Hello and welcome back to HallyuTones, always focused on sound, stage, and substance.
This past Friday, August 29th, 2025, saw the release of the new TV show ‘KPOPPED‘ on Apple TV+. In an unprecedented move, all eight episodes launched on streaming worldwide simultaneously, with the first episode being distributed for free on Amazon Prime Video.
The show revolves around a simple yet intriguing concept – what if some of K-Pop’s hottest stars collaborate with Western acts to reimagine their hits in a new K-Pop sound? Each episode features collaborations between a K-Pop group and either one or two different Western artists. Importantly, each group is divided into two teams, who train with their chosen artist before a final performance. The live studio audience then voted on their favourite stage to decide on a final ‘winner’ for each episode.
Collaborations were the core of the show and they did not hold back with fun and unexpected combinations. Episode 1 brought together Mystic Entertainment’s multi-talented girl group Billlie with hit rapper Megan Thee Stallion and the ‘Godmother of Soul’ Patti Labelle. The second episode brought together JYP girl group ITZY with Emma Bunton and Mel B of ’90’s girl group The Spice Girls. Episode 3 saw an interesting collaboration between Girls’ Planet 999 group Kep1er with rapper Vanilla Ice, and ‘Tell It To My Heart’ singer Taylor Dayne. Things went in a slightly different direction for Episode 4, a collaboration between J-Pop boy group JO1 with pop icon Kesha and rapper Eve.
ATEEZ brought the energy in Episode 5 in a stand out episode with Australian pop star Kylie Minogue and Colombian powerhouse artist J Balvin. Another really fun collaboration was found in Episode 6 when girl group STAYC teamed up with Boy George and TLC, in a true musical throwback. The 7th episode brought together Kiss of Life with pop artists Ava Max and Jess Glynne. The finale also helped showcase the broad nature of the K-Pop genre, when multinational girl group BLACKSWAN and Boyz II Men brought the ’90s back.
With 8 full half hour episodes to consume, I felt that there was perhaps too much to cover in just one article – therefore this first part will focus almost exclusively on the contents of Episode 1 of the show, particularly in how it pertains to girl group Billlie. Stay tuned for part 2 to hear my more in depth thoughts on the show – what it did well, and what I’d hope for if the concept were to be revisited in the future.
KPOPPED overall did a great job showcasing the K-Pop genre, and it was interesting seeing Western artists from different eras learning about each idol and what makes K-Pop unique (although I wish we had seen more of the behind the scenes process in some episodes). But with a show this broad in scope, the selection of the first artist is super important to help hook in viewers and showcase the concept effectively.
To this effect, I firmly believe that Billlie were the perfect choice for several key reasons.
Firstly, in essence, Billlie are K-Pop through and through. Their company, Mystic Story Entertainment, are known for their creative music videos and concepts, and high-energy production. Their concept and songs mix a central mystery with psychological elements and reality blending visuals to create a memorable and unique image. Add to this their high energy dances and soulful vocal runs, and you truly have a group that showcases the genre in it’s purest form. From their debut with ‘RING X RING‘, to rock-infused ‘RING ma Bell (what a wonderful world)‘, melodic ‘remembrance candy‘ and rap-focused sub-unit song ‘SNAP‘, Billlie have truly made a mark with a reputation for high-quality music accented by their characteristic unpredictability.
It is testament to their music that their intro song (and the very first K-Pop song performed on the show) was ‘flipp!ng a coin’. Whilst the other groups opted to showcase their style through title tracks, notably, ‘flipp!ng a coin’ is a B-side track. However, as any Belllie’ve (Billlie fan) will tell you, this song is among their most popular for a reason. With striking choreography, and an instantly catchy hook of ‘if you wanna checkmate, I don’t mind’ the song is relentless and mesmerising in equal measure. Further to this, the lyrics are rooted in their concept, with mentions of ‘b-side’ and mysterious undertones.
Furthermore, the group actually have a unique and interesting connection with one of their collaborators. Megan Thee Stallion is a self-proclaimed K-Pop fan in her own right and has consistently promoted Billlie from the moment the show even started filming. She has shouted out the girls to millions of followers on TikTok live, and has adopted Billlie’s ‘cherry peace’ sign in her photos as a tribute to the members.
Patti LaBelle is another artist that the Billlie members showed great admiration for. Performing her hit song ‘Lady Marmalade’, she commanded the stage like no other and matched the Billlie members with her energy. Notably, Tsuki was particularly affected by this collaboration, tearing up at one point and (characteristically) leaning in for an already iconic ‘ending fairy’ at the end of the performance.
