🌟 2021 K-POP REWIND! 🌟
Let's go back and relive the music that marked 2021!
Between debuts and multiple comebacks, this year too the Korean music industry has given us unforgettable moments and songs that we will remember for a long time. Let's relive with you the most iconic groups and titles of the last year!
What's the best way to do this than by asking directly to you ? At the beginning of January we shared on our social networks a survey to find out your opinion: the time has come to share your answers!
HOT DEBUT: THE NEW STARS OF KPOP
At the top of the charts are JYP Entertainment's emerging new band, Xdinary Heroes , and girl group IVE , signed by Starship Entertainment.
We are all heroes : after the great expectations created in November around the band's teasers, Xdinary Heroes did not disappoint their fans. The band, consisting of Gunil, Jungsu, Gaon, O.de, Jun Han, Jooyeon, debuted with the digital single Happy Death Day , released on December 6, 2021.
The IVEs are no exception: the new group from Starship Entertainment, with their debut single album ELEVEN , managed to break an important record by receiving their first win at Show Champion, in just seven days after their debut!
The sextet, composed of Gaeul, Rei, Liz, Leeseo, Yujin and Wonyoung (formerly members of the group IZ*ONE ) have all it takes to establish themselves in the music scene!
Other debuts, no less important and which have left their mark, feature Purple Kiss (Rainbow Entertainment) with Ponzona , Billlie (Mystic Story Entertainment ) with Ring x Ring and Kingdom (GF Entertainment ) with Excalibur. We can't wait to see what the future has in store for us!
An honorable mention to the solo debuts of names already well known on the scene: Rosé with -R- , Lisa with the homonymous single album Lalisa and BamBam with RiBBon .
STRAY KIDS: AMONG THE BEST ARTISTS OF THE YEAR
If we were to ask you which group and which album left their mark and represented 2021, one of the names you would mention is Stray Kids . Last year, between being crowned winners of Kingdom , and releasing two EPs — Christmas EveL and Scar , a Japanese release — Stray Kids, an eight-member group under JYP Entertainment — Bang Chang, Lee Know, Changbin , Hyunjin, Han,
Felix, Seungmin and IN —established themselves on the K-pop scene with the album NOEASY , their second full album. NOEASY was the most nominated album in the Best Album of the Year and Best Comeback of the Year (with title track Thunderous ) categories in our poll, receiving more than half of the votes.
Among the other artists who have left their mark on your 2021 and on the international music scene we can mention ATEEZ, TXT, ITZY and ENHYPEN.
ATEEZ — KQ Entertainment group composed of Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, Jongho — finished with their latest ZERO : Fever Epilogue the Fever series, which began in the summer of 2020 with ZERO : Fever Part. 1. It is precisely the final chapter of Fever. It was one of the most popular releases of the last year: with the title Turbulence they particularly impressed fans.
For HYBE artists, some of the most popular are The Chaos Chapter: Fight Or Escape and Dimension: Dilemma . The first, signed TXT — Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, HueningKai — was released in August 2021, and continues the story of The Chaos Chapter that began with Freeze.
Dimension: Dilemma is the first full album by ENHYPEN , a Belift Lab group formed after participating in the I-LAND program. The group, composed of Jungwon, Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Ni-ki, enjoyed even more success after the release of the title Tamed-Dashed .
Last — but not least! — ITZY , formed by Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong and Yuna, have struck the hearts of fans and beyond with their first full album Crazy In Love and the viral title Loco !
BETWEEN MY UNIVERSE AND WHO ARE YOU: THE BEST COLLABORATIONS
What's better than seeing your favorite artists collaborate with each other, giving us amazing hits and performances?A collaboration that has been talked about a lot and which has been successful all over the world is My Universe , featuring Coldplay and BTS . The song, which RM , Suga and J-Hope actively participated in writing, was performed not only at Global Citizen Live , but also AMAS 2021 . Speaking of great artists, BTS didn't stop at Coldplay: they in fact created a remix for Butter with Megan Thee Stallion, performed live for the first time during their American concert Permission To Dance Live On Stage.
The collaboration that has caused the most talk is Who Are You by Bam Bam ft. Seulgi (Red Velvet) : the single, released as a pre-release on December 28, 2021, was announced by the artist on social media through a series of concept photos which featured a female figure. Only a few days later it was revealed that the song would be performed together with Seulgi, answering fans' theories and doubts. The collaboration positively surprised the community, so much so that Who Are You went viral on Twitter trends.
Who Are You was later featured on the tracklist of Bam Bam's album, B.
THE OSTS THAT MADE US DREAM
If you like K-dramas we are sure that, like us, you cannot ignore the wonderful soundtracks that accompany them.
Among the most rated OSTs there is no shortage of important titles such as Squid Game , a Netflix drama which has attracted enormous success all over the world. Over the course of nine episodes we live the experience of a group of people who risk their lives in a series of deadly games to win the final prize: 45.6 billion won. The series was positively received and received notable nominations such as three Golden Globes.
The soundtrack of Squid Game was created by Jung Jae-Il and is mainly composed of classical music, which emphasizes the life of the players and the game itself.
Other highly appreciated OSTs were those of dramas such as Vincenzo , which also features the song “ Adrenaline ” by Solar (Mamamoo) and Hometown Cha Cha Cha . Of the latter, “ Here Always ”, a song sung by Seungmin , member of the group Stray Kids, was particularly mentioned. 
K-POP 2022: YOUR EXPECTATIONS
To conclude the survey we asked you what you expect from the new year: there were many comments and we thank you immensely!Most of the answers were about future comebacks — the highly anticipated return of Blackpink after more than a year since the release of their last album, or a new Korean album by BTS — awaited debuts and returns to the idol scene that we haven't seen in a while — especially artists who are completing their military service, such as Baekhyun and Chen (EXO).
But, most of all, having loudly requested concerts : whether they are international or in Italy, we all hope to be able to return to sing and have fun together with our favorite artists. The artists you most want to see live include TWICE, BTS, BLACKPINK, ATEEZ and Stray Kids. We remind you that Stray Kids have a world tour planned for 2022: fingers crossed for an Italian date!
We hope in this new year to be able to see and collaborate together to bring more and more k-pop to Italy! Like you, we also hope to see more and more Italian cities on international tours!
We wish you a 2022 full of good music, events and fun! We hope you can continue to follow and enjoy k-pop with us.
The Stardust team ⭐️
