When Rose and Bruno Mars' "Apt." became a global hit last year, millions of listeners around the world found themselves singing along to a phrase they did not fully understand.To many Koreans, however, the song's central hook required no explanation. It was a chant used in a popular Korean drinking game played at university orientations, company dinners and late-night gatherings with friends.The song’s success sparked an unexpected question in Sweden.If a Korean drinking-game chant could become a K-pop hit, what would the Swedish equivalent sound like?That question led Swedish songwriters Ludwig Lindell, Adrian Enegard and Hugo Andersson to “Helan Gar,” an old Swedish drinking song traditionally sung before taking a shot of snaps, a strong Scandinavian spirit commonly consumed during midsummer celebrations, student gatherings and holiday meals. "Helan Går" - Swedish Drinking Song "Helan Gar" is an old Swedish drinking song often sung before drinking a shot of snaps, a strong Scandinavian spirit commonly consumed during holidays and special gatherings. The trio took the tune and reimagined it as a K-pop track, resulting in "Hypeman," a song released by JYP Entertainment boy group Nexz. NEXZ(넥스지) "HYPEMAN" M/V "Hypeman" samples a Swedish drinking song called "Helan Gar." "We did a very chaotic Korean version," Andersson told Swedish broadcaster SVT."K-pop has really become a huge market, which is exciting," he added. "Songwriters have the freedom to experiment with all kinds of different songs." Swedish songwriter Hugo Andersson (left) was among the songwriters behind Nexz's "Hypeman," which reimagines a traditional Swedish drinking song after some inspiration from Rose and Bruno Mars' "Apt." (SVT, JYP Entertainment) The journey from a Korean drinking game to a Swedish drinking song and back into K-pop reflects one of the genre's defining characteristics: its ability to absorb ideas from different cultures and repackage them for a global audience.A cultural memoryA Korean drinking game inspiring a Swedish drinking song may sound unusual, but music critic Lim Hee-yun argues that it is a natural byproduct of how K-pop is made.Many K-pop tracks emerge from collaborative songwriting camps that bring together producers and writers from different countries. In those settings, creators freely exchange melodies, ideas and cultural references from their own backgrounds, Lim explained.“People often create together almost as if they’re playing,” he said. “Because K-pop is such an open genre, a wide range of ideas can be tried.”Swedish songwriters, in particular, have long played a significant role in K-pop, Lim added. He recalled meeting some of them in Stockholm nearly a decade ago, including one who worked on Red Velvet's "Red Flavor." According to Lim, the songwriter told him that the song's signature hook originated from an improvised "weh weh weh" sound he made while eating cereal at the office one morning.What may make Swedish songwriters a natural fit for K-pop, Lim suggested, is that both place a premium on energy, participation and memorable hooks.K-pop often favors songs that are immediately engaging and easy for audiences to sing along to. Sweden, meanwhile, has a long tradition of communal music cultures such as "dansband" — a genre built around simple, cheerful songs performed in social settings where people eat, drink and sing together."Sweden has a well-developed drinking-song culture," Lim said.Viewed through that lens, the appearance of "Helan Gar" in a K-pop song may be unusual, but not entirely surprising.K-pop's long history with cultural exchangeK-pop itself emerged through cultural exchange. In the early 1990s, Seo Taiji and Boys, widely regarded as the pioneers of modern K-pop, blended Korean popular music with American hip-hop, rap and dance music. Over the following decades, producers continued drawing inspiration from genres and traditions around the world, from R&B and European electronic music to rock and classical compositions.Some examples include the use of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" in first-generation boy group H.O.T's "Hope" and Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" in fellow first-generation group Shinhwa's "T.O.P." H.O.T - 빛 (Hope) H.O.T's song "Hope" sampled Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." SHINHWA - T.O.P.(Twinkle Of Paradise), 신화 - 티오피, Music Camp 19990619 Shinhwa's song "T.O.P." sampled Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake." More recently, listeners have pointed to Johann Sebastian Bach's influence in Meovv's "Ddi Ro Ri," while others have drawn comparisons between Le Sserafim's "Boompala" and the global dance phenomenon "Macarena." LE SSERAFIM (르세라핌) 'BOOMPALA' OFFICIAL MV Le Sserafim's "Boompala" sampled Los Del Río's "Macarena" from 1993. In the case of "Hypeman," Andersson acknowledged that most listeners would never realize they were hearing a Swedish melody.The observation highlights how cultural references can take on new meanings as they travel across borders. As K-pop's global reach continues to expand, traditions and melodies rooted in one culture can be detached from their original context and reintroduced to audiences as something entirely new.Culture critic Hwang Jin-mee noted that sampling, homage and cultural borrowing have long been a natural part of popular music. What once might have been viewed as the adaptation of a niche local tradition can now circulate globally through K-pop, which she described as an increasingly universal genre. A poster advertises a K-pop songwriting camp held in Copenhagen in partnership with SM Entertainment, bringing together songwriters and producers to create music for leading K-pop artists. (DPA) K-pop without bordersNeither Hwang nor music critic Lim Hee-yun viewed the phenomenon as particularly new. Borrowing, sampling and reinterpretation have long been part of both K-pop and pop music more broadly.What may be different today is the scale at which those exchanges take place. K-pop is no longer simply importing influences from abroad; it has become a global creative ecosystem where songwriters from different countries regularly bring pieces of their own musical backgrounds into the songwriting process, while also drawing inspiration from K-pop itself."K-pop does take in a bit of everything," Hwang said.