K-Pop at Vh1 Supersonic 2020?
Festival co-founder Nikhil Chinapa’s recent tweets indicate we might be getting yet another K-pop act making their India debut
Photo: Courtesy of VH1 Supersonic
We’re just 14 days into 2020 and things already seem to be getting bigger and better for Indian K-pop fans. Late last night, Vh1 Supersonic co-founder Nikhil Chinapa took to Twitter to drop a few hints about the music festival’s lineup and it looks like we might be getting a K-pop act performing there this year.
“We’re bringing in a #KPop band for the first time at our festival,” revealed Chinapa via his Twitter account, adding, “No, it’s not @bts_bighit (sorry @BTS_ARMY) but I’m hoping India will show Kpop and our little K-pop step at @Vh1Supersonic, some love.” Chinapa further went on to explain that he’s been thinking about doing this since he and his wife, DJ Pearl, visited Seoul a few years ago. “We were blown away by the culture and how nice everyone in Korea is,” he said in a second tweet. “Since then, I’ve wanted to program a #KPop band/group at @Vh1Supersonic and we’ve taken a small step toward that this year.”
No, that isn’t the new genre. We’re bringing in a #KPop band for the first time at our festival.
No, it’s not @bts_bighit (sorry @BTS_ARMY) but I’m hoping India will show Kpop and our little K-pop step at @Vh1Supersonic, some love. https://t.co/nqwQSQmZPT
— Nikhil Chinapa (@nikhilchinapa) January 13, 2020
K-pop has seen a massive boom over the past couple of years in India, with 2019 recording the highest number of Korean artists making their debuts in the country–groups like KARD, IN2IT, VAV and MustB, plus soloists AleXa and LiveYubin visited for the first time, while rookie boy group Mont came back to perform for a second time, extending their tour. As the biggest, most diverse music festival in India, Vh1 Supersonic has a reputation of a wide range of artists make their debuts in India and is an ideal platform to introduce new audiences in the country to the genre. The only Indian music festival to feature K-pop artists on the lineup is Hornbill in Nagaland in the North East with Mont.
As to the identity of the artists, after Chinapa confirmed it would not be mega stars BTS (the group with the largest following in the country), fans have been making various guesses. The lineup should drop via Vh1 Supersonic’s social media accounts over the next few days. On his Twitter thread about the subject, Chinapa did clarify that he doesn’t want to set K-pop fans’ expectations too high, but hopes this can be the start of something big. “We’ve always tried to think ahead and introduce new sounds to our audiences at @Vh1Supersonic . I don’t want to set expectations of #KPop fans too high because we haven’t gone “all-in” with the genre as yet. But we’ve opened a door ..so let’s see what happens next.”
Stay tuned to know more.
