K-pop and EDM have never felt more intertwined. Festival DJs are dropping K-pop tracks on mainstages, K-pop stars are increasingly experimenting with electronic music, and the line between the two fan communities is getting blurrier by the year. Electrik Seoul founder Nino Lee saw that crossover coming and built a nightlife brand around it.
Lee was born in Korea and later found EDM and festival culture in the United States. He created Electrik Seoul as a place where those two sides of his identity could meet. What started as an experiment has grown into sold-out shows, events in multiple cities, festival appearances, artist collaborations, and partnerships with Korean brands like Nongshim.
We talked with Lee about the rise of K-pop in dance music, bringing Korean culture into American nightlife, why Hyoyeon from Girls Generation is such a natural fit to headline Electrik Seoul events, his dream bookings, and what it would mean to eventually bring Electrik Seoul to Seoul.
Let’s jump in:
K-Snax: How did you come up with the idea for Electrik Seoul, and what was it like planning and producing your first Electrik Seoul event?
Lee: Electrik Seoul really came from my own identity and the two music worlds I loved. I was born in Korea, grew up across different cultures, and later found EDM and festival culture in the U.S. At the same time, Korean culture was always part of who I was. I started noticing that K-pop and EDM fans actually share a lot of the same energy. Both communities are passionate, expressive, and built around more than just music. It is about the full experience. The idea was simple in the beginning. I just wanted to create something where two of my worlds would collide. Planning the first Electrik Seoul was honestly exciting but also scary. I knew the idea made sense in my head, but I did not know if people would understand it right away. Once the first crowd showed up and I saw the fans dancing, singing, holding up the lightsticks, everything clicked. That was the moment I realized Electrik Seoul could become something bigger than one party.
K-Snax: Recently, there have been some major K-pop releases that would be dance music bangers without the vocals, including ILLIT’s “It’s Me”, Le Sserafim’s “Celebration, and BTS’ “FYA”. How do you feel when you hear a new K-pop song that sounds like it can be dropped on the mainstage?
Lee: I love them all. I do think K-pop always had a huge electronic influence from the start but they were never played at festival stages. It’s different now, you would see Porter Robinson dropping ILLIT tracks, Sara Landry dropping her remix of Celebration and Steve Aoki dropping BTS FYA. That is what makes K-pop so exciting right now. You can hear it anywhere you go. For Electrik Seoul, those songs are perfect because they already carry both sides of the energy too!
K-Snax: Hyoyeon has spent years moving between K-pop and electronic music. What made her feel like such a natural fit for Electrik Seoul?
Lee: Hyoyeon feels like such a natural fit because she represents both worlds so well. As a member of Girls’ Generation, she is part of one of the most important eras of K-pop. For so many fans, especially second-generation K-pop fans, she represents nostalgia, influence, and the foundation of why they fell in love with K-pop in the first place. But she has also built her own identity in dance music and DJ culture. She is not just a K-pop artist stepping into an EDM space for one moment. That is exactly what Electrik Seoul is about. We are trying to connect K-pop fandom with EDM culture in a way that feels authentic. HYO naturally lives in that space, so having her be part of Electrik Seoul felt like a full-circle moment.
K-Snax: For Asian fans who may not have always seen themselves represented in American nightlife, what do you hope it feels like to walk into an Electrik Seoul event?
Lee: I hope it feels like they are seen. With Electrik Seoul, I wanted to create a space where everyone can walk in and be themselves and feel proud. At the same time, I do not want Electrik Seoul to feel exclusive. The goal is to make everyone feel welcome.
K-Snax: What have been the highlights of your Electrik Seoul journey so far?
Lee: There have been so many highlights, but the biggest one is seeing how quickly the community understood the vision. The first sold-out show was definitely special because it proved that this idea had a real audience. But after that, seeing Electrik Seoul grow into different cities, larger venues, festival stages, and official collaborations has been incredible.
K-Snax: Shin Ramyun and Banana Kick have long been two of our favorite pre- and post-festival snakcs. How did your collab with Nongshim come about, and what can we expect from you and Nongshim in the future?
Lee: The Nongshim collaboration felt very natural because Shin Ramyun and Banana Kick already live in the same world as our fans.
For a lot of Asian and Korean fans, these are not just snacks. They are nostalgic, familiar, and connected to real memories. It can be late nights, camping, home, or comfort food. Afterparties, That fits perfectly with Electrik Seoul because our brand is also built around culture, memory, music, and community.
The collaboration came from wanting to bring something authentic into the event experience. We did not want it to feel like a random brand activation. We wanted it to feel like something fans would actually be excited about because it already belongs in their lives.
With Nongshim, I think there is a lot of opportunity to keep building around that shared culture, fun event moments, fan experiences, sampling, content, and maybe even more creative ways to connect food, music, and nightlife.
For us, the goal is always to make Electrik Seoul feel bigger than just the music. If people can leave with a great memory, a new song they love, a new friend, and maybe a snack that makes them smile, that is the kind of experience we want to create.
K-Snax: Who are your dream bookings for Electrik Seoul?
Lee: My dream bookings are artists who are open to crossing two worlds.
Of course, there are so many K-pop artists I would love to work with. But beyond specific names, I am really interested in artists who want to experiment. I would love to see more K-pop artists DJ, perform festival versions of their songs, or collaborate with EDM producers in a way fans have never experienced before.
On the EDM side, I would love to continue bringing in DJs who are willing to understand K-pop beyond just one viral song. DJs who can create thoughtful mashups, remixes, and moments that respect the fandom while also pushing the sound forward.
K-Snax: You‘ve talked about eventually bringing Electrik Seoul to Asia. What would it mean to bring the event to Seoul, and do you think a Korean audience would experience it differently from an American audience?
Lee: Bringing Electrik Seoul to Seoul would mean a lot to me personally.
Because I was born in Korea, the name Electrik Seoul was never just a name. Seoul represents where I come from, and “Electrik” represents the energy and culture I discovered through EDM. Bringing the event back to Seoul would feel like closing the loop between those two parts of my life.
I do think Korean audiences might experience it differently from American audiences. In the U.S., Electrik Seoul often feels like a bridge for fans who are discovering K-pop and EDM together. In Korea, K-pop is already part of the cultural foundation, so the experience might be more about reimagining something familiar in a new setting.
K-Snax: Since we’re K-Snax, we have to ask: what are your favorite Asian snacks?
Lee: This is probably the hardest question because there are too many.
Jin Ramen, Shrimp Chips, Homerun Ball are probably my top favorites.
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