Celebrating K-Pop and Global Music Collaborations

Apple TV+’s newest reality TV series, KPopped, celebrates the iconic Korean Pop genre with stars fans all know and brings incredible collaborations with music industry titans to life. While the series, which premiered in August, has seen stars like Patti LaBelle and Spice Girls Emma Bunton & Mel B come to the stage, the real stars are the K-pop icons teaching global stars their craft.

K-pop has become such a cultural phenomenon in the last decade that it’s difficult to imagine someone who hasn’t heard of it, but hearing about the genre and living within it are two very different things. Throughout the first season of KPopped, viewers get to experience the genre in a whole new way with cultural norms being explored by major stars on screen.

KPopped’s executive producer, Moira Ross, shared more about making the show, honoring K-pop, and who her dream collaborations are for the future.

Screen Rant: Talk to me about Kpopped. How did this blend of Eastern and Western talent come together?

Moira Ross: I think the concept was something that Apple very much were in the market for a show, which would be a new sort of genre-bending music show, I think. And they were in conversations with Lionel Richie, you may have heard of him [laughs]. And he was in big conversations with Mickey Lee over at CJ Entertainment. And they all joined forces with the wonderful team at Eureka. And eventually, with their love of music shows, a great idea was born.

Screen Rant: It’s such an interesting concept. And bringing together pre-existing artists rather than finding new talent is something that we don’t see that often. I’m curious about getting some of the incredible names that came into the show and seeing those collaborations. Tell me about what we’re seeing, just in terms of the collaborations and how surprising that could be.

Moira Ross: Yeah, I think what we’re seeing is with the overall format and concept, a really fresh and fun approach to celebrating music and also joining, obviously, the great force and phenomenon that is K-pop with all of these wonderful global superstars. In terms of people signing up to the show, as soon as these great artists were approached, obviously, Megan herself is one of the execs on the show. But as soon as artists like Kylie and Spice Girls and Vanilla Ice, as soon as those guys received their approaches, they were all right in because they understood the concept. They were like, hey, this is fresh and it’s fun. And also, it’s a new way of exploring their great hits, you know, in this sort of contemporary and exciting way.

EP Moira Was Surprised By Vanilla Ice’s Performance

Screen Rant: Who do you think surprised you the most on either side of the table?

Moira Ross: I think every time we got into the studio and the songs were brought alive in front of the audience, there was another new surprise and they kept coming. So each performance had its own magic to it. I think we were all really surprised by Vanilla Ice and that fresh take on Ice Ice Baby.

I think, you know, Kylie with eighties was a wonderful treat as well. And, you know, re-hearing that song, which gets better and better in such a fresh way was quite exciting. So they’ve just on reflection of big standouts and I can’t not mention Patti LaBelle.

When Patti LaBelle took to the stage, even in rehearsals, we were all in awe. You know, it was literally stopped down to just take a moment to appreciate. And her work with the girls was just fantastic. They had such a lovely cross-generational synergy, which just brought a whole freshness to Lady Marmalade. So that was really exciting.

Screen Rant: In terms of the artists working together, we saw a lot of moments where the Western artists were really introduced to more Eastern culture. How did the production team work to ensure that both sides were really experiencing each other in a way that felt authentic?

Moira Ross: Yeah, well, I think what was key to all of it, and because of this cross-cultural, almost experiment, respect was key. And those artists from the K-pop to the visiting artists from the West came together with a mutual love of music. So it wasn’t a difficult introduction and synergy.

And everybody was driving towards the one shared goal, which was to make great performances. So in that sense, you know, it took its own sort of life of its own, really. So that wasn’t difficult. And really with the pairings, they sort of made sense. There was so much consideration into those pairings. Some were established friendships.

And so with ITZY, they are the K-pop girl group of the moment. And what better way to see, you know, K-pop through the eyes of the Spice Girls with that pairing. So that made absolute perfect sense. And on and on, really. So yeah, there were lots of things that went into consideration for the pairings, obviously, in terms of availability, etc. But who’s going to bring the great choreography, JO1 and Kesha, you know, and who’s going to bring, you know, those great musical pairings in terms of Kepler and Vanilla Ice, etc.

Screen Rant: It really felt so well thought out and kind of very synergistic as we, like seeing all the people who are paired together. It was really interesting to see. As a celebration of music from all over the world, what do you think is the most important thing viewers should take from this series?

Moira Ross: Oh, I think viewers will take one, hearing those great bangers that we all recognize across the world, and hearing them with this, you know, fresh K-pop sound, but also great, great visuals. It’s a real fun celebration of a show. You know, it’s a light-hearted competition.

It’s really about those amazing performances. And I think people will see that and they’ll also have that experience of the cross-cultural, cross-generational appreciation of all of these fresh, young K-pop bands, and some of our, well, more established, huge, you know, musical legends that we have on the show. Yeah, I think the takeaway, a great, joyful, you know, uplifting piece of entertainment.

Screen Rant: Yeah, I really think you can’t walk out of an episode without feeling like you’ve been uplifted, the performances are spectacular, such beautiful production value. Especially with K-pop being so heavy in this moment and so popular, what felt the most important to you and to the team about honoring K-pop right now?

Moira Ross: Well, I think honoring K-pop in terms of, you know, we really wanted this to feel authentic, and so it was very important we made the show in Seoul with, you know, an entire K-pop audience, and which they would be, the majority would come along as fans of each of those individual bands, from ITZY to Black Swan, etc. So the fans made it very authentic in terms of the K-pop grammar and their contribution, which I think we did honor and keep within the sort of language of the show. But also very important to us, of course, as you can see, and you mentioned, the great spectacle and the great choreography and precision that those groups bring to every single show.

And it was fun slotting our Western artists in and around them, you know, and you sort of see examples, don’t you, you know, with Emma & Mel, with Mel breaking out of that kind of routine and regulated choreography, because it’s so different to the way they ever sort of performed and do perform. So you’ve got those worlds sort of shaping up, colliding, and a certain amount of enjoyable chaos at times.

Screen Rant: If we were to see another season of KPopped, who would you want to see joining in?

Moira Ross: Well, look, you came on and you’re called Cher, and she would be top of our list. We would love to see Lionel and BTS re-imagine a big Lionel hit, of course we would. You know, and some surprises, of course, who wouldn’t want Taylor Swift? Who in their right mind wouldn’t want Swiftie to be K-popped? So the list, the wish list, goes on and on, but I think we have, yeah, we’ve got some great ideas and great choices, should we get to season two.

Source: Vanilla Ice/YouTube

KPopped is available to stream on AppleTV+.