New boy band Teen Top wooed overseas upon debut

New Korean boy band Teen Top, who made their local debut over the weekend, appears to be already getting wooed overseas by fans and music agencies alike.

Mnet Japan, the overseas branch of Korea's major cable music channel Mnet, announced on Monday that they have signed a deal to promote Korea's newest idol group creation who performed their debut single "Clap" on MBC's televised music show "Show! Music Central" on Saturday.

"Japanese fans have had huge interest in Teen Top even before they debuted and we received a lot of interview requests from various media outlets," explained the chief marketing director of Mnet Japan. "After we saw their debut performance, we thought they had a shot at breaking into the Japanese market so we signed with them."

Mnet Japan added that it will support Teen Top in making their debut in the country and will soon start setting up an official fan club in Japan.

Fans of the six-man band are said to have already set up their own fan clubs throughout Asia including in China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand, while requests for fan meetings have reportedly come in from Malaysia and Thailand as well.

Even the members of the group expressed surprise at their fan base, saying "It has only been a day since we made our debut and gave our first performance… It is surprising and amazing that we already have fans overseas."

Teen Top — composed of members C.A.P, Niel, Ricky, L.Joe, Changjo and Chunji – was created and trained by Andy Lee of former boy band Shinhwa. The group released their debut album "Come Into The World" on July 9.

The band's entire pre-debut process, from auditions to training sessions, will air on U.S. MTV show "Vice Guide to Everything" in September.

Reporter : Yun Tae-hui th20022@
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@
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