Hyukoh

Band formation and rise in underground music scene

Frontman Oh Hyuk was raised in several cities across northern China (Jilin, Shenyang and Beijing) for the first twenty years of his life due his parents' profession as university professors. Upon graduating high school in 2012, Oh moved to South Korea on his own to pursue music full-time despite his parents' strong opposition. Oh speaks Mandarin Chinese, Korean and English and his diverse cultural influences are directly reflected in Hyukoh's music, in which he infuses a mix of Korean, Mandarin Chinese and English lyrics.^{[citation needed]}

Im Dong-geon, Lim Hyun-jae, and Lee In-woo joined Oh to form Hyukoh in 2014. Oh was previously producing music as a one-man band under the name Hyukoh, and the members eventually came together and took on the name as the current four-piece band. The members came together largely by chance: Oh had already worked with Lee in the past, and Lim attended high school with Lee. Oh was introduced to Im through a mutual acquaintance.^[2][3]

On September 18, 2014, Hyukoh released their debut EP 20, named after the band members' age at the time.^[4] The band experienced moderate success in South Korea, often selling out small-scale venues and gaining a strong following in Hongdae, an area in Seoul known for being the epicenter of South Korea's indie music scene.^[5]

Rise in mainstream popularity

Hyukoh gained mainstream popularity in 2015 after participating in the popular Korean variety program Infinite Challenge; they performed "Wonderful Barn" at Yeongdong Expressway Song Festival with Jung Hyung-don.^[6] Positive responses from critics and the public translated into their second EP 22—named after the band members' age at the time—charting in the top ten of the Billboard World Albums Chart two months after its release.^{[citation needed]}

On July 21, 2015, Hyukoh became the first act to sign with independent label HIGHGRND, a subsidiary of Korean media conglomerate YG Entertainment.^[7] The following year, they represented Korean indie bands at Strawberry Music Festival in Shanghai and Beijing, performing on April 30 and May 2, 2016.^[8] They also performed at the Summer Sonic music festival in Japan in August.^[9]

The band released their first studio album, 23, on April 24, 2017. The lead single, "Tomboy", placed second on the Melon digital chart and first on Genie, Bugs!, and Olleh's digital charts not long after its release. The album ranked sixth on Billboard' World Albums Chart in May. Following the release of 23, the band went on their first world tour.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2018, Hyukoh's song "Citizen Kane" was featured in a TV commercial by Apple Inc. for the iPhone X smartphone.^[10]

2020 World Tour

Hyukoh planned to begin touring in February 2020, with dates slated for shows in Seoul, Asia, Europe, and North America.^[11][12] They were only able to fulfill appearances in Seoul and Japan before the pandemic struck, and the majority of the tour was eventually cancelled due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.^[13]

Military service

Im enlisted on April 20, 2021, in order to carry out his mandatory military service. He was seen off by family, friends, and his bandmates. The location of his training camp and time of entry were not publicized.^[14]

Plagiarism accusations

Following their rise to fame, Hyukoh has faced multiple accusations of plagiarism. In 2015, internet users suggested that their song "Lonely" was derived from "1517" by German-Norwegian band The Whitest Boy Alive, while "Panda Bear" was compared to Yumi Zouma's "Dodi".^[16] HIGHGRND released a statement on July 24 to address the rumors and stated that Hyukoh had received compliments on "Lonely" from The Whitest Boy Alive frontman Erlend Øye after performing the track as an opener for him while he visited Korea. The label also clarified that "Panda Bear" was released months before Yumi Zouma's "Dodi", making the suspected plagiarism impossible.^[17] "Panda Bear" faced further accusations as a copy of American indie band Beach Fossils's "Golden Age". These suspicions were furthered by a now-deleted tweet from Beach Fossils suggesting Hyukoh had mixed "Golden Age" to create "Panda Bear". Oh later posted a screenshot of this tweet to his Instagram account refuting the claims.^[18]

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

Singles

Other charted songs

Music videos