K-Pop Journalist. Online Editor.
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 …
K-Pop groups Astro, B.I.G, IMFACT, April, Dongkiz, and D-Crunch sent messages of support and wished local fans a Ramadan Kareem. On April 28, the Korean Cultural Center in the UAE (KCC) began releasing personal videos of each K-Pop group relaying positivity and warm wishes during …
NCT Dream is ‘Ridin’ on a new path with comeback EP ‘Reload’.
On April 29, SM Entertainment’s teenage boy band made their much-awaited last comeback as a six-member group.
Fronted by the energetic, urban-trap track, ‘Ridin’, with a message of determination and passion, the EP consists of four other tracks: ‘Quiet Down’, ‘7 Days’, ‘Love Again’ and ‘Puzzle Piece’.
Not only has their powerful and charismatic sides and hip-hop performance in their music video garnered attention but also their new music rode to the top spot of music charts and got them achieving personal records.
‘Ridin’, became the first NCT subunit song to hit the top of the Melon’s real-time charts while their EP took over daily album charts on Kyobo, YES24 and Hanteo and the digital album sales chart of QQ Music in China.
‘Reload’ was also a success on the iTunes Top Albums chart in 49 countries, such as United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Lebanon, India, and the Philippines.
The EP hit an all-time high for the band for selling 500,000 in pre-order sales as of April 28, its agency reportedly revealed.
After the EP promotions, the group — consisting of Renjun, Chenle, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin and Jisung — will be reorganising its team structure. Its original seven member will return rather than graduate once turning 20 years old (Korean age), a policy and age-based system SM Entertainment had since its debut in 2016.
Former NCT Dream member Mark, who joined NCT’s other units and SuperM, is set to rejoin the group in their promotions. Member Haechan has also taken part in NCT U and NCT127’s music. Therefore, the other five members will also join NCT’s other subunits and promote globally.
Following SuperM and WayV, NCT Dream is the next act scheduled to perform on SM Entertainment’s new live concert streaming project, titled ‘Beyond LIVE’, on May 10.
Client: Gulf News tabloid!
IN2IT’s Isaac took to Twitter to wish fans Ramadan Kareem on Friday. “Four Weeks of mercy, 30 days of worship, 720 hours of Spirituality. 43,200 Minutes of Forgiveness, 2592000 Seconds of Happiness, Ramadan Kareem Mubarak,” the K-Pop boy band member wrote in the group’s official …
GOT7 charted high on the UAE iTunes chart with their latest comeback once again. Last Monday, JYP Entertainment’s talented septet hit the music scene with brand new EP, ‘Dye’, showcasing a whole new style with their romanticism, medieval ballad concept. As expected, it took local …
UP10TION’s Jinhoo will not be joining his bandmates in the preparation for their upcoming album to focus on his health.
His label TOP Media announced that the K-Pop band will move forward as a seven-member group after much discussion with the singer himself and the members.
Kuhn, Bitto, Sunyoul, Kogyeol, Hwanhee, Xiao and Gyujin are preparing for a summer comeback following the release of their last EP, ‘The Moment of Illusion’
Initially, a 10-member group, UP10TION has actively promoting with eight members. Lee Jin-hyuk and Kim Woo-seok were contestants on Mnet’s 2019 reality competition ‘Produce X 101’ that formed the project boy group X1.
Kim was a member of the act since its disbandment earlier this year after the show was involved in vote-rigging allegations. He is reportedly set to drop solo music and make his acting debut soon while Lee already debuted as a soloist and is starring in a TV drama.
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The region’s newest K-pop crossover showcased their Arabic singing skills once again by releasing a 35-sec upbeat release, titled ‘Corona Song’, that delivers a message of positivity and hope for those struggling with the pandemic. In addition to B.I.G, GH Entertainment’s other artists participated in …
Exo’s Suho painted a personal self-portrait with his new sentimental music and managed to make a chart-topping solo debut with flying colours in the UAE last week. The leader of the prominent K-Pop boy band released his first ever solo mini-album ‘Self-Portrait’, showcasing his own …
A slew of scandals has hit YG Entertainment, one of Korea’s biggest entertainment agencies, since the start of 2019. It all began with the highly-publicised ‘Burning Sun’ scandal that involved former YG star and Big Bang member Seungri.
Last Wednesday, the K-Pop industry and fans woke up to the news that iKON’s B.I. withdrew from the group amid drug allegations. Since then, things have spiralled downwards.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s been happening and who has been involved:
On June 12, B.I, the leader and songwriter for popular seven-member boy group, officially departed from YG Entertainment hours following a local news report alleging he tried to purchase illegal drugs in 2016.
