H1-KEY, this week’s star of The Cover on NME, have shared an exclusive playlist to accompany the story’s launch.
This week (June 17), the South Korean quartet become the first-ever K-pop girl group to grace The Cover, a renewal of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read the profile of H1-KEY here, written by Gladys Yeo and featuring photography by Sewon Jun.
To accompany The Cover, H1-KEY have curated an exclusive playlist for NME, knowingly titled ‘Low-key Bops, High-key on Repeat’. It’s a collection of 16 earworms that the girl group are currently in love with, featuring songs from fellow K-pop groups NewJeans and TREASURE, hits by Missy Elliott, Britney Spears, and more. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music.
Seoi kicks off the playlist with girl groups and boybands, with 5 Seconds of Summer, Citizen Queen and One Direction, plus K-pop hitmaker Zico of Block B. On the other hand, Riina mixes things up with her eclectic taste, picking South Korean indie band The Volunteers, fellow girl group NewJeans, English DJ Riton and rock icons Radiohead.
Hwiseo shows her fondness for pop rock with favourites by P!nk, Halsey and Avril Lavigne, as well as a fan favourite B-side from K-pop boyband TREASURE. Meanwhile, Yel’s love for classic hits shines through in her choices of songs by Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and Missy Elliott, while also shouting out newer acts like Lakeyah.
In this week’s The Cover, H1-KEY discuss their upcoming mini-album ‘Love or Hate’ and the healing power of music. “Since ‘Rose Blossom’, we’ve been taking the lead on that in K-pop – at least, I would like to think that we are,” Seoi says. “The themes of hope and courage, we’re hoping that [listeners] empathise and identify with that.”
Read the full Cover story with H1-KEY here and see who else has been on The Cover here.
The post Listen to H1-KEY’s exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover appeared first on NME.
