Mark Lee drops 'My Friend,' launches kids content series rooted in BIGBANG nostalgia
Mark dropped 'My Friend' on Sept. 10, then launched 'Mark Lee & Kids-POP' the next day—a YouTube series where he turns elementary schoolers' thoughts into music.
New single, new content, one week
Mark released My Friend on September 10. The single charted in the top positions on iTunes in multiple countries. A day later came the first episode of Mark Lee & Kids-POP on the Upper Room official YouTube channel—a series where he sits with children, listens to their thoughts, and mines those conversations for musical ideas.
The premiere featured "Kids Exploration Zone," a segment where Mark guessed elementary schoolers' real survey answers about their favorite things, trending slang, biggest worries, and songs they want to hear right now. The kids' top concerns: college entrance exams, not having enough money, and girlfriends. (Elementary school, apparently, hits different.) When asked what they'd want a song written for them to say, answers included "There is no one who understands my heart well" and "When I am myself, I shine brighter than anyone."
'대박이다' — Mark's own back catalog showed up
When 1999 appeared on the list of songs the children most want to listen to right now, Mark reacted with "대박이다"—roughly, "No way" or "That's wild"—visibly caught off guard by his own track landing there.
He framed the whole exercise as a direct pipeline to new music: "This could become a song title or a single word in lyrics. If you think you will receive inspiration, you can receive inspiration from everything."
Mark called Mark Lee & Kids-POP "the beginning of the beginning" and confirmed he will continue meeting and talking with children through the series going forward. Episodes release via the Upper Room YouTube channel.
The BIGBANG origin story
Mark also opened up about what pulled him toward K-pop in the first place. He watched BIGBANG's Haru Haru music video dozens of times a day as a kid. That love of the group tied directly to a broader love of Korean culture. "I really liked Korean culture from a young age," he said. "Korea was my dream country."
With My Friend already charting internationally and a new content series built around turning kids' words into songs, Mark is running two parallel tracks at once heading into the rest of 2026.
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