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K-pop idols
CultureMusic

Universal Music Group and Big Hit Entertainment are teaming up to create new K-pop-style boy band based in the US

  • Two of the world’s biggest music companies revealed plans for a US-based K-pop boy band
  • Big Hit Entertainment is continuing its rapid expansion at home and overseas

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Big Hit Entertainment and Universal Music are teaming up to create a US-based K-pop group. Photo: Getty Images
Tamar Herman

A new K-pop-style boy band is coming, and it will have the backing of two of the biggest music companies around, Universal Music Group and Big Hit Entertainment, the label behind Korean super band BTS.

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The companies shared their plans on Thursday in a presentation attended by Big Hit’s chairman and CEO Bang Si-hyuk and global CEO Lenzo Yoon, Universal chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, and John Janick, his counterpart at UMG subsidiary Interscope Geffen A&M Records.

Interscope Geffen and Big Hit will create a joint venture based in Los Angeles that will launch the boy band following auditions in 2022 that will be televised in collaboration with a major US media partner. The formation of the group will exploit Big Hit’s expertise in forming and establishing K-pop groups, including BTS, and the band is intended to appeal to pop fans worldwide.

Bang said: “I strongly believe that UMG and Big Hit, two companies that endlessly pursued innovation, will create a synergy that will rewrite global music history.”

Big Hit Entertainment’s chairman and CEO Bang Si-hyuk announces the new collaboration. Photo: Big Hit Entertainment / Universal Music Group
Big Hit Entertainment’s chairman and CEO Bang Si-hyuk announces the new collaboration. Photo: Big Hit Entertainment / Universal Music Group

Yoon said: “Big Hit is the company that can best realise the ‘K-pop style’ that is loved by music fans all over the world. We will maximise synergy by each focusing on our areas of excellence. Music fans the world over will be able to experience the birth of an unprecedented group that brings together world-leading capabilities.”

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He added that the new act will “follow the K-pop system” as understood by Big Hit. “K-pop is full-production, and includes music, performance, fashion, music videos, and engagement with fans,” Yoon said.

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