by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
The South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival recently announced the third lineup for its K-pop Night Out showcase, and it looks like Epik High, Crayon Pop and Hitchhiker will be headlining the highly anticipated event in March.
After a two-year hiatus, Epik High made a remarkable comeback in 2014 with their eighth album Shoebox, which topped Billboard‘s World Albums chart. Comprised of Tablo, Mithra and DJ Tukutz, the trio has made music together for over a decade and is often credited for bringing hip hop to the mainstream in South Korea. This will be Epik High’s first time performing at SXSW as well as their first Stateside show since 2009.
Crayon Pop will be returning to the States after touring with Lady Gaga on her Artpop tour. The girl group first gained global acclaim for their addictive song “Bar, Bar, Bar” and energetic choreography. Members ChoA and Way, who are identical twin sisters, formed the subunit Strawberry Milk back in October, debuting with the bubblegum pop track, “OK.” There’s no doubt that the colorful quintet will add some spunk to SXSW this year.
Hitchhiker’s “11” is possibly the weirdest K-pop music video of all time as it features garish computer-animated characters dancing to what sounds like auto-tuned baby babble. The music video became a YouTube phenomenon in October and caught the attention of various media sites, including BuzzFeed and Vox.
Hitchhiker is actually a persona of Choi Jinwoo, a renowned songwriter and remixer at SM Entertainment–the same talent agency that houses K-pop superstars Girls’ Generation, f(x), Super Junior and EXO. This year’s K-pop Night Out 2015 will be the electronic DJ’s debut live performance.
K-pop Night Out 2015 will take place on Thursday, March 19 at Elysium. You can view the full list of Korean musicians performing at SXSW 2015 here.
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Photo courtesy of YG Entertainment
