Reviving the K-pop Spirit: The Kiss of Life [GOLDEN 2023]

Girl group Kiss of Life [S2 ENTERTAINMENT]

Nicknamed the “Korean Grammys,” the 38th Golden Disc Awards will take place on Jan. 6 in Jakarta, Indonesia, to honor the passion and talent that shone bright in the world of K-pop during the year of 2023.



Organized by the JoongAng Group, the Golden Disc Awards is considered one of the most prestigious awards in Korea with its unique format where dozens of nominees and multiple winners are chosen for three main categories — music, album and rookie of the year.



In this series, Golden 2023, the Korea JoongAng Daily’s entertainment arm Celeb Confirmed looks at K-pop’s biggest and brightest stars who are potential nominees, and their achievements this year.

Shhh — It’s Kiss of Life, a girl group that debuted this summer with the grand goal of bringing lively energy and spirit back into K-pop with its music.

Signed under newly-founded agency S2 Entertainment, four-member girl group Kiss of Life took its first steps onto the entertainment scene in July with EP “Kiss of Life,” quickly becoming the talk of the town with some of the boldest moves made by a newly-debuting band in K-pop.

Girl group Kiss of Life [S2 ENTERTAINMENT]

Of the six tracks from “Kiss of Life,” four were solo tracks sung by each member of the group — a feat not many girl groups could achieve from the beginning because filling up a whole song with well-trained vocals doesn’t just come in mere days. Each member also participated in the making of the song and lyrics for the debut album, a testimony to both the members’ dedication and talent for music.

Less than six months into its debut, Kiss of Life has become one of the most promising girl groups of the so-called fifth-generation K-pop scene that opened up this year, so much so it has been nominated not only for the Rookie of the Year award at the upcoming 2023 MAMA Awards but also for the honorable Artist of the Year award where newbies seldom land their names on.

Also helping the band garner international attention is the global makeup of the quartet and its ability to communicate with a wider audience: a member from Thailand, Natty, Korean member Haneul and two Korean Americans, Julie and Belle.

Read the full story here at Celeb Confirmed

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]