics as foreign secretary, was sitting a couple of places from Princess Anne. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey were among the guests, facing elaborate table settings with six different wine glasses and a line-up of silver-gilt cutlery. The menu, written in French, included poached eggs, pheasant and a mango ice cream bombe. ADVERT Hotel Hilton London Excel Book Hilton Hotel ADVERT Wines included a 1989 Château Mouton-Rothschild and Camel Valley from Cornwall. These are opulent occasions, with diplomacy fuelled by fine dining, using a 19th-Century dinner service with more than 4,000 pieces. The table settings are as precise and symmetrical as the military parade that greeted the president – each guest getting a place setting of 46cm. Each guest had a nameplate on their place, which probably got smuggled out in a few pockets later as souvenirs, even with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the room. But for some there were just their titles, like for the prime minister and foreign secretary. As the King is a big fan of recycling, at least if the people keep changing the cardboard nameplates can stay the same. Earlier in the day the South Korean delegation had been given a ceremonial welcome at Horse Guards Parade, before the president and his wife took part in a carriage procession along the Mall. More than 1,000 soldiers were on parade, with gun salutes in the autumn leaves in Green Park. The Princess of Wales had been wearing a dramatic shade of front-page red. But alongside the ceremonial events, such state visits have a serious diplomatic and economic purpose. The King’s banquet speech spoke of South Korea’s strategic role as a “bastion of democracy, human rights and freedom”, but warned that “these values are challenged, sadly, as rarely before in our lifetimes”. The jingle of the cavalry harnesses on the Mall is also inextricably linked to the jingle of cash tills, with trade deals to be negotiated. A “Downing Street Accord” is to be signed at a meeting between the South Korean president and Rishi Sunak on Wednesday, which is intended to boost trade and support “global stability”. High technology and green energy will be among the areas of business co-operation. There are plans for a stronger approach to enforcing sanctions against North Korea, and preventing its “illegal weapons programme”, with joint sea patrols between the South Korean navy and the Royal Navy. “Long term, global partnerships are vital to our prosperity and security,” said Mr Sunak, who added that “close ties have already propelled £21bn of investment between our countries”. Hotel Novotel London Excel Book Novotel Hotel Surely this is the world? Solo Performance -Butterfly Effect- Saturday, July 1, 2023 @GRIT at shibuya Home Page ADVERT

King presents MBEs to K-pop stars Blackpink Banzai Japan Aoi Hoshi MV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_vQsyC_F1A In another sign of the King’s K-pop diplomacy, members of South Korean girl group Blackpink have been presented with honorary MBEs. It comes during the state visit by South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol, in which the King had praised the global reach of Korean pop culture. Blackpink were name-checked by the King for supporting environmental causes. “I can only admire how they can prioritise these vital issues, as well as being global superstars,” he said. The MBEs recognised how the girl group acted as ambassadors for the COP climate change summit and have been advocates for the UN’s sustainable development goals, helping to bring the environmental message to “millions of young people”. There was a special investiture this morning in the 1844 room in Buckingham Palace, often used for the most distinguished guests. It was another reflection of the red carpet being rolled out during this South Korean state visit, with the diplomatic courtship reflecting the increasing importance of this strategic ally and economic partner. The members of Blackpink – Roseanne Park, Jennie Kim, Jisoo Kim and Lalisa Manoban – are now honorary members of the Order of the British Empire and were guests at the state banquet in Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening. ADVERT Hotel Hilton London Excel Book Hilton Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7ghOFruVw&t=1s ADVERT The King’s speech had highlighted the global reach of South Korean popular culture and its “remarkable ability to captivate imaginations”. While the King admitted to a personal lack of “what might be called Gangnam Style”, the military band for the changing of the guard put that right on Wednesday morning, by playing the song in a surprise change of musical direction. Tourists gathered outside Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard had heard an unexpected medley of K-pop songs, rather than marching tunes. There had been a full ceremonial welcome for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday – greeted by the King, Queen Camilla