Remakes find new life across generations, borders in K-pop

K-pop girl group RESCENE / Courtesy of The Muze Entertainment

Remakes are accounting for a growing share of K-pop releases this year, with rookie idol groups and established vocalists alike reinterpreting hits from past decades.

Rookie girl group AtHeart will release its take on "3! 4!," a 1996 hit by hip-hop and dance pop group Roo'Ra, on Aug. 19. The single is the second installment of the group's "Time Travel Project," a series built around songs that were hits in 1996 in Korea and the United States.

The multinational seven-member group, which debuted in August 2025, has framed the concept as a 30-year leap intended to connect generations of listeners. It opened the series in June with "Say It," a recreation of The Cardigans' "Lovefool" that charted on Melon's HOT100.

Girl group RESCENE has seen the strategy pay off.

The five-piece girl group's remake of "Pretty Girl," a 2008 hit by second-generation K-pop girl group KARA, has taken three music show trophies since its release, beginning with a win on SBS M's "The Show" on July 14. It added two more on MBC's "Show! Music Core." The original version by KARA never won a music show award.

Singer-songwriter HANRORO / Courtesy of SHgold Networks

Veteran vocalists have joined the trend, in some cases crossing borders to join in.

"J-POP REMAKE," a project launched in June by singer and TV personality Kangnam, pairs Korean artists with Japanese songs to create Korean-language reinterpretations. Kangnam said at the launch that he wanted to introduce Japanese songs to Korean audiences and Korean songs to Japan, describing their role as that of a "cultural envoy."

Girls' Generation vocalist Taeyeon opened the series on June 29 with "Bansanka," a 2023 song by Japanese singer-songwriter tuki. The single charted across domestic platforms and topped YouTube Music's trending list in Korea.

Singer-songwriter HANRORO followed on July 30 with "A Cruel Angel's Thesis," the 1995 Yoko Takahashi song used as the theme to the iconic anime series "Neon Genesis Evangelion." The third entry has been confirmed as Seiko Matsuda's 1980 hit "Aoi Sangosho," due on Aug. 18. The vocalist has not officially been announced.

K-pop girl group AtHeart / Courtesy of Titan Content

For labels, remakes lower the risk of a release failing, since the material has already proven its commercial appeal. They also reach two audiences at once: older listeners familiar with the original and younger ones encountering the song as a new release. Artists, in turn, use them to demonstrate their range.

Shifts in how music is consumed have widened the opening. Streaming platforms and short-form videos can place decades-old songs and new releases in the same feeds, blurring generational lines. When an older track resurfaces through short-form clips, the original and the remake tend to circulate together.