The 2025 Video Music Awards (VMAs) made history, as APT., sung by Rosé and Bruno Mars, won Song of The Year. This makes Rosé the first ever K-pop artist to win this prestigious award, marking a new chapter for the K-pop industry.
Before Rosé and Bruno Mars published the now Song of the Year, K-pop popularity was limited to Asian countries. Although pop music from South Korea was trending, it was unable to break into the United States popular music scene. However, that trend started to change after the debut of BLACKPINK. BLACKPINK is an all girl group from South Korea who started their activities in 2016. Currently, BLACKPINK's official Instagram account has about 58,700,000 fans. The four members of BLACKPINK, Jennie Kim, Lisa, Jisoo Kim, and Rosé, recently started their solo music journeys, leaving a significant impact on their already expanding influence. The solo song from Jennie Kim, “Like Jennie”, and “Born Again” by Lisa took the world by storm, with Rosé’s collaboration with Bruno Mars pushing the influence of K-pop to its peak.
Breaking numerous records, APT. is the first music video by an Asian artist to reach a billion views on Youtube; the longest charting K-pop song by a female artist on the Billboard Hot 100; and of course, the first K-pop artist to win the VMAs Song of The Year. With no music teasers or any form of advertising for the song, it’s clear how influential and great this piece of music is.
Behind all the glory that she achieved, the story behind the production of APT. is soul-touching. APT. is based on a traditional game from South Korea; a game which people play during drinking activities. Rosé likes to play it with her friends, and this inspired the song APT. From the get go, Rosé worked hard to acquire a collaboration with Bruno Mars. She didn’t expect Bruno Mars would accept her offer, but she still sent a short sample to his company. Later, Rosé was shocked to learn he thoroughly enjoyed her sample, and expressed interest in working with Rosé. In a way, this song, which began in a game of friendship, yielded a new and highly successful companionship between the two artists.
For Rosé, this award is incredibly meaningful. In her acceptance speech, besides mentioning her group members from BLACKPINK and Bruno Mars, she thanked herself at sixteen. She said, “This is a really big moment for sixteen-year-old me and anyone else who has dreamed of being accepted equally for their hard work.” Rosé has been setting a model for all teenagers to chase their dreams, no matter what. To be who they want to be, and continue working hard.