and the Prince and Princess of Wales, before taking part in a carriage procession along the Mall. The president was given the grand spectacle of a state banquet, held in the Buckingham Palace ballroom, with 170 guests including the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron as well as the Royal Family and South Korean dignitaries. King Charles deploys K-pop for state visit Royal red-carpet roll out for South Koreans King Charles finds his Seoul food in the suburbs State visits are a “soft power” mix of serious diplomacy as well as pageantry – and the focus of the South Korean visit has been on boosting trade links and military partnerships. On Wednesday afternoon, South Korea’s President Yoon met Mr Sunak to sign a “Downing Street Accord”, with plans for a trade deal and co-operation in science, technology and green energy. A defence agreement would build a stronger approach to enforcing sanctions against North Korea and preventing its “illegal weapons programme”, with joint sea patrols between the South Korean Navy and the UK’s Royal Navy. In the evening President Yoon will attend a banquet in the Guildhall in the City of London, which will emphasise growing business links, with £21bn of investments by South Korean firms in the UK. The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Michael Mainelli, is expected to speak of the increasing importance of South Korean technology firms operating in the UK. He will also reference Korean popular culture to show the economic impact. “Like a K-pop single, Korea is climbing up the charts,” the mayor will say. Hotel Novotel London Excel Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLACjvoMXpQ Surely this is the world? Solo Performance -Butterfly Effect- Saturday, July 1, 2023 @GRIT at shibuya Home Page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy_17iD3TK4&t=44s ADVERT

Blackpink sign new contract ensuring K-pop group will stay together Banzai Japan Aoi Hoshi MV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_vQsyC_F1A K-pop superstars Blackpink have renewed their agency contract as a group, ensuring that the quartet will continue to perform together. This follows months of contract negotiations during which fans feared the group could split up. In a statement on Wednesday, YG Entertainment said “an exclusive contract for group activities based on strong trust” has been signed. Blackpink, formed in 2016, have become the world’s biggest K-pop girl group. The new contract is believed to be among the most lucrative signed by any music group this year. The agency also said Blackpink plan to “repay their fans around the world with activities that match their global status in the K-pop scene with new albums and world tours”. Details of the new group contract are not immediately clear, and YG’s statement also did not mention the agency’s individual contracts with Jisoo, Lisa, Jennie and Rosé. South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that these contracts are still being negotiated. Blackpink make history with K-pop festival set King presents MBEs to K-pop stars Blackpink Blackpink smash YouTube premiere record According to previous South Korean media reports, if the four stars choose not to renew their individual contracts, they are free to pursue solo careers under different representation. This means that they would perform as a group only when their schedules allow. It is very rare for K-pop groups to fully reunite after some members leave or refuse to renew individual contracts with their management. This has happened to popular YG acts such as Bigbang and 2NE1. ADVERT Hotel Hilton London Excel Book Hilton Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7ghOFruVw&t=1s ADVERT Local newspaper Munhwa Ilbo reported in November that no Blackpink member had agreed an individual contract with YG and that there were offers from rival agencies worth “tens of billions of won” ($1=₩1314). Now their fans, who have been been on tenterhooks since the group’s contract expired in August, are overjoyed by the news. “See you next tour,” a post liked more than a hundred times on X, formerly known as Twitter, reads. “The biggest girl group in the world is there to stay! Blackpink will and always remain as four,” says another X user. YG’s share price closed more than 25% higher on Wednesday. However, the company’s stock market value is still almost 30% lower than it was six months ago. The four members – all in their 20s – are celebrities in their own right. Their official YouTube channel has more than 92 million subscribers, while each of them has more than 70 million followers on Instagram. They have represented some of the biggest fashion brands, such as Chanel and Dior, and headlined major international music festivals such as Coachella and BST Hyde Park. Hotel Novotel London Excel Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLACjvoMXpQ Surely this is the world? Solo Performance -Butterfly Effect- Saturday, July 1, 2023 @GRIT at shibuya Home Page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy_17iD3TK4&t=44s ADVERT

