cousin.world is an update on global music as told through four playlists:

• run ⇡ — club tracks from euro & UK dancefloors

• cherry soda ⚭ — k-pop, c-pop, idol and city pop

• the grid ✚ — sounds of urbano, reggaeton, funk

• magnitude △ — afrobeat, dancehall and amapiano rising

For cherry soda ⚭ #005, one of the most-watched moments of China’s New Year celebrations, a k-pop record holder’s latest hit, yet another major anime theme song and some chart-topping t-pop.

Have a great weekend and stay tuned for the grid ✚ #005 next week 😊

cherry soda ⚭

1. IU — ‘Love Wins All’ (South Korea)

‘Love Wins All’ from IU is currently the biggest track in South Korea, standing at #1 on both the Melon Top 100 and Billboard’s Korea Songs Chart right now.

IU is a solo artist who signed as a trainee to Kakao Entertainment — the music and media arm of the internet corporation Kakao — in 2007. Since then, she has become one of the biggest selling and most beloved artists in the market, holding the title for most tracks to hit #1 on South Korea’s Circle Chart with 31. The project has been releasing under the EDAM label brand since 2020 when it was created by IU’s manager of 15 years Bae Jong Han.

The ‘Love Wins All’ video, featuring a handy cameo from BTS member V, currently stands at 46M views, while the single has held the #1 spot on Melon, Genie and VIBE (domestic DSPs) for 22 consecutive days. The single is taken from IU’s sixth mini-album and the next track from it, ‘Holssi’, comes out today. More about that on NME.

As is often the case with k-pop, the best way to stay across IU updates is via a fan account like this one.

2. Ren Suxi — ‘枕着光的她’ (China)

On February 9th, Chinese actress Ren Suxi performed this track 枕着光的她 (roughly: she is leaning against the light) at the CCTV Spring Gala, Chinese state television’s annual celebration on the eve of Chinese New Year. The song has been holding the top spot of various charts on local DSPs since, including the QQ Music Popular Songs Chart.

It’s estimated by CMG (Chinese Media Group) that a total of 14.2B views were generated overnight on domestic video platforms screening clips from the event, an increase of 29% on last year’s celebration.

A press release explains that this performance was produced by TME (Tencent Music Entertainment) who also own the three biggest music streaming services in the market — QQ, Kugou and Kuwo — and the main internationally-recognised singles chart in China, which have all been heavily promoting this track since the performance aired.

NB: this isn’t on Spotify!

3. Creepy Nuts — ‘Bling-Bang-Bang-Born’ (Japan)

The top track in Japan right now by most metrics — Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, YouTube, the Oricon singles chart and Shazam — is ‘Bling-Bang-Bang-Born’ by hip hop duo Creepy Nuts.

The song caught fire thanks to its usage as the opening theme of a popular anime series called Mashle: Magic & Muscles, continuing a long established trend of anime syncs carrying their theme songs to the top. In fact, most of the trending Japanese tracks I’ve written about since starting this newsletter have followed this template, including YOASOBI’s ‘IDOL’ and King & Prince’s ‘MAGIC WORD’.

You can translate this interview with Japanese music magazine Real Sound to learn more about Creepy Nuts.

4. D Gerrard — ‘Galaxy Express’ (Thailand)

The top track on YouTube, Apple Music and Shazam in Thailand this week is ‘Galaxy Express’, a song by Thai rapper and vocalist D Gerrard.

Interested parties in the global music industry have had their eye on Thailand since 2021 when a massive 50% year on year revenue jump made it the fastest growing music market in the region (per Music Ally). This was followed by a further 20% leap in 2022 (per MBW), at which point bigger players like UMG began buying their way in, for example via the acquisition of Thai media and entertainment company RS Group. As the market’s export potential continues to mature, trends like “t-pop” — a uniquely Thai take on the region’s biggest musical export — are emerging, as detailed here in a Spotify blog post.

D Gerrard releases on a label called Wayfer Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music Thailand.

5. TWICE — ‘I GOT YOU’ (South Korea)

TWICE have been a staple in the k-pop game since 2015 and will release their thirteenth mini-album next week. Alongside those mini-albums (AKA EPs), the nine-piece girl group have released seven studio albums — four in Japanese, three in Korean — and completed five world tours.

The group formed via a TV reality competition called Sixteen, a ten episode series where would-be TWICE members competed to make the final lineup. Shortly after being crowned the winners, the group released their debut mini-album The Story Begins.

TWICE are a great case study in the evolution of k-pop over the last decade. Much like the genre itself, the group’s original export strategy focused on Japan (the world’s second largest music market behind the US) and its multi-billion-dollar idol pop market. Thanks to more recent inroads into the US and other world markets by groups like BLACKPINK and BTS, each of the major k-pop management companies now uses the global infrastructure of one of the three major labels (in JYP’s case, Republic).

+ Five More…

6. Patrick Brasca, Howard Lee — ‘I Hate Myself Sometimes’ (Taiwan)

Another hit from the Justin Bieber of mandopop Patrick Brasca, this time featuring fellow Taiwanese collaborator Howard Lee. Last month, Brasca gave an interview to Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.

7. BABYMONSTER — ‘Stuck In The Middle’ (South Korea)

BABYMONSTER are the latest group to be formed under YG Entertainment, one of the original big three k-pop players. Fitting neatly into what feels like a piano ballad wave in the market is their new trending track ‘Stuck In The Middle’.

8. TWS — ‘Plot Twist’ (South Korea)

HYBE’s latest boyband have scored one of the highest charting debuts of all time in South Korea with their new single ‘Plot Twist’. The group release on the Pledis label, acquired by HYBE in 2020.

9. YENA — ‘DNA’ (South Korea)

Leaning into her popularity in the Japanese market, South Korean artist YENA releases her second single in Japanese. Per Chartmetric’s collated data across streaming and socials, over 11% of YENA’s audience are based in Tokyo, compared to 6.25% in Seoul.

10. KUN — ‘RIDE OR DIE’ (China)

Last week’s #1 on the Tencent Music Entertainment chart — which is also indexed on Billboard — was ‘RIDE OR DIE’ by Chinese singer, dancer and rapper Cai Xukun, AKA KUN.