[Herald Review] IU sets off on first world tour, 'H.E.R'

IU’s voice rippled through the KSPO Dome on Sunday as the lights dimmed to open the singer-songwriter’s final Seoul concert of her first world tour, "H.E.R.," which took place in the capital on March 2-3 and March 9-10. Reminiscent of dandelion spores, IU appeared from the ceiling wearing a glittering headset and slowly descended toward the stage, silently surrounded by her audience. When she landed on the stage to perform “Holssi,” meaning spore in Korean, the

K-popMarch 11, 2024

TikTok-Universal Music Group dispute: an opportunity for rookies?

Universal Music Group, one of the largest global music publishing companies, has pulled music created by its artists and songwriters from TikTok beginning February, as their licensing agreement had expired. This move comes in an effort by UMG to help its artists and songwriters attain fair compensation from TikTok. “TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay. Today, as an indication of how l

CultureMarch 10, 2024

Golden Wave concert to visit Taiwan

Popular K-pop singers are due to perform in Taiwan next month, with the Golden Wave K-pop concert taking place at Kaohsiung National Stadium on April 13. Girls groups such as (G)I-dle, Nmixx, and StayC and boy bands such as Seventeen subunit BSS, Boynextdoor, Enhypen, Zerobaseone and &Team are participating in the concert in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung, according to Studio JAMM, a Korea-based cultural content company. Rising actor Choo Young-Woo, who appeared in TV dramas "Oas

K-popMarch 9, 2024

'Indie musicians in need of government aid': report

There are 3,168 indie musician groups (7,545 individual indie musicians) in Korea as of February, according to a report by Xindie Lounge on Friday. Xindie Lounge is organization that helps promote indie music and is operated by the Record Label Industry Association of Korea. Musicians who have held at least two in-person shows were included in the survey. Most of the indie musicians, 2,806 groups, were based in Seoul. “The number of indie musicians continues to grow but they face difficult

K-popMarch 8, 2024

Rapper Swings returns with LP ‘Upgrade V’

Rapper Swings released “Upgrade V,” his first studio album in four years, on Friday. His fifth LP carries 17 tracks led by the title track “Work,” composed by Swings. “I wanted to make a song that is perfect to tune into when working out at the gym, a song that will give you a boost of energy when lifting weights,” Swings said on MBC’s variety show “Point of Omniscient Interfere” on March 2. Swings took 16 years to come up with the tracks for

K-popMarch 8, 2024

[Today’s K-pop] NewJeans picks up Billboard Women in Music award

NewJeans was named Group of the Year from 2024 Billboard Women in Music Awards, a first for a K-pop act. The five members picked up the trophy at the ceremony held in Los Angeles on Wednesday after performing “Super Shy” and “ETA” on stage in costumes fashioned after school uniforms. Participating in the awards alone “is so surreal and it’s hard to believe we’re in the same room as you all,” said Hanni for the acceptance speech. “I’

K-popMarch 8, 2024

Jennie of Blackpink’s collaboration with Matt Champion coming soon

Jennie of Blackpink is introduces her new single, “Slow Motion,” on Friday. The upcoming single is a collaboration between Jennie and Matt Champion, vocalist of American boy band Brockhampton. Matt Champion announced the release by posting a poster of the single in which he tagged Jennie. Jennie and Matt Champion had teased the single, each unveiling snippets of the single on their official social media channels. The single is a drum and bass song that will deliver a fresh and unique

K-popMarch 7, 2024

K-pop artists spotted front-row at Paris Fashion Week

Iconic K-pop artists were invited to the Paris Fashion Week F/W 2024 as K-pop broadens its reach to the fashion industry. Paris Fashion Week F/W 2024 for womenswear took place in Paris, France Feb. 26- March 5. Lisa of Blackpink attended the Louis Vuitton show on March 5. She posted a picture taken with Nicolas Ghesquiere, the women’s creative director of Louis Vuitton, and wrote that “the final fashion week show ended beautifully.” Hyein of NewJeans and Nayeon of Twice also at

K-popMarch 7, 2024

[Today’s K-pop] NCT Dream floats teaser for 5th EP

NCT Dream unveiled teaser photographs for the group's upcoming fifth EP on Wednesday. In line with the name of the teaser content -- “icantfeelanything” -- the seven bandmates can be seen standing expressionless on stairs and in front of a box gleaming in neon green. A series of props, from red yarn and a flower aflame to a broken mirror, also raised expectations for the story in the EP, “Dream()scape,” which rolls out on March 25. The EP will be the first to portray

K-popMarch 7, 2024

[Today’s K-pop] Blackpink tops 300m views with ‘Lovesick Girls’ dance video

Blackpink's performance video for "Lovesick Girls" surpassed 300 million views as of Tuesday, according to label YG Entertainment on Wednesday. It is the group’s seventh dance video to reach the milestone and achieved the feat in almost 3 1/2 years. “Lovesick Girls” fronted Blackpink's first full album “The Album” and debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 at No. 59. The LP hit both the Billboard 200 and the UK’s Official albums chart at No