BTS go off into the army – what now for K-pop’s biggest stars? Banzai Japan Aoi Hoshi MV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_vQsyC_F1A Imagine if the Beatles broke up at the height of their fame to join the army. That’s what the members of BTS, the world’s biggest pop band, are doing right now. On Tuesday, lead vocalist Jung Kook joined the rest of his K-pop band members and enlisted for military service – a requirement of all able-bodied South Korean men aged 18-28. Just four weeks ago, he was riding the high of his crossover solo career in New York. He blew the socks off Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon with a scintillating Michael Jackson-esque song and dance. The following night he performed a last-minute public concert that went viral across TikTok to screaming crowds from a Times Square rooftop. In the past few weeks, he’s released collaborations with Justin Timberlake and Usher, his debut album Golden hit number one on several charts, and the dance solo for his hit single Standing Next to You has become a TikTok trend. But just as he was soaring into the next stratosphere of stardom, he hit the brakes and returned to Seoul. A few days later, the 26-year-old and three other BTS members held a pizza party livestream, where they told fans the time had come to follow three other band members into military duty. The fans couldn’t stop talking about the boys’ hair. Gone were the fluffy perms of K-pop stardom – here instead were “eggheads”, anonymised buzzcuts of soldiers on the frontline. What the BTS boys can expect going into military service As South Korea is still technically at war with its hostile neighbour North Korea, most men are required to do an 18 month stint in the army. But there had long been a debate over whether BTS, arguably South Korea’s most famous cultural export, would have to serve as well. There had been exemptions given previously to Olympic medallists and classical musicians, and in 2020, the South Korean parliament passed a bill allowing BTS to delay their compulsory military service until the age of 30. ADVERT Hotel Hilton London Excel Book Hilton Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7ghOFruVw&t=1s ADVERT Defenders of the band, including then government ministers, argued that Korea’s biggest pop stars had already served their country by earning it billions of dollars and they should be allowed to continue in their superstar capacity. But then last October, their agency BigHit Music owned by HYBE, confirmed that all seven members would fulfil the obligation, starting with the eldest, Jin, who would join in December 2022. The band would go on a hiatus – to accommodate military service and to also allow members time to pursue their own projects. “For Western audiences, it does seem quite cruel that people at the height of their success have to stop and take a forced hiatus whether they like it or not,” says K-pop academic Grace Kao, a professor at Yale University. But it’s a reality that many in South Korea are used to, she says. BTS follows in the footsteps of the scores of other K-pop idols and K-drama stars who’ve had to take time out for the military. And with the advanced warning, their fans globally had been steeling themselves for this moment. “It was not a surprise,” Prof Kao says. Still that hasn’t made the actual day of departure any less bittersweet. BTS’ reach is reflected in the range of languages – from Spanish to Vietnamese – in which fans wrote emotional tributes this week. As the four remaining members – RM, V, Jimin and Jungkook – were shown heading off to camp on Monday and Tuesday, the comment threads proliferated with crying emojis. “All of them gone at once,” one fan wrote on TikTok. “My heart is hurting OMG, I just can’t do this anymore. I’m gonna miss them all so much.” BTS’ fandom, known as ARMY – an acronym for Adorable Representative MC for Youth- have been measured to be the most engaged social media fanbase of any artist in recent years. Malaysia-based K-pop academic Jimmyn Parc told the BBC he believes many may be experiencing a short “depression”. On Monday and Tuesday, a lesser known single from six years ago, Spring Day, suddenly surged to the top of the US’ iTunes charts. “ARMY is charting BTS songs in BTS’s absence…I’ve always appreciated this show of love from the fandom,” one fan wrote on the band’s main Reddit sub-forum, which has over 610,000 members. The tone struck has been reminiscent of WW2 wives sending their sweethearts off to the war. Many BTS fans say they have already pledged total loyalty. It’s this level of sheer dedication – from the biggest fanbase in the world – that will most likely sustain the band’s status, industry watchers say. “Generally speaking, no matter where you are in the world, if a musical group has a hiatus, it affects their popularity. But I’d venture to say if any group could buck that trend, it