Thailand has two new K-pop stars, and they’re both 15

If you watched the Thai dub of Frozen 2, you’ve already heard RADA sing. She voiced young Anna. Today the 15-year-old is main vocalist in A2O LITE, a nine-member girl group from A2O Entertainment, the label run by SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man. She’s also its sole Thai member.

A2O LITE waste no time. Their single ‘NEON’ reaches the top of Melon’s Top 100 just 29 hours after its October 13 release, the fastest climb for a rookie act since the chart’s 2021 revamp. It also hits number one on Bugs. Not bad for a line-up with an average age of 15.

None of this comes out of nowhere. RADA began singing lessons at four, plays piano and, aged ten, won the Young Singers classical category at the American Protégé International Vocal Competition, earning a spot at the winners’ recital in Carnegie Hall.

ALURE’s story sounds familiar. Born Issara Chaisiri in 2011, he played Song in the 2023 film Bad Boyz Band, voiced little Antonio in the Thai version of Encanto and sang in stage musicals such as Si Phaendin. Now he’s the only Thai face in A2O SOUL, a 15-member boy band sharing a sci-fi backstory with A2O LITE.

The two groups shared the stage at a joint showcase in Goyang, just outside Seoul, on October 12. A2O SOUL released ‘SUPERSTAR’ the next day, and by October 15 the boys were performing it on Mnet’s M Countdown.

Two teens from Thailand, two new groups, one very good week.