Roundtable: K-pop Dream Collaborations

With the Key and Woohyun sub-unit, Toheart, on its way to the publisher’s, our hopes and fears of the SM and Woollim merger will finally be realized. As Amy stated, this is a great idea for many reasons. What if artists weren’t bound by the restrictions of their own companies to “keep it in the family” and were allowed to collaborate freely with artists across the industry? Imagine the possibilities! We’ve about exhausted the possibilities of forming sub-units among current group mates and label mates, but the sub-units that could be formed across the industry are nearly endless! What ultimate collaborations of artists across the industry would you most like to see? Who would be in your dream sub-unit?

Mark: Just to stir the pot a bit, I think a HyunA and G-Dragon unit would be bad ass! You thought Trouble Maker was good? GD can bring ten times the charisma of Hyunseung, and it’d be interesting to see how both idols’ overblown images blend together. YG and Cube sort of have their own version of cool and sleek which I think would be absolutely volatile and eruptive if they were stuffed into a box together and painted over with a bold layer of concept paint.

Furthermore, how about a CL and Zico collaboration? Since idol rappers are all about swag, why not bring together the hip-hoppiest of them all and punch it home with something so over the top it would make “The Baddest Female” just seem bad as in bad. The rap verses would be utterly swagtastic, and they can bring on Taeyang to do the chorus to bundle it all up into one neat pile of edgy meets wild.

For a killer vocal duo, how about IU and Ailee? Not that either of these powerhouse soloists need to be in a group, but wouldn’t it be great if they were? The musical possibilities are endless! From a talent standpoint, they can rival the pipes of Davichi but they can be so much more conceptually flexible. Judging from the two’s past releases, they won’t be pigeonholed into the niche of a “ballad group” ala Davichi and 2AM, but they can be so much more if given the right balance of vocally challenging music and moderately catchy choreography. And seeing how well both bounced back from their respective scandals, it’s clear that they are media darlings who are also well respected by the public for their personas and talents. Putting the two together would surely result in some media play label such as “The Nation’s Duet.”

Gaya: Maybe IU and Jonghyun? They’d get along and maybe IU will be more responsive to Jonghyun than Taeyeon.

Fannie: The collaborations that I want to see have all been done in the past to some extent: Hyoyeon and Min (way back in the day they used to compete in dance competitions under the name “Little Winners“), and also Sunmi and Seungri — let’s bring back the WonderBang!

Lindsay: I’d like to see K.Will and Seo In-Guk collaborate on a song together. I mean, the MV appearance was awesome, but they are both great singers and I think a duet would be even more awesome. I mostly just want to see K.Will do more promotions, I admit it. But I mean, come on, who doesn’t want more Seo In-Guk too?

I’ve seen this particular pairing mentioned recently: BTS‘ Rap Montser and B.A.P‘s Yong-guk. I’m not even sure what would happen if these two actually did collaborate. I can see a couple options: 1) Yong-guk teaches Rap Monster how to treat women like a gentleman and teaches him how to write raps about social issues other than school attendance, or 2) they have an explosion of swag where they both sully their reputation with international fans by having cornrows and bling.

Pat: My dream collaboration revolves around Zico and Winner‘s Mino. The boy is Zico’s rapper baby! That they’ve already collaborated during their time in the underground rap scene is another thing, but imagine what they would release with some backing. It could either be either a glorious rap song about the struggles they’ve faced and how they overcame them to thumb their noses at the critics, or seriousness? What seriousness? This promotion cycle is going to be all out silliness with a touch of hephap. Minus the cornrows. We’ll reserve the serious stuff for Lindsay’s Yongguk-RapMon duo. Zico would flaunt rainbow hair, having enough K-pop hair for both him and Mino to go around.

Just don’t let them record at YG’s studio. Zico might go fanboy over Big Bang instead.

Johnelle: Well, if we’re going with ultimate collaborations, then I’m going all out with the best looking bunch of supposedly best friends in all of K-pop–I want a collab with Big Bang‘s T.O.P, JYJ‘s Jaejoong and SS501‘s Kim Huyn-joong. Jaejoong can do the lead vocals, T.O.P. can rap and Kim Hyun-joong can…sing too or dance or just stand around and be pretty in the MV.

Ambika: I think I’m on a rock kick, but I’d like a collaboration between one of FNC Entertainment‘s bands and vocalists from other companies, maybe f(x)‘s Luna, IU, or SNSD‘s Taeyeon. I guess it would be a better planned and executed take on the collaborative stage from 2010’s MBC Gayo Daejun. Wherever possible, I’d love proper, high-energy duets within those stages.

Otherwise, I’d want K-pop’s doppelgangers to get together and perform for the sake of seeing them side by side: Daesung and K.Will, GOT7‘s JB and Roh Ji-hoon, Ailee and f(x)’s Luna, and maybe B.A.P’s Daehyun and BTS’ V.

(YouTube [1][2], Images via KBS, Cube Entertainment, YG Entertainment, YMC Entertainment, LOEN Entertainment, TS Entertainment, Big Hit Entertainment, TS Entertainment, C-JeS Entertainment, Cosmopolitan)