K-Pop
BTS Perform “Dynamite” at 2021 Grammy Awards: Watch
After lots of well-deserved hype and excitement, BTS took the stage at the 2021 Grammy Awards on Sunday to perform their Grammy-nominated smash “Dynamite”. Watch a replay of it below. The multi-millionaire K-pop group — comprised of RM, Jin, J-Hope, Jimin, V, Jungkook, and the freshly minted 28-year-old rapper Suga — put on one of their best performances yet when they took the Grammys stage. “Dynamite” earned BTS their first-ever Grammy nomination in a music category. The septet were up for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance for “Dynamite” against arguably the biggest names in pop music: Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber, and Taylor Swift. Though they lost to Gaga and Grande, BTS have done more than enough to prove they’re just as popular as those marquee names considering ...
Song of the Week: Lucy Dacus Delivers a Wrenching Ballad with “Thumbs”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Lucy Dacus delivered a wrenching ballad that left all of us speechless. Some songs end and sit in the pit of your stomach for the rest of the day, so visceral and affecting that they can’t be shaken. Lucy Dacus’ raw, devastating new release, “Thumbs”, is such a song, offering a gothic revenge fantasy that lingers long after the four and a half minutes have passed. Extremely minimal in production, “Thumbs” is also nearly formless, unfolding more like a whispered secret, twilight confession, or piece of local mythos than traditional...
BTS Perform “Dynamite” at MusiCares’ Music on a Mission Concert: Watch
BTS helped kick off this weekend’s Grammy festivities with a rousing performance at MusiCares’ Music on a Mission virtual benefit concert. Appearing remotely from the Peace Hall at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea, our 2020 Band of the Year performed their Grammy-nominated song “Dynamite”. Notably, the performance featured Jungkook on drums. Watch the replay below. In lieu of its traditional Grammy “Person of the Year” kick-off concert, MusiCares held Friday night’s Music on a Mission benefit to raise proceeds for members of the music industry severely impacted by the pandemic. Other performers included HAIM, Jhené Aiko, H.E.R., and John Legend. The concert is available to replay through March 19th via MusiCares’ website. BTS are also slated to perform during Sunday’s G...
BLACKPINK’s Rosé Unleashes New Solo Songs “On the Ground” and “Gone”: Stream
BLACKPINK’s Rosé has unveiled two new solo songs titled “On the Ground” and “Gone”. Together, the singles make up the K-Pop sensation’s debut solo project, R, which she announced earlier this month. Back in January, Rosé gave fans their first taste of her work as an individual when she performed “Gone” during BLACKPINK’s triumphant livestream concert, The Show. She had been teasing an impending solo project since June of last year, and then on the March 1st she finally announced the release and began dropping clips of the “On the Ground” music video. Now both of them have finally arrived in full, and fans of BLACKPINK’s neon K-Pop will certainly appreciate their sound and style. The 24-year-old superstar is still riding the high of her group’s massively successful 2020 record, Th...
BTS’ Groundbreaking Saturday Night Live Performances Return to YouTube
ARMY, rejoice with us: after a long and painful absence, BTS’ 2019 performances on Saturday Night Live were rightfully restored earlier this week. Last June, after racking up a collective 39 million views, the performances of “Boy with Luv” and “Mic Drop” vanished from SNL’s YouTube account. This is, unfortunately, a pretty common occurrence, and often happens when labels run into copyright renewal with outlets like NBC. The resurfaced performances have arrived on the heels of similar copyright friction between Spotify and Kakao M, a South Korean music distributor, which resulted in hundreds of Korean artists and songs being removed from the platform earlier this week. In April of 2019, the world of Korean music in Western markets looked quite different. This was long before BTS had secure...
BTS Bring the Fire and Set the Night Alight on MTV Unplugged: Review
Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: Recently, there’s been a growing divide between millennials and gen-z: side parts and skinny jeans are out. Different emojis are in. End up on the wrong end of the divide, and you’re in a tough spot. MTV Unplugged feels much more associated with the millennials, first airing in 1989 and rising to prominence in the ‘90s, ushering in many performances that have since become the stuff of legend. In 1992, Eric Clapton’s Unplugged album became the best-selling live album of all time. Mariah Carey’s episode marked a shift in her public reception and launched her cover of “I’ll Be There” to No. 1. MTV as a whole now often feels associated with a nostalgic time of TRL, flannels, and Blockbuster, but rest assured, millennials — if BTS is doing it, it’s still cool. The m...
