“To achieve the ultimate goal of cultural change, it’s almost a necessity to make sure you have many of them progressing.”
This was the story shared by HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk in the Oct. 7 column in The New Yorker titled “The K-Pop King.” Following the success of BTS, HYBE, which has become Korea’s largest entertainment company, has strived to move beyond defining K-pop as a genre of a specific country. It has worked to implant its core production system and philosophy into the world’s largest music market, the U.S., and further, to act as a “global pop evangelist” targeting the global market. HYBE AMERICA, established on April 26, 2019, in Santa Monica, California, is at the center of this bold paradigm shift.
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After a long period of localization, HYBE AMERICA has settled K-pop into the U.S. market and produced original results. The first proof is KATSEYE, the global girl group jointly created by HYBE and Geffen Records. Manon, Sophia, Daniela, Lara, Megan and Yoonchae, selected through the audition program The Debut: Dream Academy and the Netflix documentary Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE, are members from diverse cultural backgrounds who have quickly established themselves in the pop market. Debuting on Nov. 18, 2024, the group has shown a steady upward trajectory, achieving remarkable success faster than anyone anticipated. Their second EP, Beautiful Chaos, released in June 2025, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, while their track “Gabriela” peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their nominations for best new artist and best pop duo/group performance at the 68th Grammy Awards are a proud badge of honor.
“You know how machine learning happens? We don’t apply our methodologies uniformly in each region, but we don’t follow the practices of each region blindly, either,” Chairman Bang said in the New Yorker profile. “We take what works.” Under Chairman Bang’s vision, HYBE is creating a global cultural phenomenon “produced” through local infrastructure and talent. HYBE Latin America, established in 2023, launched its first boy group, SANTOS BRAVOS, this year. A new U.S. market boy group project with Ryan Tedder, who produced KATSEYE’s “Debut,” has also been announced. It seems the continuous investment in the North American market — despite persistent deficits and operating losses from localized groups and business diversification — is beginning to pay off.
At the forefront of K-pop localization are four pioneers actualizing Bang Si-hyuk’s vision: In Jeong-hyeon, head of creative production, who oversees the creative direction for the KATSEYE project; Son Sung-deuk, executive creator, who wrote the history of K-pop performance and now leads the localization of the T&D (training & development) system; Hyewon Lee, vp of merchandising and strategic planning, who expands the artist’s worldview into products and spaces, managing the front line of the fan experience; and Hyejin Lee, GM, who spearheaded BTS’s global marketing and now leads the new boy group project with Ryan Tedder.
Through in-depth interviews with these four leaders at the HYBE AMERICA headquarters in Los Angeles, we delved into the vivid process and philosophy of how HYBE’s grand dream is pioneering a new era in the heart of America.
Pop Star Academy Unveiled
HYBE AMERICA’s challenge was a massive experiment from the start. “When I first came over, the discussion was literally, ‘Let’s try to make a global girl group targeting the US market,’ and that was it. It was a zero-base state,” recalled Jeong-hyeon, who joined the project in its early stages. Jeong-hyeon’s mission was to be the “bridge” between the headquarters and local staff. However, the process of planting the seed was not easy. The biggest hurdle was the deep-seated local prejudice against K-pop’s core long-term training system.
“It wasn’t about transplanting a successful formula as-is; it required a deep understanding of the local culture and market characteristics and reinventing the system to fit them. My role began with building the system to match the local situation,” Sung-deuk reflected on the early days of HYBE AMERICA. The U.S. operation’s answer to break through these cultural misunderstandings and prejudices was to utilize media: namely, The Debut: Dream Academy and Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
It was an unconventional attempt to bring the K-pop artist development process from the shadows into the light, transparently revealing it to the world. Through this program, HYBE sought to prove that its training system is a high-tech “academy” that maximizes potential. The 20 trainees selected from 120,000 applicants grew while receiving comprehensive care, including vocal and dance training, as well as media training, character education and psychological counseling. Viewers didn’t just see the “finished idol” as a final product; they watched the entire process of an ordinary girl becoming an artist through sweat and tears, feeling a deep connection and authenticity. This was the most effective communication method to explain the essence of the K-pop system and translate HYBE’s philosophy into the grammar of the world’s largest market.
Reinventing the Training & Development System
The HYBE T&D system, unveiled through The Debut: Dream Academy, was fundamentally different from past methods. Sung-deuk compares himself to a “gardener” who provides water and fertilizer to the tree that is the artist. “It’s not the old way of forcing an artist into a predetermined mold,” he says. “Today’s T&D is closer to the role of discovering an artist’s unique potential and helping it blossom.” This means holistic support, going beyond technical training to include mental care for psychological difficulties.
This philosophy was clearly evident in The Dream Academy. Instead of dividing participants by rank, it respected each individual’s strengths and approached them from a perspective of “different,” not “wrong.” As Sung-deuk, puts it, “A participant may deviate from a standardized dance style, but we saw it as the participant’s ‘different form of expression’ and worked together on how to develop that individuality.”
This aligns perfectly with Chairman Bang’s emphasis on a “system that respects individuality.” He believes the system should not be a frame that confines artists, but a safety net and a stepping stone that supports them in fully displaying their talents. The diverse nationalities, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds of the KATSEYE members could merge into one organic team under this philosophy. Respecting each person’s uniqueness and helping that difference create synergy — this is the new definition of the K-pop T&D system.
Localized Marketing and Expanded Fan Experience
How to connect the successfully launched artist with the American public? Hyejin Lee and Hyewon Lee meticulously executed Chairman Bang’s localization strategy from the perspectives of marketing and fan experience, respectively.
