K-POP IN REVIEW 2025: PART EIGHT – The New International
K-pop’s crossover appeal for international markets is nothing new. Casually code-switching between Korean and English, or up to five other languages as G Dragon did earlier this year, has become the standard method. It’s thirteen years since PSY’s Gangnam Style and now South Korean music has spread across the world without needing to represent itself as a comedy novelty single.
The latest development however came not from South Korea but from America and Netflix. Kpop Demon Hunters was a huge unexpected phenomenon. Audiences who didn’t expect to like K-pop fell for it in droves; audience who love K-pop and so expected to hate it also fell for it in droves. K-pop idols dressed as the members of Huntrix and/or the Saja Boys and attempted to perform its impossibly difficult hit, Golden.
It’s noteworthy that Maggie Kang, the writer-director, and many of the production team and actors in the film, are of Korean/American origin. The film draws upon Korean mythology and pop culture effortlessly, and it’s a lot of fun and the songs feel like real K-pop – BLACKPINK, aespa, NCT or EXO – without being derivative. It’s the real deal and it has turned both its actors and their animated avatars into real idols.
And while we’re here, let’s also consider the other major international K-pop news story: NewJeans. It’s not such a happy fairy tale, and shows the darker side of the industry. Five teenaged girls who have performed some of the most compelling music in the last few years, had their manager and mentor removed through corporate politics at Hybe Music.
They rebelled and attempted to overrule their contracts. It went through several stages of legal cases, and they lost at every stage, because there was too much at stake for a huge corporation and the dodgy contracts that they use to trap the young performers. The members returned to the company, and now Danielle has been dropped from the group and may be sued for millions of dollars.
The fans won’t like it, but unlike the fantasy of Kpop Demon Hunters, where Huntrix do everything for the fans, the enormous international companies involved in the industry only care about the bottom line.
Interestingly however, RM of BTS has recently spoken up against the toxic climate at Hybe, who also manage his own group, and there are signs that many players would like to change the industry, but as ever money talks.