--- title: EXO, Kpop Bands Steal the Show at Olympics Closing Ceremony description: K-pop bands like EXO and CL wowed with Olympics closing ceremony performances in PyeongChang. K-pop fans went crazy for the performances. canonical: https://time.com/5174898/olympics-closing-ceremonies-k-pop-performers/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-26T02:25:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-15T18:28:30.000Z og:title: K-Pop Fans Went Crazy Over the Olympics Closing Ceremony og:description: EXO and CL performed og:url: https://time.com/5174898/olympics-closing-ceremonies-k-pop-performers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1973566c7b6afc94/698928df4ee2627e5b311021/exo-closing-ceremony.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5472 og:image:height: 3078 og:image:alt: 2018 Winter Olympic Games - Closing Ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: K-Pop Fans Went Crazy Over the Olympics Closing Ceremony twitter:description: EXO and CL performed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1973566c7b6afc94/698928df4ee2627e5b311021/exo-closing-ceremony.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Very Passionate K-Pop Fans Inevitably Lost It Over the Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony Performances > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: K-Pop's Next Act [Watch (HLS stream): K-Pop's Next Act](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2ukAz9Fl.m3u8) (6:04)  _Published 2016-10-31. Riding off the success of Korean pop, artists CL, Dean and Eric Nam have their eyes set on the U.S. music industry_  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Jan 15, 2026 6:28 PM UTCPublished: Feb 26, 2018 2:25 AM UTC  Band EXO perform during the Closing Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Band EXO perform during the Closing Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Maddie Meyer—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Jan 15, 2026 6:28 PM UTCPublished: Feb 26, 2018 2:25 AM UTC Sunday’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics closing ceremony brought plenty of pomp and circumstance — but for many K-pop fans, it was all about closing ceremony performers EXO and CL. [K-pop](http://time.com/5124176/best-k-pop-artists/) — the umbrella term for the music churned out by South Korea’s music-making factories — attracts a rabid fanbase in general, but boy band EXO consistently breaks records for its sold-out shows and hugely popular albums. EXO members’ ever-changing hairstyles and alien alter-egos, each with a different superhero, only add to the mystique. It’s no surprise, then, that fans went a little crazy over the group’s K-pop performance at the closing ceremony. Fans worldwide tweeted about EXO eight million times in just four hours, [according to the head of social media for the International Olympic Committee](https://twitter.com/alexhuot/status/967820762995335171), and many of them were bursting with enthusiasm. > [](https://twitter.com/sehunfanboy/status/967738555253407745) > [](https://twitter.com/XIUKDT/status/967737407331160069) > [](https://twitter.com/Dena%5FVang/status/967958779538169857) > [](https://twitter.com/mom%5Fexo/status/967856326884732928) > [](https://twitter.com/swxggytea/status/967925216272896002) K-pop star CL, formerly of the girl group 2NE1, also got plenty of love for her closing ceremony performance, singing hits like “The Baddest Female” and “I Am the Best.” > [](https://twitter.com/Exo%5FGsD/status/967769736250580992) > [](https://twitter.com/ninjaLim4/status/967751157622845445) > [](https://twitter.com/NetizenDrama/status/967768255237681152) > [](https://twitter.com/EmiliaKarkela/status/967747770848333825) ## Transcript For the people who don't know who CL is, what is your career, who are you, and what are you doing here? [ MUSIC ] America's introduction to K- Pop was via Psy, Gangnam Style. [ MUSIC ] That was 2012 and since then K- Pop has grown in much more substantial and significant ways. [ MUSIC ] [ UNKNOWN ] Hiphop stars are touring America more than ever where seen the fandalists are a much more substantial in growing. What is it gonna take for an Asian start breakthrough in musically. That's I think the interesting question. [ NOISE ] A dear friend of mine about to make her They fired main hero giving up for. [ MUSIC ] My name is [ UNKNOWN ] and I come from [ UNKNOWN ]. I'm a performer artist, musician. I'm in a band called 2NE1. [ MUSIC ] She's like the Nicki Minaj of that world which is the coolest artist to work with, I think. Right now I'm working on my solo album in America You know sitting on it's own, maybe just the creation process. The first thing that we're actually going to do is pretty simple, is just recite the lyrics to [ UNKNOWN ] The whole thing? I got myself a 40. I got myself a shorty. [ MUSIC ] And she is very [ UNKNOWN ] I didn't see [ UNKNOWN ] doing the right way because she is coming to the right channel so, she is like getting new friends and also developing what is putting around [ UNKNOWN ] record. Do talk shows and then people forget about her she's developing and gaining fans from the ground up. [ MUSIC ] Me coming to US is not that different because To me being creative is expressing myself and i've been doing that for a long time and the only deference would be that i'm singing in English now. [ MUSIC ] There's no Asian artist on a music scene really that is a very small Club that is deciding that is deciding who is in, who's out. Tons of gatekeepers and what not. It's almost easier for an asian star to pick up and leave America and go to Korea where their kind of guaranteed the sort of interest and fame. [ MUSIC ] My names Eric. Eric Nam working based out of Seoul but originally from Atlanta. [ MUSIC ] Growing up in the states you don't have any Asian American or Asian faces doing music here. And so I never thought it was possible and so I always thought to myself I guess I have to go to Korea if I ever want to do music. Photo time. The goal and the dream would be to cross over into the States. That would be the coolest thing, it would be a dream come true. To be able to perform in what I consider to be my first home, in my native language and in front of my friends and family, we're all here. Korea's had its eye on America for a couple of years now, and I think there's been a lot of interesting experiments. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] Dean is so interesting too because I think he's really quick to distance himself from the k pop world. He's Coming up strictly on his own terms and releasing the videos when he wants and you know, getting the right people that will ensure people are talking about him. [ MUSIC ] It isn't just money wise, it's about taking it to that next level and trying to represent something larger. Someone like CL, that's what I think really burns her and really ignites the passion I feel like there's not one pop star. Like, no one female pop star that's representing all the girls that's living out here. I want to represent, you know, Asian girls. To be honest, the challenge is that America is a huge country with many different cultures and many talented artists. [ FOREIGN ] Race kinda just has to drop out of the picture. The music just has to be really good. It has to be something that people want to connect with and dance to and sing along with. An Asian star will be a success when you see everyone copying their route. Cuz all it takes This is what ? >> What I need right now for me to make it here is, it's a matter of time [ LAUGH ]. 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