Singers' joint projects and collaborations are establishing a new type of strategy. Skills are always praised, but musicians who aren't well known are getting their names out there through collaborations with popular idols.

IU's duet with rookie group HIGH4 "Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms" was released on the 8th, and as of the 22nd it's still gaining popularity. After its release it took an all kill on music charts, and as of the 22nd it's number 1 on Mnet, Naver Music, and Monkey3. Even on Korea's largest music source site MelOn it's going steady at the top ranks.

IU and HIGH4 members directly worked on writing the song and participated in the duet as well as the music video. Even the song title has a spring feel to it, and is quite popular, not unlike Busker Busker's "Cherry Blossom" song.

There was quite a buzz even before the song was released. It seems as if IU's popularity played a big part in promoting the song. Just because IU sang the song it became a hot issue. Although it was a rookie group's song, listeners were eager to hear the song simply because IU was featured in it. This song just serves as proof that collaboration with popular singers is an effective means of promotion.

Let's also consider the song "Some" that was a major hit earlier this year. The duet was a collaborative work of Junggigo and SISTAR's Soyou. The song expresses the feelings and exciting actions that take place between a man and woman before they fall in love. The song featured Soyou's charming vocals and Junggigo's romantic vocals, which blended well to create this love song. As a result, it was number 1 on music charts for about 2 consecutive months. Even on music programs the song beat out other popular idols' songs and took the number 1 trophy for 5 consecutive weeks.

Rapper Mad Clown also made his name more widely known through his collaboration with Soyou and Hyolyn. Mad Clown sang the song "Stupid in Love" with Soyou last year, which ranked 1st on MelOn and Mnet for over 10 days. Not only that, the collaborative work took the win on various music programs. In addition, they were awarded Singer of the Year at the 'Gaon K-Pop Award' this past February.

Thereafter, Mad Clown released a duet with Hyolyn titled "Without You" on the 4th this month, and ranked number 1 once again. Even as of the 22nd it's still ranked in the top 10.

A Starship Entertainment rep stated, "The synergy effect of Starship and Starship X artists is being well received by the public. The collaboration projects of these two labels upgraded the maturity of the songs produced, and that's why hybrid genre songs such as 'Some' and 'Without You' were created."