Moonbyul of K-pop girl group Mamamoo always tries to step outside of her comfort zone to develop into a better artist. “I am fortunate to have established a character in the entertainment industry as a singer who has been active for 10 years. But to become a better artist, I hope to go beyond my limits,” said Moonbyul in a group interview in Seoul on Wednesday. That involves continuously working on enhancing her vocal and dancing skills despite being a rapper by receiving lessons. &l

K-pop Feb. 20, 2024

Le Sserafim members spoke candidly about their fears and concerns hidden behind their fearless attitude in their third EP, “Easy,” released on Monday. “We focused on expressing our inner side to show that we are no different to ordinary people who have concerns and doubts in their life,” said Kazuha of the K-pop girl group during a press conference in Seoul on Monday. The group tried to express that even though their fame could look as easily achieved, there is always the

K-pop Feb. 19, 2024

The 31st Hanteo Music Awards’ four grand prizes — Best Artist, Best Album, Best Performance and Best Song, went to NCT Dream, Seventeen, Stray Kids and Ive, respectively, on Sunday, the last day of the two-day event held in Seoul. NCT Dream bagged the Best Artist award for showing outstanding musical ability and powerful influence in the music industry. Only Mark, Jaemin and Chenle of NCT Dream attended the event, as other members of the group were working on the group’s upcomi

K-pop Feb. 19, 2024

TWS is going global by partnering with the world’s leading music company Universal Music Group (UMG) labels in the US and Japan. According to TWS' agency Pledis Entertainment, a six-member boy band inked a partnership with UMG’s Geffen Records for its group promotion in the US and with Virgin Music under Universal Music Japan for its group promotion in Japan. Through this partnership, TWS will receive support from the above labels to promote and distribute its albums in the US a

K-pop Feb. 18, 2024

J-Hope of BTS is presenting a new project in March. He dropped a teaser clip of the upcoming project, “Hope on the Street” on BTS’ official YouTube channel Sunday, a day before his birthday. The clip begins with J-Hope, who is the main dancer of BTS, working on his performance at a dance studio back in 2015. The clip then fast forwards to 2024, and J-Hope appears dancing to a beat with a night view of a city in the background. “J-Hope came up with his own idea for this pr

K-pop Feb. 18, 2024

Epik High is set to hold its first concert of the year next month. The group is holding a standalone concert on March 16 at the Inspire Arena, according to an industry insider. The concert comes three months after the hip-hop trio’s 20th-anniversary concert at the SK Olympic Handball Arena in Seoul on Dec. 15-17. The trio was also on a world tour titled “All Time High Tour” last year, performing in 36 cities in seven countries in Asia, Europe and North America. Epik High debute

K-pop Feb. 15, 2024

Jennie of Blackpink and Jungkook of BTS are climbing back up Billboard’s main album and single charts. According to Billboard, the song “One Of The Girls” by Jennie, Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd rose to a new peak of No. 57, up from No. 58 the previous week, on Billboard’s Hot 100 dated Feb. 17. “One Of The Girls” is one of the original soundtracks of the HBO series “The Idol,” in which Jennie starred. This makes Jennie the first female K-pop solo

K-pop Feb. 14, 2024

From Latin pop to hip-hop, Ten of NCT challenged himself with diverse music genres for his first official solo album, “Ten,” released on Tuesday. “I’ve waited for this moment for so long. I put my own ideas, including the album concept, into this album after thorough and continuous discussion with the staff of my agency. So, I was able to enjoy every process of coming up with this solo album,” said Ten when introducing his first EP during a press conference in Seoul

K-pop Feb. 13, 2024

Chinese actress Tang Wei will star in a music video for the singer-songwriter and actress IU’s upcoming album. Tang will appear in the music video of the side B track, “Shh…” in IU’s sixth mini album, “The Winning,” according to Edam Entertainment. In the teaser for the music video, released on YouTube Tuesday, Tang Wei appears inside a car leaning her face against the steering wheel and gazing out the window. The screen then turns black and white, and

K-pop Feb. 13, 2024

진행자: 홍유, Elise Youn Seoul unveils plan for world's largest 'vertical' business district in Yongsan 기사 요약: 서울 용산에 100층 안팎의 랜드마크가 들어서고 세계 최초로 45층 건물을 잇는 1.1㎞ 스카이 트레일이 설치된다. [1] The Seoul city government unveiled a set of plans to transform an abandoned train maintenance depot in the central district of Yongsan into an international business district, with the construction of a 100-floor skyscraper and a sky trail linking high-rises there as the centerpiece. *train maintenance

Podcast Feb. 13, 2024

New Year's festival at Namsangol Hanok Village Step into the heart of Korean culture at the Namsangol Hanok Village’s New Year’s festival, a vibrant celebration that takes place 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday to Sunday. Throughout the weekend, visitors can engage in a variety of traditional Korean games. Start with a fortune-telling session using yut, a traditional board game played, offering a glimpse into the fortunes for the year. Visitor can write their wishes on the wish tree. A

Culture Feb. 9, 2024

K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment is set to debut four new K-pop acts including NCT Wish this year. The frontrunner is NCT Wish which is to debut at the label concert, “SMTown Live,” slated to be held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on Feb. 21, according to SM Entertainment on Thursday. NCT Wish is the last subunit of NCT. Other subunits include NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream and WayV. SM also plans to launch a new girl group, its first virtual artist naevis known as aespa’s Kwangya help

K-pop Feb. 8, 2024

K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty is set to start anew with new members joining Keena in June. “We’ve started reorganizing Fifty Fifty around Keena. The lineup will be confirmed in April and the group will release a new single in June,” announced Attrakt, the agency representing Fifty Fifty, in a press release Thursday. Fifty Fifty debuted as a quartet with Keena, Aran, Sio and Saena in November 2022. But Aran, Sio and Saena left the group as Attrakt terminated its exclusive contrac

K-pop Feb. 8, 2024

진행자: 홍유, Elise Youn Entertainment industry split over plan to mandate holdback period for state-funded films 기사 요약: 정부가 최근 영화 분야 지원 사업 조건에 '홀드백'(Hold Back) 준수 의무를 부과하자 영화계와 OTT 업계 등은 이해관계에 따라 의견이 엇갈리고 있다. [1] The Culture Ministry’s plan to mandate a grace period of possibly up to six months before films that received government funding are released on streaming platforms like Netflix is being met with mixed reactions by the local entertainment industry, including film distr

Podcast Feb. 8, 2024

Some photos of possible members to debut as a K-pop girl group under The Black Label went viral early this week, leading the agency to announce they are launching a girl group in the first half of this year. Among those in the leaked photos was Moon Seo-yoon, a granddaughter of Shinsegae Group Chairwoman Lee Myung-hee and the eldest daughter of Chung Yoo-kyung, president of Shinsegae’s department store business. In the photo, she is seen posing with other girls including actress and model

K-pop Feb. 7, 2024