K-pop is in its music festival era. Why not Osheaga?
If not a concert tour, would Canada's biggest music festival be good exposure for groups?
Lollapalooza recently announced its lineup and to little surprise, K-pop is present.
After headlining the Paris edition of Lollapalooza last year, Stray Kids is now making its way to Chicago’s Grant Park. Meanwhile, girl group IVE is also set to make an appearance. And while technically not a K-pop band, JYP Entertainment’s newest American girl group VCHA will also play at the festival.
This news comes after a string of K-pop acts are set to play major festivals around the world. This month, ATEEZ and LE SSERAFIM will play at Coachella. P1Harmony will perform at The Governor’s Music Ball in New York City in June. And later this year, Seventeen (having made their North American festival debut at LA3C in 2022), will play Lollapalooza Berlin and Glastonbury.
Seeing that major festivals continue to take notice of K-pop’s popularity, it’s interesting to see Montreal’s Osheaga isn’t doing the same. It’s an event attended by an estimated 300,000 people over the course of three days. And to Canadians, it is considered the most important music festival in the country. Past performers have included the likes of Coldplay, The Killers, Eminem, Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar.
Lollapalooza and Osheaga also happen during the same weekend in August, leaving the two festivals with many of the same acts. This year alone, both events will have performers like SZA, Hozier, Melanie Martinez, Dominic Fike, Renée Rapp and Tyla taking the stage.
As someone who is about a five hour drive from Montreal, it would make more sense for me to go to Osheaga as it is closer and more affordable for me. But last year, I decided to make the choice to go to Chicago for Lollapalooza instead because the K-pop acts were the bigger draw. Not to mention, seeing NewJeans do their first American set felt rather historic and worth the nine-hour road trip.
Canadian fans love to lament over the fact that their favourite K-pop acts never come to their city. But I’ve often wondered if performing a set at a major music festival in Canada could be a good alternative?
Why play at a music festival in the first place?
When I look at the way independent artists market themselves, music festivals are key to name recognition. While a solo tour would usually attract specific fans, playing at a festival gives the ability to reach a brand new audience and network with people in the music industry. It may not necessarily be a huge money-maker for all artists. But as musician and marketing professor Rishi Bahl told Time Magazine in 2019, festivals can be an easier way to make income in the world of streaming and digital music.
“They don’t need the grind of touring anymore. They’ll fly to a show, get paid six figures, fly home,” Bahl says. “So that model is super integral as to why artists and agents are focusing so hard on music festivals.”
Granted, I don’t necessarily think money is the big factor for a group like Stray Kids given their already large following. Rather, it’s the prestige of playing in a major festival that helps bring K-pop to a bigger market. And thus, in the long run, will further propel them as a group in the years to come.
I think what festivals also allow K-pop acts to do is be a bit more relaxed in a live setting. There is less worrying about camera angles and close up shots. And due to the unpredictability of music festivals and massive crowds, it also allows the artists to be in the moment a bit more. That spontaneity is something I find myself missing in a lot of K-pop shows. While they’re always fun, everything does feel rehearsed — from the costume changes, ending ments and choreography.
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How might a festival like Osheaga benefit?
Judging by my experience at Lollapalooza, the festival felt like it was made up of a sprinkling of every type of music fan — whether you like hip hop, DJ sets, rock music or mainstream pop.
K-pop brings in another kind of music fan. For me, a lot of the people I spoke with at Lollapalooza felt seen by seeing this form of Asian representation on such big stages. It’s something they didn’t have growing up.
In addition, K-pop music fandom brought about a huge sense of camaraderie that went beyond the limits of the festival grounds. At Lollapalooza, strangers befriended each other by exchanging photocards, supported fan-made business and cupsleeve events. There was a sense of belonging all because we were there for the same bands.
I think if Osheaga paid attention to this kind of community within K-pop fandoms, it could show music promoters and K-pop companies that Canadian fans are worth it.
It also doesn’t have to be a massive A-list group like Stray Kids or Seventeen coming to Montreal. I believe performers like BIBI, Jackson Wang, DPR Ian or The Rose could be a sell for K-pop fans to come to Osheaga. That’s because these folks are already well-versed on the festival circuit and have made appearances at some of the biggest ones in the world.
That being said, I don’t want to discount how difficult it is for promoters to book performers at festivals like Lollapalooza and Osheaga given the demands of every artists’ differing touring schedules. I also want to make note that not everyone is a K-pop fan.
But considering K-pop’s growing presence on the festival scene, it would be great if Osheaga would take stock of this opportunity as well. Because if Osheaga and Lollapalooza are competing with each other during the same weekend, I can’t help but think one of those festivals comes out on top.
