For fans of K-pop the Grammy Museum’s latest exhibit will be just like stepping into a musical dreamworld as the venue teams up with the entertainment company behind some of the biggest names in the genre for “HYBE: We Believe In Music.”
“In addition to artifacts we’re going to have tons of music videos to watch, interactive areas where you can talk about fandom and why you love these groups, you can sing, you can dance. It’s pretty much going to be a playground for K-pop fans,” said Kelsey Goelz, curator of the new HYBE exhibit, which opens Aug. 2 and runs through Sept. 15.
HYBE is a South Korean entertainment company that is responsible for launching the global K-pop phenomenon as the home of stars like BTS, Tomorrow X Together, Seventeen, Enhypen, Le Sserafim and others. Think of it as the Motown of K-pop.
“With the popularity of BTS they got bigger and bigger and have more and more K-pop groups and record labels within their company but they’ve also gone on to into tech, AI, social media,” Goelz said. “They’re very much responsible for the globalization of K-pop,” she added.
The Grammy exhibit will chronicle the history and impact of HYBE, which was founded in 2005 as Big Hit Entertainment.
“This is super exciting because we have so many of HYBE’s active groups displaying artifacts in our museum. Most of these artifacts have never been seen in a museum before. Some of the BTS items have been displayed before but to have all of these groups under one roof with outfits and accessories and different artifacts, that’s a first time thing and we’re very excited to be the hosts of that,” she said.
BTS is arguably the best known K-pop band in the world and the exhibition will include outfits worn by the group in music videos such as “Yet To Come (The Most Beautiful Moment).”
The exhibition will also include rare BTS Polaroid photos, which Goetz believes fans will want to see.
Other outfits on display include clothes worn in the “Maestro” video by Seventeen, “Sugar Rush Ride,” by Tomorrow X Together, “Sweet Venom,” by Enhypen and “Easy” by Le Sserafim. Fans can also show off their own pipes at the karaoke sing-along and dance rooms.
“We have a small room that has see-through windows and we’ll have lights and three songs you can sing along to,” she said. “I think it’ll be a ton of eye candy, very interactive, very colorful. If you love these HYBE artists you’re going to have so much fun,” Goelz said.
HYBE: We Believe In Music
When: Aug. 2-Sept 15
Where: The Grammy Museum, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles.
Tickets: $20 with the purchase of a general admission ticket
Information: www.grammymuseum.org
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