BLACKPINK Light up the Sky Again with THE SHOW: Review
To paraphrase Wendy Williams: BLACKPINK? They’ve got a point: they are legends, and they are the moment. The pop quartet — made up of Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa — made a joyful return to the stage Saturday with their livestream concert, “THE SHOW”. It was just October of 2020 that the group released their debut full-length album (aptly titled THE ALBUM) following years of chart-smashing singles and EPs. Having already conquered international markets and ascended to unparalleled heights for a South Korean girl group, it’s easy to forget that, in terms of releases, BLACKPINK have only started to scratch the surface. Streamed through YouTube by the band’s label, YG Entertainment, “THE SHOW” was a spectacle indeed, involving a live band, a legion of backup dancers, and performance premieres...
K-Pop Stans Hijack #ImpeachBidenNow Hashtag Like Total Pros
When there’s something hateful spreading on Twitter, who are you gonna call to drown it out? The K-Pop stans, of course. After batshit crazy Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said she introduced articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden, a swarm of K-Pop fans quickly took over the #ImpeachBidenNow hashtag to dominate it with clips of their favorite music stars. #ImpeachBidenNow started to churn after Green, a QAnon enthusiast, uploaded a video of herself discussing the impeachment articles she just dropped off. “I’ve just filed articles of impeachment on president Joe Biden, we will see how this goes,” she tweeted. “President Joe Biden is unfit to hold the office of the presidency. His pattern of abuse of power as President Obama’s vice president is lengthy and dist...
Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer” Gets New Remix by 100 gecs: Stream
Linkin Park’s mega-selling debut album Hybrid Theory continues to be celebrated after marking its 20th anniversary in October. A new officially sanctioned remix of “One Step Closer” by the innovative hyper-pop duo 100 gecs is the latest musical tribute to Linkin Park and their landmark LP. 100 gecs were personally recruited by Linkin Park to remix “One Step Closer” in any way they saw fit. The duo of Dylan Brady and Laura Les not only offer a new spin on Linkin Park’s breakout hit, but also add their own vocals to the mix, dubbed “One Step Closer (100 gecs Reanimation)”. Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda referenced his band’s 2002 remix album, Reanimation, when praising the 100 gecs version of “One Step Closer” in a press release. “Part of the spirit of Reanimation was to take the&...
BTS’ Jimin, V Gift ARMY with New Songs “Christmas Love” and “Snow Flower”: Stream
You better not pout, ARMY members, because BTS’ Jimin and V have gifted fans a pair of new Christmas songs, “Christmas Love” and “Snow Flower”. Jimin’s “Christmas Love” is a snappy pop number that shines as crisply as a blanket of fresh snow. The “love” of the track title isn’t about a specific person, however, and more about the feeling this time of year brings to many. Roughly translated from Korean, Jimin sings, “Christmas I love you/ Oh, you’re the one forever/ I wish it was today.” As he explained in a post on the official BTS blog (again, translated from Korean), Jimin wrote the song to reconnect with his childhood memories of the holidays: “As we grew, feeling responsibility for what we have, that responsibility made us, who were innocent, mature and I think that enables us to hide ...
Jin of BTS Drops New Solo Single “Abyss”: Stream
2020 has been another massive year for beloved K-pop band BTS, what with their first-ever music Grammy nomination and history-making single “Dynamite”. But as any celebrity will attest, global domination can take a major mental and physical toll on you. That’s where BTS member Jin currently finds himself. Ahead of his 28th birthday, the Bangtan Boy has released a new solo single titled “Abyss”, inspired by his recent reflections on worldwide fame and the group’s loyal #BTSARMY. Jin explained on the BTS blog, writing, “Recently, in a press conference, I said: I don’t like to share my sad feelings with the fans. This is because I only want to show them the good things. However, I feel differently if it’s through music. I don’t like to share it through my everyday actions, but I think it woul...
BLACKPINK Announces THE SHOW Livestream
BLACKPINK have announced THE SHOW, a “first of its kind” livestream concert airing on YouTube on December 27th. The performance, which will be based out of Seoul, South Korea, will premiere on BLACKPINK’s YouTube channel on the 27th at 2pm KT/12:00 a.m. ET. It will then be available for rebroadcast on demand. Tickets are available in two separate tiers: Standard ($29.99) provides access to the livestream and a rebroadcast as well as custom emojis. Plus ($39.99) includes all of the above in addition to behind the scenes content. “We wanted to end the year with something very special for our Blinks who have been waiting so patiently for us,” the K-pop group said in a statement. “We hope everyone can comfortably enjoy our first-ever livestream concert THE SHOW at home and hopefully join in on...
