Apple TV+ is about to launch one of its boldest music competition series yet with KPOPPED, a cross-cultural spectacle that brings K-pop idols and Western legends together on the same stage.
Executive produced by Lionel Richie and Megan Thee Stallion, the show pairs acts like TLC, Kylie Minogue, Patti LaBelle and Boy George with some of today’s biggest K-pop groups for high-stakes song battles judged live in Seoul, South Korea. With limited rehearsal time and a mix of languages, styles and generations, each collaboration reimagines iconic hits with a K-pop twist, from “Lady Marmalade” to “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”
Billboard spoke with Richie and Megan about what drew them to the project, the lessons they learned while filming in Korea, and how they approached creating authentic collaborations that honor both K-pop and Western pop traditions.
You’re both executive producers on KPOPPED. What drew you to this project in the first place, and why did you feel it was the right time to bring K-pop and Western pop together on this scale?
Lionel Richie: The idea was, clearly K-pop in Korea has already popped. K-pop in the rest of the world is popping. So, the concept of putting this in the world, and how we present it to the world, was probably the challenge.
K-pop understands every song that we’ve ever put out in America, in the world — they know it by heart, backwards and forwards. They know every group by heart. But we don’t know them and their culture. So let’s take this culture of our musical history and heritage back to Korea.
PSY was right there. PSY’s ready to go, but who’s going to be my co-pilot, my wing person? And of course, when it came down to, “Okay, who do you want, Lionel?” I said, “Let’s just go all the way crazy, let’s go Megan.”
And all of a sudden, we heard the greatest word I could ever hear in the English language: “Yes, I’m in.” Megan said “yes.” And from that point on, we had magic. Because now we have curiosity. And putting this magical gumbo of music and talent together with Megan is now: “What the hell are we doing?”
Megan Thee Stallion: So when the opportunity came to me, I automatically was like, “Lionel Richie? Hell yeah, I’m in. Whatever he want me to do, I’m doing it.”
Everybody already knows about my love for K-pop, for just being a weeb, an anime nerd and just a big K-pop stan in general. This is right up my alley. This is right up my lane. Y’all don’t gotta twist my arm because I want to do this anyway. When we went to Korea, I was just having a blast. I forgot we were even out there working because I was just living my best life.
Just coming together with him [Lionel] and doing this project, I felt so much gratitude. I felt so much appreciation. I’m just thankful, and I can’t wait for people to see it, because we were literally out there just having a ball.
This show is all about bridging cultures, genres, and generations. What’s one thing you each learned about K-pop during filming that surprised you?
Lionel Richie: For me, it was the precision. I must say, I’m fascinated. A lot of times, you have to figure out how to look relaxed on stage while going through a rehearsal. You’re supposed to make it look like you just did this automatically, and there’s a whole lot of letting go you have to do.
With K-pop, it looks so intricate, but at the same time, when you watch it, they’re flowing together as one unit. I said, “That’s magical, let me figure that out.” And of course, from that point on, I realized they know every song, every musical style. That’s what sparked my curiosity: Can we make this work, to blend these styles, these languages and these generations together? It was basically a cultural conversation through music.
Megan Thee Stallion: I’m a big fan of a lot of girl K-pop groups. So when I see them dance and be so in tune with each other, so in sync, it feels like, “Okay girl, I eat, breathe and sleep performance. This is just me.” I get it.
So I kind of thought they might come off cold, because I didn’t know — do you have interests outside of this? But actually, meeting a lot of those girls and women, we sat down, took our hair out of those ponytails, took the makeup off and just chilled, talking. I realized they’re just girls at the end of the day. We’re from two different parts of the world, but we connected on things we related to as women and as entertainers, especially the pressure that comes with being female entertainers.
Just knowing they were real people, really sweet people, made me so happy. I made a lot of friends and they taught me so many cool things. It wasn’t an act, it wasn’t a show. If you see them being sweet in little moments in interviews, that’s who they actually are. They’re really, really sweet, and I miss them so much.
I was just surprised at how genuinely sweet everybody was.
We’re seeing legendary artists team up with K-pop groups to reimagine iconic songs. How did you approach making sure these collaborations still felt authentic to both sides?
Megan Thee Stallion: I don’t do anything that doesn’t feel authentic to me. If this opportunity didn’t feel like something I was gonna be able to be on board with, I wouldn’t have did it because I don’t know how to fake it. I don’t know how to be anything other than Megan Thee Stallion. I didn’t know how I was gonna make everybody get on my page, but I knew that’s what I was gonna have to do. I was definitely down to come and learn and be a part of this K-pop collab, but how do we make this be Megan Thee Stallion and BILLLIE? How do we make this feel like both of us without taking away the core parts of each of us?
When we had those personal conversations in the back, that real chemistry, once we got on stage, it was just too easy because now we already know each other and we made each other feel very comfortable. We were making stuff up as we go low key. We just met each other and we vibed. We were really up there just being our authentic selves.
Lionel Richie: When Megan took the time to go beneath the facade of their performance and really found and met them as people, it became a real thing. Megan does not know how to be anything else authentically, but Megan, so that’s perfect. And same with me. I know I act a lot of crazy stuff, but my point is there’s a real Alabama guy here and I only know how to be a certain way. So, when we approach people, we’re looking for where’s the real. I think Megan did a great job in pulling that out of everybody. You did a great job, kid.
If you could pick any K-pop artist or group to remix one of your songs, past or present, who would it be and which song would they do?
Lionel Richie: I’m gonna call out the big guns, BTS, “All Night Long.” I think that that would be stupid.
Megan Thee Stallion: I think I would love to hear ATEEZ do “Cognac Queen” or something. Take them completely out of their element and bring them over here on some real Southern Megan Thee Stallion type stuff. I think that’ll be really cute. I think the girls would go crazy.
Watch an exclusive Megan Thee Stallion and BILLLIE rehearsal clip below.
