Virtual K-Pop Groups Beat Real Idols - The Miracle Created by a Streaming Animation
Groups That Never Performed Live Are Topping Charts?
Imagine this: K-pop groups that have never performed on a real stage are beating BTS and BLACKPINK on music charts. This is exactly what's happening right now.
The virtual groups from the streaming animation movie 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' are surprising the world by surpassing real K-pop stars.
US broadcaster NBC reported that "two rookie K-pop groups that have never actually taken the stage are dominating music charts," highlighting this amazing phenomenon. It feels like our favorite animated characters suddenly jumped into reality to compete with real celebrities.
The virtual boy group Saja Boys from the movie achieved number 1 on the US Daily Top Songs chart with 'Your Idol', while girl group Huntr/x's 'Golden' reached number 2. This means they became the highest-charting male and female K-pop groups respectively in US streaming history.
A 9-Year-Old Idea That Created a Cultural Storm
All of this started from a 9-year-old idea by Korean-Canadian director Maggie Kang. In an NBC interview, she explained, "It started as just a 'demon hunter' story, but while looking for a project that could showcase Korean culture, it flowed into demonology, and the demon concept naturally led to K-pop."
At that time, BTS was gaining huge popularity, and many production companies were wondering how to create content based on K-pop. When no one could find a clear answer, Director Kang came up with the unique idea of combining 'demon hunting' with K-pop.
The most challenging part of the production process was advancing the story while not losing the 'pop' elements. Director Kang recalled, "When songs became too traditional musical-like, I would send them back to composers saying 'the cool and pop feeling is gone.'"
Quality Recognized Even by Real K-Pop Stars
The success of these virtual groups isn't coincidental when you look at the production team. Top-tier producers who have worked with BLACKPINK like Teddy and collaborated with BTS like Lindgren participated in the production.
BBC analyzed, "The album's success isn't surprising since top producers like Teddy, who has worked with BLACKPINK, and Lindgren, who collaborated with BTS, participated in the production."
The result of putting as much effort as creating a real K-pop idol's album led to this achievement.
The movie reached number 1 globally in the film category after its release on June 20th, recording 33 million views in two weeks. The soundtrack album also entered the Billboard 200 chart at number 8, recording the highest debut position for a soundtrack this year.
Perfect K-Pop Experience That Recreated Fan Culture
What's really interesting is that these virtual groups aren't just achieving musical success but are creating real K-pop fan culture.
Fans are posting fan art on Tumblr and having heated discussions on Reddit about potential sequels. On TikTok, videos of fans dancing to choreography from the movie or sharing reactions to key scenes are gaining hundreds of millions of views.
This is exactly like how we support real K-pop idols. We can see similar phenomena in our country too, where virtual characters from Bollywood movies are loved as much as real celebrities.
US business magazine Forbes said, "If you love Saja Boys, add them to your playlist and expand your K-pop knowledge," recommending 17 K-pop songs similar to 'Your Idol'. The recommended songs included ENHYPEN's 'Bite Me', ATEEZ's 'Deja Vu', Jimin's 'Set Me Free Pt.2', Taemin's 'Guilty', and BTS's 'Black Swan'.
Forbes evaluated, "For new fans who are falling into the movie's twist-filled storyline and exploring various styles throughout the soundtrack, now is the perfect opportunity to dive deeper into the K-pop world."
This phenomenon goes beyond the success of a simple animated movie, showing how powerful content can be in an era where the boundaries between virtual and reality are blurring. The emergence of virtual idols who are more beloved than real idols makes us anticipate what changes this will bring to the entertainment industry.
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