A key bridge linking the global music industry has been genre crossovers and collaborations. Afropop and Indo-pop experienced a fusion when French singer Tayc collaborated with the Indian stars Shreya Ghoshal and Rajat Nagpal on the track “Yimmy Yimmy.” Likewise, Latin Music blended with Afrobeats on the track “COMO UN BEBE” which features Latino stars J Balvin, Bad Bunny, and Nigeria’s Mr.Eazi. In recent years, two industries laying bricks of this connection are the African and Korean pop music spaces.
As K-pop seeps steadily into the African continent, it is making fans of many African music lovers. If there’s a contest about the popularity of K-pop in Africa, the increasing representation of K-pop on local song charts is proof of the contrary. For example, K-pop girl groups aespa and NewJeans made the list of Top 10 artistes on YouTube Nigeria from May 17 to June 20, 2024. Their songs “Supernova” and “How Sweet” also ranked 4th and 5th respectively on the top 5 songs on YouTube Nigeria during that period.
Far beyond the charts, the many Korean-themed events organised in different African countries also prove the presence of an active fanbase. Examples are the annual K-Culture Festival by K-Vibe since 2021, the SMTOWN Fest in Kenya, and the upcoming K’Aente in Ghana.
Similarly, Afrobeats is growing in global appeal and demand. While it is making waves in the United States and Europe, the Korean music industry is responding to this appeal through the adoption of Afro-inspired sounds. An example is the South Korean Rapper PENOMECO’s afrobeat track “BOLO” which went viral in Nigeria in 2021. Similarly, South Korean rapper Jay Park has tapped into the African sound, with features on three Afro-inspired tracks including the 2018 single “Girls Wanna Party” by Congolese singer Young Paris. In 2023, he released the multi-genre track “Why.” According to Joella Nuer, producer of the defunct Ghanaian K-pop radio show Pop Central on YFM, there are over 35 Afro-inspired tracks from South Korea. “I have been looking out for Afro-inspired K-pop songs since the release of ATEEZ’s “One Day At A Time,” stated the co-founder of Jaese Productions, an agency that seeks to bridge the gap between Korean entertainment and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Over the years, fans hoping for a collaboration between the two industries have had to hold on to crumbs such as Stormzy’s “Own It Remix,” which features Nigerian singer Burna Boy and South Korean rapper CHANGMO. With no major Korean-Afrobeats collaboration yet, the intersection of K-pop and Afrobeats seems to be mere fan theories and wishful thinking. But, it’s not just the fans who cook up K-Afrobeats collaborations in their heads, some K-pop acts have also expressed interest in collaborating with African artists.
Here are eight of them:
Lily (NMIXX)
Korean-Australian singer, Lily is a member of and the main vocalist for the K-pop girl group NMIXX. The sextet was originally a seven-member group and debuted in 2022, with the EP – AD MARE. The group’s music is often characterized by a blend of pop music to which they add their unique spice and identity. So far in their career, neither Lily nor NMIXX have been involved with African sounds.
However, in an exclusive interview with “The Knockturnal” the blooming vocalist expressed her interest in the Ghanaian-American artiste, Amaarae. Amaarae’s music is known to blend Afrobeats, R&B, and pop sounds, and in Lily’s words, she believes it will “gel well with K-pop”.
B.I
Kim Hanbin, popularly known as B.I, is a Korean rapper, singer and producer who debuted solo in 2021. He mentioned his desire to make music with global appeal as the rationale for the genre blends and mixes he executes in his songs. An example of his genre-blending endeavours is the track “BTBT” which incorporated Afrobeats music and dance elements.
Following its release in 2022, “BTBT” got a warm reception, charting as the longest K-pop song on Spotify Daily Viral charts in Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco and Egypt. It also received radio airplay in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. In an exclusive interview with GQ South Africa, B.I named “Essence” by Nigerian star artistes Wizkid and Tems as his favourite Afrobeats song. He further expressed his hopes for a future collaboration with Wizkid.
Fatou (BLACK SWAN)
The first of her kind, Fatou is a Senegalese-Belgian artiste and the first African idol to grace the K-pop scene. As the leader, rapper and dancer of the multi-national K-pop group– BLACKSWAN, she has, over the years, grown to become a leading representative figure for Africans and Black people who aspire to have a career in the K-entertainment space.
Like the trendsetter she is, Fatou made her solo debut last year with the EP– “Adaeh”, paying homage to her roots through fashion and design concepts, heavily representative of African arts. Musically, the EP was a fusion of African sounds, and other genres such as R&B and hip-hop, while the closing track “Alright” specifically blended Afrobeats and R&B.
In a special interview with GQ South Africa, the culture-loving Fatou talked about her African roots. She then named the Nigerian Afrobeats stars; Burna Boy, Wizkid, &Davido, and South-African singer– Tyla as artistes she would be honoured to collaborate with.