would be BTS,” says Jeff Benjamin, a K-pop columnist and writer at Billboard Magazine. Key to this is management’s strategy of maintaining a steady feed of content. “There have been songs, videos, photoshoots, fan messages and much more all prepared by the members before their enlistment. These kinds of things are super important to continue that support when most groups will need to go quiet at the time,” says Mr Benjamin. Meanwhile for the rest of the thriving K-pop industry, BTS’ absence offers opportunities for the other bands breaking through. Several have already made it onto Western mainstream charts – listeners having cottoned on to bands like New Jeans, Le SSerafim. “BTS was too focused on by media outlets,” says Associate Prof Parc. “This pause will give other K-pop groups changes to receive more of the limelight. It’s a win-win situation for the industry.” Hotel Novotel London Excel Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLACjvoMXpQ Surely this is the world? Solo Performance -Butterfly Effect- Saturday,

K-pop: How jealous ‘super fans’ try to dictate their idols’ private lives Banzai Japan Aoi Hoshi MV When K-pop star Karina posted a handwritten apology on Instagram earlier in March, it was both contrite and profuse. “I sincerely apologise for surprising my fans who have supported me,” the frontwoman of the girl group aespa wrote. Her offence? Publicly acknowledging that she was in a relationship with actor Lee Jae-wook. That Karina felt compelled to say sorry for being in a relationship has puzzled many outside the K-pop scene, but it opens a window into the world of the industry’s “super fans”. They stream their favourite stars’ music round the clock – even if on mute while sleeping – to boost chart rankings, organise mass voting sessions during award seasons, and sometimes even sponsor digital billboard ads in places like Times Square, New York. Paying the price of love When news of Karina’s relationship broke, some fans drove a truck to her management agency. “We supported Karina’s bright future, believing in a shared dream, but it was our misconception,” blared an electronic billboard on the vehicle. “Is the love given to you by your fans not enough?” another read. Blackpink’s Jisoo is dating. The K-pop world is stunned The dark side of Asia’s pop music industry This stands in contrast to how celebrities’ romantic lives are often publicised, and sometimes celebrated, in other parts of the world. Take Taylor Swift, for example, whose attendance at last month’s Super Bowl to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce is said to have singlehandedly boosted TV viewership of the game, making it the most-watched broadcast in the US since the 1969 Moon landing. Polls say one in five Super Bowl viewers were rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs – which eventually won the annual league – because of the pop star’s relationship with Kelce. So why are the attitudes different in K-pop? ‘A false intimacy’ “The fans feel jilted,” said Korean media columnist Jeong Deok-hyeon, adding that K-pop fans often view themselves as being in parasocial relationships with the idols. These refer to one-sided relationships where one party expends an overt amount of time, emotional energy and money on another whom they are fascinated with, but who may not know they exist. “As the industry increasingly encourages fans to express their fandom through consumerism, their desire to be ‘compensated’ [for their investments] grows. This contributed to fans making demands which sometimes border on threats,” Mr Jeong told the BBC. ADVERT Hotel Hilton London Excel Book Hilton Hotel ADVERT Some believe the artistes themselves and their management agencies have facilitated a “false intimacy” between idols and fans. Even as recently as 10 years ago, it was common practice for K-pop agencies to ban new stars from dating or even have a personal mobile phone. Agencies have also begun creating social apps for their artists which appear to offer fans a glimpse of their idols’ everyday lives. SM, the K-pop-producing powerhouse behind groups like aespa, introduced an app in 2020 designed to look like a one-on-one messenger app, but is in fact a group chat where the idol drops messages for thousands of fans at once. Some stars have also bought gifts for fans or offered them one-on-one calls. “K-pop agencies have been telling fans that they have the power to create stars,” said Areum Jeong, an Assistant Professor of Korean Studies at Arizona State University. Cedarbough Saeji from Pusan National University called the Karina incident “a classic case of the fans trying to ‘discipline’ the stars”. “They were angry about the dating, and then they got angry that she apologised in the ‘wrong way’,” said Saeji, an assistant professor in Korean and East Asian Studies, referring to how some fans felt Karina should have posted her apology in a fans-only forum – rather than on a public platform. “In 2024, privacy for K-pop