Danish star Christopher on his phenomenal success in Korea – and dreams of a BTS and BLACKPINK collab

Christopher live at KSPO Dome in Seoul. Credit: Zeus/Monza Music/Press [https://www.nme.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/christopher_korea_1.jpg]

Danish pop sensation Christopher has spoken to NME about his phenomenal success in Korea and China, and his plans for some huge K-pop collabs.

Christopher Lund Nissen first emerged in 2011 with impressive chart results in his native Denmark off the back of debut album ‘Colours’, slowly building momentum before his second album ‘Told You So’ saw his real breakthrough in 2014 thanks to huge single ‘CPH Girls’ – topping the charts both at home and on the other side of the world.

“I was 17-years-old when I wrote ‘Colours’, and it came out when I was 18,” he told NME. “The 10 songs on that album were the first 10 songs I’d ever written. It’s weird to listen back to it, because it feels like a lifetime ago. I remember people referencing me as ‘the Danish Justin Bieber’, and that happened with all the teenager hysteria. I supported Bieber at the national stadium in Denmark and it was just a ‘wow’ time – a lot of first time experiences.”

He continued: “It was 2014 when I released ‘CPH Girls’ and I had a Number One outside of Denmark in China. I remember my manager calling me and it was so surreal. We went to Beijing for the first time and it ended up being such an important time of my career. The last 10 years have been an insane journey for my music in Asia.”

Now 14 years, six albums, a successful Netflix documentary, and a massive new Griff collaboration later, Christopher finds himself as one of Warner Records’ biggest artists in Korea, having last month played to 15,000 fans at the KSPO Dome in Seoul.

Check out our full interview with Christopher below, where he explained how “surreal” it is to be so big in Korea while the rest of the world is obsessed with K-pop, the secrets to his success, dreams of big name collaborations, and hopes of breaking the rest of the world.

NME: Hello Christopher. How does being embraced by other cultures impact on your evolution as a songwriter and how you look at the world?

Christopher: “It’s made me more real. I never went into the studio thinking, ‘Let’s make a Number One in China or Korea’. I just wanted to do my thing. To see the music travel organically like that and just grow in what feels like a random market is crazy. Out of all places, when I went to Korea for the first time and heard them sing along to ‘Bad’ and I realised what a big hit that was there, that was like ‘What are the chances?’ It confirmed my feeling of just going with the flow and trusting my instincts. I don’t want to shove it down anyone’s throats.”

Playing to 15,000 fans in Seoul is pretty huge…

“That was one of the peaks of my career. I really enjoyed every second of it on that stage. To play for 15,000 people anywhere is huge, but to do it on the other side of the planet and to walk the streets of Seoul and feel like that is just really insane. I can’t believe it. It’s like landing on a different planet every time we’re out there. To feel that love and connection between the fans, my music and me is really overwhelming.”

What is it about what you do that has connected with fans in Korea?

“There is such a pop culture out there and they love pop music. My music fits like a glove for that market and fan culture, but it’s also very exotic with my blue eyes and blonde hair. Not a lot of western artists have been out there with boots on the ground.

“I was there every year, at times every six months, just doing promo and Youtube sketches. I’ve been building a relationship and story with the fans. That was a big part of why it just kept growing. I met some artists and did some cool collaborations too. It’s about really investing the time and building a strong bond.”

It must feel surreal that the rest of the world is obsessed with Korean culture while Korea is obsessed with you?

“The K-pop scene has been blowing up in Denmark, especially now with KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix. I’ve seen it coming slowly for the past 10 years. I knew nothing K-pop when I started releasing music out there and now it’s a global phenomenon. It is kind of weird.”

Christopher live at KSPO Dome in Seoul. Credit: Zeus/Monza Music/Press [https://www.nme.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/christopher_korea_2.jpg]Christopher live at KSPO Dome in Seoul. Credit: Zeus/Monza Music/Press

Does this mean fans can expect some huge K-pop collaborations from Christopher?

“I’m totally open to that. The next time I’m going to Seoul I’m going to write and to hook up with K-pop acts and really try to experiment with that. The success I’ve had in Korea with my music has really just been purely from doing my thing, but I want to experiment a little bit.

“I have so many dream collaborations that I would love: everyone from BLACKPINK, everyone from BTS. Most of them are going solo, so it would be my instinct to collab with one of them from one of the bigger boybands.”

Do you think you can break the US and the UK too?

“It comes down to the songs. If the song connects, that’s your way in. I’ve played some really cool shows in LA, New York and London. You can play to 500 people then come back, then 1000, then 1500, that’s the way it’s going for me right now. I’m slowly growing, but for a real break I need a song like what ‘Bad’ did for me in Korea.

“To understand, I need to go to the UK, write with UK writers who know the market really well. Everywhere is special with its own sound and vibe. If that connects with my music then awesome, but if it doesn’t then I’m not going to try to force my music to become something else or something that doesn’t feel right.”

You reached huge new audiences with your doc A Beautiful Life on Netflix too. What sets that apart from other documentaries?

“I just wanted to tell the story of a musician who’s going on a world tour, having two kids at home and leaving the family behind. It’s about the struggle and the sacrifices in order to live that dream. It’s about two almost opposite directed lives: being a father and living that tour life. It’s so hard to get those two to synchronise. I feel like I wanted to give people a true, raw, authentic look into my life and what it looks like.

“Most people look at Instagram and see thousands of people screaming, the red carpets and stuff. There’s so much more to it. What I really wanted to showcase was that it takes so much serious hard work and there’s so much going on behind the scenes.”

Did that inspire your recent album ‘Fools Gold’ too?

“It’s more of mature record – it’s almost like a diary from me of the past two years. Being on this world tour, making this choice of leaving the family behind, of chasing the dream and not knowing if I’m chasing fools gold or if it’s really gold. Being at that point of it not being that fun any more, while achieving all these great things. I don’t really feel it. In the end I was kind of numb and it didn’t feel at all like I expected it to, then coming home and realising, ‘Ah shit, I’ve been missing out on so much’. It’s a very honest record, it’s a little bit darker lyrically than what I’ve written about before, and it’s a bit more mellow. I was living it.”

Christopher live at KSPO Dome in Seoul. Credit: Zeus/Monza Music/Press [https://www.nme.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/christopher_korea_4.jpg]Christopher live at KSPO Dome in Seoul. Credit: Zeus/Monza Music/Press

‘Fools Gold’ by Christopher is out now on EMI Denmark and Warner Music Korea.

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