CNN : Can K-Pop stars have personal lives? Their labels aren't so sure

K-Pop band Triple H. There was controversy after it was revealed members Hyuna (middle) and E'Dawn (right) were dating. If Taylor Swift was a South Korean artist, she would be in deep trouble.

At the height of her fame, the American singer's dating life was a key element of her music, with the smash success of hits like "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" driven in part by the real-life relationship drama that helped inspired them.

Unlike their western counterparts, for whom making their romantic lives public can be a key part of promotional activities (including allegedly staged relationships), K-Pop stars are often forbidden from disclosing personal details, with some even having a "no dating" clause in their contracts.

When it was revealed artists Hyuna and E-Dawn were a couple last month, there was an angry backlash from some apparently heartbroken fans, and the pair were subsequently suspended by their record label, Cube Entertainment, under whom they had been performing together as part of the outfit Triple H.

"K-Pop music is a big business and K-Pop bands not only endorse big brands but also become big time brands themselves. As a result, for better or for worse, individuals in such bands are viewed as investments," said Bernie Cho, a Korean music industry executive.

"Scandals involving drinking, drugs, or even dating not only make waves in the entertainment news section but also the finance news section because many of the biggest Korean music management companies are also publicly traded stocks on the Korean stock exchange. Sensational headlines can take a serious hit on the bottom line."

This was the case for Cube, which saw its stock drop several points on the back of the news that made headlines both in South Korea and around the world.

"When we manage artists, we consider mutual trust and faith our top priority," Cube said in a statement published by Korean media. "We decided the trust is broken beyond repair, so we are expelling the two from our company."

Cube did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

While Hyuna and E'Dawn did suffer for coming forward about their relationship, they also saw a wave of support from a section of their fan base, which experts said is evidence of a gradual shift in attitudes, driven in part by a series of revelations about the tight controls and grueling work schedules K-Pop stars are subjected to.

Fan Controlled

According to Jenna Gibson, a Korea specialist at the University of Chicago, much of the backlash against stars' dating is rooted in one of the characteristics that has made K-Pop such a huge international success.

"The K-Pop industry has very smartly built itself around creating incredibly dedicated fanbases. Fans with enough time on their hands could see their favorite idol on a music show on Monday, a fan sign event on Tuesday, a radio show recording on Wednesday, and on and on," she said. "Fan communities also take more personal responsibility for promoting their favorite group and keeping the group's public image clean."

This can include fan groups making charitable donations in celebrities names to help boost their public image, or paying for independent advertisements promoting tours or new albums.

"In a perverse way, because fans put in so much effort to promote and publicize a good image of their idol, some of them get the idea that they should have some say over the idol's actions and personal life," Gibson said.

But extreme loyalty can engender some pretty extreme reactions. During a 2008 performance by Girls' Generation at a huge annual K-Pop show in Seoul, the crowd created a "black ocean," refusing to wave lights and cellphones and staying silent throughout the band's entire 10-minute performance, reportedly to protest how close the group had become to the members of boyband Super Junior.

Fear of fan opprobrium goes beyond just relationship drama: when Big Bang member T.O.P. was cited for alleged marijuana use, he issued a heartfelt public apology "for causing great disappointment and disturbance with a huge wrongdoing."

Some stars respond to this intense scrutiny by tightly guarding their privacy, such as T.O.P.'s bandmate Taeyang, who was dating actress Min Hyo-rin for almost two years before they went public about their relationship in 2015. The pair married in February this year.

No Dating

While the industry is changing and the boundaries of what constitutes K-Pop being forever expanded, the genre has long been associated with the intensely manufactured idol groups.

Members of those groups often sign with labels in their late teens, living together with other artists and taking part in intense training, performance and promotional regimens that can leave stars burned out and isolated from friends and family at a young age.

Last year, South Korea's Fair Trade Commission ordered labels to stop pushing so-called "slave contracts" on artists, which imposed onerous financial penalties on idols if they attempted to quit groups or otherwise breached agreements such as "no dating" clauses.

Even for those artists permitted to date by their employers, fan backlash could prevent them from having much of a love life.

Block B's Zico and AOA's Seolhyun broke up after six months, citing "immense public pressure," after fans of of the male rapper turned against Seolhyun, while last year, some fan groups threatened to boycott Super Junior -- one of the country's most successful boy bands -- if member Sungmin was included in a comeback tour, due to lingering anger about his marriage to actress Kim Sa Eun.

