Virtual K-Pop Group PLAVE Is Already Taking The Korean Music Charts By Storm

In the modern era of K-Pop, AI idols are becoming increasingly common, though the reception to them has been understandably mixed. While groups like aespa and SUPERKIND blend both real-life idols and virtual counterparts together, there are also artists such as MAVE: and Apoki where the voices behind the virtual idols are from unknown individuals.

When it comes down to it, though, K-Pop really is about the music, and if you don’t have good songs, it’s hard to make it in the industry no matter how talented or visually appealing you are, real or AI. On the other hand, while some people may be turned off by some artists due to their AI nature, they might be pleasantly surprised to discover that they actually enjoy the music these artists release.

PLAVE is a new virtual K-Pop boy group that debuted on March 12, 2023 with the single album Asterum, featuring the songs “Wait For You” and “Pixel World”. Unlike some other virtual artists, the way that PLAVE uses AI is similar to how VTubers stream with an animated character in place of their body. This allows the members to do livestreaming where they can dance, play games, and interact with fans in real time. This does lead to some glitching, but that just adds to the fun!

And not only are the members hilarious — you can find numerous TikToks and compilation videos of funny moments from their livestreams — but the songs they’ve released so far are actually really, really nice.

The actual singers for each of the five members — Noah, Bamby, Yejun, Eunho, and Hamin — aren’t publicly known, though there are rumors that they include former members of disbanded K-Pop groups. And that makes sense, since the voices behind the virtual members are undeniably talented!

They’re even able to perform their songs “live” on music shows, just like non-AI artists!

And it seems that in South Korea, at least, they’re getting some decent recognition. Asterum has already made nearly 55k sales — impressive for a brand new AI group! — and recently, their two songs even ranked at the top of the BUGS! music chart in a sudden leap that has their fans elated.

LETS GOO PLAVEEEE!!!! ✈️✈️✈️💙💜💗❤️🖤

— liza ❓+ EUNHO BIRTHDAY (@eunhorawr) May 22, 2023

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS, 1ST PLACE?? 😭😭

— Nyun🐈‍⬛❓️ (@horangdamn) May 22, 2023

💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻 pic.twitter.com/xlpMiS5et7

— atip (@nuguopsooo) May 23, 2023

The story of their success on the music chart even became a topic on an online forum, where old fans are sharing their delight at the accomplishment while new fans are discovering them for the first time.