“Do It Like That” by Tomorrow x Together & Jonas Brothers, Thursday, August 2, 2024
It seems like after BTS topped Billboard’s Hot 100 with their solo tracks and their features, K-pop has become an unstoppable force in America and Europe. Of course, BTS didn’t fall out of a coconut tree. With over three decades in the making, Korean idol pop music has slowly made strides first in Asia and then to Western audiences. One of the ways that K-pop was able to take hold in America was through collaborations with American recording artists. Singer BoA collaborated with English boyband Westlife in 2003 on the song “Flying Without Wings.” Artists such as Omarion, Lil’ Kim, Snoop Dogg, and Missy Elliott were just a few examples of Western artists collaborating with K-pop idols in the ‘00s and ‘10s. When a Western artist collabor-ated with a Korean artist, the massive K-pop fanbase fell in love with the non-Korean artist, but only a few of the Western artist’s fans became a fan of the Korean artist due to limited marketing outside of Korea.
MAKIN’ EVERYONE JEALOUS LIKE SEVENTEEN. Something changed in the late ‘10s. Many K-pop collaborations of the past were with artists who had passed the peak of their careers, making K-pop collaborations commercially unsuccessful in their home countries. K-pop idols started collaborating with up-and-coming pop stars. While critically panned, Psy’s 2014 collaboration with Snoop Dogg, “Hangover,” may have reset the popularity of K-pop collaborations. Indie pop singers like Troye Sivan and Lauv, DJs like Steve Akoi and R3HAB, and established musicians like John Legend, Lady Gaga, and Jason Derulo began to collaborate with K-pop stars, boosting K-pop’s momentum in the West. In 2018, BTS featured Nicki Minaj on a version of their song “IDOL,” which peaked at number 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Little by little, it was no longer K-pop begging for Western attention, being featured on a K-pop song became a status symbol for Western pop musicians. It’s becoming increasingly harder to find a pop star who hasn’t worked with a K-pop idol group--Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Eminem, and Adele come to mind, though it wouldn’t be surprising to see a K-pop collaboration from any of these artists or to see them as the lone abstainers from the trend.
GOT PEOPLE DANCIN’ ON TOP OF THEIR CARS. Last year was the year of Tomorrow x Together (TxT) in many ways. The Hybe Group in many ways filled the void their big brother group BTS left when they went on hiatus to fulfill their military service. As a stop on their second world tour, the band was invited to headline Lollapalooza, the first time a K-pop album ever headlined one of America’s biggest concerts. They also released their third LP, The Name Chapter: Freefall. Before releasing the album, the group released the single “Do It Like That” featuring Jonas Brothers and produced by OneRepublic’s frontman Ryan Tedder. This wasn’t Tedder’s first encounter with K-pop as he had composed songs for JYP’s girl groups Twice and BLACKPINK. Tedder also had recorded the Jonas Brothers’ comeback single, “Sucker.” “Do It Like That” was released last July and was a big digital single. It didn’t impact Billboard’s Hot 100, but the song represents two groups enjoying the peak of their success. For TXT, it’s commercial success and for the Jonas Brothers, the song feels like a celebration that the boyband can do whatever they want--yacht rock to K-pop.
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