Lindsay Roberts, outreach coordinator for Korean entertainment site Seoulbeats, said fans often feel there is an unspoken understanding between them and the idols, "that in return for their investment of money and time the fans expect a certain amount of 'monogamous' dedication back from the idols."

"It may seem unrealistic, but the expectation of the role as an idol includes an understanding that your fans and your group come first over your personal desires," she added.

James Turnbull, a Busan-based writer on sexuality and feminism in Korea, said female idols often bear the brunt of fan and label anger.

"As a broad rule, virginal personas are overwhelmingly preferred for unmarried female K-Pop stars," he said.

"Precious few songwriters and (music video) directors are prepared to present them as grown women with sexual experience, agency, and desire."

This apparently chaste ideal is often in stark contrast to the hypersexualized stylings of those same women, he said, who are frequently "presented as scantily-clad, passive objects for the male gaze, regardless of the actual make-up of a girl-group's fandom."

Simply being open about being in a relationship can challenge this passivity, and spark a major backlash.

"Negative reactions have overwhelmingly been directed at the women in those relationships, who simultaneously get slut-shamed by both their entitled male fans and the female fans of their partners," Turnbull said.

This type of male policing of female celebrity behavior can reach extreme levels. In March, APink's Naeun had to delete a photo on Instagram showing her phone case reading "Girls Can Do Anything," after the innocuous phrase sparked an intense backlash for supposedly being political by promoting feminism.

Other female stars have been criticized for merely admitting to having read a feminist novel, part of a wider backlash by men's rights groups against gradual progress made by the country's women's movement.

Cultural Shift

While the furore around Hyuna and E'Dawn fit the pattern of what happened to previous K-Pop couples, there were signs that attitudes are starting to shift. In particular, many fans outside Korea stuck up for the pair, and criticized Cube for being so quick to censure them.

"The situation is definitely a lot better than even five or so years ago. This is mostly because there have now been so many dating 'scandals,' that the idea of idols dating and even getting married is a lot more normalized," said Gibson, the academic.

She blamed Cube for mishandling the incident and blowing it up into a bigger issue -- especially outside of Korea -- than it would have been otherwise.

"I think the big difference in fan reaction is how the stars and their management companies share the news -- if they're open and honest about it, and present the relationship as if it's no big deal, generally the news is received positively," she said. "Even if there is some outcry among hardcore fans, that usually dies down over time."

The changing demographics of K-Pop listeners is also having an effect, as the once uniquely Korean genre becomes more and more a global obsession, with fans, and markets around the world.

"K-pop has become much more international and Western fans react quite negatively to situations like this because they are entirely unlike Western pop culture," Seoulbeats' Roberts said.

"In other words, as the world becomes globalized it is inevitable that the industry must change or there will be negative consequences."

A petition in support of E'Dawn and Hyuna started by international fans has attracted more than 90,000 signatures, and large amounts of abuse for Cube's decision to censure them.

"If E'Dawn is happy with Hyuna, then we should all be happy for them," the petition's creator wrote.

 
https://edition.cnn.com

By James Griffiths (Sol Han & Yoonjung Seo contributed reporting)

Billboard Magazine : 10 Best Dance Songs About Kissing

Getty ImagesAh, making out. It's one of life's greatest pleasures. It's simple, it's easy and it costs you nothing -- or at least, that's the way it's supposed to work.

When you're ready to get on that comfy couch and do some good, old-fashioned kissing, you're going to want a romantic soundtrack. Dance music can be the rhythm that gets you in the mood, heats things up or slows things down. Whether you're looking for something hot and heavy or cool and collected, this list of songs about kissing will have you falling in love. Or, if you need, it can help you as you fall out of love. We don't judge.

Cashmere Cat – “Kiss Kiss”
This electronic beat is cute and explosive. It's playful and exciting, just like making out with your crush for the first time. Rockets blast off into a daydream breakdown. One minute, your head is in the clouds. The next, you're back to reality, desperate for more.

Arty – “Last Kiss”
From 2015's Glorious, “Last Kiss” lures fans with the warm sound of vinyl record static and a soft piano melody that seems to whisper in your ear. A steady beat gives the song backbone as it builds slow with background strings. It's anxious and calm at the same time, like the resolve of knowing your time with someone has come to an end, even as it breaks your heart.​

Cash Cash – “Kiss the Sky”
Excuse Cash Cash as they take a bit of inspiration from one of Jimi Hendrix's most famous lyrics. This song from 2013's Overtime EP is three-and-a-half minutes of rockin' good vibes. A chorus of female vocals chants over glitchy electronics to pump the track's energy to new heights. It's funky and bassy, full of fun texture work and, of course, a little bit of electric guitar.

