This K-Pop Cover Crew is Going on the GRID
Cheers erupted in SCAPE’s Ground Theatre on 29th of June, when the champion of this year’s Dance Dance Hallyu (DDH) was announced. Eight dancers clad in red and black rushed on stage, jumping in excitement, overwhelmed by the emotions of winning their first competition together.
It was a day to remember for the members of the K-Pop dance cover crew, GRID, who are set to represent Singapore in the 2024 Changwon K-POP World Festival in October.
DDH is the preliminary round of the Changwon K-POP World Festival and the top three emerging teams will have the opportunity to represent Singapore to compete with other K-Pop cover crews internationally.
24-year-old student, Chan Jing Jie, was probably the happiest person in that theatre that day. “When I heard our name being announced, I was honestly just speechless. It was a mix of emotions for me. I was very proud of my guys who pushed through everything,” said Jing Jie, who started GRID in March this year with the aim of building a team that is united by their love for dance.
Where did GRID come from and who is this dance crew that has taken over the local K-Pop dance scene?
GRID’s founder, Jing Jie, was someone who was waiting for opportunities to come his way. However, after winning “Seoul Groovy”, a local K-Pop dance competition, with his friends, he decided to take the first step to create a platform for himself.
“I believe that dance is not all about cleanliness. Ultimately it’s the stage presence. It has to radiate a certain energy in my opinion, so I wanted to unite the dancers that feel the same way,” Jing Jie explained, clarifying that “cleanliness” means how synchronised all the dancers are in a set.
Seated in a quieter corner of the basement of Singapore Management University (SMU), where GRID usually holds their practice sessions, Jing Jie told me about the story behind GRID.
It had always been his dream to form an all-male team that specialises in doing boy group covers and thus began GRID.
“It wasn’t easy since everyone was busy,” Jing Jie recalled, talking about the early days. “But in the end, I got seven of my guys, and we ended up doing Ateez’s Halazia. I think it all worked out in the end because Ateez’s dance is very expressive and fits our team’s concept too.”
GRID’s debut cover of boy group Ateez’s Halazia perfectly reflects Jing Jie’s vision. Halazia tells the story of the octet’s journey of bringing hope into a dystopian world void of expression and emotion. The song’s narrative aligns perfectly with GRID’s aim to bring back the true essence of dance into the community.
Next to other popular local outfits like Z-Axis and ODDream, GRID is readily climbing the ranks to join them as the most subscribed K-Pop dance crews on YouTube in Singapore. In just three months, GRID has gained over 2,000 subscribers on YouTube. Their highest-viewed video, a cover of Taemin’s Advice, reached 25 thousand views in just two weeks.
What is the secret recipe to gaining views and followers, one may ask? According to Jing Jie, it is the holy trinity – song choice, filming location and, of course, quality of dance.
“There are some things that we just can’t compromise on. For GRID, the dance quality is definitely our top priority,” he proclaimed. “But there are other things like how popular the song we are dancing to is, where we film, and the camera work that I cannot deny, also contribute to how well a cover video does.”
The Marina Bay Sands (MBS) boardwalk is where GRID films most of their dance covers. The open area outside the MBS Shoppes is an extremely popular place in Singapore to film dance covers at.
“We filmed our Undercover cover outside Cathay once for a collaboration we had with a local busker, and the comment section of that video was filled with viewers asking us to go back to where we usually film, which is MBS,” he said with a laugh. “I guess it’s just a familiar backdrop for the viewers. They’re more likely to watch the video if they see the MBS skyline.”
Song choice, however, plays the biggest part in attracting viewers. “Fans want to see a good quality cover of a trending song, so catching that peak period to post covers contributes a lot to how well our videos do,” Jing Jie shared. GRID was among the first few cover groups in the world to cover boy group NCT DREAM’s Smoothie.
The dance cover video was released on 9 April, just shy of two weeks after the song’s release, and has over 23 thousand views to date.
What’s next for this upcoming cover crew? Jing Jie said no matter what, GRID’s goal will remain the same – to build a community to encourage and recognise fellow boy group dancers.
“We have a lot of projects lined up and I hope that with GRID and K-pop, we can spread the love for dance to more people,” he said. “We’ll continue to work hard and build our community with what we do best, which is dance.”
