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Adam Wright

The Post’s music coverage in 2018 was dominated by the rise of K-pop, and the sound from South Korea continued to make headlines this year – but for vastly different reasons.
Our K-pop coverage this year focused on the sex-and-drugs scandal surrounding Seoul’s Burning Sun nightclub, which claimed a high-profile victim in the form of Seungri – the BigBang member who served on the board of the club.
In the latter part of the year, the K-pop world was rocked by three suicides in less than two months – singers Sulli (October 14) and Goo Hara (November 24), and actor-singer Cha In-ha (December 3).
Stories about the scandal and the deaths were among the South China Morning Post’s top five music stories from 2019. Here’s the full list:

5. DJ Tenashar
Singaporean DJ Tenashar didn’t have a great year. After serving an 18-month jail sentence on drug-related charges, the DJ and former Playboy cover girl was again arrested for suspected drug-related offences. This article charts the rise and fall of the famous Singaporean DJ.

4. Deaths of Sulli and Goo Hara
This opinion article argues that the deaths of South Korean singers Goo Hara and Sulli, and of Jonghyun in 2017, leave the K-pop industry with blood on its hands because of the pressure it puts on its stars and the lack of support in South Korea for people with mental health issues.

3. Asia music festivals
In this wrap of the region’s top music festivals in the second half of 2019, we previewed everything from world music (the Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo) and huge rock ‘n’ roll bashes (Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic in Japan) to the region’s biggest celebrations of electronic dance music (Creamfields Taiwan).

2. ‘You raped her’
The investigation into Seungri uncovered a private chat room where members – including singer Jung Joon-young – shared videos of themselves having sex with women who were drunk or unconscious. Featuring recreations of messages sent in the chat room, this story revealed how the members joked about attacking women.

1. K-pop image tainted
Finally, our top music story of the year discusses how K-pop’s squeaky-clean image has been damaged by the year’s sex and drugs scandals. The K-pop dramas came in a year that also saw South Korean women become increasingly vocal about the country’s ongoing #MeToo movement and protest against the country’s spycam epidemic.


J-Hope of BTS completes 18 months of South Korea’s mandatory military service

K-pop star Hanni of NewJeans tells South Korea lawmakers of workplace bullying

K-pop fans clash over Seunghan’s resignation from Riize: cancel culture or accountability?

South Korean rapper Lil Cherry, aka Mukkbang Mama, on working with her brother Goldbuuda and how her song ‘Crying in da Club’ was partly inspired by Lucy Liu’s character in Charlie’s Angels

K-pop, Mandopop and other Asian pop

From K-pop scandals and deaths to DJ Tenashar’s downfall, our five top music stories of 2019

Goo Hara.

South Korean singer and TV personality Jung Joon-young.

Fuji Rock

Seungri

DJ Tenashar

(From left to right, top) Seungri, Goo Hara, Tenashar, Sulli, Seungri, Jung Joon-young and Cha In-ha have all made headlines this year in the South China Morning Post’s five top music stories of 2019.

K-pop in 2019: BTS, Blackpink break new ground, but deaths and scandal tarnish image of Korean music industry

Sulli

Goo Hara

SuperM. Photo: Instagram

Blackpink

Twice

K-pop boy band BTS topped the charts across the world in 2019 and were presenters at the 61st Grammy Awards, significantly raising the visibility of K-pop acts.

From BTS to Shawn Mendes, Spotify’s 2019 music wrap reveals the most streamed songs, albums and artists in Hong Kong

Eason Chan.

Drake

Joey Yung

Spotify’s 2019 music wrap reveals the most streamed songs, albums and artists in Hong Kong, with singer Eason Chan coming out on top as the city’s most streamed artist of the year.

Sulli and Goo Hara grew up in the harsh K-pop limelight, with demanding fans and schedules and controlling labels. Is it to blame for their deaths?

Before her death, Goo Hara spoke out about online fan abuse, controlling labels and unrealistic expectations of the K-pop industry.

Daniel Kang

BTS Army makes Jungkook video Twitter’s most retweeted tweet in 2019; ‘World Record Egg’ well and truly beaten

A tweet of BTS star Jungkook lip syncing and dancing to Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy topped Twitter’s most retweeted list for 2019.

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Music


An investigation sparked by events at Seoul’s Burning Sun nightclub, co-owned by Big Bang’s Seungri, revealed a chat group sharing secretly recorded sex videos
K-pop was also in the news over the deaths of singers Goo Hara and Sulli; Asian music festivals and the travails of DJ Tenashar also piqued readers’ interest



K-pop was big in 2019, often for the wrong reasons – the deaths of singers Goo Hara and Sulli and the Burning Sun nightclub sex scandal. Away from K-pop, Post readers were most interested in Asian music festivals and DJ Tenashar’s decline and fall.


K-pop scandals

Fame and celebrity

Year in Review 2019