The Knocks – “Kiss the Sky” feat. Wyclef Jean (Lophile Remix)
While we're on the subject of Hendrix inspo, here comes a fly cut from The Knocks and Wyclef Jean. The original is poppy and fun, but this remix from L.A.-based producer Lophile has us super duper lifted. It's got a cool, futuristic wonk to its mid-aught synth vibes. It's the kind of song we could put on repeat and kiss along to all night.

AlunaGeorge – “Last Kiss”
This singer-producer duo know how to turn up a groove, but this breakup anthem slows the tempo to flow like a tropical breeze. There isn't a lot of bass, just funky rhythmic guitar, cool electronic keys and kickin' percussion. It gives the song a lingering feeling and a sense of unease, even as it leads you to the dance floor.

La Roux – “Kiss and Not Tell”
You've heard “Bulletproof” and “In for the Kill” a million times, but this cut from 2014's sophomore LP Trouble in Paradise is bright, colorful bounce for the bad love that lures you. This is guilty-pleasure lovin', not that this song is anything to feel ashamed of.

Dakat – “Stolen Kiss”
Purse your lips and give the old pan flute a smooch. It never sounded so cool as it does over this candy-colored future jam from Parisian producer Dakat. The jumpin' beat gives dimension to hazy melodies crafted from chopped vocal samples and sunshine synths. Still, that pan flute is what's really bringing it all together for us.

Love X Stereo – “Thunder Kiss”



This synth-ridden deliciousness is hella '80s-inspired, but it actually came out on Love X Stereo's 2017 album 37B. It's delightfully starry-eyed with a beat that'll have you shuffling across the room to get to your lover. Annie Ko's cotton-candy voice is light and fluffy, the perfect match to Toby Hwang's pastel fever dream production.

Vengaboys – “Kiss (When the Sun Don't Shine)”
Are you up for a bit of '90s Eurodance cheese? Of course you are, and Vengaboys are one of the best cutesy dance pushers in history. This is the kind of song that will either drive you insane or become your favorite kitschy go-to. It's got the perfect '90s house beat to make you feel all nostalgic for a more innocent time, even if it's a little devious in the lyrics.

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news
By Kat Bein

Featured Artist : Love X Stereo
International Digital Distribution : DFSB Kollective

The Korea Herald : Bubble Not To Pop Anytime Soon - Experts see K-pop going on strong for the next decade

KCONHas K-pop reached its peak? Or will it be able to keep climbing the ladder of global success?

More than 20 years have passed since the first generation of K-pop boy groups H.O.T and Sechs Kies made waves within the Korean music scene in the ‘90s. 

In 2000, legendary dance music duo Clon went overseas and mesmerized fans in Taiwan, which heralded K-pop’s overseas popularity. 

Since then, the K-pop industry has never slowed down in rolling out K-pop acts that appeal to a global audience, ranging from Girls’ Generation, KARA, Wonder Girls, Big Bang, 2NE1, and most recently, Gangnam Style star Psy and Billboard award winner BTS.

H.O.T [SM Entertainment]While it might not be the pace of the fast and the furious, K-pop experts say there is no doubt that K-pop is still enjoying its prime, and that it will continue to move forward in the next decade.

“Think about it, it’s been 17 years since K-pop first came to global attention. That’s a time long enough to prove that K-pop is not just a temporary phenomenon, but a music genre that has ‘absolute’ power and attractions,” said a music critic Lim Jin-mo during a recent talk with The Korea Herald.

“K-pop has overcome its root as Asian music, which says that there’s definitely something about it. I think those attractions are the acts’ impressive group dance performances, singers’ polished looks and chic vibes, their outstanding vocals, and lastly, production ability of their agencies. While 2PM is not as active in Korea as before, it’s still going strong in other Asian countries,” he added.

Bernie Cho, president of DFSB Kollective, a Korean music artist and label services agency, also said that K-pop is not just Korean pop music to many music fans in Asia.

“K-pop is now accepted as ‘pop‘ music that is as popular as or even more popular than Western ’pop‘ music,” Cho said, adding that considering such momentum, K-pop is likely to mature and become more globalized in the next 10 years.

