Virtual K-pop idols have gained fame over the past few years. Almost every year, fans see new K-pop idols debut in the music industry. Some of the virtual K-pop groups have also made impressive sales, which proves the broad interest in the sub-genre of K-pop.
Among the virtual K-pop groups, PLAVE made new history by selling over 570,000 copies of their 2024 comeback album within a week of its release. The Vlast group’s impressive popularity also led them to hold multiple fan concerts in April.
So, here, we explore the world of virtual K-pop idols and learn some of the unique characteristics of the genre’s most famous artists.
Plave
Vlast’s Plave debuted in 2023 with five members: Yejun, Noah, Hamin, Eunho, and Bamby. The virtual music act’s first K-pop single album, Asterum, sold over 190,685 copies within the week of its release.
Since their debut, the graph of Plave has been rising as the group saw an outpour of support and sales with their next few releases. The act released their first EP, Asterum: The Shape of Things to Come, on August 24, 2023, which sold over 306,098 copies.
The following comeback EP saw sales double. Plave’s 2024 EP Asterum: 134-1 gained over 737,474 sales units. It also ranked number 1 on South Korea’s Circle Album Chart, a feat that not many ‘real’ K-pop artists can achieve within a year of debut.
Speaking of the obstacles Plave faced, Lee Sung-gu, CEO of Vlast, revealed: “When our virtual idol group Plave was looking for songs, our group members said they felt the composers were not giving them A-level quality songs. That led the group to make their own songs.”
While Plave’s beginning was tough, the group has a guaranteed position among the most famous fifth-generation idols. To celebrate the group’s ongoing success, the Idols will release its new single, “Pump Up The Volume!” on August 20 at 6 p.m. KST and 5 a.m. ET.
FE:VERSE
Kakao Entertainment’s FE:VERSE is special among virtual K-pop idols because fans know the group members’ identities. The girl band has five members: Muneo, Seoritae, Keuang, Rien, and Serena.
All the K-pop characters of FE: VERSE are played by famous real-life idols. Check out who plays the roles below.
- Rien: Loona’s Heejin
- Seoritae: Apink’s Hayoung
- Serena: WJSN’s Soobin
- Keuang: WJSN Luda
- Muneo: Former IZ*ONE’s Kwon Eunbi
FE:VERSE debuted on May 9, 2023, with CHO and impressed fans. However, within a year of the popular virtual group’s debut, Kakao Entertainment stated that no future activities were planned. Fans hope that the group can make a comeback as the concept of AI and virtual models becomes more popular worldwide.
MAVE
Metaverse Entertainment’s MAVE is a girl group created using hyper-realotic 3D CGI images. The group debuted in January 2023 with the single album Pandora’s Box, which contained two singles, “Pandora” and “Wonderland (Idypia).”
After releasing a single album and an extended play, MAVE also snagged the Special Award—Virtual Artist nomination at the 2023 Hanteo Music Awards. After a successful beginning in 2023, the group teased new content in August 2024 with the RE:MAVE teaser.
ETERN!TY (IITERNITI)
ITERNITI is a virtual K-pop group with over eleven members. Seoa, Sujin, Minji, Zae-in, Hyejin, Dain, Chorong, Jiwoo, Yeoreum, Sarang, and Yejin debuted on March 22, 2021.
The group has released six singles so far, including “I’m Real,” “No Filter,” “Paradise,” “DTDTGMGN,” “Snow Holiday 3:50pm,” and “When Moon.” Like Plave, ITERNITI has also struggled initially to get songs from producers.
“In the beginning, we could hardly get any songs for Iiterniti (virtual K-pop girl group). But they have begun to make a name for themselves and we now have people wanting to give us their pieces,” director of Marketing at Pulse9 Heo In-kyung revealed to Korean media.
Many experts think that virtual K-pop idols have sustainable future plans and are not just a gimmicky upgrade of the ‘AI’ generation. As most AI K-pop idols’ real identities are unknown, there is no risk of causing a scandal. With Plave and other acts rising in popularity, fans also think more music labels will be interested in introducing AI K-pop idols.
