Global K-pop sensation BTS said on Wednesday they will not submit their music for next year’s Grammy Awards, following the Recording Academy’s introduction of new categories that include the Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The South Korean megastars had been widely tipped to be in the running for several of the Grammys’ top honours, including Album of the Year, after their comeback album, Arirang, became one of this year’s bestselling hits. “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year,”...
In an industry built on going global, K-pop’s freshest phenomenon has succeeded by doing the exact opposite: staying home. Rescene, a five-member girl group from little-known agency The Muze Entertainment, debuted in 2024 but largely flew under the radar until recently. Now, they are the talk of the town – chart-toppers, brand ambassadors and a name that is suddenly inescapable across South Korea. No stadium tours preceded their rapid ascent from relative obscurity. No Hybe-scale marketing...
Defectors tell the BBC that despite restrictions, K-pop has cut through in the stifling dictatorship.
For many K-pop fans in South Korea, the hunt for concert tickets has turned into a high-stakes battle, one where logging on early is no longer enough and ordinary fans find themselves outmatched by organised resellers, bots and shadowy workarounds that can send prices soaring far beyond face value. Previous solutions have failed to rein in the problem, but the government is hoping that the threat of massive fines may finally free ticket seekers from the grips of predatory scalpers. From August...
Drawing lessons from the global success of K-Pop, the region is finding its own voice in a new generation of artists.