Upon entering JYP Entertainment's vertiginous Seoul headquarters, A2K finalist Lexi Vang gazed in awe. "It's really awesome being able to stand in the building where a bunch of awesome artists were created," the 17-year-old said. Creating talent is what the K-pop industry does best. Just look at the chart-topping artists who've debuted under JYP: TWICE, Stray Kids, and Itzy have seven top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 between them, millions of sales, and billions of streams worldwide. Now, JYP and Republic Records hope to capture the same magic with VCHA, the six-member girl group formed on A2K.
An acronym for American 2 Korea, the project set out to produce "the very first American girl group trained through the K-pop system." Lexi was one of a handful of contestants vying for a spot in the group by undergoing a three-month boot camp at JYP, where the girls were routinely evaluated on their singing and dancing abilities, star quality, and character. The process was a trial-by-fire, tried-and-true structure for nurturing talent that's integral to the K-pop landscape. Lexi ultimately made VCHA's final lineup, and she's since spent the past five months training alongside her bandmates in Seoul, mastering their idol capabilities.
Hot on A2K's heels comes Dream Academy from HYBE (home to hitmakers BTS, Seventeen, and NewJeans, among others) and Geffen Records, an ongoing project that plans to put together a global girl group "based on K-pop methodology," HYBE chairman Bang Shi-hyuk explained in a video announcing the concept. That multifaceted methodology of finding, developing, and promoting its artists to international audiences is vital to K-pop's massive success abroad — and its future in the Western music market.
First, it's about looking at K-pop not as a billion-dollar industry but as a lucrative business model.
Compare the intensive training of idols to the more algorithmic ways in which major labels break new acts, and the savviness of K-pop's systematic approach to artist development becomes apparent. These days, a TikTok hit can guarantee a record deal, but it can't promise longevity. By contrast, K-pop trainees spend years honing their skills, undergoing rigorous and specialized coaching through routine vocal lessons, dance rehearsals, language classes, personality development, and social media etiquette. It doesn't stop at the trainee stage, either. Professional idols are masters of fan service, and record labels could glean a lot from how Korean entertainment agencies build fandoms and foster their devotion through a surplus of content, proprietary fan engagement platforms, album packaging, and collectibles.
With these strategic label partnerships and joint ventures, K-pop isn't just exporting its artists overseas — it's selling a model that companies can adopt across various music markets. JYP founder J.Y. Park has described this as "globalization by localization." In 2020, the company launched NiziU, a Japanese girl group co-managed by JYP and Sony Music Entertainment Japan. They were formed via a competition series that put Park at the helm of the decision-making, not unlike America 2 Korea. SM Entertainment founder and former chief producer Lee Soo-man constructed an entire manual around "cultural technology," a formula for growing K-pop's global influence by localizing its marketing strategy by region. It led to the creation of NCT, an experimental collective of groups based in Korea, China, and Japan. Then came SuperM, a supergroup formed in 2019 by SM Entertainment and Capitol Music Group that debuted in Los Angeles.
Yet, shows like A2K illustrate the idea of glocalization or a product that's "developed and distributed globally but adjusted to accommodate consumers in a local market," according to The Korea Herald. It's taking the standards set by the K-pop industry and fusing them with local trends. The group formed by A2K will undergo K-pop training and utilize the same tools, but their music will sound distinctly Western. While they're not a K-pop act, their formation embodies the essence of K-pop itself.
Related: Meet VCHA, the Newest K-pop Girl Group, in Their First Official Interview
In a recent interview with GRAMMY.com, songwriter and producer Wonderkid (ENHYPEN, Wanna One) pondered the future of K-pop, saying, "K-pop has been developed in Korea, but will be adopted in multiple countries. It is already happening. Young listeners around the world will aspire to be K-pop artists as they grow up. Not all of them will be able to audition and train in Korea, and each country will develop their own versions of K-pop. That will give birth to new music and culture, just as hip-hop and rock have influenced the music industry across the globe."
XG is a prime example of this. Despite their K-pop sheen, the girls describe themselves as a global group, with Japanese members singing and rapping primarily in English with an occasional sprinkle of Korean and Japanese. (They speak all three languages to varying degrees of fluency and currently live together in Seoul.) They trained as a unit for five years before even stepping on a single stage, perfecting their skills, synchronization, and sisterhood. They produce a high level of content across all social media platforms. Their creative direction is youthful and brazenly maximalist. In addition to performing on international stages, they regularly promote on Korean music shows. They've seamlessly integrated K-pop into their own identity to create something new entirely. JYP and Republic are implementing the same strategy for VCHA.
By reflecting global influences while employing K-pop's meticulous training and promotional methods, these emerging groups mark a significant shift in the music industry, where K-pop can serve as both an inspiration and a blueprint for the future — influencing artists and music markets far beyond its origins in South Korea.
