From Indian Korean pop (K-pop) idols to Swedish songwriters, South Korea's music industry is now a hotbed of global talent -- a smart strategy as it aims for world domination.
K-pop bands have long included non-Koreans: Blackpink's Lisa is Thai, while Japan and China are both well represented, and Korean-American singers have topped the local charts, according to Agence France Press (AFP).
But after megastars like Psy and BTS brought K-pop to a global audience, the South Korean entertainment agencies behind almost all the popular groups are recruiting further afield. DR Music's girl group Blackswan only has two Koreans in its six-woman line-up, and last month added the industry's first Indian "idol", who joins Brazilian and Senegalese members.
In the United States, a Korean-American K-pop singer, AleXa, recently won NBC's American Song Contest, the U.S. version of Eurovision.
Though she sang in English, her training in Seoul made her stand out. Stage direction and teaching the singer how to deal with techs and lights make a key part of the Korean pop training.
At ZB Label, part of industry powerhouse Zanybros, which has produced thousands of K-pop music videos, signed AleXa because “they believe she has the "full package" and saw her potential as a young Korean-American to appeal to K-pop's growing global fandom,” said Angelina Foss, creative director at South Korea's ZB Label.
AleXa, who has studied dance since she was two, said: "I trained every day of the week. I had weekly evaluations, which is a very big thing in the K-pop industry," she said.
After months of work, her bosses decided she was ready to "debut" as a fully-fledged star.
AleXa’s songs are written in Sweden but produced in Seoul with a US audience but global YouTube views in mind.
K-pop recruiters are fanning out across the world, with agencies hosting auditions in cities including London, Bangkok, Sydney and Tokyo, but at the same time global talent is flocking to South Korea.
