Grammy Museum goes crazy for K-pop

LOS ANGELES

Exhibit will showcase the stable of company Hybe, including BTS, Seventeen and more

Outfits worn by some of the band members at the top of the Korean pop heap will be on display as part of the Grammy Museum’s new exhibit, “Hybe: We Believe in Music.” PHOTOS COURTESY OF REBECCA SAPP

Hybe, a company that grooms and markets many K-pop stars, started as Big Hit Entertainment in 2005.

In addition to showing outfits, the exhibit will have music videos and opportunities for karaoke.

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By Richard Guzman

riguzman@scng.com

For fans of K-pop, the Grammy Museum’s latest exhibit will be like stepping into a musical dreamworld as the venue teams 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 exhibit “Hybe,” which runs through Sept. 15.

Hybe is the South Korean entertainment company that launched 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, (Hybe) got bigger and bigger and have more and more K-pop groups and record labels within their company, but they’ve also gone on into tech, AI, social media,” Goelz said. “They’re very much responsible for the globalization of K-pop.”

The Grammy exhibit will chronicle the history and impact of the company, 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, and the exhibit will include outfits worn by the group in music videos such as “Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment).”

The exhibit 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 skills 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.”