Tag: Pop

K-Pop Takes Over, From ‘Gangnam Style’ to Global Domination

October 11, 2018

Last week, when K-pop group BTS took the stage at New York’s Citi Field, international #BTSArmy members showed up in droves; some had traveled from across the country and camped out weeks in advance for the promise of catchy beats, a chorus that hooks you, and charismatic dance moves.

Just a few years ago, a sold-out show at one of America’s biggest stadiums may not have been in the cards for a young Korean band. And yet, BTS has inspired fans of all ages, races, cultures, and genders not just in Asia, but in the U.S. and around the world. Call it an official global phenomenon.

K-pop’s popularity has reached a fever pitch: On Spotify, more than 14.2 billion K-pop tracks have been streamed globally, and fans have spent over 46 billion minutes since July 2015 listening to their favorite Korean tracks. These numbers grow each day, making K-pop one of the most-streamed genres across the globe. Its fast tempos, thrilling visual components, and resonant use of melody and storytelling have captivated fans on every continent—and on our dedicated K-pop hub.

The K-Pop hub on Spotify

“K-pop or the Hallyu wave is truly an Asian success story. For a genre that’s in a different language and from a very different culture, it is inspiring to see how K-pop is making its mark on the global stage,” says Eve Tan, Shows & Editorial, Team Lead, Spotify, Southeast Asia. “It is our aim to be a platform of discovery for both artists and music lovers, and we are excited to help Spotify fans across the world enjoy and be inspired by Korean music.”

K-pop first captured the world’s attention with PSY’s 2012 viral “Gangnam Style.” Ever since, the genre has evolved into a diverse and popular subculture internationally. Driven by social media fan fever and Korean TV dramas, the Korean Wave—an increase in global popularity of South Korean culture and entertainment—has broken through to the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and beyond.

Recently, K-pop hit some major international milestones. In September 2017, the genre had its first Billboard Top 10 debut with BTS’s Love Yourself: Her. This past July, GOT7 became the first K-pop act to play Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, and last month, BTS, in partnership with UNICEF, became the first K-pop group to deliver a speech at the United Nations.

To capitalize on their rising popularity across the globe, many K-pop artists now record songs in multiple languages. GOT7 recently dropped their new album title track “Lullaby” in four languages: Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, and English. Some bands have even formed subunits to target different audiences, like supergroup EXO, who perform in both Korean and Mandarin. NCT even has three subunits—NCT U, NCT 127, and NCT Dream—each focused on reaching different age groups and demographics.

Plus, more K-pop artists than ever are collaborating with popular English-speaking artists. BTS and Nicki Minaj dropped their buzzy and vibrant “Idol” video in September 2018, and girl group BLACKPINK has an exciting new collab in the works with English pop singer Dua Lipa. Consider K-pop’s crossover officially complete.

For your K-pop cravings

From the latest K-pop tracks to Korean OSTs (dramatic and highly addictive love songs), there’s a suitable Spotify playlist within our dedicated hub. First introduced in 2015, our K-pop hub is as addictive as the music itself, leading to a significant increase in streams and sharing of Korean music on Spotify.

Today, our K-Pop Daebak playlist (daebak is Korean for cool) hosts exclusive access to vertical video premieres from emerging and chart-topping acts. To keep up with the latest news, dance tutorials, and all things K-pop, be sure to follow the official Spotify K-Pop Daebak twitter account, @SpotifyKDaebak.

Ha*Ash Le Pone Sabor Agridulce al Primer Spotify Singles en Latinoamérica

October 3, 2018

Hanna y Ashley, el dueto que forma Ha*Ash, son conocidas por dos cualidades: su habilidad para crear canciones pop con gancho y como bien saben sus fans, por un sentido del humor que sólo puede existir entre hermanas.

En una pausa dentro de su gira 100 Años Contigo, Ha*Ash hacen escala en México para grabar los primeros Spotify Singles en Latinoamérica. Para ellas, el estudio de grabación es como su segunda casa, así que se apropian del espacio muy a su manera.

