Why K-pop labels are working with novelists, poets

EXO / Courtesy of SM Entertainment

Short story "EX-VISION," written by Lee Hee-joo, is included in EXO's latest album "REVERXE." Captured from Instagram

K-pop's fictional universes are no longer confined to music videos and album teasers. From science fiction writers to bestselling poets, some of Korea's most respected literary voices are turning up inside idol group album packages — commissioned to write short stories, lyrics and narrative passages to accompany their releases, in one of the more unlikely creative collaborations the industry has seen.

When boy band EXO released its eighth album, “REVERXE,” on Jan. 19, the group included a short story titled “EX-VISION,” written by novelist Lee Hee-joo, whose fictions such as “Holy Boy” (2021) and “Creamy(nal) Love” (2025) frequently draw on K-pop fan culture.

The story places the members in everyday scenes — Sehun and Chanyeol preparing food, D.O. handling the music, Lay and Suho arriving with a custom-made cake — with references to symbols long associated with the group's lore, such as the tree of life, the red force and the full lunar eclipse.

For Lee, the creative process was familiar but the audience was not.

“When I work on my own novels, my personal style matters a lot, but for the story featuring EXO, I made sure to weave in the group’s existing lore and its fans,” Lee told The Korea Times. “The writing process was pretty much the same, but it was cool knowing exactly who the readers would be. EXO fans loved it, so I’m very satisfied.”

SM Entertainment, EXO’s management company, said it chose to work with the author in an effort to add narrative depth to the group’s identity and expand content related to the idol group.

“In particular, with EXO’s eighth full-length album ‘REVERXE,’ we began planning by connecting the meaning of the word ‘reverse’ to a new turning point in EXO’s universe,” Mo Na-ri, the leader of SM Entertainment’s Culture Universe Development Unit, told The Korea Times. “I thought this collaboration would be a great way to compile that planning and the narrative EXO has built so far into the form of a short novel.”

A scene from the music video for "DANCING ALONE," a digital single by K-pop girl group KiiiKiii, in which novelist Lee Sull-a wrote the lyrics. Captured from YouTube

EXO is not the only K-pop artist to pursue literary collaborations.

Last year, Red Velvet’s Joy invited poet Cha Jeong-eun to write a short passage for a teaser image for her mini album “From Joy, With Love.” Cha, who became a bestselling author as a teenager, gained wide attention last year with her poetry collection “Summer Peach Sparkling” (translated title).

Rookie girl band KiiiKiii invited novelist Lee Sull-a — also known as Ysra with her works such as "The Age of Filiarch" (2022) and the essay collection "Diligent Love" (2020) — to write lyrics for its debut album "Uncut Gem" and digital single "DANCING ALONE" in 2025. The collaboration carried into this year when KiiiKiii returned with its EP "Delulu Pack" in January, publishing Lee's new short story "Running in a Dress" inspired by the quintet on their official website.

Part of Lee Sull-a's short story "Running in a Dress" on K-pop group KiiiKiii's official website / Captured from band's website

Writing about the piece on Instagram, Lee described the story as a small fantasy that began with KiiiKiii in mind but gradually expanded to reflections on herself and her friends.

"The creative team behind KiiiKiii gave me the rather awkward and challenging writing prompt of 'princess party,'" she wrote. "You can read it as a fairy tale, a short story or even as a kind of adventurous essay. Either would be an honor."

Other groups have experimented with the format in different ways. Girl group IVE collaborated with novelist Chung Se-rang, author of “School Nurse Ahn Eunyoung” (2015), to pen the narration script for the group’s “I’VE SUMMER” project in 2022. That same year, Le Sserafim commissioned sci-fi writer Kim Cho-yeop, known for “If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light” (2019), to write the prologue for its mini album “ANTIFRAGILE.”

As more K-pop groups build lore around their music, novelists and poets are emerging as natural collaborators to help shape those narratives. Music critic Lim Hee-yun said such collaborations are likely to continue, as K-pop groups are constantly seeking to develop their storylines but often have limited opportunities to do so.

“We see reality shows and online content featuring K-pop idols, but they are mainly geared toward entertaining fans. Now they’ve found room to collaborate with writers to build up narratives around them. I think this trend will continue," Lim told The Korea Times.