K-pop virtual idol group PLAVE has teamed up with Sanrio for their recent single album, PLBBUU, released this past Monday.
The group – consisting of members Yejun, Noah, Bamby, Eunho, and Hamin – recently made history as the first virtual group to chart on the Billboard Global 200 with their third EP, Caligo Pt. 1. They worked closely with Sanrio to create the members’ plush dolls dressed in Sanrio character outfits, including My Melody, Cinamoroll, Pochacco, Pompompurin, and Kuromi.
PLBBUU is a gift from PLAVE, thanking their fans – PLLI – for their support. The three-track single album includes the title track, “BBUU!,” previously released Japanese digital single – now in Korean, “숨바꼭질 (Hide and Seek),” and “봉숭아 (Bongsoong-a).” All five members of PLAVE participated in the album, producing, writing, and composing all three tracks.
The music video for “BBUU!” features the Sanrio characters alongside a chibi version of the PLAVE members on a fantasy island, where they go on rides, share tea, and dance together. The actual members are seen wearing Sanrio merchandise. It’s an adorable video. The song itself is an onomatopoeia in Korean (뿌우) that mimics the sound of light kissing or the shape of puckered lips.
With the PLAVE X Sanrio collaboration, the group sold limited edition albums that included keyring plushes of each member’s chibi wearing their respective Sanrio character outfit – Yejun/Cinamoroll, Noah/Pompompurin, Bamby/My Melody, Eunho/Kuromi, and Hamin/Pochacoo.
The group’s agency, VLAST, said in a press release, “The new album comes as the result of a collaboration that has been a long time coming with Sanrio Korea.”
The regular albums feature each member’s chibi with their respective Sanrio character on the cover. Each album contains multiple random photocards of the members in their Sanrio outfits, as well as stickers, along with digital content.
Sanrio had previously worked with K-pop groups, including TVXQ, After School, B2B, TWICE, JO1, NCT, LE SSERAFIM, and SEVENTEEN. Sanrio CEO Tomokuni Tsuji has expressed interest in collaborating with more K-pop artists. As of now, there are no plans to release additional merchandise from the PLAVE x Sanrio collaboration, but one can never say never.
PLAVE’s digital single album, PLBBUU, is available on all streaming platforms. Physical copies of the albums can be purchased at select retailers.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurasirikul/2025/11/12/k-pop-group-plave-teams-up-with-sanrio-for-single-album-plbbuu/
