{"id":372997,"date":"2026-04-10T13:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/372997\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T13:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:36:10","slug":"k-pops-fifty-fifty-on-pink-floyd-new-music-and-global-ambitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/372997\/","title":{"rendered":"K-Pop’s Fifty Fifty on Pink Floyd, New Music and Global Ambitions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThere are not many K-pop<\/a> groups whose catalog spans a viral TikTok earworm and a Pink Floyd<\/a> classic, but Fifty Fifty<\/a> are not a typical K-pop group. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe South Korean act first announced themselves to the world in 2023 with \u201cCupid,\u201d a track that entered the Billboard Hot 100 and made them the fastest K-pop act to chart in the U.S. In 2024, the group reconstituted around original member Keena, who was joined by Chanelle, Yewon, Athena and Hana to form the current quintet. Earlier this year, they quietly released something rather different: a performance video cover of \u201cWish You Were Here,\u201d Pink Floyd\u2019s 1975 elegy for absence and longing, shot along Seoul\u2019s Han River in midwinter. It accumulated more than two million YouTube views before the group released an official audio version on streaming platforms.<\/p>\n

\n\tSitting down with Variety \u2013 Chanelle, Yewon, Athena and Keena present, with Hana absent \u2013 the four members are warm, considered and, through an interpreter where needed, precise about what drew them to such unlikely territory.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis song carries lots of different emotions \u2013 longing, that absence that you miss and long for \u2013 and that\u2019s something that we could really empathize with,\u201d says Yewon. \u201cWhile we try to maintain that sound of the original song, we try to bring out the details with our vocals to bring the emotions alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe choice of location was as deliberate as the choice of song. \u201cWe really felt that the chilling atmosphere and the low saturation really matched the emotions of our video,\u201d says Athena. \u201cWe really wanted to create a visual experience where you could feel the emotions and also reflect the season and let you immerse in the music more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked if they had watched Pink Floyd\u2019s original concert footage before recording, the room lights up. The answer, delivered with considerable enthusiasm across all four members, is an unambiguous yes.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe cover was released as part of a global tribute project marking the 50th anniversary of the Pink Floyd album of the same name, with the group operating under Attrakt Entertainment and distributed by Sony Music Korea. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Pink Floyd cover is, in some ways, the fullest expression yet of where Fifty Fifty are headed creatively: outward, genre-fluid, emotionally direct. The seeds of that direction were planted by \u201cCupid\u201d itself \u2013 not so much by its success, but by what the group learned in its wake. \u201cAfter \u2018Cupid,\u2019 we were able to meet a lot of fans from all over the world, which was really great, and we really learned a lot about music as artists,\u201d says Keena. \u201cRather than defining \u2018Cupid\u2019 as one specific genre, it made us feel like we wanted to experiment more with other music genres and colors. Whatever genre we try, we try to include our Fifty Fifty mix sound and color into the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat restlessness has already produced some distance traveled. Their 2024 EP \u201cToo Much Part 1\u201d explored the terrain of first love with a more expansive sound than the breezy pop of \u201cCupid,\u201d and Keena says the record was built around a particular kind of honesty. \u201cWith \u2018Too Much Part 1,\u2019 we really tried to be honest with our feelings and the emotions,\u201d she says. \u201c\u2018Too much\u2019 is not about excess in a negative way \u2013 it\u2019s too much of showing our emotions, being really in touch with our feelings and giving a lot of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat emotional directness is not incidental \u2013 it is, by the group\u2019s own account, the thing that makes them distinctly themselves. All four members are in their early-to-mid 20s, and Keena argues that their age is inseparable from their sound. \u201cThat\u2019s what identifies Fifty Fifty\u2019s color and identity, and that\u2019s what we think differentiates us from other artists,\u201d she says. \u201cThese feelings come naturally. It\u2019s not forced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChanelle frames it in terms of group chemistry. \u201cWe\u2019ve just become really much stronger and learned how to kind of naturally compromise in a way that\u2019s harmonious for the entire group,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re able to bounce ideas off each other and we also know what our strengths are. It\u2019s just been a really fun process altogether, just getting to where we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe broader context for their ambitions is a K-culture moment that shows no sign of slowing. The success of properties like \u201cSquid Game\u201d and last year\u2019s smash hit animated musical \u201cKPop Demon Hunters<\/a>\u201d has demonstrated how Korean content can command global audiences across formats. Yewon sees film, music, performance and other content forms as increasingly converging \u2013 and Fifty Fifty\u2019s role as telling their story through music at the center of it. The goal, she says, is to meet their fandom \u2013 Tweny, as the group\u2019s fans are known \u2013 wherever in the world they may be, and to unite via music.<\/p>\n

\n\tAthena frames the crossover appeal as something rooted in performance rather than calculation. \u201cWe believe that our music transcends language, which allows us to express our emotions in a more deep way,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about listening \u2013 it\u2019s also about seeing and being in the moments, looking at the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe group also has a clear eye on collaboration as a vehicle for global connection. \u201cWe always wish to work with different artists from all over the world so that we can be close with fans from different areas,\u201d says Yewon. Their most recent single, \u201cSkittlez,\u201d has already landed on the U.S. Mediabase Top 40 chart, extending a run that includes \u201cPookie\u201d and \u201cEeny meeny miny moe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA world tour, the members say, is the logical next step \u2013 and one city keeps coming up. \u201cWe really do want to do Europe, especially London,\u201d Chanelle says. \u201cPersonally, since I was younger, that\u2019s been a dream of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are not many K-pop groups whose catalog spans a viral TikTok earworm and a Pink Floyd classic,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,42430,3856,1096,157,111,139,69,458],"class_list":{"0":"post-372997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-fifty-fifty","10":"tag-k-pop","11":"tag-kpop-demon-hunters","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-pink-floyd"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}