(From left to right, top) Seungri, Goo Hara, Tenashar, Sulli, Seungri, Jung Joon-young and Cha In-ha have all made headlines this year in the South China Morning Post’s five top music stories of 2019.
From K-pop scandals and deaths to DJ Tenashar’s downfall, our five top music stories of 2019
An investigation sparked by events at Seoul’s Burning Sun nightclub, co-owned by Big Bang’s Seungri, revealed a chat group sharing secretly recorded sex videos
K-pop was also in the news over the deaths of singers Goo Hara and Sulli; Asian music festivals and the travails of DJ Tenashar also piqued readers’ interest
The Post’s music coverage in 2018 was dominated by the rise of K-pop, and the sound from South Korea continued to make headlines this year – but for vastly different reasons.
Our K-pop coverage this year focused on the sex-and-drugs scandal surrounding Seoul’s Burning Sun nightclub, which claimed a high-profile victim in the form of Seungri – the BigBang member who served on the board of the club.
In the latter part of the year, the K-pop world was rocked by three suicides in less than two months – singers Sulli (October 14) and Goo Hara (November 24), and actor-singer Cha In-ha (December 3).
Stories about the scandal and the deaths were among the South China Morning Post’s top five music stories from 2019. Here’s the full list:
DJ Tenashar was arrested for suspected drug-related offences.
5. DJ Tenashar
Singaporean DJ Tenashar didn’t have a great year. After serving an 18-month jail sentence on drug-related charges, the DJ and former Playboy cover girl was again arrested for suspected drug-related offences. This article charts the rise and fall of the famous Singaporean DJ.
Goo Hara was one of the K-pop celebrities to commit suicide this year.
4. Deaths of Sulli and Goo Hara
This opinion article argues that the deaths of South Korean singers Goo Hara and Sulli, and of Jonghyun in 2017, leave the K-pop industry with blood on its hands because of the pressure it puts on its stars and the lack of support in South Korea for people with mental health issues.
Fuji Rock is an annual rock festival held in Japan.
3. Asia music festivals
In this wrap of the region’s top music festivals in the second half of 2019, we previewed everything from world music (the Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo) and huge rock ‘n’ roll bashes (Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic in Japan) to the region’s biggest celebrations of electronic dance music (Creamfields Taiwan).
South Korean singer and TV personality Jung Joon-young was jailed on rape charges.
2. ‘You raped her’
The investigation into Seungri uncovered a private chat room where members – including singer Jung Joon-young – shared videos of themselves having sex with women who were drunk or unconscious. Featuring recreations of messages sent in the chat room, this story revealed how the members joked about attacking women.
BigBang’s Seungri served on the board of the club at the centre of a sex-and-drugs scandal.
1. K-pop image tainted
Finally, our top music story of the year discusses how K-pop’s squeaky-clean image has been damaged by the year’s sex and drugs scandals. The K-pop dramas came in a year that also saw South Korean women become increasingly vocal about the country’s ongoing #MeToo movement and protest against the country’s spycam epidemic.
