For years, Brazil’s relationship with K-pop has been easy to describe: Korean artists built huge fandoms, toured the country and turned São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro into essential stops on global schedules.
X:IN’s new collaboration with Brazilian pop star Luísa Sonza points to something different.
On October 6, 2026, X:IN released “ZZIRIT,” a collaboration with Sonza and the title track of the group’s first full-length album, Chain Reaction. The project is notable not simply because a Brazilian artist appears on a K-pop record, but because it suggests that the relationship between Korean pop and Brazil is moving from audience expansion toward actual music-making.
That matters because a collaboration does something a tour cannot: it creates music that belongs to both markets. A concert can prove that demand exists. A song made with a local artist can show whether the relationship is becoming deeper.
X:IN is a useful group for this kind of crossover
X:IN debuted in 2023 and is currently a five-member group made up of E.Sha, Nizz, Nova, Hannah and Aria.
The group is already unusually international. Its members come from different national and cultural backgrounds, and Aria has drawn particular attention as an Indian K-pop idol.
That makes X:IN well suited to a collaboration that crosses another regional boundary. The group’s identity has never depended on presenting K-pop as something culturally closed.
For member profiles, nationality details and the group’s current A–Z page, see X:IN on KWaveScope.
“ZZIRIT” is more important than a one-off feature
Luísa Sonza is one of Brazil’s most visible pop stars, which gives the collaboration immediate local relevance. But her involvement also fits a broader pattern.
Earlier in 2026, Sonza appeared on an English-language remix of ENHYPEN’s “Bloody Paradise,” adding Portuguese vocals to a track already influenced by Brazilian funk.
That means “ZZIRIT” is not an isolated experiment. It is Sonza’s second recent collaboration with a K-pop act, and that repetition is what makes the development more interesting.
Once collaborations start happening more than once, they stop feeling like a novelty and start looking like a pattern. That does not prove a long-term strategy yet, but it is enough to ask whether Brazil is beginning to play a different role in K-pop’s global expansion.
Brazil is becoming more than a K-pop market
The Brazilian K-pop market has traditionally been discussed through fandom size, ticket demand, streaming and tour attendance.
Those indicators are still important, but collaborations add another layer.
If Korean labels and artists begin working repeatedly with Brazilian singers, producers, dancers and writers, Brazil stops being only a destination for Korean content. It begins to influence the content itself. That would be a meaningful change because Brazil already matters as a fan market; the next step is whether Brazilian artists and sounds begin to matter inside the creative process too.
| Earlier phase | Emerging phase |
|---|---|
| K-pop tours Brazil | K-pop creates music with Brazilian artists |
| Brazilian fans consume Korean releases | Brazilian artists appear inside K-pop releases |
| Local demand is measured by ticket sales and streams | Local influence is also visible in sound, language and collaboration |
| Brazil is a market | Brazil can become a creative partner |
That is a much more durable relationship than simply adding another concert date.
Why Luísa Sonza matters specifically
Sonza brings more than name recognition.
She represents a Brazilian pop scene that is increasingly comfortable mixing funk, electronic music, mainstream pop and international influences. That makes her a natural bridge between K-pop’s highly produced global sound and Brazil’s own contemporary pop identity.
Her recent K-pop collaborations also give Korean acts access to a local audience through a familiar voice rather than through translation alone.
That is important because successful localization is rarely just about language. It is about cultural recognition.
This is not “Brazilianizing” K-pop
There is a temptation to describe every international collaboration as proof that K-pop is becoming more local.
That can be misleading.
A single feature does not mean X:IN is changing its identity or that K-pop is abandoning its Korean production base. The more accurate interpretation is that the industry is becoming more willing to build releases around two-way exchange.
The distinction matters.
Exporting means taking existing music into another country. Collaboration means letting that market help shape the music itself before fans ever hear it.
X:IN’s multinational identity makes the experiment more credible
Because X:IN already operates as a multinational group, “ZZIRIT” feels less like a sudden attempt to chase a Brazilian trend and more like an extension of the group’s existing identity.
The members themselves reflect K-pop’s growing distance from the idea that an idol group must be culturally or nationally uniform.
That makes the collaboration useful as a case study. X:IN does not need to pretend Brazil is suddenly part of the group’s identity; the group already operates across national boundaries. Working with a major Brazilian artist therefore feels less forced than it might for an act whose entire image has been built around one domestic market.
Why this matters for groups that are still building global scale
There is another reason this collaboration is worth watching: X:IN is not one of the few K-pop acts that can enter any country with guaranteed stadium demand.
For groups still building recognition, a credible local collaboration can do several jobs at once. It can introduce the group to listeners who may never search for K-pop on their own, give local media a reason to cover the release, and make the artist feel less distant from the market.
That does not automatically turn a collaboration into fandom. But it can create a more natural first point of contact than a generic overseas promotion campaign.
Brazil may be one of K-pop’s most important collaboration markets
Brazil already has several advantages, and KWaveScope has seen the same pattern from different angles. K-pop streaming has risen sharply in Brazil, while fan spending extends well beyond music into merchandise, events and fandom experiences. Collaboration adds a new question: can that strong audience also become part of the creative side of the business?
- A large and highly organized K-pop fandom
- Strong live-concert demand
- A globally recognizable domestic music culture
- Artists with substantial social-media reach
- Genres such as funk that can cross easily into dance-oriented pop production
That combination gives Korean companies more reasons to collaborate locally rather than treating Brazil only as a touring market.
There is also a business reason to watch this closely. Local collaborations can reduce the distance between an overseas act and a new audience, but only if the partnership feels musically convincing. If the feature sounds interchangeable or purely promotional, fans will notice. The most valuable collaborations are the ones where the local artist changes the song, the language, the rhythm or the way the release is received.
The next question is whether the creative exchange becomes regular
One X:IN song does not prove that the market has permanently changed, and it would be premature to treat every Brazil-linked K-pop release as part of one coordinated industry strategy.
What makes this case worth following is the direction of travel: more direct contact between Korean acts and Brazilian artists, more room for Portuguese-language participation, and more signs that Brazil is being treated as a place to create with — not simply sell to.
The real test is repetition.
If more Korean acts begin working with Brazilian singers, producers or songwriters — and if Brazilian artists begin appearing on original K-pop releases rather than only remixes — then Brazil will have moved into a new position inside the industry.
It would no longer be only one of K-pop’s strongest overseas fan markets. Brazilian artists, writers and sounds would begin to shape releases before they reach fans. That is a much stronger sign of integration than ticket sales alone.
What to watch next
- Whether X:IN promotes “ZZIRIT” directly in Brazil
- Whether Luísa Sonza appears in more original K-pop releases after two collaborations in 2026
- Whether Brazilian producers and writers begin receiving more visible K-pop credits
- Whether collaborations expand beyond major names and become part of long-term label strategy
The bigger story is the direction of travel
For a long time, K-pop globalization meant sending Korean music farther.
“ZZIRIT” points toward a more interesting possibility: global markets are beginning to participate in the music itself.
If that continues, Brazil’s role in K-pop may be measured not only by how many fans attend concerts or stream songs, but by how much Brazilian artists and sounds help shape what K-pop releases next.
Sources
Billboard Brasil — “X:IN lança parceria com Luísa Sonza; assista ao MV”