As the allegations spiralled, B.I, whose real name is Kim Han-bin, formally announced his wish to leave the team in an Instagram post and stated that he’s “deeply sorry” for his past behaviour.
Though he admitted to the drug purchase allegation, he denied taking drugs according to his statement.
“It’s true that I had interest in something to rely on which I shouldn’t have at one point when I was having a hard time. But I was too scared and worried to follow through,” the singer wrote according to The Korea Herald’s translation. He has expressed his remorse to his fans and bandmates.
While at first denying allegations, YG Entertainment, also known as one of the ‘Big 3’ labels in Korea, released a statement apologising for the singer’s drug allegations and swiftly confirmed the termination of B.I’s exclusive contract just merely after his online post.
The sudden announcements came after Korean media outlet Dispatch broke an exclusive story of the rapper-songwriter’s alleged LSD and marijuana purchases from April 2016 through messaging app, KakoaTalk. The screenshots showed conversations between B.I and an anonymous acquaintance, who is reported to be former YG trainee Han Seo Hee, during which the singer was inquiring on the hallucinogenic drug and wanting to use drugs to “become a genius”.
The media report came with a claim that the police detected signs of the alleged attempted purchase when Han was arrested and implicated that the 22-year-old used drugs before but didn’t go through with an investigation.
In the wake of the sudden departure, YG Entertainment’s stocks took a hit and fans created a petition on Charge.org to keep him in the band. Fans took over Twitter to show support by trending hashtags such as #HanbinStayWithUs, #Hanbin and #iKON and was topic of discussion on the social media channel locally.
Since 2015, B.I has been a leader of iKON, a boy group that formed as the result of the reality TV show in 2015 and achieved a breakthrough with 2018 megahit song, ‘Love Scenario’. B.I is heavily involved in the group’s discography. He was recently featured in Lee Hi’s newest top hit, ‘No One’ and was reportedly working on some new music for iKON and a duo album with member Bobby.
A day after his withdrawal, YG Entertainment announced that the remaining six members will continue forward with their scheduled Japanese tour.
As reported by multiple outlets, the anonymous acquaintance — previously referred to as “A” — is allegedly former YG trainee Han Seo Hee, who dated Big Bang member T.O.P and informed police she smoked marijuana with him, which got the popular artist his own drug scandal two years ago.
In August 2016, Han was arrested for smoking marijuana and had her phone searched, revealing the text messages between B.I and herself. She reportedly testified to the police that she had handed LSD to B.I. but later refuted her statement. Additionally, Han insisted that she did not give the drug to the singer, police told Dispatch. Local media claimed that YG’s now former founder and chief producer Yang Hyun-suk influenced her testimony and actively worked to keep B.I from being investigated, to which he and the company denied.
Though Yang and B.I denied the idol’s drug use, Dispatch reported that Winner’s Lee Seung Hoon told Han via KakaoTalk on June 1 — two months before she was booked by police — that B.I tested positive in the company’s drug test and revealed that he took the illegal substance with her.
She also reportedly claimed that Yang threatened her after telling the police about B.I smoking marijuana with her and buying LSD through her, and provided her with a lawyer.
Yang Hyun-suk, YG Entertainment’s chief producer and founder, officially resigned from the company in all roles and capacities amid numerous legal scandals involving the company, its artist and himself.
With Yang’s actions increasingly under scrutiny and the company’s public image took a toll, he announced his decision to step down from his position on Friday. His resignation comes after facing a number of allegations and series of scandals that includes corrupt police ties, tax evasion accusations, Seungri’s KakaoTalk controversies, B.I’s drug offence cover-up and more.
The company’s stocks have been immensely unstable when news broke out related to the drug allegations and criminal investigations.
Yang, who was formerly part of the iconic ‘90s trio Seo Taiji & Boys, founded the company in 1996 and managed the careers of K-Pop’s rising and biggest acts such as Big Bang, iKON, Winner, Psy, 2NE1, BlackPink and more.
Following his resignation, his elder brother Yang Min-suk has also stepped down from his position as lead director of YG Entertainment. In a statement released to the employees, he has apologised for what has happened to the company and hopes his decision “will bring about the start of new, positive changes for YG Entertainment,” according to The Korea Herald.
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Singer Seungri has been charged with illegal distribution of pornography after he admitted to participating in the circulation of hidden camera footage without consent. On March 28, the Seoul National Police Agency confirmed that the former Big Bang member has been booked for the criminal …