How the UK is (finally) embracing Korean pop

Six years ago, Amber Clare was a devoted One Direction fan.

Scrolling through Twitter for information about the band’s solo projects, she saw a reply that said “Listen to Icy by Itzy”.

Intrigued, she clicked on the link. It changed her life.

“I’d never listened to K-Pop before that point but I immediately became a fan,” she says.

“And now Itzy is the reason I have my job.”

Today, Clare is the marketing and social media manager for K-Stars, the UK’s first and biggest shop devoted to Korean pop music.

Based in Manchester, it started as a small business in Manchester’s Affleck’s Palace in 2019.

“You’d order things by PayPal, and then the CEO would pack them up by himself and ship everything out,” Clare recalls.

Now it’s a two-storey emporium, based on Deansgate, with a staff of more than 20 dedicated K-Pop enthusiasts.

It’s a sign of how the genre has exploded in the UK, even though radio and television has largely shunned all but the biggest acts, like BTS, aespa and Blackpink.

“It’s still kind of a niche – but it’s not a small niche,” says Clare. “In my head I’m the only Itzy fan, but when I went to see them in concert, it was sold out.

“I was like, ‘Wow, where have all you people been hiding?’”

In fact, the UK is now among the top 10 countries that follow K-Pop on Spotify, with the boyband Ateez placing two records in the top five of the UK album charts last year.

This summer, Blackpink will play two nights at Wembley Stadium, with Stray Kids pulling off the same feat in Tottenham.

Meanwhile, Twickenham Stadium will say “anyong haseyo” to one of K-pop’s longest-running festivals.