Stray Kids’ Changbin Makes History at TOTY Music Awards 2021

In October 2021, Changbin teamed up with Thai rappers F.HERO and MILLI on a heavy hip-hop song titled “Mirror Mirror.” The single chalked up great success on various charts and earned the artists the T-Pop of the Year (TOTY) Music Award for Best Collaboration on February 28. The award marks Changbin’s first solo award and makes him the first Korean act to win the TOTY Music Awards. While Changbin could not attend the event, F.HERO and MILLI received the trophy, giving Changbin a shout-out at the end of their speech.

Best Collaboration of The Year 

Five songs were in contention for the Best Collaboration award, including “MONEY HONEY” by F.HERO, URBOYTJ, and MINNIE of Korean pop girl group (G)I-DLE. Thai acts such as SPRITE, MAIYARAP, and SARAN also earned nominations in the category. 

The Best Collaboration category was one of eight categories determined by streams and votes on the T-POP Application. The breakdown is as follows, 40% of the votes from the T-POP app, 35% from total streams on YouTube, and 25% from streams on Spotify. The criteria also applied to categories such as “Best OST,” “Best Rookie,” “Best Music of The Year,” and more.

A Groundbreaking Collaboration 

Released on 20 October, “Mirror Mirror” has enjoyed massive success. It peaked at number 14 on the Worldwide iTunes Song Chart and number 38 on the European iTunes Song Chart. It entered the Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart, debuting at number 19. Genius Korea ranked it the second Top K-Hip-Hop Song on the 2021 Year-End Genius Korea Chart. Adding to its accolades, “Mirror Mirror” was crowned “Music of the Week” for four consecutive weeks on the T-POP Weekly Chart. 

Following the release of its music video on October 28, “Mirror Mirror” went viral on TikTok. It featured in over 31,000 videos accumulating over one million views on the platform. The music video also garnered 55 million views in four months and is one of the most viewed videos on the High Cloud Entertainment YouTube channel. 

A Musical Genius 

Seo Changbin has made a name for himself as an elite songwriter, producer, and one of the fastest rappers in K-pop. Changbin has displayed his lyricism, contributing to several Stray Kids and 3RACHA songs, including “Thunderous,” “God’s Menu, and “Side Effects.” He has also participated in writing the lyrics for collaborations such as “Mirror Mirror,” “Just Breathe with SKY-HI,” and “You Like The Wind with Yoon Jisung,” which was his first solo collaboration. 

Earlier this year, Changbin was ranked number 20 on the Top 100 most copyrighted K-pop idol list by the Korea Music Copyright Association. With 102 songs to his name, he is the second most credited fourth-generation idol on KOMCA.

New Projects for the Award-Winning Trio 

Coming off a successful collaboration in 2021, F.HERO, MILLI, and Changbin have no intentions of slowing down in 2022. F.HERO teamed up with GOT7 member Bambam for their second collaboration titled “Skrrt,” which features YOUNGOHM. Similarly, MILLI joined forces with Thai duo mints on the single “17 mins.” Changbin, on the other hand, is gearing up for Stray Kids’ comeback on March 18. The Korean boy group will be releasing ODDINARY, with the title track “Maniac.” 

Want more Stray Kids? Check out 3RACHA’s return here.