Desde su llegada, Ha*Ash llenan con su inconfundible energía el estudio Panoram, en una casona de la colonia Condesa en la Ciudad de México. Los músicos están casi listos para dar comienzo a la grabación. El dueto vocalizaba e intercambiaba aún algunas ideas sobre las dos canciones que grabarán, mientras se acomodan el peinado una a otra. Quizá igual que hace 16 años cuando empezaron su carrera.

Antes de iniciar la sesión, hablamos con Hanna y Ashley sobre lo que las inspira, su proceso para escribir canciones y por qué les gusta la canción que eligieron para hacer un cover.

¿Qué se siente ser las primeras en grabar Spotify Singles en Latinoamérica?

“Nos encanta ser parte de este gran proyecto con Spotify Singles por la oportunidad que nos da de volver a interpretar una canción tan importante para nosotras y, además, sumarle nuestro sello especial a una canción nueva”.

¿Cómo es su proceso para componer canciones antes de entrar al estudio?

“Cuando vamos de gira, podemos escribir y componer, grabamos un demo, para luego hacerla en el estudio. A veces, se nos ocurre algo durante el concierto, incluso cambiar el arreglo de una canción que llevamos tiempo cantando de la misma manera, así que hacemos un brainstorm para tener mejores ideas”.

Cuéntenos cómo fue que eligieron hacer un cover a Adios Amor de Christian Nodal.

“Cuando componemos, tratamos de no pensar tanto las cosas y de ser lo más directas posibles. Las mejores canciones de Ha*Ash han sido las que salieron de historias que nos han pasado. Con Adiós Amor buscamos llevarla al mundo de Ha*Ash”.

Ha*Ash le pone sabor agridulce al primer Spotify Singles en Latinoamérica

Inmersas en la música country desde pequeñas, la música regional mexicana es parte entrañable de la influencia musical de Ha*Ash.

“Cuando estamos de fiesta, en un karaoke, en una reunión, Christian Nodal nunca falta, Adiós amor es la canción que me hubiera encantado haberla escrito. Tiene un lenguaje que bien podría aparecer en algunas de nuestras canciones”.

¿Cómo se sienten al cantar una canción que originalmente se pensó para el género ranchero?

“Nos dimos cuenta que un género no es tan lejano a otro, convertimos una canción de regional mexicano a pop, con una versión completamente diferente pero conservando el mismo mensaje e intención que Christian imprimió en ella”.

La sesión transcurrió entre bromas, risas y la interpretación de dos canciones populares que, en estos primeros Spotify Singles, incluyeron un violoncelo como toque final.

“Para una sesión acústica, la grabación es mucho más directa, sólo se necesita una toma para grabarla, incluso van a tener que soportar las desafinadas de Hanna”, bromea Ashley ante la mirada de complicidad de Hanna.

Escucha los nuevos Spotify Singles de Ha*Ash aquí.

Singer-Songwriter Jade Bird Gets Geeky About Words

May 9, 2018

Self-proclaimed “obsessive songwriter” Jade Bird has more in common with David Bowie than their shared British heritage and adoption of the U.S. as a songwriting muse. They share a unique songwriting process that allows them to spin intricate, flowing, familiar stories. Yet, as Jade pointed out, Bowie’s method was more visual, sporadic, and inimitable.

“I think the visual element was a really big part of his project. He used to cut out words or sentences and jumble them all up, and then put them together so they’re really quite random,” she told us at the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York, where she recently played at an event honoring the David Bowie is exhibit.

“It’s interesting because when I was doing a cover of his song, ‘Quicksand,’ it felt like that. When you cover one of his songs, it feels like no one else can do it but him. He’s got this special kind of magic that’s almost got a random nature to it, that I fully appreciate as a songwriter. It’s something really incredible.”

Jade’s had a busy year. The 20-year-old left her British roots for an “Americana,” folk-country feel on her first LP, Something American, which debuted in July 2017. Since then, she’s recorded in Woodstock, New York; toured North America with First Aid Kit, Brent Cobb, and Son Little; showcased at South by Southwest (SxSW); and on May 7th, announced her own North American headlining tour.

