Any young artist would be thrilled at seeing one of their songs go viral. It has to feel even better, though, when your track¡¯s success is emblematic of warming relations between two countries with a contentious history.
Twenty-two-year-old artist imase released his fifth single, a shuffling dance track titled ¡°,¡± in August, and quickly found an audience on TikTok in his native Japan. It was not long after that it began gaining momentum in South Korea, too.
¡°Night Dancer¡± then morphed into something bigger: It entered South Korea¡¯s Melon Top 100 Song Chart in late February, becoming the first Japanese song to ever break into a ranking comparable to the Oricon Charts. This achievement led imase on a goodwill trip of sorts to the neighboring country, , and .
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