Apple TV+’s KPOPPED is a celebration of the genre, and after performing with the legendary Patii LaBelle and Megan Thee Stallion on the series, iconic k-pop group Billie shared what their experiences were like on the show. As viewers have gotten the chance to see more from KPOPPED this season, it’s become clear that the iconic collaborations are the best part of the series.
While watching western artists understand more about k-pop as a genre is interesting, seeing the east-meets-west blend of classic songs turn into performances like no other is the lifeblood of KPOPPED so far. Knowing that artists like LaBelle are taking steps to continually find new artists to collaborate with is heartwarming, and the spirit of collaboration makes the show even more fun.
After their time working with iconic western artists, Billie chatted with Screen Rant about what their experiences on KPOPPED were like.
Screen Rant: How did you feel when you found out the group would be performing alongside both Megan Thee Stallion and Patti LaBelle on KPOPPED?
Billie: We were very honored when we got the news that we got to perform with these amazing artists. So we were very honored to be part of the show. And we were just so determined to make a great stage with them and perform well alongside to them. So yeah, it was a very enjoyable and yet very honorable experience at the same time.
Billie & Megan Thee Stallion Collaborated On KPOPPED
Screen Rant: It was such an interesting mix and it was so great to see. How did you prepare for the rap verses of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage”?
Billie: We definitely wanted to create something very different because usually she performs by herself as a solo artist. So because we are joining the stage with her, we wanted to make sure that it’s a group performance with all of us featured. So we definitely wanted to try something new and different. So we looked up a lot of references, including her performances as a solo artist for the song as well.
So we learned a lot about her energy and the stage manners as well. So we wanted to include our own energy and the stage manners to create something very new with her and even more powerful stage. So we talked a lot amongst ourselves as well in order to create something very unique by participating in this Linux version of Savage.
Screen Rant: What was the most important thing about sharing the spirit of K-pop with U.S. artists and viewers?
Billie: When it comes to K-pop, the most important thing is to be able to feel the same emotions regardless of language or culture. So we paid a lot of attention to that. Also, we worked hard to include K-pop’s unique storytelling, teamwork, and detailed performance and stage manners.
One of the things we wanted to focus on was to send the sincerity and the energy through our performance. Because we truly believe any music and performance goes beyond the border of language and culture across any legions around the world. So we still wanted to keep that unique storytelling and the teamwork and very delicate and intricate performance manners that all the K-pop artists are proving. So we still wanted to keep that, but at the same time, we wanted to carry our own storytelling and the charms and the uniqueness to our stages as well.
Screen Rant: What was it like working with Megan Thee Stallion? Just generally beyond performance, in rehearsals, how did it feel?
Billie: We had a lot of fun working with Megan. She was very good at listening to our stories when we talked about the stage and she was able to include our style and Megan’s style. We had a lot of fun, even from the preparation stage, because she listened to all of our ideas very openly and very well so we truly appreciated that and we were able to work together very well to incorporate like each of our styles harmoniously for the stage so and we just had a lot of fun you know interacting with her and preparing for the stage so overall we create great memories with her.
Screen Rant: Speaking of your style, in preparing for KPOPPED, how did you balance keeping your unique style and identity while adapting to the show’s format of mixing cultures and performances?
Billie: We wanted to talk more than just sing and dance. The main focus of the song was storytelling so we didn’t just show the stage, but reinterpreted it. So we really wanted to make sure that we are telling the story through our stage that goes beyond just the music and the dancing and the performance so we focused heavily on telling the storyline through our unique collaboration stages on this show and we also wanted to make sure that we can interpret the existing songs in Billie’s very own unique style so we also wanted to incorporate a lot of the energy and the performance manners throughout the whole collaboration process.
Screen Rant: Now that KPOPPED is out, has this experience opened up new ideas or dreams for future collaborations for you?
Billie: Yeah, definitely. We gained a lot of confidence by joining the global artists on a global stage as well, so it really motivated us to move forward. with collaborating with even more global artists in the future and increasing the range of or the musical spectrum of Billie in the future as well.
KPOPPED is available to stream on Apple TV+.