KCONSHORTCOMINGS

World star Psy’s 2012 breakout hit, which rose to No. 2 on the Billboard 100, and the unabating global fever for BTS may bode well for future K-pop artists. Despite its unprecedented rise, however, the current state of K-pop can’t be free from concerns about a lack of diversity. While many quote in unison the declining musical diversity as one of K-pop’s longtime problems, Im said it was not an open and shut issue.

“It would be great if K-pop could escape from excessive dependence on teen idol dance music and incorporate diverse genres ranging from folk, rock and even to Korean traditional music. But do you really think international fans would listen to them? This is a complicated matter,” Im said.

Unless the K-pop industry sees another breakthrough even more influential than Psy and BTS over the next decade, Im claimed that it could be hard for the industry to sustain the international spotlight.

“The K-pop industry can’t rehash Psy forever. In the end, people will get bored with similar tunes of idols such as B1A4 and BTS. That’s the reason why the K-pop scene should give birth to another hit star that can propel the industry to the next level,” Im said.

Addressing the concern that the K-pop genre needs to be refined in a way that can accentuate the dynamic diversity of Korea’s different music genres as well, Cho said the Korean music chart system is partially responsible for K-pop’s lack of diversity,

“With all of the major Korean music charts funneling most types of Korean music into just one, single ‘K-pop’ chart, it is impossible for Korean music acts of different genres to be fairly recognized, ranked, and respected in their own respective genre charts,” Cho said.

Although teen idol dance music has been one of the most popular genres in Korea, urban music -- namely hip-hop and R&B -- has been becoming a more popular genre on the top 100 K-Pop singles charts, shows data released from Gaon Music Chart last year.

“It’s like asking a figure skater, speed skater, and ice hockey player to all compete on the same rink for the same gold medal in the same Olympic event,” he added.

CJ E&MPROSPECTS FOR K-POP IN 2030

Is K-pop‘s future grim? 

Im projected that globetrotting K-pop acts will expand their ground from the US, K-pop’s main overseas market, to China and its neighboring countries in the near future as K-pop continues to go more global.

“S.M., for example, has been fixing their eyes on Asian countries. That’s the reason why they initially created TVXQ in 2003, which translated into ‘Rising Gods of the East’ in Korean. In the same context, S.M. had divided EXO to two sub groups -- EXO K and EXO M -- to target Korean and Chinese fans, respectively,” Im said. 

Although K-pop acts haven’t been able to perform in China as actively as before since Korea-China relations soured last year over the deployment of the US THAAD missile system in Korea, Im believed the diplomatic spat between the two countries won’t last forever.

In order to tackle the lingering problem of limited definition of K-pop, Korea Creative Content Agency has been launching overseas musical events such as “K-pop Night Out” at SXSW that aim to help Korean musicians enter overseas markets.

“We are making efforts to financially support and make room for musicians from various genres to gain a foothold overseas,” said Ji Kyeong-hwa from KOCCA’s Music & Fashion Industry Team.

“It is true that foreigners perceive K-pop as Korean idol music, but we hope K-pop doesn’t get limited to such a narrow definition. I think more and more non-idol Korean artists will earn recognition by foreign fans in the next 10 years through such projects to promote various types of Korean music.”

http://www.koreaherald.com
By Hong Dam-young

Featured Commentator : Bernie Cho [DFSB Kollective]

Pitchfork : PSY’s “Gangnam Style” Changed Pop Music, Whether You Like It Or Not

Earlier this week, “Gangnam Style” was knocked off its perch as the most viewed video on YouTube. Korean pop star PSY had held the title since November 2012, when he became the first person to reach 1 billion views, then 2 billion, breaking YouTube’s view counter in the process. Alas, Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s plodding Fast & Furious ballad “See You Again” finally leap-frogged over “Gangnam Style”—a changing of the guard that arrives just as PSY’s hit celebrates its fifth anniversary.

Released July 15, 2012, “Gangnam Style” immediately reached the top of South Korea’s music charts, as one would expect from PSY (real name Park Jae-sang), a rapper boasting nationwide success over the previous decade. But nobody expected anyone abroad to notice. K-pop, with its controlled star-grooming system and skilled performance groups, was starting to get attention internationally and inspire an avalanche of trendpieces. “Gangnam Style,” however, looked and sounded nothing like the K-pop norm, its big EDM chorus poking fun at the upper-class Seoul neighborhood of Gangnam.

