K-pop acts seek to expand presence in South America

K-pop boy group T1419 / Courtesy of MLD Entertainment

By Dong Sun-hwa

A growing number of K-pop stars are setting their sights on the fast-growing South American market.

K-pop boy group T1419 recently made headlines after award-winning Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee shared its video covering his song, "Campeon." In this short clip, the black-clad members ― Noa, Sian, Kevin, Gunwoo, Leo, On, Zero, Kairi and Kio ― sing and rap in Spanish, while showing off polished dance movements for the popular reggaeton track that came out in March.

Rapper Daddy Yankee / AP-Yonhap

This is not the first time that Daddy Yankee, the "Despacito" (2020) rapper with more than 45 million Instagram followers, has shined the spotlight on T1419. Last August, he shared another video by the nine-piece act, featuring its performance of Daddy Yankee's "Problema" (2021).

He also commented in Korean, saying, "Thank you. Your dance is great." Thanks to his social media activity, many of his fans got the chance to see a performance of T1419, which has been rising in popularity in South America. In 2021, it became the first K-pop act to perform at the Monitor Music Awards, a flagship music awards ceremony in South America.

Since T1419's debut in 2020, its management company, MLD Entertainment, has endeavored to promote the group in Spanish-speaking countries, believing their music markets have enormous potential for K-pop.

In the case of Momoland, a girl group at MLD that rose to stardom with its 2019 hit, "BBoom BBoom," they put out an English single in January titled, "Yummy Yummy Love," in collaboration with Natti Natasha, a prominent Dominican singer with over 35 million Instagram followers.

Upon its release, the track ranked first on the largest music streaming platform in South America ― monitorLATINO ― after edging out Adele and The Chainsmokers. The success of the single led Momoland to become the first K-pop act to appear on the popular Mexican TV show, "Todos a Bailar."

K-pop girl group Momoland and Dominican singer Natti Natasha dropped the collaborative single, "Yummy Yummy Love," in January. Courtesy of MLD Entertainment

"For our singers to take a further leap in their careers, we had to look for a new market," an MLD official said. "Given that the markets in Asia and North America are already the targets of many other K-pop acts, we decided to focus on the populous South American market, where a lot of potential customers can be found."

The current population of South America is around 437 million, according to data compiled by Worldometer. Latin America also has one of the world's fastest-growing music markets, where the revenue growth rate of recorded music stood at 31.2 percent in 2021, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) latest global report. The U.S. and Canada saw revenue growth of 22 percent last year, while Asia registered growth of 16.1 percent.

Knowing this fact, entertainment behemoth CJ ENM is poised to debut a new K-pop-inspired boy group in South America, too. It has partnered with HBO Max, an over-the-top (OTT) platform of Warner Media and Endemol Shine Boomdog, a Mexico-based production company, to create a K-pop audition program for aspiring singers in Latin America.

"This is the first time for a Korean entertainment company to launch an audition program targeting the South American market," CJ ENM said.

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