This week, LE SSERAFIM released the official music video for "BOOMPALA (feat. GURU RANDHAWA)," a new version of their May single featuring new verses from the Punjabi pop star, as well as elements like the word "namaste" and yoga-inspired choreography. The track was released by Source Music, a subsidiary of HYBE.
This is the most notable collaboration between a K-pop artist and an Indian artist to date.
What is "BOOMPALA" and who is LE SSERAFIM?
«"BOOMPALA" is the lead single from the album LE SSERAFIM «"PUREFLOW", Pt. 1. The song was co-written by Justin Tranter (who also co-wrote KATSEYE's "Pinky Up" and Olivia Rodrigo's "Pretty Isn't Pretty"), Tom Bridges, "Hitman" Bang, and several other artists. Since its release, the song has accumulated over 18 million streams on Spotify.
LE SSERAFIM debuted in 2022 under Source Music and currently consists of five members: Kim Chaewon, Sakura, Heo Yunjin, Kazuha, and Hong Eunchae. The group has achieved significant international popularity among fourth-generation K-pop girl groups: their 2022 single "ANTIFRAGILE" has surpassed 713 million streams on Spotify, while "CRAZY" has surpassed 473 million. They write and produce music primarily in English, allowing them to consistently compete on Western charts.
Who is Guru Randhawa?
Punjabi-born Gursharanjot Singh Randhawa is among the most popular Indian artists of the last decade. A former MBA student, Randhawa performed at student events and released his debut single in 2013. His breakthrough came in 2015 with "Patola," a collaboration with rapper Bohemia, followed by commercial hits such as "High Rated Gabru" (2017), "Lahore" (2017), "Suit Suit," and "Ban Ja Rani.".
His track "Lahore" has garnered over a billion views on YouTube, making him one of the few Indian artists to achieve this milestone with a single track. In 2019, he was included in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list, and earlier that year, he entered the international market by collaborating with Pitbull on the song "Slowly Slowly." His music blends traditional Punjabi bhangra with contemporary pop.
Why Now: HYBE's Strategy in India
The collaboration with Guru Randhawa comes nine months after HYBE, the parent label group behind BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT, LE SSERAFIM and KATSEYE, officially opened HYBE India Entertainment Private Limited in Mumbai in September 2025, marking the company's fifth major international hub after Japan, the US, Latin America and China.
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The expansion was clearly outlined in the stated intentions. A HYBE representative described it as part of Chairman Bang Si-hyuk's "vision to export K-pop techniques" as part of a strategy to integrate local culture and characteristics. Nearly 185 million music streaming users in India make it the second-largest music streaming market in the world, a figure no label with global ambitions can ignore.
JYP Entertainment, the agency behind Stray Kids and TWICE, is also preparing to enter the Indian market (JYP was surprised by the applause it received at a Korea-India meeting earlier this year), making it the second major K-pop label after HYBE to do so. According to the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, K-pop streaming in India increased by 362 percent between 2018 and 2023.
K-Pop and Indian Music: A Brief History of Nearly Successful Crossovers.
Interest in the crossover between K-pop and Indian music was evident long before today's release.
In 2022, A.R. Rahman, an Oscar and Grammy award-winning composer, wrote the music for film "Slumdog Millionaire" »" — was photographed with BTS at the Grammy Awards, sparking widespread speculation about a collaboration that never materialized. More recently, Rahman was photographed in his Mumbai studio with Mame and Shosei of the Japanese pop group JO1, captioned "worlds unite" — again, without any confirmed release.
The all-female group KATSEYE, HYBE, and Geffen Records collaboration features Indian-American member Lara Raj, a move widely interpreted as a signal of the group's intention to expand into the South Asian market. Arijit Singh, currently the most-streamed artist on Spotify globally with 151 million subscribers, collaborated with Ed Sheeran in 2025 on a track that includes references to Shah Rukh Khan and «Baahubali» , demonstrating how blurred the lines between Indian and Western pop music have become.
Throughout this time, the infrastructure for sustainable collaboration between K-pop and Indian music has been developing. What was missing until now was a major K-pop label with a physical presence in India, a clear commercial viability, and an Indian artist with sufficient popularity among a wide audience to make this collaboration viable.
Le Sserafim's track "BOOMPALA (feat. GURU RANDHAWA)" is now available on all major streaming platforms.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com.