K-pop Meets Bollywood: Wengie Collabs with Shalmali and Ikka

K-pop star Wengie recently joined forces with Indian artists Shalmali and Ikka for her latest single “Thing You Want.” Described as ‘K-pop meets Bollywood,’ the collaborative single is a bilingual release, with lyrics in both Hindi and English. The track is a single off the Chinese-Australian pop star’s latest EP, Collabs Vol. 1 (Int’l Ver.), which sees her work with eight different artists from seven countries in the Asia Pacific region, with five songs recorded in six languages. 

“I grew up listening to all kinds of music in different languages which is why I love the fusion of sounds from various countries from around the world,” Wengie explained about the EP in a statement. “I love exploring different cultures and encourage diversity so it was wonderful to work with talented artists from around the world and sharing that with my fans, you can say I like making content that’s universal!” The record sees the singer-songwriter and YouTube star perform in English, Tagalog, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin and Hindi, and features prominent artists from around the world including Filipino pop star Inigo Pascual and Minnie, main vocalist of the rising Korean group (G)I-DLE.

For her India collaboration, Wengie brought onboard Bollywood playback star Shalmali and rapper Ikka, both prominent names in the country’s music scene who were interesting in exploring the K-pop industry. “I was very excited when I first heard the idea of featuring with Wengie on ‘Thing You Want,’” said Ikka. “I like to collaborate with artists from every part of the globe and working with a well-known K-pop artist like Wengie was a different and amazing experience altogether — I said yes to the collaboration instantly.” Shalmali similarly expressed her fascination with the genre, stating, “K-pop has been an integral of pop-culture for a while now, and it was one of things I really hoped to do someday– work with a K-pop artist,” she explained. “When the Wengie collaboration came up, I was thrilled because it’s a form of music that I’ve been interested in exploring and with the Indian rhythmic elements in the mix. It was a delight chatting with, discussing and then singing ‘Thing You Want’ with Wengie. She is a sweetheart.” 

The fusion-based track blends elements from K-pop, Punjabi bhangra, EDM and trap and was produced by Michel “Lindgren” Schulz aka Lindgren. Lindgren also shares co-writing credits with Wengie, Shalmali, Ikka, Melanie Fontana and GG Ramirez. As filming a music video for the track with all three artists would be impossible due to the restrictions cause by COVID-19, the song is accompanied by a colorful, animated video. The clip features animated versions of Wengie, Shalmali and Ikka going on various adventures together as they travel through a mystical fantasy landscape.