Akdong Musician

Akdong Musician (Korean: 악동뮤지션, also known as AKMU) is a South Korean music duo under YG Entertainment, consisting of siblings Lee Chanhyuk and Lee Suhyun. They won the second installment of the K-pop Star series.

Songs from the group's 2014 debut album Play have more than 6.1 million total downloads.

History

2012-2013: K-pop Star 2

Lee Chanhyuk and Lee Suhyun lived with their parents in Mongolia for almost two years before they returned to South Korea to pursue a career in the music industry. The siblings, under the name Akdong Musician, became part of the Proteurment agency. Under the company, they did several stage performances and even released an original song called "Galaxy", which was later used as a soundtrack for a Samsung Galaxy S4 commercial.

In August 2012, the duo participated in the preliminary auditions of K-pop Star 2, which were held at Jamsil Arena in Seoul. They passed their audition, and in the show's first round they sang a cover of Miss A's "Breathe" and an original song titled "Don't Cross Your Legs", to praise from all three judges. Park Jin-young, founder and CEO of JYP Entertainment, praised the chemistry between the siblings and the techniques they had incorporated in their performances. Singer and representative of SM Entertainment BoA highlighted and praised the lyrics of their original song, while Yang Hyun-suk, founder and CEO of YG Entertainment, described them as "true artists" among the people who had auditioned for the show. The duo continued to receive positive responses from the judges, until after their second performance in the third round. The judges pointed out that their lack of confidence was the main reason behind their lukewarm performances in the succeeding rounds. In spite of this, they eventually won the competition.