Meet Shaun, The Singer Rising On The Charts Faster Than Nilo

SHAUN’s “Way Back Home” ranked No. 1 on the Genie Chart surpassing both TWICE and BLACKPINK.

The indie artist, SHAUN, has recently been garnering attention from netizens for his rapidly increasing rank on the K-Pop charts.

 

SHAUN is a member of the South Korean electro garage rock band, THE KOXX, who recently released a solo song titled “Way Back Home”.

SHAUN is managed by the entertainment agency, Happy Robot Records, which manages other indie bands such as No Reply and Daybreak.

 

The song was ranked No. 3 on the Melon Charts as of 1 am on July 16th, closely following behind TWICE’s “Dance the Night Away” and BLACKPINK’s “DDU-DU DDU-DU”.

The same song was ranked at No. 43 on the Melon Charts just 2 days earlier and has seemingly jumped from No. 39, No. 21, No. 13 to No. 11 on an hourly basis.

 

Moreover, the song ranked No. 1 on the Genie Chart on July 14th, surpassing both TWICE and BLACKPINK, which has seemingly shocked even the artist himself, as he uploaded a post on his Instagram sounding confused.

A post shared by SHAUN (@password0123456789a) on

“Uhm…what is this?…” ㅡ SHAUN

 

In response to his post, however, many netizens expressed their disapproval and began criticizing the artist.

  • “LOL. He should change his career from being a singer to an actor.”
  • “Disgusting.”
  • “Lol. This is a comedy.”
  • “What do you mean, ‘what is this”‘, it’s chart manipulation.”
  • “I feel bad for TWICE. Why are they always the victims of controversies like this.”
  • “He probably knows better than anyone what this is.”
  • “Great acting, SHAUN.”

 

Meanwhile, a comment on the post made by the singer Younha has also been criticized by netizens for supporting SHAUN.

  • “Oh dear, Younha…”
  • “Doesn’t Younha have some scandals of her own too?? lol.”
  • “What’s wrong with Younha…”
  • “Well thanks to the chart manipulation, it looks like Younha will be hitting No. 1 too if she releases a new song…”

 

Back on July 12th, a post claiming that SHAUN was the next Nilo began attracting attention from Korean netizens, who argued that SHAUN must have “Nilo-ed”, or manipulated the charts.

“Nilo” Is Now A Slang Term In Korea For Chart Manipulation

 

Many netizens have continued to suspect that SHAUN’s unbelievable ranking was the result of chart manipulation.

  • “Nilo found himself a friend.”
  • “He obviously Nilo-ed.”
  • “Please stop manipulating the chart please.”
  • “What is this? The K-Pop industry is getting corrupt because of people like you.”
  • “Even his comments are produced from factories. Lol he’s seriously Nilo-ing.”
  • “Manipulation.”
  • “Please hold a concert with Nilo at the Gocheok Dome! Let’s see how popular you really are.”

 

They have even created a graph comparing the rapid rise in ranks of Nilo, SHAUN and Jang Deok Cheol, all of whom were accused by netizens of manipulating charts to achieve their rankings and according to the chart, SHAUN has been rising in the charts faster than both Nilo and Jang Deok Cheol.

 

Meanwhile, many netizens have also been defending the indie artist by indicating that “Way Back Home” is, in fact, a very good song and that it is possible that netizens have simply taken a liking to the song.

  • “I first listened to this song because the girl on the cover was pretty but ‘Way Back Home’ is so good.”
  • “That song is really good.”
  • “I put that song on my playlist because I thought it was really good…”
  • “I think that song is really good.”
  • “This song is actually pretty popular. When I’m working it comes on pretty often.”
  • “I heard this song by coincidence but it’s really so good.”
Source: Dispatch, The Qoo and Pann Nate