Long Before Rosé And Bruno Mars, K-pop Stars Were The First Collaboration With Global Musicians

JAKARTA - Rosé Blackpink and Bruno Mars who collaborated with the song APT. managed to attract the attention of many people, not only K-pop fans but world music listeners.

The collaboration between K-pop stars with big names from the global music industry (which uses English) is not new. Rosé has done it several times with Blackpink. They collaborated with Dua Lipa on the song Kiss and Make Up, with Lady Gaga in the song Sour Candy with Cardi B in the song Bet You Wanna, and with Selena Gomez in the song Ice Cream.

Not only Blackpink, several K-pop idols and groups have also collaborated with British and United States musicians before, including BTS and Coldplay in the song My Universe', CL (2Ne1) which is a collaborator for Black Eyed Peak in the song DOPENESS, Girls Generation and Snoop Dogg in the song The Boys, and most recently is the collaboration of Twice and Megan Thee Stallion in the song Strategy.

With so many K-pop star collaborations with today's global musicians, it's interesting to look back, who was the first K-pop artist to collaborate with a global musician?

Long before the names of the K-pop stars above collaborated with world musician Kwon Bo Ah, better known as the BoA mononimous, had already done it. He collaborated with Westlife for the song 'Flying Without Wings' in 2003.

At that time, both BoA and Westlife were at the peak of their careers. BoA, nicknamed the K-pop Queen, was a success in South Korea and Japan, while the Irish Westlife has managed to attract the world's attention.

The 'Flying Without Wings' was first introduced through Westlife's self-titled debut album which was released in 1999. Four years later, the duet version was present and included in the BoA compilation album with the title 'Shine We Are!'.

The collaboration between BoA and Westlife has received positive responses from many fans around the world. This collaboration is also a symbol of a cultural bridge built through music. BoA as an Asian artist that brings K-pop nuances to the mainstream of global pop music, while Westlife expands their reach to the Asian market, especially Japan and South Korea.

The collaboration between BoA and Westlife illustrates that music has the power to unite various cultural backgrounds and create something special. To date, this collaboration deserves to be remembered as part of the history of international pop music.