K-pop worlds collide at FKA twigs’ Seoul rave

Just 24 hours after arriving in Seoul, I find myself watching FKA twigs pole dance to a surprise performance from K-pop boyband stars The8 and Vernon. Just moments prior, no one expected that this would happen (why would you?). German-born producer Mechatok was knee-deep into DJing his roster of hyperpop anthems when he suddenly teased the opening, turbocharged beats of “singasong” – his gloriously left-field collaboration with the superstar duo otherwise known as V8. Suddenly, The8 and Vernon rushed the stage for an unannounced set, prompting every smartphone camera light in attendance to switch on in unison. Moments later, twigs – the night’s headliner – glides into view and begins writhing on the dance pole at the side of the stage. I was in shock. This isn’t the K-pop I’m familiar with, I thought to myself. But, it turns out, that was kind of the point.

Let’s rewind. The event took place last Tuesday (August 11) at central Seoul’s spaceship-like Dongdaemun Design Plaza, and was organised as one of three tenth anniversary celebrations for groundbreaking South Korean radio station-slash-club-movement Seoul Community Radio taking place this year. Featuring performances from K-pop revolutionary The Deep, Yves, German-born EDM-pop producer Mechatok, FKA twigs and, of course, the unannounced V8 set, the event paid homage to the wide-ranging dance sonics SCR has uplifted over the past decade – and also led to some unexpected encounters on the dancefloor. 

Throughout the night I saw K-pop-style glow sticks pulse to Skepta’s “Shutdown” during cult Madrid DJs Josef and Diego Armando’s set; I saw all-black-clad techno acolytes of twigs’ Eusexua era vogue to a donk remix of “It Ain’t Safe”; and, at one point, I even spotted two South Korean ravers half-seriously doing the tectonic dance during Mechatok’s hyperpop anthems. My preconceptions were checked from the moment I arrived.

But the true heart of the event was The Deep and Yves – two local rising stars who are innovating on the globally recognisable K-pop formula. Along with contemporaries like Effie and kimj, they represent a growing Korean subcurrent of maximalist sonics, diverse influences and, most importantly, a railing against the rigid restrictions usually applied to major label Korean talent. “It’s like what grime was to garage,” SCR founder Rich told me a week before the event, highlighting how this new generation of Korean artists are starting to repackage the flashy excesses of K-pop in a less-polished, more-DIY box.

On the night, I put Rich’s theory to a South Korean raver I met in the impromptu smoking area (really just a cordoned-off bin next to a main road): “It’s like the counter-culture – people got bored of K-pop so this is the new thing,” Ha-joon* told me. “No K-pop artist would ever play here.” I smiled knowingly at that last point. Just you wait, I thought. 

Because, to everyone’s surprise, two K-pop superstars did perform that night – but their appearance only underscored Ha-joon’s point. Splintering off from award-winning boy-band Seventeen, The8 and Vernon’s latest collaborative project is notable for exploring the sort of digital maximalism that distinguishes The Deep-and-co’s movement, and even features guest production from kimj himself. Their recent collaboration with Mechatok, meanwhile, is similarly telling, paying homage to the Drain Gang-affiliated producer who has recently become a ubiquitous presence in forward-thinking electronic scenes the world over and going so far as to name-check him in the track’s chorus (“I feel like Mechatok” the duo croon). V8’s involvement in the event, then, was symbolic: K-pop’s biggest names now want a piece of the underground pie.

Of course, all of this took place before the event’s real headline performance: FKA twigs – who, climbing off the pole and returning after one of many outfit changes throughout the night, really got the rave going. Twigs’ DJ spun upbeat, techno-flicked dance rhythms as, one-by-one, the ethereal singer dragged all the artists that had performed that night up onto the stage: Yves rubbed shoulders with Vernon, The8 rubbed shoulders with The Deep, and event staff began to gyrate on the stage’s strip-pole in what I took as a sign that all rules had gone out the window. Indeed, soon after came various members of the crowd – K-pop stans, twigs’ techno troopers, even my new friend Ha-joon were invited to mob out the stage. 

I later learned that an unexpected sore throat had prevented twigs from singing much that night, but, in the midst of this chaotic curtain call, no one seemed to care. What twigs had done was even more powerful: knowingly or not, she had christened the K-pop underground – and everyone, it seems, was invited.

Check out the gallery above for a closer look at the night.

Photography assistants: Minje Kang (@kangminjedot) and Minjae Sung (@sung.m.j)

* name has been changed.