From Spice Girls to ATEEZ, Apple TV’s new reality mashup promises nostalgia, culture clashes, and a few eyebrow-raising casting choices.
On August 1, Apple TV dropped a trailer for their upcoming show “KPopped” and let’s just say that my inner child screamed. 😭 Think Spice Girls, TLC, Boys II Men and Vanilla Ice — all reimagining their biggest hits in full K-pop style and battling it out live in Seoul.
The show pairs Western music icons with K-pop stars to transform their classic hit songs into K-pop performances, complete with choreography, styling, and a live audience vote. Hosting duties go to US-based Korean creator/writer/actress Soojeong Son, alongside Psy (Gangnam Style) and Megan Thee Stallion, who also executive produces with Lionel Richie and others.
Lineup & Songs:
- Megan Thee Stallion, Patti Labelle w/ Billie: ‘Savage’ & ‘Lady Marmalade’
- Spice Girls (Emma Bunton/ Mel B) w/ Itzy: ‘Wannabe’ & ‘Say You’ll Be There’
- Vanilla Ice, Taylor Dayne w/ Kep1er: ‘Ice Ice Baby’ & ‘Tell It To My Heart’
- Kesha, Eve w/ JO1: ‘Joyride’ & ‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind’
- J Balvin, Kylie Minogue w/ ATEEZ: ‘Mi Gente’ & ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’
- TLC, Boy George w/ STACY: ‘Waterfalls’ & ‘Karma Chameleon’
- Jess Glyne, Ava Max w/ Kiss of Life: ‘Hold My Hand’ & ‘Kings & Queens’
- Boys II Men w/ Blackswan: ‘Motown Philly’, & ‘End of the Road’
All eight episodes drop on August 29.
👩🏻🍵 Kayla’s Thoughts
1) Bringing Back the Nostalgia
1) Pure Nostalgia Fuel
The second I saw Spice Girls, TLC, and Boyz II Men in the lineup, my inner 90’s child lost it. I had a Spice Girls poster on my wall growing up, so seeing Wannabe reimagined K-pop style? SCREAM. It’s also cool that my other fav hits such ‘Waterfalls’, ‘End of Road’ and ‘Ice Ice Baby’ (while not my favorite, it can’t get any more 90’s iconic 😂) will be ‘KPOPPED’. Literally. The only bummer? We’re getting just 2/5 of the Spice Girls. (We all know why 5 will never happen… 😒) but c’mon — at least 4/5 would’ve been iconic.
Random Fact: Special shoutout to Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head. Every time I hear it, I flash back to junior high when I unknowingly attended a transgender cabaret show in Thailand 🫣 (thanks to my tour guide 🙂↔️). They were some of the most beautiful people I’d ever seen (even more beautiful than biologically females) but more than that, let’s just say that song has lived rent-free in my head ever since. 😅
2) A Clever Concept Promoting Various Mashups
Props to Apple TV for a creative format that mashes up generations, genres, and geographies. 👏🏻It’s millennials meet Gen Z, K-pop meets R&B, hip-hop meets bubblegum pop, and east meets west. I’m curious to see what happens when wildly different creative worlds collide in Seoul.
3) Kesha’s Fierce Comeback?
It’s also great to see Kesha going back in the spotlight after disappearing from the music industry with the SH lawsuit with Dr. Luke. It’s telling she’s not pulling out ‘Tik Tok’ or ‘We R Who We R’ or ‘Timber‘ — probably because of the Dr. Luke ties. I think this show will also be a great platform to reintroduce her 2024 song (which she released under her label) to the global audience.
4) Underwhelming Kpop lineup
I’m going to get so much hate… but I’m disappointed with the underwhelming roster of the Kpop singers. The biggest names are maybe ‘Itzy’ and ‘Ateez’ and the rest are still finding their place in the Kpop scene.
Obvisouly mega idol groups like BTS or Blackpink will not be in the show because they’re too busy and well off to star in the show. But I wish bigger groups such as Stray Kids, Seventeen, TXT, IVE, ILLIT, MEOVV, Fifty xFifty (personally my fav group) had participated the show. I don’t know how the show arrived to casting the Kpop lineup, but personally I find the lineup to be an ‘eyebrow raiser’. 🤔
5) Is JO1 Really “K-Pop”?
So this is not really my opinion, but I did see online debate about whether JO1 should be considered as Kpop. 🧐
They’re a Japanese group from Produce 101 Japan, the Japanese version of Korean competition reality show. They trained under a Korean system with K-pop-style promotions — but they sing in Japanese and have almost no footprint in Korea. They are even under a Japanese label, although the label’s shareholder is CJ E&M. There has also been minor debate in the past about whether Black Swan is also a Kpop group because none of their members are Korean. Whether we shuold recognize them as Kpop or not, is really up to the audience and I can’t wait to see what the verdict is once the show is released. 🥸
Closing Thoughts:
Will “KPopped” be the chaotic, culture-blending masterpiece we didn’t know we needed — or just a flashy nostalgia trip with uneven casting? Either way, you’ll catch me front row on August 29 with popcorn in one hand and my inner Spice Girl screaming in the other. ✨
