FT Island

When it comes to Korea, it's easy to think that every single artistic talent in the country is in some way involved in the K-pop musical-industrial complex. But, thankfully, there are a handful of bona fide acts that don't need to restrict themselves to the conventionally accepted image of Asian pop idols. Most notable of these is arguably Korea's most famous rock band, FT Island, who arrive in Hong KOng on January 21, bringing instrumental talent, songwriting prowess and just full-on rocking stage performance with them.

Ever since forming in 2007, in the same year as other KOrean music icons like GIrls' Generation and Wonder Girls, they've stolen the hearts of K-music fans. They hit the ground running with their first album, Cheerful Sensibility, which was the sixth best selling album of the year, beating out both aforementioned groups.

The quintet have gone from strength to strength over the past decade, displaying a wide range of styles that blend into every piece of work they put together. Leaning towards ballads and poppy hits in their early years, they evolved into a defining pop-rock blend in 2011 with their third album, Cross & Change until eventually, they finally adopted a full-on Asian rock - almost nu-metal - sound for 2015's I Will and last year's Where's the Truth?


Lee Hong-gi, Lee Jae-jin, Choi Jong-hoon, Song Seung-hyun and Choi Min-hwan arrive in Hong Kong in the wake of last year's album and are raring to go when it comes to rocking AsiaWorld-Expo. Expect an upbeat show from these Korean greats but also expect some rock sounds that should get you dancing like a, well, K-pop star. Josiah Ng