Hyejin Lee, formerly the head of BTS’s dedicated management, began full-scale “localization” with the KATSEYE project. “We received a lot of feedback that in the U.S., ‘individual personality’ and ‘authentic stories’ are just as important as the team’s identity,” she says. This was a fact already proven through The Debut: Dream Academy. As an extension of this strategy, in a move rare for K-pop, they allowed trainees to operate personal social media accounts before their debut, creating an environment to freely express their individual charms.
This strategy paid off when “Touch” went viral on TikTok. “One of the videos we produced unexpectedly caught the algorithm, and KATSEYE’s name and music began to spread even to the general public who knew nothing about K-Pop or HYBE,” says Hyejin Lee. This created a synergy with the Netflix documentary, turning the curiosity sparked by short-form content into a deep empathy for the group’s narrative. Hyejin Lee affirmed, “In an artist’s success today, short-form content is one of key marketing factors that determine success after music; it’s one of the top 3 key marketing factors that determine success.”
The connection with fans extends beyond online to offline. Hyewon Lee, who joined after long experience in the fashion industry, designs the “fan experience” through MD (merchandising) and pop-up stores. “The absolute top priority at our pop-up stores is the ‘fan experience,’” she says. “Rather than focusing on product sales, we concentrate on creating a ‘festival ground’ where fans can experience the artist’s worldview with all five senses and feel a sense of belonging as part of the community.”
She clearly pointed out the differences in MD consumption culture between Korean and U.S. fans. While Korean fans prioritize “collector’s value,” such as collecting photocards, U.S. fans treat MD as part of their “lifestyle,” wearing items like hoodies and hats in daily life to express their fandom. This analysis influences everything from product planning and design to pricing policy. At the recent LE SSERAFIM North American tour pop-up, they introduced Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology, eliminating long payment lines and maximizing the fan experience. This is a smart strategy that localizes the essence of K-pop, which values the bond with the fandom, to fit the U.S. market’s characteristics and technology.
Captivating America with Diversity and Authenticity
All philosophies and strategies are ultimately proven on stage. Jeong-hyeon pointed to KATSEYE’s first live performance after debut, the KCON LA stage, as the decisive moment she became convinced of their success. “Even though it was their first time in front of a large audience alongside many K-pop seniors, the members weren’t intimidated at all and just shone brilliantly on stage. The moment I saw that overwhelming performance and energy, I felt a conviction: ‘This is going to work.’”
KATSEYE’s identity lay in the combination of “sophisticated pop that local listeners could accept without resistance” and “K-pop’s unparalleled high-quality dance performance,” says Sung-deuk, who notes that KATSEYE’s performance direction is “not creating boundaries.” It means aiming for a wide spectrum not confined to a specific style. The success of “Gnarly” in particular stemmed from the autonomy given to the members. “Instead of just having them follow set choreography, we encouraged the members to actively suggest ideas for gestures, facial expressions, and movements,” he adds.
Sung-deuk summarized the reason KATSEYE is loved in the U.S. market as “diversity” and “authenticity.” “I believe the sight of members from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds coming together to form one team creates a strong consensus with the younger generation living in today’s pluralistic society,” he says.
K-pop enjoys great popularity in the U.S. market today, and data supports its steady growth. According to Luminate’s mid-year 2025 report, K-pop still shows powerful influence in physical album sales based on a solid fandom. With albums from SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids and ATEEZ ranking in the Top 10 for U.S. CD sales, K-pop’s loyal fandom has become a crucial axis of the market. However, it was an unknown variable whether this popularity was a concentration effect of fandoms for big-name groups, or if it could truly apply to a pop star based on K-pop’s grammar — one who could be favorable even to a localized group.
The “K-Pop King” article in The New Yorker features the story of Joshua, a 19-year-old Black dancer from Alabama, who flew to Los Angeles in 2024 to experience KATSEYE’s KCON LA stage. “To see people of my same background break out onto the scene, and to get to watch her journey and her growth, is really inspiring,” he said. “What’s special about Katseye is that they feel so down to earth — like normal people.” It was symbolic testimony that KATSEYE, representing multi-ethnicity and multiculturalism, had pioneered a new direction for K-pop in the U.S. market. Unlike in Korea, where there are significant restrictions on expressing one’s identity and thoughts despite social fame, K-pop in the U.S. market can afford more freedom to speak, think, and express. The GAP campaign in the summer of 2025, which added great significance to KATSEYE, was a symbolic scene that presented the new possibilities of an “unconfined K-pop.”
Breaking the Boundaries of K-Pop
KATSEYE’s successful landing is not the end, but the beginning. HYBE AMERICA is now preparing the next step. Hyejin Lee is currently leading a new boy group project with Tedder. “The process of producing a boy group shares many similarities with that of a girl group, yet there are some factors that need to be taken into account,” she says. “We need to quickly find the ‘super fans’ who will fervently support us from the beginning and provide exactly what they want.” This is an area where the fandom-building know-how that K-Pop has developed over decades can be more actively utilized.
HYBE AMERICA implants the system but evolves by respecting the local culture; it respects artist individuality but creates synergy as one team; it is based on fandom but moves toward the mainstream. This is not simply the process of making another pop group. It is a narrative that breaks the boundaries of K-pop by presenting a new success model for the 21st-century global music industry. The world is watching for HYBE’s exciting next chapter.
This story written by Kim Do Heon was originally published by Billboard Korea.
