This year’s ROUND Festival celebrates the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Malaysia and will be held in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, the 2025 ASEAN Chair. ASEAN music fans are responding more enthusiastically than ever to the news of the ‘2025 ROUND in Malaysia’.
The lineup of musicians representing Korea includes Paul Kim, the emotional craftsman known as the K-drama OST king and a strong fandom in the ASEAN region; Touched, who has established himself as a trend in the domestic indie scene by moving audiences with their intense band sound; and Dragon Pony, who has been gaining attention as the best rookie in the K-band scene since their debut. The host of this concert is Paul Kim, who has already sold out tickets in Thailand, Japan, and Indonesia through his Asian tour. As soon as news spread that he, who already has a strong fandom through K-drama OSTs, would be visiting Malaysia, heated anticipation continued on SNS with comments such as “Thank you for bringing him to Malaysia!”
And, the news that girl group DOLLA, representing Malaysia’s MZ culture and receiving love calls from various brands, and boy group 1st One, a popular group symbolizing the Philippines’ infinite global potential, will be joining the lineup is receiving enthusiastic online feedback from fandoms in those countries as well as ASEAN. In particular, the feed announcing the appearance of musician Tep Boprek, who is called the ‘Khmer Goddess’ and has absolute influence in the Cambodian pop music scene, received an explosive response such as about 460,000 views, about 7,000 ‘likes’, and hundreds of mentions (based on the official Round Festival Instagram) as soon as it was uploaded, leading to an explosion of inquiries about tickets.
The earthquake that occurred in Myanmar last March caused a lot of casualties and property damage, and left great sorrow and pain in Myanmar, Thailand, and the ASEAN region. KBS WORLD delivered a message of comfort and hope to those who suffered through the official Round account and announced that they are preparing this concert to be a meaningful performance that will resonate with everyone through the healing and comforting power of music, beyond a simple performance.
In the Philippines, 1st One, a group representing the P-POP scene that proved their global influence by topping the Billboard Hot Trending Songs chart with “Shout Out” (the second record for a Filipino artist after SB19), will participate. Tep Boprek, who has a unique musical world that combines traditional elements with various contemporary music such as hip-hop and rap, is also worth looking forward to. She is preparing a unique fusion hip-hop performance, and as she has presented an artistic performance that promotes the beauty of Khmer culture rather than just a simple stage, as a Cambodian cultural icon, this festival will also feature a special stage that embraces both tradition and modernity.
The main characters who drew the enthusiastic response were the musicians of the host country, Malaysia. DOLLA, who is evaluated as a phenomenon that embodies the spirit of the younger generation in the current Malaysian music scene with powerful performances, addictive music, and fresh and trendy charm, and Marsha Milan, the ‘Malaysian OST Queen’ who showed her presence to music fans around the world by singing the Malay version of ‘Let it Go’, the theme song of Disney animation ‘Frozen’, will participate and showcase Malaysia’s musical capabilities throughout ASEAN.
Other ASEAN artists confirmed to participate include The PUJANGGAS (Brunei), Yan Josua (Indonesia), Marsha Milan (Malaysia), He’ Lay (Myanmar), YUNG RAJA (Singapore), RETROSPECT (Thailand), and MinhTốc & #Lam (Vietnam).