Nudged along by the likes of Britney Spears and T-Pain, the song’s visually overwhelming video proved a winner on YouTube. PSY’s goofy “horse dance” would become 2012’s most inescapable pop culture touchstone, one so ubiquitous that it reached the NFL and country music award shows.

Today, “Gangnam Style” is mostly remembered in the English-language realm as a novelty. PSY himself seems content to move on, telling Reuters earlier this year, “It was probably the biggest trophy the world could have given me. It's now something on the shelf I can admire from time to time.” Yet five years on, it’s also one of the most influential songs of this decade, altering the pop landscapes of both the United States and Asia.

“Gangnam Style” is the most successful song from Asia, ever. Save for the unexpected 1963 Hot 100 chart-topping success of Kyo Sakamoto’s “Ue O Muite Arukou” (a wistful tune about the failure of youth protest movements, renamed “Sukiyaki” by a British DJ and sold as exotica), actual efforts at crossing over to the American market have failed. Prior to “Gangnam Style,” K-pop groups Girls’ Generation and Wonder Girls attempted U.S. crossovers, with English-language songs and Nickelodeon specials. By accident, PSY achieved success beyond any of them. “He proved that a Korean artist didn't have to be young, pretty, and skinny to become a global K-Pop star,” Bernie Cho, president of Korean digital music export agency DFSB Kollective, tells Pitchfork. “He also proved that a contagious worldwide hit wasn't contingent on singing a song entirely in English.”

Yet for all of its accomplishments, “Gangnam Style” lacks one critical milestone: It never actually topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 2 behind the bottom-tier Maroon 5 cut “One More Night.” “Gangnam Style” garnered solid radio airplay for a song sung primarily in Korean, but it existed primarily online as something to watch. It certainly wasn’t the first huge hit to gain traction this way—earlier that year, Carly Rae Jepsen had used YouTube-born buzz generated by artists like Justin Bieber lip-synching “Call Me Maybe” to top the charts—but PSY’s success with this strategy was in some ways without precedent. “Gangnam Style” was K-pop’s big crossover moment in America and around the world, really, but it never got the one trophy that would have cemented this in many people’s minds. And that’s because Billboard didn’t count YouTube plays towards chart placement in 2012.

This policy changed early in 2013 because of “Gangnam Style,” as implied in interviews with Billboard officials. With YouTube plays integrated into the chart formula (which later grew to include streaming data), suddenly a dance number soundtracking a meme could grab the top spot. This change almost certainly would have come about eventually, but PSY’s spotlight-grabbing breakthrough accelerated the process. Afterwards, viral hits became a constant across genres, with artists using memorable videos or you-can-do-it-too dances as a way to gain attention (alongside more cynical and bizarre attempts at chart-crashing). Thanks to its surprise success, “Gangnam Style” helped usher in the streaming age in the West.

In Korea, “Gangnam Style” was treated as a point of pride, highlighted by a massive PSY concert that attracted over 80,000 fans. Today, you can visit a giant bronze sculpture in Seoul that's modeled after PSY’s hands, mid-pony move in the “Gangnam Style” video. “That song was strongly interpreted as a heroic achievement by nationalists, with K-pop ‘conquering the world,’” says Mimyo, K-pop critic and founder of the site Idology. “There were tons of useless articles like, ‘The dance moves are from our ancestors being horse riders.’”

Elsewhere, views of Korean artists’ videos tripled following “Gangnam Style,” according to YouTube data. “Korea finally acknowledged that an international K-pop market was possible,” Mimyo says. Though the West was more aware of Korean music than ever before, America wasn’t the primary target. “Asia has always been the target,” Mimyo adds, noting the inroads Korean music had made across the region the decade before.

PSY proved especially popular around the continent, topping charts across Southeast Asia and in China, even appearing on Chinese New Year TV specials—a valuable inroad to a burgeoning market. Anecdotally, I’ve seen “Gangnam Style” chicken restaurants in Indonesia and multiple street vendors selling PSY-shaped balloons in Singapore, four years after the song’s success. Whereas he was a popular, funny meme in America, PSY ended up a popular, funny performer in Asia: He continues to release albums and videos that do well commercially across the region.

“Gangnam Style” served as a dividing line in K-pop, intentionally or coincidentally. Before, the “Korean wave” was an emerging industry using the internet to reach as many people globally as possible. With the potential revealed by PSY clear, K-pop agencies started tailoring new and rising groups towards Asian markets, featuring members from Asian countries beyond Korea in an effort to connect with those nations. And it’s working.