However I strongly believe that the selection of the artists for this episode was particularly important and inspired. Notably, K-Pop is a genre in it’s relative infancy compared to the wider genres of Pop, R&B and Hip-Hop. In many ways it has drawn upon aspects of all of these styles (and many more), remixed them and added it’s own flourishes to form it’s own identity. But the core of K-Pop has always drawn upon the work of ’90s pop bands and black artists.
Megan Thee Stallion brought her characteristic energy and excitement to the performances, matching the girls beat for beat with her stage presence, powerful raps and commitment to the concept. Watching the behind the scenes you could really feel the mutual admiration from both artists as they took dancing tips from one another, iterated on the rap flows and leaned into their respective charms. Moon Sua and Siyoon are both known for delivering punchy rap sections, and alongside Sheon, created sharp and memorable choreography moments. Using an already globally famous song like ‘SAVAGE’ to platform K-Pop to new audiences was really inspired. Importantly, Billlie and Megan’s styles meshed well and enhanced one another, creating one of the strongest covers in the entire show.
Moving on to the second team, Billlie members Haram, Suhyeon, Haruna, and Tsuki teamed up with icon Patti LaBelle. This particular stage really shined for me, as Billlie’s vocal line really got to showcase themselves well alongside a respected Western vocal powerhouse. Billlie’s dance moves really enhanced the stage of ‘Lady Marmalade‘ and gave it a K-Pop performance charm, and their vocals blended well with Patti LaBelle to create a true feast for both the eyes and ears. What I loved the most was the genuine effort put in by both artists from very different eras and styles of music to create something fresh yet authentic to each of their styles. When the members brought out a cake to Patti and she responded by quoting Billlie’s lyrics back to them, it truly felt like K-Pop culture at it’s purest – bringing cultures together regardless of language barriers.
K-Pop artists often stick to a specific ‘concept’ for their visual and musical identity. While Billlie definitely do have a distinct sound, I feel that they are a lot more experimental and diverse in style than many of their peers. There truly is not a style or genre that Billlie haven’t touched. Last year’s full-group comeback feels particularly important in this context, as it leaned much more heavily into jazz and R&B influences than many of their earlier works. Both of these genres have extensive histories and are rooted in Black American culture. Respectfully paying tribute to these iconic styles, while also adding a distinctly K-Pop element to their vocals, lyrics and music videos truly helps enrich their music.
Therefore, Billlie were the perfect artist to bridge K-Pop and Western pop for the premiere episode of KPOPPED. With their talents, their distinct identity, diverse discography, and wide appeal, Billlie are truly ready for the global stage.
If you are coming into this article fresh from KPOPPED’s first episode and want to know more about Billlie please read on below:
Billlie are a 7-member K-Pop girl group under the company Mystic Story Entertainment. The group comprises of members Moon Sua, Siyoon, Tsuki, Haram, Sheon, Suhyeon and Haruna. Their debut song ‘RING X RING‘ was released on the 10th of November 2021 – with loud instrumentals and dynamic dance segments, this debut really got K-Pop fans talking.
While the group have experimented with many styles as discussed above, their most recent comeback with their mini album ‘appendix: Of All We Have Lost’ on October 16th 2024 leaned heavily into sentimentality and themes of nostalgia as it’s central concept. Pre-release track ‘Trampoline‘ is care-free, utilising a nu-jazz sound to make the listener feel instantly relaxed. Title track ‘remembrance candy‘ was written by K-Pop superstar IU, utilising indie pop vibes to create an emotional listening experience.
Most recently, the group debuted it’s first sub-unit ‘Moon Sua x Siyoon‘ with their digital single ‘SNAP‘ on April 7th, 2025. This leaned much harder into a girl-crush concept with a focus on rap and choreography at the forefront.
If you want to dive more into their unique concept and story, please check out the article linked here to find out more.
With all the hype surrounding KPOPPED and with many K-Pop fans (and wider audiences) discovering and falling in love with Billlie for the first time, anticipation is high for Billlie’s future music projects. Stay tuned to HallyuTones to keep up to date on their activities!
You can follow Billlie on the platforms below:
KPOPPED on Apple TV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/kpopped/umc.cmc.1yvpbd5uvcq8txtj1gfnw5iox
KPOPPED Episode 1 Amazon Prime Video (FREE): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/KPOPPED/0JWEHAFNCPXMMJB5UDHAB8835G
Billlie Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyc9sUCxELTDK9vELO5Fzeg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/billlie.official/?hl=en
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@billlie.official?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/billlie/1594150790
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2GQxKDojobwBjZMPf7aoh0
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