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| K-pop boy group Cravity feature in Airbnb Korea's "Inside K-pop." Courtesy of Airbnb Korea |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Members of rookie K-pop boy band Cravity will appear as "hosts" for "Inside K-pop," Airbnb Korea's new online project that aims to introduce K-pop insiders.
Woobin and Hyeongjun will cook Korean royal court rice cakes, also known as "gungjung tteokbokki" on the home-sharing company's 14-episode live-streaming program scheduled to run from Jan. 25-30 (KST) via ZOOM. Two other members ― Seongmin and Allen ― will also join them to share their stories with viewers.
Following episodes will feature members of Monsta X and The Boyz as well as make-up artists and hair stylists among other key players in the industry.
Monsta X members, for instance, will talk about their favorite Korean convenience store food; The Boyz members will make beaded bracelets at hanok (traditional Korean house.)
The program will be available in four languages ― Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese. The price for watching each episode is 21,000 won ($20). Reservations begin on Jan. 21 at www.airbnb.com/insidekpop.
"Inside K-Pop is a virtual passport to the magic of Seoul at a time when travel remains restricted, offering unprecedented access to some of K-pop's biggest names both in front of and behind the curtain," Catherine Powell, Airbnb's Global Head of Hosting, said. "We are so excited for would-be travelers to connect with this vibrant community and see the joy these extraordinary talents will bring to a global audience as hosts of Airbnb Online Experiences."
Airbnb, which opened its Korean branch office in 2013, is an international company with 4 million hosts in about 100,000 different locations around the world. It joined forces with record label Warner Music Korea to launch the show.
"We are thrilled to partner with Airbnb on Inside K-Pop, a campaign which will elevate the world of Korean pop music to a global audience," Clayton Jin, CEO of Warner Music Korea said.
"Our deep relationship with homegrown Korean talent enabled us to recruit some of the brightest stars to be part of this wonderful initiative."
CRAVITY ― consisting of Serim, Allen, Jungmo, Woobin, Wonjin, Minhee, Hyeongjun, Taeyoung and Seongmin ― released its first album "CRAVITY SEASON 1. HIDEOUT: REMEMBER WHO WE ARE" last April. The nine-member act, represented by Starship Entertainment, took home the Rookie of the Year Award at the Melon Music Awards in December. It is also slated to release its third EP "CRAVITY SEASON 3. HIDEOUT: BE OUR VOICE," Jan. 19.