“Traditionally, international ‘pop’ music in Asia has been synonymous with popular Western music acts,” Cho says. “However, over the past decade, more and more songs on international ‘pop’ music charts in Asia are not sung in English but in Korean because K-Pop artists are now outselling, outperforming, and outranking Western superstars.” Korean acts have become so big that it has sparked various kickbacks, ranging from Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou calling on compatriots to stop doing the “Gangnam Style” dance, while Japanese broadcasters have at times refused to let popular Korean outfits appear on their airwaves. Real-world politics have also reached K-pop, highlighted by China’s decision to “ban” entertainment from South Korea last year over the country’s decision to install the U.S. THAAD missile defense system. China is reportedly lightening up on the policy, but Korea’s entertainment industry has been affected significantly so far.

Despite politicized backlash, K-pop has become the standard sound in Asia. As for America, K-pop heavyweights like G-Dragon and CL have failed to connect widely here, and PSY himself never reached anything near the same level of success (unless you count a Super Bowl commercial for pistachios), but still, the genre has achieved an impressive level of stateside success. Acts like SHINee, EXO, and Seventeen sell out several-thousand-capacity venues around the country, while KCon gatherings in New Jersey and Los Angeles attract tens of thousands of fans alongside top-level acts. Recently, BTS—another boy band pulling off successful treks around America—attracted attention after beating the likes of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to win Billboard’s fan-driven Top Social Artist Award. Like PSY, they never planned to expand outside Korea, but have become the country’s biggest pop act and are now starting to collaborate with Western pop acts. For them, at least, there's a blueprint.

“PSY proved to critics and pundits alike that just being a 100 percent Korean version of himself was the real secret sauce to international success,” Cho says. “He wasn't Korea's Usher, Britney Spears, or Justin Timberlake. He was just Korea's PSY.”

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch
By Patrick St. Michel (Pitchfork)

Featured Commentator : Bernie Cho [DFSB Kollective]

Metro UK : Artist of the Day - Love X Stereo

Metro.co.uk and record label Killing Moon pick out the new artists you should listen to today.

Love X Stereo sound like: The kaleidoscopic prom band in an alternate-universe High School Musical.

Similar artists: Metric, Shiny Toy Guns, The Naked & Famous, Goldfrapp, LIGHTS

Their story: Love X Stereo are a duo from Seoul, South Korea – populated by fugitive astrophysicist Annie Ko and skate punk rocker bloke Toby Hwang – who make stellar dream-pop anthems.

They’ve been trucking since 2012, releasing several EPs over the course of the last five years and wowing audiences at festivals across Asia and North America.

Most recently, the band have started making in-roads to the UK following a flying visit to Wrexham to play up-and-coming showcase festival Focus Wales for a couple of shows.

The band continue their sonic assault on 2017 via the release of their brand-new album 37A.

What’s so great about them? Love X Stereo are quite frankly and criminally underrated considering the quality of music that they make.

Out of 200 bands performing at Focus Wales 2017, many of whom were playing on their own turf and indeed bringing the home crowd, Love X Stereo successfully stood out as one of the most accomplished and articulate artists of the weekend.

Despite consistently having to punch above their weight class in such situations, and backed up with little more than raw musical talent and a fierce DIY work ethic, throughout their career thus far the band have flourished.

Creating a relentless touring schedule has earned them numerous citations both domestic and internationally – for example, they were named as one of the top three acts at the Culture Collide Festival 2014 in the US.

They are not devoid of fresh ideas in terms of releases either – the band are currently unveiling 37 (hence the album title) new tracks with accompanying videos via creative community platform Patreon.

Most-streamed track on Spotify: Hide and Seek (over 470,000 listens so far)

Most-recent video



What will they be doing in 2017? Continuing to unveil new tracks from their latest album 37A by way of a new video for each track. 10 tracks of the album are available for audio streaming on Spotify right now.

What will they be doing in 2017? Continuing to unveil new tracks from their latest album 37A by way of a new video for each track. 10 tracks of the album are available for audio streaming on Spotify right now.

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2017/06/13/artist-of-the-day-1306-love-x-stereo-6704335/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

What will they be doing in 2017? Continuing to unveil new tracks from their latest album 37A by way of a new video for each track. 10 tracks of the album are available for audio streaming on Spotify right now.

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2017/06/13/artist-of-the-day-1306-love-x-stereo-6704335/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/