Expanding the To All the Boys I’ve Loved universe, Netflix released its spin-off centred around the youngest Covey sibling, but XO Kitty cameos don’t include appearances you may have expected otherwise. Spanning a journey of 10 episodes, the series sees Anna Cathcart returning as Kitty Song Covey aka the main character in her standalone series. Other main cast members include Choi Min-young as Dae, Sang Heon Lee or Sang Heon-lee as Min-ho, Gia Kim as Yuri, Anthony Keyvan as Q and Peter Thurnwald as Alex.
Created by the original writer Jenny Han and Sascha Rothchild, the teen show has been directed by Jennifer Arnold, Jeff Chan, Pamela Romanowsky and Katina Medina Mora. Alanna Bennett, Chris Martin, Hanna Stanbridge and Siobhan Vivian, joined the crew as writers, while Lindsay George and Sandra Valde-Hansen made their contributions as cinematographers.
After lending the space of a trilogy, Lara Jean-Covey found love with Peter Kavinsky, and through those numerous chapters of teen romance, her youngest sister, Kitty was with her every step of the way. With XO, Kitty she finally gets the time and space to stand tall as the much-loved protagonist of her story. Travelling to South Korea, she hopes to take a step closer to her late mother who attended the same boarding school, KISS. However, her intentions extend to writing her love saga along the way as well upon reuniting with her short-time, long-distance boyfriend Dae.
Playing matchmaker for so long, she changes the trajectory of her life by taking on this adventure. However, not all endings correlate with the ideal happiness one may have imagined to achieve. Feeling connected with someone, especially your first love, is but a natural part of every romantic epic and K-drama, now that she’s living there herself, will her bubble finally break or will she get to live out her romanticised fantasy? All those answers await you in the Netflix series, but for now, we’re here to shed light on all the sparkling references that caught our eye.
All XO Kitty Cameos, K-pop References and More
A) K-pop Songs Heard on the Show
The Korean-American romantic drama indeed packs in a K-pop fest within. Serving us fire hits one after the other, the XO Kitty soundtrack features the blazing entry scene of Sang Heon-lee as Minho, backed by the perfect song – HOT by SEVENTEEN. But, that’s not the only song by the 13-member K-pop boy group in the long-running track list. Included on the group’s 2022 album Face The Sun, HOT serves as the lead single, while the second song on the series OST was Darl+ing, the pre-release track from the same EP.
Many more songs that led the K-pop music charts since their release including BTS’ Telepathy, BLACKPINK’s Pink Venom and You Never Know, MOMOLAND’s BAAM, TWICE’s I Can’t Stop Me, ITZY’s B[OO]M -BOXX and ICY, EVERGLOW’s No Good Reason, Stray Kids’ MANIAC and VENOM also made it to the list. Other girl group songs like fromis_9’s Stay This Way and (G)I-DLE’s HANN (Alone In Winter) and 88rising and BIBI‘s collaborative track The Weekend turned up the mood for K-pop fans watching the show.
Some K-pop soloists also graced the soundtrack list – What You Waiting For and XOXO by Jeon Somi and Best Shot by WONHO, in addition to more Korean indie tunes as well.
Also read: SEVENTEEN Super Challenge: BTS Jimin Joins Vernon and Hoshi in a Stunning Dance Reveal
B) CAMEOS
1. 2PM Taecyeon as Ocean Park
2. Chaerin of Cherry Bullet as Lulu
3. Han Chae-young as Dami, Min-ho’s mother
4. Jenny Han (the author of the To All the Boys books) at the airport
C) Real and Reel Life Siblings
Well, it’s no longer a secret. Gia Kim who played the role of Yuri and our newest heartthrob on the block, Min-ho played by Sang Heon-lee are actually real life siblings. It may not be a news anymore since it’s everywhere now, but much like the series and its endless twists and turns, this was indeed a major plot twist, even for their fellow cast mates at the beginning of production. It was actually over a group chat that the details of this real-life connection was spilled to the rest of the cast.
(Ps. Lara Jean and Peter K were mentioned here and there throughout the show, but they never actually showed up in person, so no cameos by them)
XO, Kitty is now streaming on Netflix.
Did you catch all the Kpop songs in XO Kitty? Let us know your reactions to the new Netflix spin-off series in the comments section below.