Seventeen to make comeback on April 29th
Fresh off of two performances in Incheon during Easter weekend, Seventeen announced they would be making two comebacks this year.
The first is a project titled BEST ALBUM ‘17 IS RIGHT HERE’, which will be released on April 29. From the look of it, the project will be an anthology album. After all, Seventeen’s main producer/vocal leader Woozi has been posting Seventeen’s albums on his Instagram for the past couple of months.
In other Seventeen news, the Incheon concerts marked the return of the band’s full lineup, with leader S.Coups returning after a months-long ACL injury and Jeonghan coming back from ankle surgery.
CARATS, OT13 IS SO BACK.
HYBE announces ‘global alliance’ with Universal Music Group
From left: Bang Si-Hyuk (Chairman of HYBE), Sir Lucian Grainge (Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group), Scooter Braun (CEO of HYBE America). Photo Credit: Jordan Strauss
On March 26, HYBE announced it has expanded a long-term agreement with Universal Music Group, which would give the latter exclusive distribution rights to HYBE’s music for the next 10 years.
According to a press release, the new partnership will also see UMG work with HYBE to grow Weverse, bringing more UMG artists onto the social media platform to connect with fans.
HYBE and UMG’s relationship dates back to 2017, through a distribution agreement in Japan for the group BTS. In 2021, the two companies grew their partnership with a global strategic agreement which saw collaborations across multiple projects as well as HYBE’s Weverse to help enhance artists’ opportunities, communication and fan experiences.
Since then, HYBE and UMG subsidiary Geffen Records are working to launch the girl group KATSEYE, which was formed during the reality competition show The Debut: Dream Academy.
What I’m listening to: ILLIT - Magnetic
HYBE’s latest girl group ILLIT recently made their grand debut after being formed on the reality competition show RU NEXT?
The name Illit is pronounced like “I’ll it”, and it represents choosing your own verb to put between “I’ll” and “it.”
ILLIT’s debut single ‘Magnetic’ is already off to a strong start, going viral for its intricate hand choreography and its infectious and catchy chorus. Utilizing elements of the genres pluggnb and house, this track reminds me a lot of the lo-fi playlists I’d turn to on YouTube from time to time. A song like this also reminiscent to a group like LOONA and its sub-group Odd Eye Circle. I like to think of ‘Perfect Love’ as ‘Magnetic’s big sister.
Anyways, this song is an earworm and absolute pop perfection. It’s been on loop ever since I heard it.
What I’ve been up to
I’ve started making a few explanatory video, which admittedly is harder than it looks! I’ve always enjoyed making videos but find the public speaking part much harder. Hopefully this is a way for me to get better and putting my thoughts into the spoken word.
If this is something you are interested in, give me a follow on TikTok and Instagram!
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Accountability is important to me, so please address corrections and concerns by sending me an email at bunnipopnewsletter@gmail.com. Continue the conversation by following bunni pop on Instagram and Twitter.
I’ve been away from substack for a few months so am reading up on the articles I’ve missed. Interesting discussion here. I feel like despite the huge surge in K-pop’s popularity over the past decade, there is still a stigma—for the lack of a better word—associated with the genre in the more Western parts of the world. The genre is inherently eclectic, which could put off some self-proclaimed musical purists. Or the resistance could stem from K-pop’s fixation with delivering a highly controlled performance that may seem “artificial” to Western fans more accustomed to less choreo-intensive stages. Whatever the reason, K-pop still registers as an Other to some music listeners.
On a completely different note, I am so jealous that you got to see NewJeans perform in the states. I’ve seen clips of it online and it looks epic.
This reminds me of one of the bigger (if not the most... upmarket) music festival here in the Philippines.
Wanderland's established itself as a home for cool indie kids and their parents who loved Death Cab for Cutie (they did headline one year) but after the pandemic has shown some diversity in their line-up. Sure, it aligns with the cool-ification of Asian pop, but they've had some indie Korean acts in recent years... and last year, they almost had iKON's Bobby (meaning he was announced but had to cancel on the day itself, so probably travel issues?). This year—last month!—they had Hwasa on.
And I saw some complaints from the festival's (devoted?) audience about how Wanderland is not a K-pop festival and probably shouldn't have it in the first place. Sure, the line-up this year was a bit of a dud, but the inclusion of Asian pop acts probably was the last straw for some, who ended up selling their tickets at a loss.
A friend of mine suggested the organizers should just do a separate K-pop music festival rather than besmirch the indie cred of Wanderland, never mind (again) that "cool kids" also listen to these acts nowadays.
So, a lot about perception—and not wanting to be associated with an uncool product. At least here in the Philippines, in my somewhat more cynical read of things. I remember when I first wrote about K-pop on my old music blog, and getting raised eyebrows from friends... and now they're the bigger fans.