TAEYONG (NCT)
African music genres are not particularly foreign to TAEYONG– the leader and main rapper of the K-pop group, NCT, as his group has experimented with afro-leaning sounds in their music career. Tracks such as “ZOO” – a collaboration featuring Taeyong, some of his group and label mates, and “Fact Check” by his fixed unit– NCT 127 are examples of the group’s frequent nods at Afrobeats. “Fact Check”, not only utilised afrobeat rhythm but also incorporated common African legwork dance which was co-choreographed by TAEYONG.
Interestingly, NCT’s resident label – SM Entertainment, had intended to spread units of the NCT brand to other countries outside Korea, Japan and China. To this news, African fans playfully kept rooting for an African unit of the group. However, with the expansion system cancelled in 2023, fans’ dreams for Afrobeats and K-pop incorporation crumbled. RIP NCT Africa! While promoting his second solo mini-album “TAP”, TAEYONG in an interview with USS Feed named Tyla as the African artist he wants to collaborate with.
BM
Big Matthew (BM), is a rapper and member of the co-ed K-pop group– KARD, loved especially amongst African K-pop fans, for his constant acknowledgement, praise and professed love for Afrobeats and Amapiano on social media. This K-pop artiste’s open interest in Afrobeats goes beyond sharing his self-curated Afrobeats/Amapiano playlists with and requesting recommendations from fans but is seen in his latest single – Nectar, which features the high hats, bassline and rhythm peculiar to Afrobeats.
The groovy moves to Nectar’s chorus prompted a TikTok dance challenge, blessing fans with an interaction between BM and fellow idol Fatou, as the two artistes were seen dancing to Nectar on a TikTok video.
In an interview with Winston Micheals on the Ghanaian radio show “Shouts on Y”, BM names the Cameroonian-American Afrobeats artist –Libianca, as a desired collaboration, stating his hopes to reciprocate her type of healing music for K-pop fans.
P1Harmony
P1Harmony is a six-member K-pop group, known for their catchy choruses, groovy music and energetic performances, incorporating hip-hop and R&B sounds while experimenting with other genres of choice. Talking about K-Afrobeats crumbs, P1Harmony is currently in a contract with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) also known to manage Nigerian artistes, Asake and Tems.
The members of P1Harmony are known to be loud lovers of Afrobeats amongst K-pop fans as they are constantly seen vibing to Afrobeats songs in their videos. Keeho, the leader and vocalist of P1Harmony, in an interview with GQ, revealed to have fallen in love with Afrobeats after listening to Rema’s “Corny.”When asked by the writers, P1Harmony as a group chose Rema as the Nigerian artist they wanted to collaborate with.
CAMO
Park Chae Ryung, known as CAMO, debuted in the KHH (Korean hip-hop) music scene in 2020 with the EP‐ “ICE”. The 26-year-old rapper is known for her bold sense of fashion and confident energy which is often captured in her lyrics. Unlike other K-pop acts whose interest in Afrobeats was mostly sparked by the growing popularity of the genre with the South Korean public, CAMO’s interaction with Afrobeats stems uniquely from her DJ friends who she claims “play the best Afrobeats in the city”, thus inspiring her love for the genre.
In an exclusive chat with the Ghanaian K-culture blog– Kimchi & Kenkey, CAMO stated she’d be honoured to take a dip in the Afrobeats waters, “if fans are f**king with me”. She then named Burna Boy, Odunsi and Cruel Santino as the African artistes she would love to work with, highlighting specifically her belief in the potential sync of her sound and Santino’s.
Kohway
The dynamic artiste Kohway describes his music style as a fusion of Afrobeats, Hiphop and altè music genres. As a longtime lover of African music, Kohway has covered Afrobeats artistes such as Wizkid, as well as working with and supporting African artistes in South Korea. Very recently, Kohway was seen in attendance at Nigerian hip-hop artiste Ice Prince‘s live performance in Seoul. This three-city show was organised by Afro Entertainment, a Cameroonian-founded, Korea-based arts company dedicated to promoting Afrobeats and African music in South Korea. Apparently, the event also marked the first performance of a Nigerian artiste in South Korea.
For those who follow and are aware of the South Korean rapper and singer’s foundational interest in African music and culture in general, it probably did not come as a surprise when Kohway released his collaborative EP in 2023 titled “Afro Tape”. As the name suggests, Afro Tape is a fused body of five tracks incorporating Afrobeats and Amapiano aligning with Kohway’s interests in African sounds. As a joint project, Kohway collaborated with Korean Hip-hop and RnB artist Nieah in creating the EP.
While chatting exclusively with iMullar, Kohway named the Afrobeats Giant– Burna Boy as his all-time favourite Afrobeats artiste. The singer-songwriter also shared his recent interest in the talented Nigerian singer Fireboy DML. “…His singing style and lyrics influenced me a lot.”, Kohway commented as he expressed amazement over Fireboy’s latest album. Adding the Nigerian Afropop star, Ayra Starr to the list, Kohway excitedly expressed his desire to collaborate with the trio.
What are your dream K-Afrobeats collabs?
Written by By AyòÌféolúwa
