K-pop's TXT, GOT7's Jackson Wang and K-drama actor Lee Jung-jae dominate GQ Awards
With the continuous influence of the Hallyu Wave all over the world, it is no surprise that South Korea is entering and taking over every field. From technology to culture, the country has a strong sway in every element. In fact, their K-pop industry is the fourth largest music industry and single-handedly brought in more than $5 billion in the last year. The South Korean film and drama industry is also witnessing a global boom period with popular K-dramas like ‘Squid Game’ and the Oscar-winning film ‘Parasite.’ The latest in worldwide recognition is the way K-pop artists like TXT and GOT7’s Jackson including actor Lee Jung-jae took over the 2021 GQ Awards.
With GQ having several branches all over the world, we had different editions of their annual GQ Awards. In China’s annual ‘GQ Men Of The Year’ event, we had Jackson Wang representing K-pop. The Hong Kong-born artist and entrepreneur is part of the K-pop group GOT7 and is a solo artist too. He was invited to the Chinese award show on November 16 where he was honoured. It was announced that Jackson had been awarded the ‘GQ All-round Artist of the Year’ award. At the same time, he also made a fashion statement in his orange suit and sported a watch as a pendant.
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TXT at GQ Japan
Following Jackson’s big night, we had TXT impressing fans and non-fans alike at the Japanese edition of GQ. The K-pop group came back with their first Japanese EP ‘Chaotic Wonderland’ on November 10 with the title track ‘Ito’. The album did well as it topped Japan’s Oricon and Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums Chart. TXT has also topped with five albums consecutively on the Oricon Weekly Album Chart making them the second foreign artist to do so following their labelmates, BTS. With their impact in Japan with Japanese and Korean albums, it is no wonder that they had an eventful night at GQ Japan’s ceremony.
Lee Jung-jae at GQ Korea
On November 22, it was announced that TXT had been honored with the ‘Men Of The Year Pop Icon’ award at Japan’s GQ Awards 2021. They were also mentioned in GQ Japan’s list ‘Men of the Year’ list alongside influential Japanese personalities and are on the cover of the magazine’s January 2022 edition. We also saw movie star Lee Jung-jae dominating GQ Korea. Known for his roles in ‘The Thieves’ and ‘Along With The Gods’, he gained worldwide fame with his lead role in the global phenomena ‘Squid Game’. Following his participation in the Netflix original K-drama, he has been invited to international film festivals and award shows and now has been honored in his own country. GQ Korea chose him for the ‘Man of the Year’ award for 2021.