K-popMarch 6, 2024

[Indie spirit] Singer-songwriter I’ll ventures to broaden his reach

Like the positive and brave image conveyed by his name, the singer-songwriter I’ll is bright and cheerful. The name, which evokes the feeling that anything can be accomplished, came from the singer’s birthday. “After contemplating various names before my debut, I created the name out of my birthday. Using the number 3 like an apostrophe, the date Nov. 13 became a stage name 'I’ll.' I liked the idea that it signifies 'I'll do something' when follow

PerformanceMarch 6, 2024

Karina of aespa apologizes for surprising fans with dating news

Karina of aespa has apologized to her fans for surprising them with the news of her dating actor Lee Jae-wook. The artist posted a handwritten letter to her Instagram account Tuesday in which she explained that it took her some time to talk about dating the actor with the MY fandom as she wanted to be cautious about it. “I know how MYs who have supported me must be disappointed thinking back on the things we’ve said to one another. Because I understand your feelings, I feel even more

K-popMarch 6, 2024

Le Sserafim makes career debut on Billboard’s Hot 100

K-pop girl group Le Sserafim made its career debut on Billboard’s Hot 100 with the title track of their new EP “Easy” landing at No. 99. The song, released on Feb. 19, debuted at No. 99 with 5.2 million official streams and 1,000 downloads sold in the US in its first full tracking week (Feb. 23-29), according to Luminate. This makes Le Sserafim the sixth K-pop girl group to reach the Hot 100 following Wonder Girls, Blackpink, Twice, NewJeans and Fifty Fifty. The hit single &ldq

K-popMarch 6, 2024

[Today’s K-pop] Riize to launch fan concert tour in May

Rookie band Riize will visit fans in nine regions around the world for the group's first fan concert tour, according to SM Entertainment on Tuesday. The Rising Day tour will kick off in Seoul in the first week of May with a two-day concert, and will bring the six bandmates to Tokyo, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Taiwan capital Taipei, the Philippines capital Manila, Singapore, Bangkok and Indonesia capital Jakarta up until the end of August. More cities may be added later, according to the mana

K-popMarch 5, 2024

Cube Entertainment to launch first boy group in eight years

Cube Entertainment is launching a new boy group called Nowadays in the first half of this year. The launch was made official with the agency establishing social media channels for the upcoming boy group on Monday. Nowadays is the first boy group debuting from Cube Entertainment in eight years. Pentagon was its last boy group. Nowadays consists of five members whose details will be unveiled in the days leading up to their debut. Cube Entertainment dropped a clip of the group members roaming aroun

K-popMarch 5, 2024

Female idols to return as soloists

Several female singers who have found success both as members of girl groups and as soloists are set to release new solo albums this month. Chungha will return with her new album, "Eenie Meenie," on March 11. It will be her first new album since the release of her second studio album, "Bare&Rare Pt. 1," in July 2022. The new album will include two tracks: The title track, "Eenie Meenie," and "I'm Ready." Hong Joong, the leader of the boy group At

K-popMarch 5, 2024

NCT Dream to return with new EP, ‘Dream()Scape,’ this month

NCT Dream is set to unveil its first release of the year, “Dream()Scape,” on March 25. Led by the title track “Smoothie,” the new album will carry five side-B tracks: “icantfeelanything,” “Box,” “Carat Cake,” “Unknown” and “Breathing.” Through the EP, NCT Dream hopes to relate with young people and overcome shared difficulties together, according to a statement by SM Entertainment. NCT Dream released a teaser ima

K-popMarch 5, 2024

NCT Wish to approach listeners with easy-listening, bright songs

NCT Wish, a Japan-based K-pop boy group of SM Entertainment, began promoting its debut single, "Wish," in Korea with a press conference in Seoul on Monday. BoA took part in the event, introducing the group as she took part in producing them, from selecting the final members through an audition, to directing the group's singing and dance. SM collaborated with the Japanese entertainment agency Avex Trax to introduce the six members through the “NCT Universe: Lastart” com

K-popMarch 4, 2024

[Today’s K-pop] TXT to drop mini album next month

Tomorrow X Together will make a comeback with their sixth EP on April 1, announced label Big Hit Music on Monday. The news for EP “minisode 3: Tomorrow” came with a motion logo blending different colors representing each of albums the band has released so far, hinting that the upcoming album will carry on with the narrative it has weaved through them. The five members shared the news first with the audience at its concert held over the weekend in Seoul. The live show marked the fif

K-popMarch 4, 2024

Are virtual idols for real?

From getting good songs and choreographies to holding in-person concerts, things are tough for virtual idols in the highly competitive K-pop scene. “When our virtual idol group Plave was looking for songs, our group members said they felt the composers were not giving them A-level quality songs. That led the group to make their own songs,” said Lee Sung-gu, CEO of Vlast, during a press conference in Seoul last Monday. Vlast is a virtual intellectual property startup that created and

K-popMarch 4, 2024