K-Pop Journalist. Online Editor.
Lim Young-min will not be part of his group AB6IX’s activities following his DUI. On June 4, his agency Brand New Music revealed in a statement on its artists’ official fan site that Lim was caught drunk driving by local police on May 31 while …
Prominent Korean and K-Pop artists have shown their support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and joined in solidarity following the unlawful death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis. Day6’s Jae, Jay Park, GOT7’s Mark and Yugyeom, Crush, Heize are among …
Baekhyun made a sweet solo return with second mini-album ‘Delight’ and the title track ‘Candy’ last Monday.
“Got me feeling like pop rocks, strawberry, bubblegum,” the Exo vocalist sings as he compares himself to different candy flavours in the trendy R’n’B track before professing, “All I want is you my love.”
Aside from ‘Candy’, the mini-album contains six other tracks — ‘R U Ridin’?’, ‘Bungee’, ‘Underwater’, ‘Poppin’’, ‘Ghost’ and ‘Love Again’ — that showcases his different sides while keeping R’n’B as his base.
Released on May 25, the EP was already a projected success and never failed to reign on the local and global charts. As of May 24, he achieved a personal record for surpassing 732,297 copies in stock pre-orders. Additionally, the K-Pop singer became the first solo artist to sell the most albums — more than 620,000 copies — on the Hanteo chart in the first day of its release.
SM Entertainment also confirmed that the EP took over the iTunes chart in 68 countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, India, Jordan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The title track also charted high on the UAE iTunes songs chart.
Adding to this, the ‘Candy’ music video became the top trending video in the country on YouTube a day after its release.
The 28-year-old singer’s EP was not only a success in his homeland but also in China. ‘Delight’ surpassed 3 million yuan (Dh1.5 million) of album sales, making it the first Korean album to achieve the title Triple Platinum on China’s largest music site as of May 29, SM Entertainment revealed.
While not busy promoting as a member of Exo, Exo-CBX and SuperM, Baekhyun branched out as a soloist, having released his first solo album, ‘City Lights’, which also drew local and global attention, last July. He has collaborated with other artists and lent his vocals for Korean drama soundtracks.
Client: Gulf News tabloid!
Stray Kids is joining this month’s comeback with brand new music. JYP Entertainment’s boy group announced the exciting news with an intense trailer, revealing that the release of album ‘GO’ or ‘GO LIVE’ will drop on June 17. The group will be joining a number …
BlackPink and Lady Gaga continue to break new grounds and prove their local and global dominance with a new collaborative track. Last Thursday, the Grammy-award winning singer treated fans to a sweet surprise by dropping the highly-anticipated track ‘Sour Candy’ on the eve of her …
TikTok is holding an online K-Pop concert live from Seoul this week.
‘TikTok Stage Live From Seoul’ concert features a star-studded line-up that includes Apink, Monsta X, iKON, Kard, AKMU, Kang Daniel, Oh My Girl, CIX and Cravity.
Not only will it be the first vertical live concert from Korea, but also this is the first time the Chinese-owned app will broadcast an online K-Pop concert.
Scheduled to take place on May 25 at 5pm KST (12pm UAE time), the virtual concert will be broadcasted globally on the account @TikTok_Stage.
It reportedly aims to allow maximum viewer interaction and fans to donate towards COVID-19 relief funds.
As part of their #SmilewithTikTok project, the video-sharing mobile platform will also broadcast an online hip hop concert entitled ‘TikTok Stage with HIPHOPPLAYA’ for a worthy cause, two days later.
iKON’s Bobby, Epik High, Block B’s Zico, Jessi, Heize, Dean and pH-1 are some Korean artists already confirmed for the event.
Following the concert on May 27 via TikTok, all proceeds will be donated to the Korean non-profit organisation, Community Chest of Korea.
Client: Gulf News tabloid!
K-Pop bands continue to drop new high-quality music to keep fans entertained during this time when it’s needed the most. Yet, only a couple of albums and songs charted high on the UAE iTunes charts from last week’s comebacks. Here are some top releases in …
The global pandemic continues to take a financial blow on the K-Pop industry and put a temporary end to live performances. Artists have taken alternative routes, from holding their own virtual live concerts to releasing new music for global fans stuck at home. Much to …
Big Bang member Taeyang is all set to release a documentary on YouTube on Monday.
Taeyang’s eight-episode docu-series titled ‘White Night’ will be available on Big Bang’s and his agency’s official YouTube account starting this Monday, in the lead up to the group’s new music release later this year, YG Entertainment stated.
Named after his 2017 solo album, the documentary will tell the story of Dong Young-bae — his birth name — and will also follow the artist’s 215-day journey, from album preparations, world tour up till his marriage to actress Min Hyo-rin and military enlistment in 2018.
‘White Night’ is the group’s second documentary following member G-Dragon’s ‘Kwon Ji Yong Act lll: M.O.T.T.E’ in 2018.
After the launch of the first episode on his birthday, the upcoming series will be posted on the video-sharing platform every Thursday and Monday for four weeks, making it the first release from the band since completing their mandatory military term.
Taeyang and his bandmate Daesung were discharged in November while G-Dragon and T.O.P fulfilled their military duties earlier last year.
He was set to make a highly anticipated appearance with the other three Big Bang members on stage at Coachella 2020 but was inevitably postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A growing number of K-Pop acts have been releasing documentary-like series on YouTube.
On Friday, popular boy band Seventeen kicked off their first ever docu-series titled ‘Seventeen: Hit The Road’ on YouTube and fan community app Weverse.
The 15-episode documentary uploaded every Wednesday and Friday provides fans an up-and-close behind-the-scenes look of the group, focusing on the 13-member group’s journey as musicians, their ‘Ode To You’ world tour and more.
This year alone, Twice is another K-Pop act that debuted their first YouTube original documentary, ‘TWICE: Seize the Light’, documenting the girl group’s struggles and success as well as their 2019 TWICELIGHTS world tour.
Client: Gulf News tabloid!
Winner’s Mino has been criticised for breaking the country’s social distancing rules after reportedly performing at a club in Yangyang County, Gangwon, on May 3. Korean media outlet ‘Dispatch’ reported that the K-Pop artist surprised clubgoers, whom have allegedly lowered their masks after entering the …