It doesn’t take a trend analyst to figure out that the hot new thing in K-Beauty land is actually a throwback to Y2K, and it’s taking over the world. We’re talking about Lee HyoRi and the 2000s makeup trend, inspired by the original It Girl of Korea, that is now making rounds as the latest bandwagon everyone wants to hop on.
Y2K has been at the core of virality for quite a while now, influencing not only fashion and makeup but also art, music, television, and culture, as a whole. However, a lot of this Y2K-inspired buzz has been an “upgrade” on actual Y2K styles, an homage, if you will. However, not much of the authenticity of Y2K was revived.
Readers who were around during the actual Y2K would agree that while Y2K fashion now is the epitome of trendiness and more in vogue than ever, real Y2K fashion and makeup weren’t quite the same.
That is until we decided to bring back Lee HyoRi’s iconic look from her music video for ’10 Minutes’.
For those who might not know, Lee HyoRi is one of the most prestigious, beloved, and respected artists to ever come out of the K-Pop industry. From debuting in one of the hottest girl groups of her time, Fin.K.L, to going solo and bring crowned as the icon of sensuality, Lee HyoRi is essentially the OG “it girl” of Korea, influencing an entire generation then and now.
The year 2003, when HyoRi released her debut solo studio album “Stylish…E” was dubbed “The Year Of HyoRi”, and “HyoRi Syndrome” spread all over South Korea. ’10 Minutes’ was one of the tracks on this album, and almost two decades later, it is going mega-viral worldwide.
How and why did this happen? Let’s find out!
Lee HyoRi’s Sustained Popularity Rises Globally With “Lee Hyori’s Red Carpet”
KBS
Lee HyoRi is one of those artists whose popularity has remained unbeatable regardless of promotional activities across decades. Her most recent activities include the healing TV show “HyoRi’s Homestay” and, musically, the project groups SSAK3 and Refund Sisters. Her influence remained just as impactful in this time as it was when she first shook the Korean entertainment scene but she was recognized as a legend and a veteran in the industry rather than going viral with sudden spouts of immense popularity.
However, when Lee HyoRi came in as the host of “The Seasons” – Korea’s beloved late-night music talk show, creating “The Seasons: Lee Hyori’s Red Carpet”, her interactions with her guests started enjoying the aforementioned taste of virality and what’s better than a viral moment on social media to introduce something/someone to a whole new audience?
In particular, the episode starring guest BLACKPINK’s Jennie, the 3rd generation “it girl” of Korea, alongside host Lee HyoRi, the 1st generation “it girl”, sparked renewed interest in the show, propelling it to global popularity and drawing attention from a whole new generation of fans. Thus, netizens who may not have known this queen before, came face to face with the icon herself.
Kpopmap
According to Google Trends, global interest in Lee HyoRi in the past 12 months, reached a peak between January 7 to 13, 2024. The episode with Jennie was released on January 5, 2024. The most-searched terms during this time were “10 Minutes – Song by Lee HyoRi”, “The Seasons: Lee Hyo-ri’s Red Carpet”, “The Seasons”, “Lee HyoRi Red Carpet”, “Lee HyoRi The Seasons”, “The Seasons”, “Miss Korea – Song by Lee HyoRi”, and “Lee HyoRi makeup”.
“Miss Korea” is one of the most remarkable Lee HyoRi songs, covered by BLACKPINK’s Jennie on “The Seasons: Lee HyoRi’s Red Carpet”. This cover, released by KOCOWA TV, is now at 2M views on YouTube, proving its popularity.
Lee HyoRi’s popularity kept rising steadily, with the graph showing an upward curve, which next peaked on April 10, 2024 – quite literally, yesterday! This means that the trend is still going, constantly gaining new impetus.
This peak, however, is because the “Lee HyoRi” makeup trend is currently at its highest virality, reaching more people than ever before. However, there was something else that aided this phenomenon – TWICE.
TWICE Cover Lee HyoRi’s ’10 Minutes’
On October 21, 2023, TWICE’s NaYeon, JiHyo, and Momo covered Lee HyoRi’s ’10 Minutes’ at their fan meeting. A fancam of this cover by user “나연이랑” was uploaded to YouTube the day after and now stands at 1 million views. Of course, the internet went crazy over how impeccable, alluring, and flawless this cover was, with NaYeon, JiHyo, and Momo setting the stage on fire. However, it was an edit of NaYeon from this performance that started the viral trend.
Despite the performance happening last year, it was only in March 2024 that it started picking up hotter momentum, not just among ONCE or K-Pop fans but among the general public all over the world.
Kpopmap
According to Google Trends, it was on April 9 that google searches for TWICE’s cover of ’10 Minutes’ peaked, right around the time when Lee HyoRi was trending globally.
The audio for Lee HyoRi’s ’10 Minutes’ on TikTok exploded in popularity, with 100.4K posts as of April 9, 2024. The original video with this sound was the NaYeon edit, which went viral. At the same time, ’10 Minutes’ started trending on Instagram, with 18.2K reels at the time of writing. Now, this trend is slowly permeating YouTube as well.
Lee HyoRi’s 2000s Makeup Trend
Beauty influencers did what beauty influencers do and gave us one of the best makeup trends inspired by the viral ’10 Minutes’. As more and more people watched the original music video and stage performance of ’10 Minutes’, a makeup trend was born. Lee HyoRi was one of the first artists to bring this makeup style to K-Pop back in 2003, where it was then adopted by top artists like S.E.S members Bada and Eugene. It is no surprise, therefore, that 21 years later, it still has the same trailblazing impact as it did then. Falling perfectly in line with the current craze for Y2K, this trend found the perfect environment to grow and go viral.
Kpopmap
Unsurprisingly, global interest in “Lee HyoRi makeup” over the past 30 days also peaked around April 9. On social media platforms like X, mentions about Lee HyoRi and Lee HyoRi’s makeup increased a whopping 157.143%!
We pulled and analyzed thousands of posts from all over the internet and ran a sentiment analysis, which revealed an overwhelmingly positive opinion on Lee HyoRi in the last 14 days, while her reach peaked on April 10. In conclusion, Lee HyoRi and, in turn, the Lee HyoRi 2000s makeup trend is at its highest point at this very moment.
Kpopmap
Kpopmap
If you’re wondering what exactly the 2000s makeup trend is all about, let us break it down for you.
The “Lee HyoRi 2000s makeup trend” is a cool-toned look with blue/grey eyeshadow, a matte base, lightly smoked-out eyeliner, and nude lips with gloss. Because of its subtlety, this makeup look looks fantastic on all skin tones, regardless of your undertone.
Check out some video tutorials below to do this “Lee HyoRi 2000s makeup” look yourself!
What did you think of the Lee HyoRi 2000s makeup trend? Have you tried it yourself? Tell us on X!
For more K-Trend analyses, stay tuned to Kpopmap!