stars, who live in this tiny country and are so widely recognized, is virtually impossible,” she said. Ms Jeong, who considers herself a dedicated K-pop fan, also takes part in “fan labour” by streaming the music of her favourite boyband NCT 127 and paying to vote for them on music platforms and award shows. There are a dozen different digital music platforms for K-pop, each with its own Top 100 chart based on the number of people streaming and downloading songs. Super fans divide and conquer by organising themselves into teams to navigate the rules for each platform. “Fans put in labour to ensure the group’s success. They consider the idol a product. And if you want to see the product on the stage for a long time, the artistes, the fans, and the management will all have to put in hard work,” Ms Jeong said. Some even share voting schedules and streaming guides with “regular fans”, she added, so they can contribute to propelling their idols to the top of the charts. The BBC browsed a “streaming guide” written up by fans of the boyband Seventeen, which includes reminders such as, “Watch two or three other Seventeen music videos that totals to at least seven to 10 minutes. Then repeat the process”, and “Do not pause, forward or rewind”. Large fan groups organise themselves so that different members take on different roles. ARMY, the millions-strong fan group for the world’s biggest boyband BTS, has taken on philanthropic projects on behalf of the band, and also operate X accounts that translate all BTS-related content, from song lyrics to members’ social media posts. “The superfans fundraise, they campaign to vote… Some police comments online to make sure negative comments about their idols are reported and conduct coordinated searches to remove ‘bad’ search terms. “That’s all money and time. The industry profits off of it,” Ms Jeong said. Another hallmark of K-pop fandom are the birthday celebrations held for the idols who themselves are not present. Some fans rent out entire cafes for such events, which will also feature merchandise related to the idol.

K-pop star Karina apologises after relationship goes public Banzai Japan Aoi Hoshi MV A K-pop star has issued a grovelling apology after incensed fans accused her of “betrayal” – because she has a boyfriend. The fans reportedly drove a truck to pop star Karina’s agency after finding out she was dating actor Lee Jae-wook. “Is the love given to you by your fans not enough?” an electronic billboard on the vehicle demanded. In a letter shared on Instagram, the aespa frontwoman vowed “to heal the wounds” she had inflicted. “I apologise for surprising you greatly,” the 23-year-old wrote, promising to show a “more mature and hardworking side” in future. The singer, real name Yu Ji-min, has led the four-woman aespa since their debut in 2020, with the single Black Mamba. Last year, their record-breaking album My World sold 2.1m copies in South Korea. This is not an isolated incident, however. Pop stars in South Korea and Japan work in a notoriously pressurising industries, where such personal revelations can be tricky to navigate. Just a decade ago, it was common practice for K-pop agencies to ban new stars from dating or even having a personal mobile phone, and even now admissions of romantic relationships were often considered scandalous to fans. ADVERT Hotel Hilton London Excel Book Hilton Hotel ADVERT Last August, BBC reported on how Blackpink’s lead vocalist Jisoo’s relationship with actor Ahn Bo-hyun rocked the K-pop world. Some experts told the BBC then that pop stars’ agencies seek to sell them as “romantically obtainable” idols. In Japan, many pop stars are bound by “no dating” clauses in their contracts, and getting married requires permission. The news of Karina’s relationship first broke on 27 February, with Karina and Lee, 25, later confirming the two had met last year. Lee’s agency C-JeS Studio asked for “warm respect… as this involves his private life”. But some of Karina’s fans drove to the headquarters of SM Entertainment, the company which formed and manages aespa. These trucks have become a common practice used by K-pop fans to show support or discontent in recent days. Blackpink’s Jisoo is dating. The K-pop world is stunned “Is the love given to you by Karina fans not enough? Why did you choose to betray the fans? Please apologise directly. Otherwise, you will see a decrease in album sales and empty concert seats,” one of those messages read. However, not everyone was unhappy about the relationship with Lee, who debuted in the drama Memories Of The Alhambra in 2018 and gained prominence after starring in the hit fantasy period drama Alchemy of Souls. “You don’t need to apologise for feeling. I will always root for your happiness. You deserve all the love, support, all the good things,” wrote one of them. Hotel Novotel London Excel Book Novotel Hotel Surely this is the world? Solo Performance -Butterfly Effect- Saturday, July 1, 2023 @GRIT at shibuya Home Page ADVERT