Lauren Daigle continues to stack up the accolades. She won K-Loves Artist of the Year and Female Artist of the Year. She’s also extend her sold-out “Look Up Child World Tour” with stops across the US and Europe. The new shows will include New York’s iconic Carnegie Hall and two nights at the 10,000 seater Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

Pop artist Taela is quickly making a splash. She’s been compared to an old-soul that blends mainstream pop with alternative. Hailing from Missouri, the singer has secured management w/ Brad Gibson & Brett Vargason and Paradigm for booking. Check out her debut single Bang that just landed on Apple’s Best Of The Week Playlist. She is set to take the stage on October 6th at The Austin City Music Festival performing alongside Mumford & Sons and Cardi B.

Atlanta based Alex Harris will releases a new track Say Less along with a music video that will be released Friday via Red Music/Epic Records. Growing up on Dr. Dre and Eminem, the singer-songwriter blends pop, hip-hop, alternative and R&B.  His debut EP Pink Cloud in February has clocked over 200K  Spotify streams. “I want to bring honesty through my music,” Harris confesses while discussing what he wants listeners to take away from his music. “It’s okay to be vulnerable and express how you feel. There’s so much pressure to look cool, be cool, and control your life through social media to give the perception that everything’s good. If I can give people my true interpretation of the good, bad, and ugly in my life, maybe it can encourage others to embrace those things in their life. You can better yourself.” Give it a listen.

Belgium based indie pop act The Lighthouse releases the track Cover Story.  Fans of Phoenix and The 1975 will love the band. The 5 piece got picked up by StuBru radio receiving airplay on a variety of stations in Belgium and The Netherlands. The band will drop their debut album “Whatever Comes Our Way” on September 27th and will perform at Ancienne Belgique on October 26th. Give it a stream!

While most never heard of K-Pop, more and more Americans are hearing about it. I had a conversation with a Canadian who wasn’t Asian and she said that an industry professional advised her to audition for a K-Pop singing show.  Even though I told her that she would not quality because she wasn’t Asian – she still wouldn’t give up.  At that point I began to dig deeper into the world of K-Pop.

First, K-Pop or Korean pop is based out of South Korea. Secondly, it’s growing fast. Third, K-Pop is a culture, it’s not a genre. The biggest K-pop act are BTS. You probably never heard of them. It’s difficult for a K-pop band to break into the U.S. You generally need top 40 radio to break in America and the K-Pop artists don’t sing in English, although they are very popular on YouTube.

Most Americans vaguely remember South Korean PSY who came out of South Korea but he isn’t really K-Pop. In fact, South Korea which is one of the smaller countries are supplying the pop hits for over a billion Asians. South Korea is a music power player.

The main suppliers farming out the K-Pop idols are companies like JYP, SM and YG. These are hybrid companies which  more or less resemble old Hollywood Studios in the way they do business with talent. They are all in one -record labels and management companies. They are training stars for a long time that includes acting, singing, dancing – teaching them foreign languages, training them physically, and even plastic surgery. These companies hold yearly auditions searching for the next K-Pop stars and up to 50,000 teens show up. CONTINUE READING