How The Shadowboxers Gained 1,200+ New Followers in Two Weeks

May 3, 2018

Once upon a time, an artist built a following by word of mouth: playing for people live, slowly cultivating fans, and hoping that next time one of those fans would bring a friend. But today, artists can develop a fan base across the world through online platforms.

Case in point: Pop group The Shadowboxers has been wildly successful using Kickstarter, Twitter, and Spotify – they drew more than 1,200 new followers to their Spotify page in just two weeks. But if you ask the Nashville, Tennessee-based trio about their social media prowess, they’ll say they just got lucky.

“We kind of feel like we’ve been accidentally good at the internet,” says The Shadowboxers guitarist and singer Adam Hoffman.

In 2012, the group, comprised of Scott Tyler, Matt Lipkins, and Adam Hoffman, used a Kickstarter campaign to fund their first album, “Red Room.” The next year, the band covered Justin Timberlake’s “Pusher Love Girl” and tweeted the YouTube recording to him. Timberlake retweeted it, and signed the group to his label, Villa 40, soon after. This year, The Shadowboxers are opening for Timberlake on his “Man of the Woods” tour across the U.S. and Europe.

“That tweet was absolutely crazy and blew our minds. It’s still kind of hard to wrap our heads around,” says Hoffman. “In a way we felt, from an artist’s side, prepared for that and we had a fan base at that point who were all incredibly stoked to see that tweet. We weren’t existing totally in a vacuum.”

Luck notwithstanding, The Shadowboxers were ready for their big break. The band had been hard at work performing, creating new music, and perfecting their soulful, R&B-leaning sound. Before connecting with Timberlake, they had written albums’ and albums’ worth of unreleased music dating back to when they first connected in 2007. A selection of those tracks was compiled into an EP, “Apollo,” which was released in March. The collection of six songs includes new material and previously released singles, like “Hot Damn!,” with the influence of Timberlake.

The Shadowboxers open for the first leg (33 shows) of Timberlake’s 110-show “Man of the Woods” tour, which kicked off in March. At the beginning of the tour, the trio was looking for a way to engage with as many fans as possible. Their brainstorming led to a text-to-capture communication that encourages fans to follow the group on Spotify and post about it on Instagram.

“We came up with the idea for the Spotify follow because that’s really what we want – to drive people to our music,” says Hoffman.

You know the message you’ll see on a big screen at a concert or pro sports game, prompting you to send a text to a short number for some sort of cool offer? Fans receive that message just after The Shadowboxers set, and those who participate are signed up for an email list. Their first message from the email list prompts them to post a screenshot to Instagram of the band’s page from their Spotify account, showing that they are following the band on Spotify with the hashtag #TSBbacktage. If they do so, they are entered for a chance to meet the band backstage.

“The coolest takeaway from these interactions, which we were not expecting at all, was the relationship and connection after meeting,” says Lipkins. “We just wanted to connect on a more personal level with some fans, but we’ve made lifelong fans from these interactions just by hanging out with people for 30 minutes after a show.”

For fans of The Shadowboxers – whether or not they won the backstage contest – Spotify keeps them up to date on new music releases, tour schedules, and even what the band has been listening to lately. And for musicians, Spotify for Artists allows them to keep track of their most popular music, and where people are listening. For The Shadowboxers, whose music has appeared on Spotify’s Global Viral 50 and New Music Friday curated playlists, the platform has given the band a geographic reach they’ve never had before.

“We get messages on our socials from people from Europe who have heard the songs. We’ve never played over there so the only way they could have heard the stuff is Spotify,” says Tyler. “That’s a really cool feeling for us.”

The Shadowboxers are currently performing for the first leg of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Man of the Woods’ tour. Check out their remaining tour dates, and follow along on Spotify.

Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa Release “One Kiss” Video Only on Spotify

April 6, 2018

Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa are ready to kick off Summer early with their new single, “One Kiss,” and Spotify is the only place to check out a brand new video for the song.

The vertical video features Dua Lipa in an intimate shoot-like setting, with flashes of Los Angeles palm trees, blue skies and sandy beaches.

The video is viewable on Spotify for users in the US, UK, Sweden and Latin America and can be found on some of Spotify’s most popular playlists, including Today’s Top Hits, Pop Rising, dancePop and more.