LE SSERAFIM Releases ‘BOOMPALA’ Version With Punjabi Singer Guru Randhawa

What Is ‘BOOMPALA’ And Who Is LE SSERAFIM?

“BOOMPALA” is the lead single from LE SSERAFIM’s album ‘PUREFLOW’, Pt. 1. It was co-written by Justin Tranter (who also co-wrote KATSEYE’s “Pinky Up” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “pretty isn’t pretty”) alongside Thom Bridges, “Hitman” Bang, and several other collaborators. The song has accumulated over 18 million Spotify streams since its release.

LE SSERAFIM debuted in 2022 under Source Music and currently consists of five members: Kim Chaewon, Sakura, Huh Yunjin, Kazuha, and Hong Eunchae. The group has built a significant international following among fourth-generation K-pop girl groups, with their 2022 single “ANTIFRAGILE” surpassing 713 million Spotify streams and “CRAZY” reaching 473 million. They write and produce primarily in English, which has made them consistently competitive on Western charts.

Who Is Guru Randhawa?

Born Gursharanjot Singh Randhawa in Punjab, Guru Randhawa is among the most streamed Indian artists of the past decade. A former MBA student, Randhawa performed at college functions on the side and released his debut single in 2013. His breakout came in 2015 with “Patola,” a collaboration with rapper Bohemia, followed by commercial hits including “High Rated Gabru” (2017), “Lahore” (2017), “Suit Suit,” and “Ban Ja Rani.”

“Lahore” crossed one billion views on YouTube, making him one of the few Indian artists to reach that milestone on a single track. He has featured on the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list in 2019 and previously crossed into international markets with a collaboration with Pitbull on “Slowly Slowly” the same year. His music blends traditional Punjabi bhangra with contemporary pop production.

Why Now: HYBE’s India Strategy

The Guru Randhawa collaboration arrives nine months after HYBE, the parent label group behind BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT, LE SSERAFIM, and KATSEYE, officially inaugurated HYBE India Entertainment Private Limited in Mumbai in September 2025, marking the company’s fifth major international hub following Japan, the US, Latin America, and China.

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The expansion was explicit about its intentions. HYBE’s spokesperson described it as part of Chairman Bang Si-hyuk’s “vision to export K-pop methodologies,” with a strategy of integrating local culture and characteristics. India’s nearly 185 million music streaming users make it the world’s second-largest music streaming market , which is a figure that no label with global ambitions can ignore.

JYP Entertainment, the agency behind Stray Kids and TWICE, is also preparing to enter the Indian market (found JYP was surprised at the cheers that greeted him at a Korea-India meeting earlier this year), which would make it the second major K-pop label to do so after HYBE. K-pop streaming in India grew by 362 percent between 2018 and 2023, according to the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange.

K-Pop and Indian Music: A Brief History of Crossovers That Almost Happened

The appetite for a K-pop and Indian music crossover has been visible for years, well before today’s release.

In 2022, AR Rahman — the Oscar and Grammy-winning composer behind Slumdog Millionaire — was photographed with BTS at the Grammy Awards, prompting widespread speculation about a collaboration that never materialised. More recently, Rahman was photographed in his Mumbai studio with Mame and Shosei from J-pop group JO1, captioning the image: “worlds coming together” — again, with no confirmed release following.

KATSEYE, HYBE and Geffen Records’ joint girl group project, includes Indian-American member Lara Raj — a casting decision widely interpreted as a signal of the group’s intended reach into the South Asian market. Arijit Singh, currently the most-followed artist on Spotify globally with 151 million followers, collaborated with Ed Sheeran in 2025 on a track incorporating Shah Rukh Khan and Baahubali references, demonstrating how permeable the boundary between Indian and Western pop has become.

Across all of these moments, the infrastructure for sustained K-pop and Indian music collaboration has been building. What has been absent until now is a major K-pop label with a physical presence in India, a clear commercial rationale, and an artist on the Indian side with enough crossover appeal to make the pairing credible.

Le Sserafim’s “BOOMPALA (feat. GURU RANDHAWA)” is out now on all major streaming platforms.