Can Southeast Asian artists replicate K-pop’s global success with SEA-pop?

At Tower Records in Tokyo’s Shibuya district earlier this month, fans flocked to a pop-up store set up for Filipino boy band SB19, buying exclusive merchandise including limited-edition CDs, T-shirts, stickers and phone straps.Due to overwhelming demand, the store ran for an additional five days. During the band’s tour in Japan, SB19 met fans in Yokohama and performed in Tokyo and Osaka during the Summer Sonic festival. Another Philippine act, the eight-member girl group BINI, made their debut at the music event.In July, SB19 performed at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago for the first time, while in April, they played a sold-out home concert in the city of Paranaque, drawing almost 100,000 local and international fans, including from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and Germany. BINI also made history in April during their inaugural performance at the Coachella festival in California.