The past year was a good one for the K-pop industry. Both the kings and queens of K-pop -- BTS and Blackpink -- celebrated their successful breakthrough in the American music industry.
In 2022, BTS repeatedly won several international awards including favourite pop group (four times in a row since 2019) at the American Music Awards, top group, top-selling song (their English language tune Butter) and top sales artist at the Billboard Music Awards, and the Group of 2022 (four times in a row since 2019) at the People's Choice Awards. In April, Billboard ranked BTS's James Bond-inspired performance of Butter as the best at 2022 Grammy Awards ceremony. The septet received a 2023 Grammy nomination for best music video for their Korean-language song Yet To Come.
In June, after releasing their album Proof, BTS members announced that they would focus on solo activities rather than working as a group. Members did not mention military service, but it was known that according to South Korean law, members would gradually enter the military. Jin, the oldest member, began his mandatory service on Dec 13.
On July 15, J-Hope, rapper and main dancer with BTS, released his solo album Jack In The Box. His first two singles -- More and Arson -- surprised listeners with dark tones and heavy beat of rock and grunge music. J-Hope performed songs from Jack In The Box as the headliner on the main stage of Lollapalooza, one of the largest American music festivals. With its uniqueness and creativity, Jack In The Box was ranked the ninth best album of 2022 by Rolling Stone.
Before leaving for the military, Jin, the main vocalist of BTS, released his pop single Astronaut, which he co-wrote with Coldplay. To say farewell to his fans in person, Jin performed the premiere of Astronaut at a Coldplay concert in Buenos Aires.
On Dec 2, RM, BTS rapper and songwriter, launched his solo album Indigo, on which he worked with many artists including American singer-songwriters Erykah Badu and Anderson .Paak; Korean-Canadian hip-hop artist Tablo of Epik High; and Korean singer Youjeen of Cherry Filter. Indigo debuted at No.1 on Billboard's world album chart. Since the album offers meaningful content with a variety of music, it received positive reviews from international media such as Rolling Stone, The Observer and NME.
Jungkook, the all-rounder of BTS, released his collaboration with Charlie Puth for the English pop song Left And Right in June. Due to its fun and addictive melody, Left And Right won the 2022 People's Choice Awards for collaboration song. At the World Cup opening ceremony, Jungkook performed with Fahad Al-Kubaisi, a Qatari singer, for the tournament's official soundtrack Dreamers. With Jungkook's captivating performance and popularity, Dreamers debuted at No.1 on Billboard's Digital Song Sales chart.
Two years ago, BTS was named by Time as entertainer of the year, but this year, the title was awarded to Blackpink. In the video Time Entertainer Of The Year 2022: Blackpink on the Time YouTube Channel, there are summaries regarding the success of Blackpink including being the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella, the biggest musical act with over 83 million subscribers on YouTube and 2 million pre-order albums for their long-awaited album Born Pink. The narration said "it is clear that Blackpink is more than a K-pop group. They have become a global brand of their own".
Blackpink made history after they became the first female K-pop group whose album, Born Pink, debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 and reached No.1 on the UK Albums Chart. After releasing the album, the quartet started their "Born Pink World Tour" in Seoul, South Korea, in October and performed in North America and Europe. In 2023, the girls will perform in Asia and Australia. Tickets for the world tour sold out quickly in many countries such as South Korea, UK, Taiwan and Thailand.
This year, Thai rapper Lisa Manoban of Blackpink became the first soloist to win two Best K-pop Artist awards at MTV's Europe Music Awards in Germany and MTV Video Music Awards in the US. While members of Blackpink are busy with a world tour, their music label YG Entertainment announced the girls' new reality show B.P.M. will be released soon. The show will reveal the behind-the-scenes of how the girls worked on their album Born Pink. However, its release date has not yet been revealed.
There were many surprising and overwhelming moments in 2022 for longtime fans of K-pop since many big names such as 2NE1, Big Bang, Girls' Generation and Kara reunited to perform or release music. While four members of 2NE1 appeared to perform their hit I Am The Best at Coachella in the US, Big Bang released the slow and emotional track Still Life after a four-year hiatus.
Girls' Generation returned with their eight members and launched the album Forever 1. It was impressive to see them perform live as a group on TV music shows and at "SM Town Live 2022 Concert". To celebrate their 15th anniversary, five members of Kara released the album Move Again. This was a nice surprise because after the former member Hara committed suicide in 2019, nobody expected that Kara would reunite.
Since early 2022, many K-pop acts visited Bangkok. Thai fans had a meet and greet with six members of GOT7, one of Thai's favourite K-pop groups. BamBam, Jackson, Mark Tuan, Youngjae, Yugyeom and JayB came to Bangkok separately for solo fan meetings or concerts. Only Jinyoung, who this year focused on an acting career, has not met Thai fans yet, but he will hold a fan meeting in Bangkok in 2023 before entering the military.
In July, the Chinese member of GOT7
, Jackson, received more public attention when he agreed to perform at the beginning of "The Match: Bangkok Century Cup 2022" between Manchester United and Liverpool. The event organiser was criticised for the expensive tickets as prices ranged from 12,000 to 25,000 baht for the one-hour performance. From Nov 25-27, Jackson held the concert "Jackson Wang Magic Man World Tour 2022" in Thailand. After the second day of the concert, the concert organiser was harshly criticised for letting a fan appear onstage with Jackson. The lucky fan was Thai actress Perth Veerinsara, who was accused of using connections to get close to Jackson. Perth and the organiser denied the accusation and explained that Perth was randomly chosen.
To celebrate the festive season, two talented girl groups from SM Entertainment -- Red Velvet and Aespa -- dropped their upbeat collaboration Beautiful Christmas on Dec 15. In their music video, the girls celebrate "the best time of the year" according to the lyrics by dancing energetically in snow and in venues decorated with Christmas trees and colourful presents.
Next year, the most anticipated concert is probably "Born Pink World Tour Bangkok" at the National Stadium on Jan 7 and 8. The venue is too small for the huge fandom of Blackpink. Hopefully, they will return for an encore at a bigger venue.
On Jan 7, there will be another significant K-pop event, "Golden Disc Awards In Bangkok". This prestigious K-pop award ceremony will take place at Rajamangala National Stadium. The line-up, which was announced by event organiser Apple Wood Thailand, includes many popular artists -- BTS's J-Hope, Psy, Seventeen, Stray Kids, (G)I-dle, Ive and Le Sserafim.
Most Thai fans are super excited to meet BTS's J-Hope. Unfortunately, Korean news outlets reported that while J-Hope will attend the ceremony to meet his fans, he will not perform. This will be his first appearance in Thailand for three years after the "BTS World Tour Love Yourself In Bangkok" in 2019.
